Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help increase the availability of GP appointments in North Cornwall constituency.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to improving capacity and access to local services across the country, including in the North Cornwall constituency. North Cornwall sits within the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board. Since June 2024, there has been an 18.2% increase in appointments delivered, higher than the national average increase of 17.8% in the same period.

In October 2024, we injected £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to enable the recruitment of 1,000 newly qualified general practitioners (GPs) across England, which will increase the number of appointments delivered, and care for thousands of patients

The Government has delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. For the first time in four years, the General Practitioners Committee England backed the new 2025/26 contract, which includes key reforms to improve access, for instance by making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring housing developers to consult with water companies at every stage when building new homes, in the context of establishing sewage infrastructure.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

As set out in Paragraph 7 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, including the provision of homes, commercial development and supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner. Sustainable development should be pursued both through the preparation and implementation of local development plans, and the application of policies in the framework.

The government is clear that housing must come with appropriate infrastructure, including appropriate water infrastructure. We believe that strategic issues such as water capacity are best dealt with at a strategic level through the plan-making process, rather than through individual planning applications.

A key function of local development plans is to guide development to the most suitable and sustainable locations and to ensure that the associated infrastructure requirements are addressed. Effective co-operation early in the plan-making process is essential to ensuring not only that housing and infrastructure need is appropriately planned for, but that they are aligned with each other. The NPPF makes it clear that local planning authorities should collaborate with each other and with other public bodies, including infrastructure providers, to identify relevant strategic matters to be addressed, including providing for sustainable water supplies.

Water companies are under a statutory duty to provide new water and sewerage connections to residential properties, as well as planning to meet the needs of growth as part of water resource management plans, and drainage and wastewater management plans. The water resources planning guidance published by the government set out how those companies should forecast demand for water based on existing customers and planned levels of household and non-household growth, with the number of planned developments being based on published local plans.

Relevant planning practice guidance sets out that good design and mitigation measures should be secured during development, both through site-specific and non-site-specific policies on water infrastructure. The revised NPPF published on 12 December 2024 makes clear that developments of all sizes should use sustainable drainage techniques when the development could have drainage impacts and should have appropriate maintenance arrangements in place. We continue to explore whether more needs to be done to ensure sustainable drainage technologies are taken up more widely in new development, either through planning policy or by commencing schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, and a decision on the best way forward will be made in the coming months.

Ensuring that we take a strategic spatial planning approach to the management of water, including tackling pollution and managing pressures on the water environment at a catchment, regional and national scale, is a core objective of the ongoing independent review into the regulatory system of the water sector, launched in October 2024 by the UK and Welsh Governments. The review is expected to report next year, and we will carefully consider its findings.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of legal aid provision.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

This Government has inherited a justice system in crisis, and the previous administration left the legal aid sector is under significant strain. We are committed to restoring our justice system and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the legal aid sector.

We recently concluded a consultation on uplifts to some areas of civil legal aid fees. Once fully implemented, this would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year. We are currently reviewing consultation responses and will publish the Government response in due course. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, and the wider themes from the Review, in order to support the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector.

On criminal legal aid, in November 2024 we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation, confirming an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amount to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers.

In addition, in December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system, subject to consultation. We are also committed to continuing to work with the criminal legal aid profession, including the Bar, on further opportunities for reform this Parliament and to support the overall sustainability, diversity, and efficiency of the system.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve road safety for vulnerable road users.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This Government treats road safety with the utmost seriousness, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. My Department is developing our road safety strategy and will set out more details in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the flexibility of the apprenticeship levy for small businesses.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is reforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy that will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers of all sizes to develop the skills they need to thrive.

As a first step, the department is introducing new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. The minimum duration of an apprenticeship will be reduced to eight months from August 2025, down from the current minimum of 12 months. This change means apprentices will be able to achieve occupational competence more quickly, where appropriate, such as, where apprentices have significant prior learning. Employers of all sizes will be able to benefit from these flexibilities.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to issue guidance to local authorities in rural areas with high levels of (a) executive housing and (b) second homes on revising the (i) points and (ii) banding systems used to allocate social housing.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Local Authorities are responsible for designing and managing their own housing allocations policies to meet local need within the framework of legislation under which certain categories of people must be given priority. Social housing allocations guidance can be found here. The Department has no plans to issue additional guidance to local authorities in rural areas.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of requiring academy trusts to publish full budgets.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

All academy trusts must publish an annual report and accounts, which are audited by a registered statutory auditor. As part of their annual reports and accounts, academy trusts must also publish details of their objectives, achievements and future plans, including what they have done to promote value for money in support of these projects.

In addition, financial information on individual schools, including a breakdown of their income and expenditure, is available on GOV.UK through the Schools Financial Benchmarking and Insight Tool, at: https://financial-benchmarking-and-insights-tool.education.gov.uk/.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a cap on the proportion of academy trust budgets that can be spent on senior leadership salaries.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department sets out its expectations on pay for academies and academy trusts in the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH), which is published on GOV.UK, and available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a3909aab418ab055592dda/Academy_trust_handbook_2024_FINAL.pdf.

The ATH requires that:

• An academy trust’s board of trustees ensures its decisions, when setting levels of executive pay, including salary and any other benefits, follow a robust evidence-based process.
• Academy trusts’ decisions on pay must be a reasonable and defensible reflection of the individual’s role and responsibilities.
• No individual can be involved in deciding their remuneration.
• Academy trusts must be transparent on pay and publish the number of employees whose benefits exceed £100,000 on their websites in £10,000 bandings. Where employees are also trustees, this information must be disclosed in £5,000 bandings.

In addition, the department’s ‘Setting executive salaries’ guidance outlines the key contextual factors that trusts should be considering when setting or reviewing executive salaries. This guidance is published on GOV.UK and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding provided to early years providers for meeting the cost of a nursery place.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.

That is why, despite tough decisions to get public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest, supporting early education and childcare providers with the costs they face. In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.

In addition, the department is providing £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector as it prepares to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, recognising the significant level of expansion needed and the effort and planning this will require. We are also providing £25 million of funding to support public sector employers with increased National Insurance contributions through the early years National Insurance Contributions grant.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support nurseries with the cost of providing the expanded funded childcare hours.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.

That is why, despite tough decisions to get public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest, supporting early education and childcare providers with the costs they face. In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.

In addition, the department is providing £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector as it prepares to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, recognising the significant level of expansion needed and the effort and planning this will require. We are also providing £25 million of funding to support public sector employers with increased National Insurance contributions through the early years National Insurance Contributions grant.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the number of nurseries that have withdrawn from the childcare funding scheme citing cost pressures on early years provision.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.

Local authorities are required by legislation to provide sufficient childcare places for children in their local area who require childcare. This includes children with special educational needs and disabilities and children in rural areas. Local authorities are also required to report annually to councillors on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. At present, no local authorities are reporting they are unable to meet their sufficiency duty.

In the 2025/26 financial year alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. The department has also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, raising it to the equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.

On top of this, the department is providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector in providing the additional places and workforce needed by September 2025.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits when sewage is released by water companies that poses a risk to human health of requiring (a) a physical warning system and (b) the flying of warning flags for a minimum time duration at (i) beaches and (ii) waterways.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under the Bathing Water Regulations 2013, local authorities with a designated bathing water must actively disseminate and promptly make available to the public, in the near vicinity of the bathing water, a warning whenever short-term pollution is predicted or present.

Libraries in state primary schools

Changes to Great Western Railway ticket offices and stations

Oversight of homelessness

Palantir Technologies, Peter Thiel and the NHS (No. 2)

Introduction of the Hillsborough Law and the 36th anniversary

Future of the adoption and special guardianship support fund

Injury on Duty Award Scheme

Pesticides in public spaces

Changes to Overseas Development Assistance

Robert May’s school and STEM racing competition

Israeli Defence Force attacks on humanitarian workers

Humanitarian response to the Myanmar earthquake

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