Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support mental health services in journalism.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Ministers and officials regularly meet stakeholders to discuss a range of issues which affect media organisations and journalists. Officials in my department would be pleased to meet with Media Strong.
The Government is not currently taking specific steps to support mental health services in journalism. However, we are taking steps to strengthen our national, regional and local press, which includes action aimed at supporting journalists.
I also chair the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists, together with the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls. It brings together representatives from government, journalism, policing, prosecution services and civil society to make sure that journalists in the UK are able to operate free from threats and violence. Its National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists sets out how the safety of journalists in the UK can be protected.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if will meet with Media Strong.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Ministers and officials regularly meet stakeholders to discuss a range of issues which affect media organisations and journalists. Officials in my department would be pleased to meet with Media Strong.
The Government is not currently taking specific steps to support mental health services in journalism. However, we are taking steps to strengthen our national, regional and local press, which includes action aimed at supporting journalists.
I also chair the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists, together with the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls. It brings together representatives from government, journalism, policing, prosecution services and civil society to make sure that journalists in the UK are able to operate free from threats and violence. Its National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists sets out how the safety of journalists in the UK can be protected.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to uprate (a) inflation-linked benefits and (b) tax credits for the 2026–27 financial year in line with the consumer prices index rate of inflation for September.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Social Security Administration Act 1992 requires the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to review State pension and benefit rates each year to see if they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices or earnings. Where the relevant rates have not retained their value, legislation provides that the Secretary of State is required to, or in some instances may, up-rate their value. Following this review, some rates are increased in line with statutory minima, and others are increased subject to the Secretary of State’s discretion.
The new and basic State Pensions, and the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit (which replaced tax credits for most people above State Pension age on 5 April 2025). must be increased at least in line with the growth in earnings. In practice, the new and basic State Pensions are subject to our commitment for this Parliament to the triple lock of the highest of earnings growth, the increase in prices, or 2.5%
Additional-needs disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment, Carer’s Allowance, and Additional Pension must be increased at least in line with the increase in prices. By convention, the measure used for this is the increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the year to September.
For the rates of most other benefits, including Universal Credit (which replaced tax credits for people below State Pension age on 5 April 2025), once the Secretary of State has concluded her review of the increase in the general level of prices, she may decide to increase them. The Office for Budgetary Responsibility currently assumes that she will do so in line with the increase in CPI in the year to September. However, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill has been introduced into Parliament and subject to parliamentary approval, this will alter the standard parameters of Secretary of State's annual review.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the Federation of Small Businesses Northern Ireland's report entitled Windsor Framework realities - barriers to trade in the UK internal market, published in June 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government stands by its view that the Windsor Framework is delivering practical benefits in Northern Ireland and we are committed to its implementation alongside protecting the UK internal market.
The Windsor Framework provides a wide range of support for business between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Government will keep working with businesses and organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses as we move forward.
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement with the European Union, once agreed and implemented, will make it easier to move goods across the Irish Sea, so Northern Ireland can enjoy the same products as the rest of the UK.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the document entitled UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, CP 1344, published on 19 June 2025, if he will publish the Barnett consequential for Northern Ireland for each new item of funding announced in that strategy.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Barnett formula is applied when departmental budgets change – not when departments announce how they are spending their budgets.
When changes to UK Government departments’ budgets were confirmed at Spending Review 2025 on 11 June, the Barnett formula was applied in the usual way, providing Barnett consequentials to the Northern Ireland Executive. The devolved governments are receiving the largest Spending Review settlements, in real terms, since devolution in 1998.
The published Block Grant Transparency document provides a detailed breakdown of how the block grants are calculated and the next version will be published in due course.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the document entitled UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, CP 1344, published on 19 June 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of childcare provision on the delivery of that strategy.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Investment in childcare provision is an essential part of the government’s 10 Year Strategy, which is why it sets out an investment of almost £370 million to deliver tens of thousands of new early education and childcare places by opening or expanding school-based nurseries in England. School-based nurseries are a key part of this government’s Opportunity Mission, delivering on our Plan for Change by expanding the high-quality early education across England that supports children’s lifelong learning and success.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by Maternity Action, entitled Pushed into Poverty, published in May 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the recommendation on £7.99 million model costing for maternity allowance to be treated as earned income by Universal Credit on women in low income jobs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of treating Maternity Allowance as earned income for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what long-term plans her Department has to increase levels of (a) maternity, (b) paternity and (c) parental pay in line with the National Living Wage.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. When considering calls to increase the level of maternity benefits generally, those must be balanced against limited resources as well as being mindful of the burden on employers, the needs of parents and could not be made without consultation with businesses and other stakeholders. Further, any changes would need to take account of economic circumstances and affordability for taxpayers.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.
From April 2025, the rate for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.
Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings.
We know that the parental leave system needs improvement. In the Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government.
The review provides us with an opportunity to consider the current framework of parental leave entitlements and how they should operate as a holistic system to improve the support available for working families.
We will also take the opportunity to establish a set of objectives for the parental leave system, which reflect the needs of GB’s modern economy. This has been lacking in recent years as the framework of entitlements has evolved over time.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Maternity Allowance and (c) Shared Parental Pay to 62.5 per cent of the weekly National Living Wage by 2028.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. When considering calls to increase the level of maternity benefits generally, those must be balanced against limited resources as well as being mindful of the burden on employers, the needs of parents and could not be made without consultation with businesses and other stakeholders. Further, any changes would need to take account of economic circumstances and affordability for taxpayers.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.
From April 2025, the rate for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.
Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings.
We know that the parental leave system needs improvement. In the Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government.
The review provides us with an opportunity to consider the current framework of parental leave entitlements and how they should operate as a holistic system to improve the support available for working families.
We will also take the opportunity to establish a set of objectives for the parental leave system, which reflect the needs of GB’s modern economy. This has been lacking in recent years as the framework of entitlements has evolved over time.