Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to extend the Prison Service Long Service Medal to operational officers in privately managed prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Prison Services Long Service & Good Conduct Medal is awarded to operational staff in the UK Prison Services on completion of 20 years’ continuous meritorious service, and aligns operational public sector prison staff with comparable organisations such as the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services and the Armed Forces. It is a medal awarded by the Head of State to eligible state employees, details of which are set out in a Royal Warrant.
In 2016, the Cabinet Office confirmed that official medals of this type can only be awarded to staff working in public sector prisons and not those in prisons run by private sector companies. This is in line with the existing criteria used for the award of Long Service & Good Conduct Medals to the other Crown services.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress she has made on considering the capital funding request from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The fiscal position means that there have been tough choices to get us back on the path to recovery. It is in this context that the department is considering the request made for funding by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
I was pleased to meet with Andy Lock to discuss the outstanding work done by the organisation across Britain’s coalfields. I recognise that addressing the acute challenges faced by our coalfield communities will require greater partnership working between government and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, and I am committed to working in partnership with them to explore opportunities for collaboration.
This government remains committed to supporting our most disadvantaged communities. At Spending Review, we announced funding for up to 350 places. Of the 100 places announced, 15 are in coalfield areas. Details of the remaining places will be announced in due course.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if the Government will take steps to recognise the state of Palestine as part of its efforts to seek (a) peace and (b) a lasting two state solution in the region.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK commitment to a two-state solution is unwavering. We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state at a time that has the most impact in achieving this reality and is most conducive to long-term prospects for peace. We are clear that does not need to be at the end of a process. UK bilateral recognition is the single most important action the UK can take with regard to Palestinian statehood. That is why it is important to get the timing right so that it creates genuine momentum and is not simply a symbolic gesture. We are continuing to engage all partners on advancing a two-state solution and supporting the foundations of Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian statehood is the right of the Palestinian people. It is not in the gift of any neighbour and is also essential to the long-term security of Israel. The people of the West Bank and Gaza must be given the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future. That is why this Government supports a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. The Government agrees strongly on the importance of recognition, and that is why we will make sure the timing is right. We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state at a time that has the most impact in achieving this reality and is most conducive to long-term prospects for peace.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure the adequacy of the number of police officers in Merseyside police.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to effectively tackle crime. We are clear that visible policing is essential to restoring public confidence in the police.
As was set out in the Police Funding Settlement for 2025/26 Merseyside Police will be provided with a total of £14.8m to support maintenance of a total of 4,172 officers (headcount).
In addition, Merseyside Police has been allocated £6.67 million from the £200 million provided for 2025-26 to support the start of Neighbourhood Policing growth. Based on its funding allocation, Merseyside Police’s projected growth in neighbourhood policing during 2025-26 will be 97 police officers (full time equivalents).
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help tackle child poverty in St Helens North constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In St Helens North, there were 6,670 children in UC households in November 2024. There are 7,634 pupils (28.3%) known to be eligible for free school meals in St Helens. In 2023/24, there were 7,096 (33.8%) children in in relative low income after housing costs. Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a priority for this Government. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty, including children in the St Helens North constituency.
The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
As a significant downpayment ahead of Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2 billion including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.
Our commitments at the 2025 Spending Review come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of Personal Independence Payment recipients are in work in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) St Helens Local Authority, (c) the Liverpool City Region and (d) nationally.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The proportion of working age Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants who are in work can be found in the table below.
Table 1: Working age Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants who are in work
| Percentage in work |
St Helens North Parliamentary Constituency | 20% |
St Helens Local Authority | 20% |
Liverpool City Region | 19% |
England and Wales | 20% |
Notes:
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
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 (a) providing funding for speech and language interventions earlier than reception age and (b) help ensure that Family Hubs can support families within the home learning environment before the age of three.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Early language is a part of the best start in life pillar of the Opportunity Mission, where we have set an ambitious milestone of a record number of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment by 2028. This measure includes an assessment of children’s early communication and language development.
As part of the support offer in the early years, Stronger Practice Hubs have enabled early years settings to access funded places on evidence-based professional development programmes. This has included over 20 programmes focused on speech, language and communication for under 4s.
The department also works in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinders, which utilises pre-qualification therapy support assistants to improve early identification and support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs within early years and primary school settings.
Through the Family Hubs programme for children aged 0 to 19-years-old, or 25-years-old with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the government is investing in parent-facing interventions that seek to give children the best start in life. Research shows that what happens at home can make the biggest difference to long term impacts on a child’s life chances. Therefore, we are supporting families of 3 to 4-year-olds to create rich home-learning environments that foster a love of learning in their children. Family Hubs and voluntary and community sector partners play a pivotal role in supporting these efforts, providing local communities with the tools and support they need to succeed.
This work is complemented by our national campaign, ‘Little Moments Together’, which uses paid-for social media, out-of-home advertising, online videos and free resources to raise parents’ awareness, motivation and capability in the home-environment. We will continue to monitor the Family Hubs networks to ensure we consistently adopt the best approach to support families of young children, including exploring the effectiveness of expanding the age range targeted, as the programme evolves.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear in her commitment to early years as her number one priority and we will take the steps needed to improve children’s early learning and development, giving every child the best start in life.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase capacity on children's heart units and (b) ensure that children requiring treatment receive it in a timely manner.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need, including children awaiting specialist cardiac input.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we will return to the National Health Service’s constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This includes for children awaiting elective care at children’s heart units.
Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts that will get us back to this standard. Through empowering patients; reforming delivery; and aligning funding, performance oversight, and delivery standards; we will ensure that all patients, including children with heart conditions, are seen as quickly as possible, in line with the RTT standard.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help support the growth of small businesses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Small businesses are the beating heart of our high streets, our communities, and essential to our economic success. The Government will boost small business growth and productivity by delivering upon the commitments within Labour's nine-point Plan for Small Business published prior to the election.
As a first step, we announced on 19th September 2024 new measures to help small businesses and the self-employed tackle the scourge of late payments and long payment terms.
We are also creating opportunities for small businesses to access the finance they need to scale up and to break into new markets through exporting.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) financial incentives and (b) other support for (i) farmers and (ii) the wider agricultural sector for investment in (A) machinery and (B) infrastructure.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to supporting all farming sectors to increase levels of productivity whilst increasing their sustainability and resilience. We are looking carefully at how to position further investment and support to enable the delivery of this Government's objectives, including a range of existing and new fiscal and non-fiscal support. We will confirm plans for the rollout of schemes and our wider approach as soon as possible, and the farming budget beyond this year will be part of the government’s spending review.