Gideon Amos

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has met Vanessa Ogden, chair of the independent sector led group, along with some members of the group. She welcomes the independent work being undertaken to develop a draft religious education curriculum.

The department was not responsible for selecting its members or for determining the criteria or processes used to select members of the group or any associated expert advisory groups. As such, decisions on membership were a matter for the sector-led group and were intended to ensure a breadth of expertise and representation from across the religious education sector.

The revised criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) were introduced in April 2025 and were designed to ensure support for all those applying for ASGSF funding. An equalities impact assessment was published in July 2025.

Analysis shows that in 2024/25, users of the fund had an average spend of £3,170. The department continues to review data on the impact on applications numbers and value of applications to assess the overall impact of the changes made. Local authorities and regional adoption agencies may supplement funding where additional support is assessed to be required. Over 15,000 applications have been approved since April 2025, including over 1,000 specialist assessments, demonstrating continued access to support.

As the Minister for Children and Families, I recently announced the continuation of the ASGSF for 2026 to 2028, and a consultation on the longer-term future of adoption support, including a call for evidence on what works for children and families.

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 and delivering on our Plan for Change.

We are delivering more support to working families than ever before with the rollout of the 30 hours government-funded childcare entitlement since September 2025.

To be eligible, each working parent in a household must expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at National Minimum or Living Wage, and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year.

Childcare support is made up of several different systems and has developed gradually over time, with add-ons and expansions made by subsequent governments. This can make it confusing for both parents and early years providers to understand and apply for the help available. We will continue improving the system so that all children, regardless of background, can benefit from high-quality early education and childcare, and parents are supported to work.

The government is committed to ensuring the country develops the skills needed to break down barriers to opportunity and so is introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). This will launch in the 2026/27 academic year for learners up to aged 60 studying courses that start on or after 1 January 2027.

The LLE will remove the Equivalent Level Qualification rules meaning more people can train, retrain and upskill flexibly. Also under the LLE, a priority additional entitlement will be available to support graduates who study a second degree in certain courses, including medicine. Courses eligible for priority additional entitlement funding have been chosen based on their alignment to the government’s Industrial Strategy and the UK’s priority skills needs.

Medical students taking a second degree using the LLE will also be able to access standard maintenance support for those years not covered by the NHS bursary.

The government has estimated that ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30. At the Autumn Budget 2025, the re-costing of the measure showed it will raise around £40 million per year more than originally forecast. This will raise essential revenue to help fund public services, including supporting the 94% of children in state schools.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 18 March 2026 to PQ UIN 119681.

No assessment has been made of the contribution of littering from vehicles to roadside litter.

Local councils have legal powers to take enforcement action against offenders who litter from vehicles.  Anyone caught littering from a vehicle may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £2,500 on conviction. Instead of prosecuting, councils may decide to issue a fixed penalty (on-the-spot fine) of up to £500. District councils outside of London have powers to issue a civil penalty to the registered keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown.

To support local councils to make good use of their fixed penalty powers for littering and related offences I have laid new Statutory Guidance, “Litter enforcement powers: when and how to use them” in Parliament. Local authorities will need to have regard to this guidance when using their powers. The guidance is available here: Litter enforcement powers: when and how to use them - GOV.UK.

Funding for roadside litter removal is provided through retained penalty receipts and enforcement. National Highways funds maintenance from existing budgets, more information can be found on: Highways maintenance block: formula allocations 2026 to 2030 - GOV.UK Designated Funds - National Highways

We have been proud to support and endorse national clean-up initiatives such as the Great British Spring Clean, and the Great British Beach Clean, and we will continue to use our influence to encourage as many people and businesses as possible to participate in these types of events again.

The Government recognises the essential service that rescue and rehoming centres provide, often on a voluntary basis, to animals, including those that have suffered from mutilation.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is illegal to carry out a non-exempted mutilation such as the cropping of a dog’s ears in England and Wales unless specifically exempted for medical reasons. While these practices are illegal in the UK, we recognise that the current legislative framework can be abused by traders who import these dogs from abroad.

The Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025 Act will give the Government powers to prohibit dogs and cats being brought into Great Britain with non-exempted mutilations, such as docked tails and cropped ears.

Any appropriate exemptions to these prohibitions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. In the meantime, the Government will continue to work with stakeholders including rescue organisations and consider their feedback.

Every individual project is managed following the Gateway process set out in the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery. As a project nears completion, Project Managers are required to test the readiness for service (Gateway 4) and then check that the required benefits have been delivered (Gateway 5). This allows for contracts with suppliers to be formally closed and for lessons to be learned and shared.

The Environment Agency’s (EA) Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCRM) assets play a critical role protecting communities from the impacts of flooding. The EA has an annual programme of around 110,000 asset inspections, which can increase in-year to 165,000. The EA’s asset register is updated daily, meaning the baseline is in flux, preventing a meaningful comparison of figures between years. The EA therefore reports the percentage of assets at or below target condition. During quarter 2 of the 2025/26 financial year, 92.9% of the EA’s assets were currently at or above target condition.

In the interests of road safety, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) must be satisfied that the required medical standards for driving are met before a licence is issued. The DVLA’s processes are designed to ensure that licensing decisions are informed by appropriate medical evidence, while enabling individuals to continue driving where it is safe to do so.

The DVLA aims to process all applications as quickly as possible. However, some medical cases take longer because the DVLA often needs information from third parties, including doctors or other healthcare professionals, before a licensing decision can be made.

The DVLA has seen sustained growth in the volume and complexity of medical licence applications, increasing waiting times for some customers. To improve its services, the DVLA has introduced a new casework system and launched a new medical services portal, so the majority of customers can now apply online through the DVLA’s driver and vehicles account. In time, this will also allow customers to track their applications in a way they have not been able to previously. Details on how to sign up for an account can be found at www.gov.uk/driver-vehicles-account.

These enhancements alongside the recruitment of additional staff to deal with these applications and answer telephone calls, will deliver real improvements in services and turnaround times for customers.

GOV.UK is run by the Government Digital Service (GDS) which is part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The Department for Transport follows the GDS GOV.UK design system accessibility guidelines when drafting and building its GOV.UK content and digital services.

The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) set minimum accessibility requirements for buses and coaches and so support millions of disabled people, including young people and children, to make the journeys important in their lives.

In response to widespread non-compliance in the home-to-school and the rail replacement sector, the government issued exemptions to enable these essential services to continue operating whilst operators procured compliant coaches. The current Medium-Term Exemptions expire on 31st July.

In 2023 the Department undertook a Call for Evidence to understand the efficacy of PSVAR, and we continue to engage regularly with stakeholders, including local authorities, on the impact of the Regulations and how they can support accessible journeys sustainably.