Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the beginning of the statutory time period of 9.30am nationally during weekdays for concessionary bus pass holders.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The ENCTS costs around £795 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as extending the travel times, would need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.
However, local authorities in England have the power to offer concessions in addition to their statutory obligations, including by extending travel times. These are additional local concessions provided and funded by local authorities from local resources.
The Government is investing in bus services long-term and has confirmed over £3 billion from 2026/27 to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services over the remainder of the spending review period. This includes multi-year allocations for local authorities under the Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) totalling nearly £700 million per year.
The East Midlands Combined Authority will be allocated £65.5 million under the LABG from 2026/27 to 2028/29, in addition to the £21.7 million they are already receiving this year. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services can be used in whichever way they wish to deliver better services for passengers, including funding discretionary concessions.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of home tuition fee eligibility rules on British citizens who relocated to EU member states while the UK was part of the European Union; and whether she plans to review these rules to account for decisions made whilst the UK was still a member of the EU.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK nationals and their children living in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, who wish to study in the UK, will be eligible for automatic home fee status and student support for courses starting up to seven years from the end of the transition period.
The seven-year period ensures that eligible UK nationals and their children, whose normal place of residence is in the EEA or Switzerland but wish to undertake higher education in England, will still be able to access home fee status and student financial support immediately on their return to the UK during this time.
From 1 January 2028, UK nationals and their children must normally have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for at least three years immediately before the start of their course to qualify for automatic home fee status and student support.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to address the difference in home fee status eligibility for siblings who are both British nationals where one child benefits from Withdrawal Agreement protections and another does not due to the timing of their university entry after 2028.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK nationals and their children living in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, who wish to study in the UK, will be eligible for automatic home fee status and student support for courses starting up to seven years from the end of the transition period.
The seven-year period ensures that eligible UK nationals and their children, whose normal place of residence is in the EEA or Switzerland but wish to undertake higher education in England, will still be able to access home fee status and student financial support immediately on their return to the UK during this time.
From 1 January 2028, UK nationals and their children must normally have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for at least three years immediately before the start of their course to qualify for automatic home fee status and student support.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department will consider introducing discretionary provisions within home tuition fee eligibility criteria for British nationals living abroad who can demonstrate genuine and ongoing connections to the UK but were unable to relocate prior to their children commencing university.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To qualify for automatic home fee status and higher education student support, students must normally be settled in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for at least three years before their course begins. However, if a student has spent time overseas due to their own or a specified family member’s temporary employment abroad, this does not interrupt their ordinary residence in the UK, providing flexibility for those who have not made a long-term decision to live outside the UK. Decisions on whether a student meets the criteria for home fee status rest with higher education providers, which are independent and autonomous bodies. Student Finance England makes decisions about eligibility for student finance.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of new immigration rules on people who arrived under the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In line with our Public Sector Equality Duty, Equality Impact Assessments are undertaken for new policies to ensure that there are no unintended or disproportionate impacts on people with protected characteristics. This includes consideration of nationalities.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost savings from expanding DNA testing in criminal trials.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not collect or hold data which would link the use of DNA testing, or any other type of evidence produced by the prosecution, with the overall efficiency of criminal trials. Therefore, it is not possible to make an estimate of any cost savings.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) merits of calculating maintenance loans through net rather than gross household income and (b) impact of that change on single parental income households.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Entitlement to partially means-tested undergraduate loans for living costs is based on the income of the student’s household.
The income used is the total income on which a person is charged income tax at step 1 of the calculation in Section 23 of the Income Tax Act 2007, before the deductions made by HMRC from step 2 onwards of Section 23.
The use of income charged to tax in the household income assessment applies a standard measure of income to calculate a student’s entitlement to living costs support and allows all students to be assessed consistently and fairly. It also ensures that the most support is paid to students from the lowest income families, including those with single parents, who need it most and who are historically under-represented in higher education. It is not intended to be an exact calculation of disposable income for each household.
Information on income is available from HMRC and allows around 1.3 million assessments a year to be carried out quickly and efficiently each year by Student Finance England.
Maximum grants and loans for living and other costs for the 2025/26 academic year have been increased by forecast inflation, 3.1%, based on the RPIX inflation index.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for the specialist (a) care, (b) advice and (c) assessment provided by hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. St Michael’s Hospice in Hereford is receiving £667,020 from this funding. We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that hospice contracts reflect the (a) cost of the services they provide and (b) needs of their local populations.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. St Michael’s Hospice in Hereford is receiving £667,020 from this funding. We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding provided to nurseries to deliver the extended free childcare hours without financial shortfall.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department has provided over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27.
The department has announced the largest ever increase to early years pupil premium since its introduction and have delivered a significant tranche of supplementary funding of £75 million through the early years expansion grant.
The department wants to ensure the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver the entitlements and high quality early years provision going forward.