Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
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 help increase the number of children that are able to swim 25 metres confidently.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill, which is why it is a mandatory part of the primary PE National Curriculum.
All schools must provide swimming instruction in either key stage 1 or 2. In particular, pupils should be taught to: swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres; use a range of strokes effectively; and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
Primary schools can use their PE and sport Premium funding to provide top-up swimming and water safety lessons for those pupils that do not meet national curriculum requirements after they have completed core swimming and water safety lessons.
The Department for Education is also funding the ‘Inclusion 2028’ grant at up to £300,000 per year to improve opportunities for young people with special educational needs and disabilities to participate in school sport, including swimming and water safety.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking with energy suppliers to help prevent large increases in energy bill direct debits.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Ofgem is the energy regulator for Great Britain and works to protect energy consumers and ensure they are treated fairly.
Under the terms of Ofgem’s Standard Licence Conditions, customers may challenge increased direct debit payment amounts with their supplier and ask the supplier to justify how they calculated the new amount. Suppliers must explain clearly how they reached the figure they want to charge and give the meter readings used. If a customer is not happy with the supplier’s calculation, they can ask the supplier to lower the monthly payments to reflect the energy use more accurately.
If a customer is concerned about the size of a credit balance on their energy account, they can ask their supplier to refund it.
The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and bring down energy bills, and therefore direct debits, permanently.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
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 support Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust in addressing the long waits for ambulances and emergency care at the acute hospital in Cornwall.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving urgent and emergency care and returning to the waiting time standards set out in the National Health Service constitution through actions set out in Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 and the Medium Term Planning Framework for 2026/27 to 2028/29.
On the 6 June 2025, we published our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding. The plan focuses on improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance next winter and on making urgent and emergency care better every day, including reducing ambulance handovers to a maximum of 45 minutes and actions to support at least 78% of patients in accident and emergency being seen within four hours.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been focusing on its ‘clinical vision of flow’, alongside whole system work which is delivering improvement in urgent and emergency care performance.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the planned timescales are for the action points in the Cross-government Pharmaceuticals in the Environment Group Roadmap on addressing levels of fipronil and imidacloprid detected in UK waterways; and how she plans to measure their levels of success.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Cross-government Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE) Group Roadmap sets out a phased approach to addressing the presence of fipronil and imidacloprid in UK waterways. It outlines three broad categories of action: immediate efforts focused on communication and education; medium-term actions centred on evidence gathering; and longer-term regulatory interventions.
To ensure the roadmap remains responsive to emerging evidence and evolving priorities, the timelines have been intentionally kept broad. This flexibility is essential to allow the programme to adapt to new challenges or opportunities as they arise. While we have indicative timeframes, i.e. immediate actions are expected to show significant progress within a year, medium-term actions within five years, and longer-term actions will be shaped by the evidence gathered during the medium term, we recognise that agility is key. In particular, the longer-term regulatory actions will require careful consideration of the evidence base as it develops.
Success will be measured through progress against roadmap actions, including delivery of stakeholder engagement, improved guidance, and evidence outputs. In addition, environmental monitoring, led by the relevant UK environment agencies, will track levels of fipronil and imidacloprid in surface waters over time. Collectively, these measures will help assess the effectiveness of stewardship efforts and guide future regulatory decisions.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has considered requiring pet products containing pesticides that are sold off the shelf to the public to provide explicit (a) advice and (b) warnings of their potential impacts on the environment at the point of sale.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is aware of stakeholder concerns regarding veterinary medicines that can be sold without a prescription and are available from general retailers (AVM-GSL distribution category) for some companion animal flea and tick products. A review of this distribution category for these products remains an option that the VMD is considering in order to assess the requirements for advice and environmental warnings at the point of sale.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating that supply staff (a) are paid according to national pay scales and (b) have access to (i) the Teachers' Pension Scheme and (ii) other relevant pension funds.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
A supply teacher’s pay and pension depends on how the supply teacher is employed.
Supply teachers employed directly by a state maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or non-maintained school, the employer can set the rate of pay.
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer, including local authorities, academies and further education colleges.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme. However, eligible supply teachers working via agencies are entitled to workplace pensions.
The department does not have plans at this time to assess the potential benefits of mandating pay or pensions for supply teachers.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of commercial agencies in the supply teaching sector; and whether she plans to provide funding for non-commercial operators in that sector.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers and are best placed to make decisions on this.
The supply market in England is large and diverse. It includes supply pools, direct recruitment and commercial agencies. Although the department does not hold data on the precise number of commercial agencies operating, agencies account for the majority of supply provision to schools.
The department is aware of the concern around agency fees and is working with the Crown Commercial Service on their agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which will be transparent with schools about the rates they charge.
There are currently no plans to provide funding for non-commercial operators in the sector. The department does, however, continue to conduct policy research into the supply market.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many and what proportion of premises have access to gigabit-capable broadband in Cornwall.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
According to the independent website, Thinkbroadband.com, over 71% of premises in Cornwall currently have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Physical Infrastructure Access fees on the rollout of high speed broadband in rural areas.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
For this reason, while we are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of PIA fees on the roll-out of high-speed broadband in rural areas.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support the rollout of high speed broadband in rural areas.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Project Gigabit is the government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. Our goal is for nationwide gigabit coverage by 2032, ensuring at least 99% of UK premises can access a gigabit-capable connection.
More than £2.4 billion of Project Gigabit contracts have already been signed to connect over one million more premises with gigabit-capable broadband. These premises fall predominantly in rural areas.