Navendu Mishra

There is no central policy, across the Civil Service, which provides time-off to donate (a) blood and (b) plasma.

Departments can provide employees with time off to donate blood and plasma.

The Competition and Markets Authority has a general duty to monitor the effectiveness of the Controlled Land Order. This includes regularly assessing whether any grocery retailers meet the criteria for designation that are outlined in the Order. The CMA is in the process of carrying out its latest assessment. Government will continue to work closely with the CMA following its assessment to determine the best way forward.

The law is clear: if you are a UK-based worker, you are entitled to rights under UK employment law, regardless of where your employer is based.

HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of DBT. It considers all complaints from workers and where it finds underpayment orders employers to pay workers their money back, and a penalty to government. Since the minimum wage was introduced, the Government has overseen the repayment of over £186 million to 1.5 million workers, issued over £100 million in financial penalties and completed over 90,000 investigations.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has powers to take compliance action against employers who are found not to be paying employer pensions contributions, including, where necessary, through court action. The Pensions Ombudsman will consider complaints from individuals and award compensation when appropriate.

The Employment Rights Bill will create the Fair Work Agency to bring together employment rights enforcement. This body will provide better support for employers to comply with the law and will have powers to take tough action against the minority who flout it.

The Government has committed to establishing a new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector, empowering worker representatives and employer representatives to negotiate fair pay and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country. Sport England, the Government’s Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, is committed to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for disabled people and improving their access to sport facilities.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level with funding levels set by MHCLG as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.

On 20 June 2025, the Culture Secretary announced that following the Spending Review, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will now work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.

The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone. Sport England, the Government’s Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, is committed to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for all underserved communities, including disabled people, and those from lower socioeconomic groups.

Sport England's Movement Fund invests over £20 million of Lottery and Exchequer funding every year to help people play sport and take part in physical activity. The Movement Fund prioritises projects that give opportunities to least active groups, including disabled people and those with long-term health conditions. Sport England also has partnerships with organisations such as Disability Rights UK, Activity Alliance, Aspire, and Sense, to help more disabled people get active.

The Government also recognises that the barriers which disabled people face around improving their physical and mental health are often compounded by socioeconomic factors. To address this, the Government is investing £100 million in 2024-25 through the Multi Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme to build and upgrade high-quality grassroots sports pitches and facilities in the communities across the UK that need it most. The Multi Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme’s aims include regular, weekly use by under-represented groups, including disabled people, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate.

On 20 June 2025, the Culture Secretary announced that following the Spending Review, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to ensure disabled people from lower socioeconomic groups are at the heart of plans to help more people get physically active.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport regularly engages with the Secretary of State for Education on a range of issues, including school sport.

The Government is committed to protecting time for physical education in schools. The ongoing independent expert-led review of the curriculum will ensure that all children can engage with a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the National Governing Body for cricket, has committed to making the sport as inclusive as possible for children and young people through their new strategy and state school action plan. I have also seen the work of their charitable arm, Chance to Shine, to encourage more children to take up cricket, at the Mill Academy in Worsbrough last year.

We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million of National Lottery and government money. The ECB receives £10.2 million funding from Sport England across up to five years to help deliver strategic objectives, including tackling inequalities and improving access to sport.

The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, are able to participate in sport and physical activity.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.

This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the National Governing Body for cricket, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives. This includes programmes such as Chance to Shine, that will benefit everyone, including disabled people, women and girls and older people. ECB Cricket youth programmes such as All Stars and Dynamos also provide fun and engaging ways for young women and girls to engage in inclusive cricket.

We look forward to hosting the Women's T20 World Cup in 2026. By supporting the ECB to host major events such as the World Cup, the Government is committed to making sure that women and girls have clear routes to see elite female athletes compete at the highest level which is key to inspiring and engaging fans and players now and into the future.

Sustainability of local journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government, including in Greater Manchester and the North West of England. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.

We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops, and we recently held a roundtable discussion with local news editors from across the country, including from Manchester Evening news, to discuss our planned approach and explore further collaboration on the Strategy. We will announce further details in due course.

The government will provide approximately £1.4 billion in funding for the adult skills fund in the 2025/26 academic year. This includes funding the ‘Free courses for jobs’ offer, which gives eligible adults the chance to access high value level 3 qualifications for free, which can support them to gain higher wages or a better job.

The government will also support learners through our technical education offer, including through a range of apprenticeships and Skills Bootcamps. Our new levy-funded growth and skills offer will introduce greater flexibility to employers and learners in England.

From September 2026, learners will be able to apply for funding from the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), which will be the new student finance system for courses and modules starting from January 2027 onwards. The LLE will allow people to develop new skills and gain new qualifications across their working lives, at a time that is right for them, such as those returning from a career break.

The government announced a £40 million package to trial a new kinship allowance. The pilot will begin in autumn 2025 and the department will evaluate the pilot to build an evidence base on how best to deliver financial support for kinship families. We will confirm the process for selecting local authorities taking part in the pilot in due course.

On 5 March 2025 the department gave details of 16 to 19 funding which meant that it will be spending over £400 million more on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year. This represents over £100 million more than the £300 million announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 and aims to ensure enough funding is available given the very significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system. Further guidance on how 16 to 19 funding will work in the 2025/26 academic year can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-information-for-2025-to-2026.

The government has agreed that public sector employers will receive support in recognition of the increase in their National Insurance contributions from April 2025. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by public sector entities.

Independent training providers will benefit from the 3.78% increase to all the national funding rates for students on 16 to 19 study programmes and T Levels in the 2025/26 academic year.

The overall core schools budget is increasing by £3.2 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, meaning the core schools budget will total over £64.8 billion compared to almost £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This includes the £2.3 billion announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 and over £930 million being provided to support schools and high needs settings with the increases to employer National Insurance contributions from April 2025.

In Stockport local authority for the 2025/26 financial year, average funding per pupil through the mainstream schools dedicated schools grant (DSG) is increasing by 3% compared to 2024/25. Stockport is seeing a funding increase above the national average per pupil funding increase of 2.15%.

Funding allocations for the 2026/27 financial year will be confirmed following the spending review process.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Prime Minister announced that we will be publishing an animal welfare strategy later this year.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 sets out strict requirements to protect the welfare of animals at the time of killing, including male chicks from the egg production sector. Permitted killing methods for chicks, such as gas stunning and maceration, are based on scientific research and assessment to ensure birds are spared any avoidable pain, distress, or suffering. In recent years there has been rapid global progress in the development of technologies that allow chicks to be sexed in-ovo (within the egg), and we welcome the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.

The EA continues to evaluate scientific evidence, develop new testing methodologies for TFA, and refine its monitoring approach. Future recommendations may involve expanded data collection and updated regulation.

Under the previous Government, a small number of cases of contamination of drinking water have been discovered in which water from toilet cisterns re-entered (or backflowed into) a building’s drinking water system. The water industry and the Bathroom Manufacturers Association set up a task and finish group to identify the issues, review relevant technical specifications, and suggest solutions. Defra considered the proposals and consulted on amendments (which include a new AUK4 specification).

We are finalising the summary of responses from the consultation and the government response to them and will consider approval of the new and updated specifications in due course.

A range of representatives from the food sector and NGOs were invited to sit on the Food Strategy Advisory Board. We kept it deliberately small, whilst reflecting the scope of the food supply chain.

The Board represents the first step in a wider stakeholder engagement strategy which will continue to ensure and demonstrate the joined-up and systems-wide approach for the food strategy. There is huge expertise, energy and commitment to work towards better food system outcomes, and all stakeholders need to be part of the solution. There will be multiple routes to share ideas as part of the co-design process in 2025 – we say more on this soon.

Natural flood management (NFM) is a key part of our approach to mitigating flood risk and provides wider benefits for the environment and society, such as carbon reduction, environmental enhancement, improving water quality and water resources.

The floods investment programme delivers a range of schemes, including NFM. In addition, the Government’s ongoing investment in the environment will also support NFM measures.

The Government inherited an outdated funding formula for allocating money to proposed flood defences. Established in 2011, the existing formula slows down the delivery of new flood schemes through a complex application process and also neglects more innovative approaches to flood management such as NFM and sustainable drainage. A consultation will be launched this spring which will include a review of the existing formula.

The tranche 1 fibre commitment for Project Reach of 1000km includes the rail route Manchester–Crewe–Stafford which runs via Stockport.

Stockport station is not currently included in the initial list of 12 NR managed stations identified for improvements to mobile coverage. However, there could be scope to include this as part of the flexible interventions once the priority stations and tunnels have been delivered.

The Department meets with Avanti West Coast (AWC) regularly to discuss issues impacting passengers, such as this and to ensure they are addressed as soon as possible.  The Rail Minister will also make sure that AWC arranges a meeting with you directly to discuss improvements that can be made for passengers.

AWC is responsible for day-to-day management of Stockport Station, including facilities management and cleaning. To help monitor performance and drive high standards of customer experience, the Department requires train operators to employ the Service Quality Regime, which consists of regular inspections of the condition and availability of assets such as toilets, as well as the cleanliness of stations and trains. Responsibility for repairs to the structure of the property lies with the station’s landlord, Network Rail.  AWC works with Network Rail seeking improvements on behalf of passengers where this is required.

Responsibility for repairs to the structure of the property lies with the station’s landlord, Network Rail.  AWC works with Network Rail, seeking improvements on behalf of passengers where this is required.

This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

In May 2024, the previous government selected 50 stations for initial feasibility work for potential upgrades as part of our Access for All programme. This included Bredbury, Flowery Field and Newton for Hyde stations in Greater Manchester. Those progressing to design phase will be announced shortly.

Northern has acknowledged to passengers and the Government that its current performance is not acceptable. The organisation has developed and is beginning to implement a performance improvement programme to create the modern, flexible organisation which can deliver reliable service and a customer-focussed seven-day railway.

Resolving Sunday working arrangements with RMT conductors is central to this. We are encouraging Northern and RMT to continue their discussions, so that passengers in the North can return to a reliable Sunday service. We are watching closely to make sure this work continues at pace.

This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

In May 2024, the previous government selected 50 stations for initial feasibility work for potential upgrades as part of our Access for All programme. This did not include Heaton Chapel railway station.

Given the acute funding pressures on capital investments, any sources of funding that can be identified locally, for example from s106 monies, would also be a way of bringing accessibility at this station further forward.

When a young person becomes an apprentice, they are in work and no longer regarded as a child or qualifying young person for Child Benefit or Universal Credit child element purposes, even though they might still live with their parents or guardians.

Education or training provided by means of a contract of employment (which includes apprenticeships) does not count as education or training for the purposes of satisfying the definition of a qualifying young person. The parent or guardian will no longer be entitled to Child Benefit or Universal Credit child element for the young person in these circumstances.

In the case of waged apprentices under the age of 19, employers are required to pay a minimum wage of £7.55 an hour, and many tend to pay more as young people develop their skills. A young person working 35 hours a week on a waged apprenticeship should therefore earn no less than £264.25 each week.

Depending on age and the number of hours undertaken on the apprenticeship, the young person may be able to claim Universal Credit in their own right.

No assessment has been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

Impacts of the proposed changes depend on many factors including how the mix of conditions among claimants evolves over time, and behavioural responses. These impacts are uncertain at an overall England and Wales level, and it would not be possible to make an informed assessment at such a granular level as individual primary medical conditions.

There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years.

We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis, but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.

We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment which I will lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government. The Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy looking 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 Government

The Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and ensuring the voices of families and children with experience of poverty are brought into policy thinking and decision making as part of the development of the Child Poverty Strategy. This includes three key stands of work – a Parents and Carers Forum, engagement with the Changing Realities Project and research with children and young people.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April to boost the pay of three million workers.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted and complex, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

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.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.

The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, 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.

The numbers of children living in low income families before housing costs by local areas are published annually in the Children in Low Income Families Publication, available here: Children in low income families: local area statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

In 2022/23, 9,973 children aged under 16 (17.6% of all children aged under 16) were in relative poverty before housing costs (BHC) in Stockport.

In 2022/23, 179,814 children aged under 16 (30.4% of all children aged under 16) were in relative poverty before housing costs (BHC) in Greater Manchester.

We expect integrated care boards to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The NICE’s Fertility problems: assessment and treatment guideline recommends that the standard for the best outcome is offering three cycles of in vitro fertilisation for women aged between 22 and 39 years old, and one cycle for women aged 40 to 42 years old. NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to National Health Service funded treatment are still appropriate.

In the light of broader pressures on the NHS and on-going changes within NHS England, we have been looking again at achievable ambitions to improve access to fertility services and fairness for all affected couples.

While not specifically in relation to the Civil Society Covenant, Department of Health and Social Care officials have engaged with officials from across the Government, including at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to align resources and efforts across the Government in relation to the next HIV Action Plan for England.

Collaboration is at the core of the next action plan, which we aim to publish this year, and we are therefore engaging a wide range of system partners in its development, including people with lived experience, the voluntary and community sector (VCS), professional bodies, and local partners, amongst others.

We recently hosted engagement sessions with approximately 60 VCS and external partners to discuss what the next action plan should look like, though the Civil Society Covenant has not been discussed specifically. Professor Kevin Fenton, the Government’s Chief Advisor on HIV, has also hosted a series of engagement workshops, with approximately 250 system partners, including the VCS, industry, primary care, and integrated care board colleagues, to inform our plan.

There are no current plans to collect and publish regional data on the average waiting time for patients with Parkinson’s disease to undergo their first neurology appointment following referral.

We have no plans to review the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate.

The Department is not aware of a supply issue affecting Produodopa.

The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information on stock levels within Stockport and Greater Manchester is not held centrally.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.

NICE has recommended Produodopa, also known as foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's with motor symptoms. This treatment should now be available to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.

Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care. Prescribers must always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and that they take account of appropriate national guidance.