Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has her Department has made of the adequacy of provision of school uniform for children with physical disabilities.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Decisions regarding school uniform policies are the responsibility of school governing boards and they should consider the needs of all pupils when developing their policies on school uniform. To support schools, the department has published non-statutory guidance on developing and implementing their school uniform policy, which includes advice on meeting their equality obligations. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform/school-uniforms.

The guidance states that a school uniform should be inclusive, and we expect schools to be considerate when implementing their policy so that their uniform can be worn by all pupils.

The guidance also states that schools should be willing to allow for some individual variations to their uniform policy, where necessary, to avoid indirect discrimination. For instance, reasonable adjustments must be made, as appropriate, for pupils with a disability.

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 improve service provision for people with sarcoma in Cornwall.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has published a national service specification, covering both bone and soft tissue sarcomas. The specification requires close working between sarcoma services and other National Health Service partners, co-ordinated by Sarcoma Advisory Groups, to improve care pathways.

Work is underway across both bone and soft tissue sarcoma provision to ensure that cancer care providers meet national service standards and improve care to patients across the country, including in Cornwall.

The Government welcomes the recent publication of Sarcoma UK’s sarcoma state of the nation report as it highlights the importance of early diagnosis, care co-ordination across complex pathways, research into new treatments, and survivorship. Our forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out how we will improve outcomes for all cancers, including sarcoma.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Education and Skills Funding Agency plans to publish updated guidance on the conditions under which academy trusts may operate electric vehicle salary-sacrifice schemes.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

New electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes in the public sector are currently paused whilst a cross-government review on these schemes is undertaken. The department will inform academy trusts when a decision has been made, and the academy trust handbookwill be updated accordingly.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to establish (a) accountability and (b) oversight mechanisms for the (i) storage and (ii) use of personal data under future digital identity card policies.

Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Inclusion, usefulness, and security are the principles guiding the new digital ID. The digital ID will draw on the best practice of cyber security from around the world and we have begun engagement with the UK’s leading security experts—including the National Cyber Security Centre.

The digital ID programme will respect all existing UK laws, including GDPR, so that any data sharing is necessary for the purposes of the activity and only the minimum amount of data is shared. We will launch a full public consultation on all these proposals in the new year.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) consent for data sharing and (b) other privacy rights are upheld in the implementation of future digital identity card systems.

Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Inclusion, usefulness, and security are the principles guiding the new digital ID. The digital ID will draw on the best practice of cyber security from around the world and we have begun engagement with the UK’s leading security experts—including the National Cyber Security Centre.

The digital ID programme will respect all existing UK laws, including GDPR, so that any data sharing is necessary for the purposes of the activity and only the minimum amount of data is shared. We will launch a full public consultation on all these proposals in the new year.

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 ensure that pay awards for NHS staff are reflected in general practice settings.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government looks to the independent pay review bodies for a pay recommendation for NHS staff, including both contractor and salaried general practitioners (GPs). They consider a range of evidence from organisations, including the Government, the National Health Service and trade unions to reach their recommendations.

The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) has recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay. As with last year, we accepted the DDRB’s pay recommendation. We have provided an increase to core funding for practices to allow this 4% pay uplift, on top of the provisional 2.8% uplift already provided, to be passed on to salaried and contractor GPs. The additional funding will also allow for pay uplifts for other salaried general practice staff. Information on the funding increase was communicated to practices on 31 July 2025. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/implementing-the-2025-26-gp-contract/

The Government has written to GP Committee England to set out its expectations regarding the extra funding being used to fund uplifts for all staff and a letter to ICBs was published on 31 July, available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/financial-implications-and-actions-for-integrated-care-boards-icbs-following-the-mid-year-updates-to-the-2025-26-gp-contract/

We expect GP contractors to implement pay rises to other practice staff in line with the uplift in funding they have received. As self-employed contractors to the NHS, it is up to general practices how they distribute pay and benefits to their staff.

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 improve managerial support for GPs.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Regarding the oversight of general practices (GPs), GPs are independent businesses, providing primary care services based on a National Health Service GP Contract to their local populations. Most commonly, GPs are run by GP partners who, alongside other GPs and healthcare staff, are responsible for running their own practice.

NHS England has delegated its responsibilities for the direct commissioning of primary care services, for instance primary medical, dental, ophthalmic, and community pharmacy services, to integrated care boards (ICBs).

The responsibilities delegated are set out in the standard delegation agreement between NHS England and each ICB. This includes contractual management and supporting the improvement and transformation of services. Further information on the delegation agreement is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/publication/delegation-of-primary-medical-dental-ophthalmic-and-pharmaceutical-functions/#heading-1

We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in general practice to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest cash increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP contract in 2025/26 is greater than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole and reflects this government’s commitment to improve support for general practice and ease pressure on general practitioners.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of tidal stream technologies to his Department's clean energy targets.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan acknowledges that whilst emerging renewable technologies, such as tidal stream, are expected to play a limited role in the 2030 energy mix, our ability to deploy at scale could be important to the U K ’s achievement of longer-term decarbonisation objectives.

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