Shivani Raja

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is implementing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act which strengthens consumer law enforcement by giving the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new administrative powers, and the CMA and courts the ability to impose significant monetary penalties of up to 10% of turnover.

The DMCC Act also bans the buying, selling, and publishing of fake reviews, and restates existing prohibitions on misleading consumers in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008).

DBT also funds Citizens Advice to provide the consumer service which supports consumers to resolve disputes and assert their rights.

Our sanctions are designed to minimise impact on the UK and avoid unintended consequences. We have sought to minimise the impact on businesses through implementing appropriate exceptions, specific export licences where appropriate, and wind-down periods when some sanctions are introduced. We have also published impact assessments alongside all Russia sanctions legislation.

The Department for Business and Trade does not provide financial support in relation to sanctions. Where possible, we have sought to minimise the impact on businesses through implementing appropriate exceptions, specific export licences where appropriate, and wind-down periods when some sanctions are introduced. UK businesses can access a wealth of online export support via Great.gov.uk and one-to-one support from International Trade Advisers.

The potential impact of the proposed changes through the right to guaranteed hours, the right to advance notice of shifts and the right to payment for short notice shift cancellation, curtailment or movement are set out in the Government’s Impact Assessments. These are published at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments.

All employers must comply with their legal obligations to ensure those they engage receive the rights and protections to which they are entitled.

Entitlement to employment rights is determined by an individual’s employment status. Private hire drivers can fall under any one of the three statuses: employee, limb (b) worker, or self-employed.

We have committed to consult on moving towards a simpler two-part framework that differentiates between workers and the genuinely self-employed.

If individuals believe they are not being afforded the rights they are entitled to, they can contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service for free and impartial advice.

Annex O of the Energy and Emission Projections [1] presents Net Zero consistent scenarios for the power sector, including estimates of the low carbon power sources required to ensure security of supply out to 2050.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6464ac150b72d30013344604/annex-o-net-zero-power-sector-scenarios.pdf

The Government has kickstarted delivery of the Warm Homes Plan, including an initial £1.8 billion to support fuel poverty schemes over the next 3 years. We are also reviewing the 2021 fuel poverty strategy. Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund in England to support social housing providers and tenants, alongside a new Warm Homes: Local Grant to help low-income homeowners and private tenants in England are expected to start delivery this year.

Current targeted schemes include the Energy Company Obligation, the Great British Insulation Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and the Home Upgrade Grant. Additionally, the Warm Home Discount provides £150 off bills to over 3 million low-income households.

We are committed to working with all international counterparts to transition away from fossil fuels, in line with the UK’s domestic and international commitments including from the COP28 Global Stocktake.

Changes have been introduced to permitted development rights, enabling more solar installations to benefit from the flexibilities and planning freedoms permitted development rights offer. This includes a new permitted development right that allows for the installation of solar canopies in non-domestic, off-street, car parks.

For non-domestic rooftop solar, the 1MW cap was removed so that there is no limit on the electricity generated by solar installations.

Our Warm Homes Plan will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out low carbon heating like solar and heat pumps.

DCMS is committed to the inclusion of young people in civil society, particularly through youth social action and youth voice. DCMS funds the direct youth participation programme #iwill, which supports young people to engage in social action in their communities. DCMS also encourages participation through other funded programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh and the Uniformed Youth Fund. We are developing a National Youth Strategy and this is an opportunity to look afresh at youth participation in volunteering and civil society.

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child to access high-quality sport and physical activity, especially those who are less likely to be active. The majority of our funding for grassroots sport is through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year to improve opportunities for local communities to access sport, including children and young people. The Government has also confirmed funding for the School Games Organisers network up to the end of the Financial Year 25/26, which provides over 2 million opportunities for school children to engage in local and inclusive sporting competitions across 40 different sports and activities.

I note that the honourable member is asking us to spend more money and would be grateful if they could advise me on which other budget should be cut or tax should be commensurately increased. There is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports historic places of worship. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who have committed to investing around £100m between 2023 and 2026 to support places of worship; the Churches Conservation Trust, which funds repairs and maintenance of over 350 churches in the CCT portfolio; and Historic England's Heritage At Risk grants, funding £9 million worth of repairs to buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register between April 2024 and March 2025.

At the recent Budget, the government took a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the foundations of the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability.

DCMS Ministers have met with representatives from the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector to discuss this issue and are aware of their concerns about the impacts of the increase to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that more than half of businesses (including charities) with NICs liabilities will either gain or see no change next year.

We are also expanding eligibility of the Employment Allowance by removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold, to simplify and reform employer NICs so that all eligible employers now benefit. Businesses and charities will still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under 21s and under 25 apprentices, where eligible.

Within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving. More than £6 billion in charitable reliefs was provided to charities, Community Amateur Sports Clubs and their donors in 2023 to 2024. The biggest individual reliefs provided are Gift Aid at £1.6 billion and business rates relief at nearly £2.4 billion.

According to Sport England’s Active Places database, there are 53,665 grass football pitches in England. This encompasses adult football, junior football 11 a-side, junior football 9 a-side, mini soccer 7 a-side and mini soccer 5 a-side pitches. Furthermore there are also 3,013 artificial full-size grass pitches and 4,419 small-sided artificial grass pitches in England.

There are 9,057 grass cricket pitches in England.

The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport.

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 that will benefit everyone, including disabled people, women and girls and older people. Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has also inspired millions of women and girls to get active, including through cricket.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has special educational needs (SEN), receives the support they need. The SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.

We are committed to improving expertise and inclusivity in mainstream schools.

This includes building a robust and credible evidence base on what works to drive inclusive education. To support this, an Expert Advisory Group for inclusion has been established, led by Tom Rees, that consists of experts across the SEND sector.

Following the 2024 Autumn Budget, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND, including those in mainstream schools, to over £12 billion. Of that total, Leicester City Council is being allocated over £88 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £6.6 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.

This government recognises the value of lifelong learning and the department is investing in education and skills training for adults through the adult skills fund (ASF).

Currently, approximately 62% of the ASF is devolved to nine Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers. The department is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas.

In non-devolved areas, learners in receipt of a low wage are eligible for full funding, which directly supports social mobility. The ASF also funds Learner Support, which provides assistance to learners with specific financial hardships.

The department has also committed to introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), a transformation to the existing higher education student finance system. The LLE will launch in the 2026/27 academic year for learners studying courses starting on or after 1 January 2027.

Under the LLE, new learners will be able to access a full entitlement equal to 4 years of full-time tuition. Learners will be able to use this new entitlement to fund individual modules as well as full courses at levels 4 to 6.

It is a mandatory requirement for maintained schools and academies to teach religious education (RE) to all pupils throughout all key stages up to age 18. RE is inspected by Ofsted as part of their assessment of a school’s curriculum, as set out in the school inspection handbook. In schools with a designated religious character, schools will receive an inspection of RE provision from their religious body.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review Group has now published a well-evidenced, clear interim report, which sets out its findings and confirms the key areas for further work. The review will be looking in greater detail at all curriculum subjects, including RE, within the next phase, proceeding on the basis of ‘evolution not revolution’. Any subject-specific findings and recommendations will be included in the final report, which will be published in the autumn.

RE is an important subject that should provide pupils with an opportunity to learn about a wide range of religious and non-religious beliefs. RE should help pupils to better understand the values and traditions of different religious communities.

When teaching RE, schools should consider how their curriculum can develop social skills and empathy, as well as equip children and young people with the skills for living and working in a diverse society. For older pupils, RE should also focus on developing skills that are useful in a wide range of careers and adult life, in particular the skills of critical enquiry, creative problem-solving and communication.

It is a mandatory requirement for maintained schools and academies to teach religious education (RE) to all pupils throughout all key stages up to age 18. RE is inspected by Ofsted as part of their assessment of a school’s curriculum, as set out in the school inspection handbook. In schools with a designated religious character, schools will receive an inspection of RE provision from their religious body.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review Group has now published a well-evidenced, clear interim report, which sets out its findings and confirms the key areas for further work. The review will be looking in greater detail at all curriculum subjects, including RE, within the next phase, proceeding on the basis of ‘evolution not revolution’. Any subject-specific findings and recommendations will be included in the final report, which will be published in the autumn.

RE is an important subject that should provide pupils with an opportunity to learn about a wide range of religious and non-religious beliefs. RE should help pupils to better understand the values and traditions of different religious communities.

When teaching RE, schools should consider how their curriculum can develop social skills and empathy, as well as equip children and young people with the skills for living and working in a diverse society. For older pupils, RE should also focus on developing skills that are useful in a wide range of careers and adult life, in particular the skills of critical enquiry, creative problem-solving and communication.

The department has made no estimate of the number of pupils in individual local authority areas who will leave the independent school system as a result of VAT on school fees. With regard to England, the government predicts that in the long-term steady state, there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private sector in the UK as a result of the removal of the VAT exemption applied to school fees. This represents around 6% of the current private school population.

​​Of the expected 37,000-pupil reduction in the private sector, the government estimates an increase of 35,000 pupils in the state sector in the steady state following the VAT policy taking effect, with the other 2,000 consisting of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling. This state sector increase represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over nine million. This movement is expected to take place over several years.

The impact on the state education system as a whole is expected to be very small. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help raise revenue to drive forward the change the government is committed to delivering for the 94% of pupils who attend state schools.

​The impact on individual local authorities will interact with other pressures and vary.

​Every year many pupils move between schools, including between the private and state-funded sectors. Local authorities routinely support parents who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed. Where local authorities are experiencing difficulties in ensuring there are enough school places for children that need them, the department will offer support and advice.

​​The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools. The department has already confirmed nearly £1.5 billion of allocations to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current, and next two, academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026, including just under £9.7 million for Leicester City Council.

Given their inherent nature, many parts of the water and wastewater value chain are subject to natural monopolies where there is limited scope for competition in the market – meaning there is a risk companies will not deliver the services their customers want or charge higher prices to increase their profits.

As monopoly service providers, it is important that water companies are held to account on poor performance and drive improvements that benefit customers and the environment. Ofwat, as the independent regulator, has the statutory duty to hold water companies to account for the delivery of affordable, secure, and resilient water services; protecting the interests of consumers whilst ensuring the companies properly carry out and finance their statutory functions.

Furthermore, the Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, was launched in October 2024 by the UK and Welsh Governments to recommend reforms to reset the water sector regulatory system. On 27 February, the Commission launched a wide-ranging Call for Evidence which is open for views from all interested parties until 23 April. The Call for Evidence covers many areas, including consumer protection, the environment and public health. The Commission will make its final recommendations to both UK and Welsh Governments this summer.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The use of cages for laying hens is an issue we are currently considering very carefully. The Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare Grant was recently offered to commercial laying hen and pullet keepers in England. It supports these farmers to improve the health, welfare, and productivity of their flocks through access to grants toward the cost of upgrading their housing. Applications closed on the 18 September 2024 and we will be writing to all applicants shortly to notify them of next steps.

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. This Government will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.

During recent flooding, the Environment Agency has been operating flood assets and working with local partners across England to prevent and reduce the severity of the flooding.

In Leicester, the Environment Agency will continue to deploy officers to affected communities to assess the impacts of flooding to properties and businesses. It will also continue to work with the local resilience forum to identify further opportunities to reduce flood risk in Leicestershire and support the resilience of communities to flooding.

There are no plans to activate Defra's Property Flood Resilience grant scheme as the current scale of flooding has not met the threshold for its activation. Local Authorities should have contingencies in place for flooding and be able to provide support through their normal mechanisms.

Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector in Great Britain. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to produce a report on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The AWC report will add to our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.

Ofwat monitors the financial position of all water companies, taking action when needed to strengthen company’s long-term financial resilience and producing an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.

Ofwat has also strengthened its powers to improve financial resilience, including stopping water companies paying dividends where financial resilience is compromised and preventing customers funding executive bonuses where companies do not meet performance expectations.

Furthermore, the Water (Special Measures) Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

And finally, on 23 October, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Welsh Government, launched an Independent Commission on the water sector regulatory system. The commission aims to build consensus for a resilient and innovative water sector and a robust wider regulatory framework that will deliver long-term benefits and ultimately serve both customers and the environment.