Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that social workers are trained to deal with (a) domestic violence and (b) the alienation of family members.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The regulator for the social work profession, Social Work England (SWE), sets the professional standards which all social workers must meet throughout their careers. Standard 6 refers to ‘Promote ethical practice and report concerns’ with paragraph 6.1 specifically relating to identifying and reporting abusive behaviour. Standard 1, ‘Promote the rights, strengths and wellbeing of people, families and communities’ paragraph 1.4, relates to recognising the importance of family members.
The providers that deliver Social Work initial education have their courses assured and approved by the regulator against the education and training standards. Course providers must update and design their courses to incorporate new and emerging results from developments in research, legislation, government policy and best practice. Once a social worker is degree qualified, they are expected, as part of the registration renewal process, to evidence ongoing continuous professional development. Provision of continuous professional development for employed social workers is a matter for their employer.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK-India trade deal on ceramics manufacturers.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Department recognises the significant challenges faced by energy-intensive industries like ceramics, including rising global energy costs, unfair trading practices, and carbon leakage. We are taking firm action to protect these industries, including through trade defence measures against dumping and subsidisation. The UK-India FTA also includes a bilateral safeguard mechanism, allowing the UK to suspend or increase tariff concessions if serious injury occurs.
Over 93% of Indian ceramics entered the UK tariff-free in 2024 prior to the FTA conclusion whilst the remaining 7% paid a tariff. 11 of the 43 ceramics tariff lines are dutiable and face a simple average tariff of 4%.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether residential treatment for severe gambling addiction will (a) continue to be funded by his Department after commissioning for treatment services is moved to the NHS and (b) be funded through a statutory gambling levy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In April 2025, the new statutory levy on gambling operators came into effect to fund the research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harm. NHS England and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities continue to work closely together to develop their gambling programmes in their respective roles as treatment and prevention commissioner during this transition year.
NHS England continues to work at pace to take on commissioning responsibility for the full treatment pathway in England, from referral and triage through to aftercare. Evidence- based commissioning decisions will be made to ensure optimal treatment modalities.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered increasing the threshold from which people must pay for their own care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The capital limits and the social care allowance rates are reviewed annually and the rates for 2025/26 were published in the Local Authority Circular in February 2025.
We are launching an independent commission into adult social care later this month as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. It will lead a national conversation to build consensus on what adult social care should achieve, address systemic challenges comprehensively, and chart a clear path toward practical and impactful reform.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
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 (a) keeping records of all incidents in nurseries and (b) making these statistics publicly available.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s priority is to grow high-quality, affordable and flexible education and care for children, whilst ensuring their safety, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
The department is responsible for setting the standards which early years settings such as nurseries must follow, these are set out in the early years foundation stage statutory framework. The department has responsibility for policy on inspection and registration, but how it is implemented is for Ofsted to decide, and to be held to account by Parliament.
Given the sensitivity and quality of the information around incidents, Ofsted does not publish incident data as routine statistics. However, their annual report and accounts include some national level data on notifications that may relate to incidents. This document can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e575d987cebda7c4ca4cde/31795_Ofsted_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2023-24_-_Accessible.pdf.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated for STEM professional development from April 2025; and how teachers will access this funding.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The following programmes are delivering teacher professional development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the 2024/25 academic year.
The Maths Hub Programme, which is supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, provides school-to-school support on subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers of mathematics. The aim is to raise the standard of mathematics education from reception to age 18 and enhance the quality of mathematics teaching through a collaborative national network of mathematics educational professionals. Teachers can access support by contacting their Maths Hub here: https://www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs/find-your-hub/.
The Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP) provides high quality teacher continuing professional development (CPD) and national support to increase participation and attainment in level 3 Maths. Support is provided across all state-funded schools and colleges in England and prioritises areas of greatest need. Teachers can access support through the AMSP website here: https://amsp.org.uk/.
The mathematics and English 16 to 19 further education (FE) workforce grant supports CPD activity targeted at teachers who teach level 2 and below mathematics and English to 16 to 19 year-olds, including GCSEs and Functional Skills Qualifications (FSQs), in FE settings in line with the Condition of Funding policy. The department is currently running a grant competition to secure new providers.
The Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching programme is a series of blended learning courses, offered for free, covering the key stage 3 and key stage 4 physics curriculum to support non-specialist teachers of physics to enhance their subject knowledge. These are delivered and supported by physics specialists who identify eligible schools across England and include face-to-face sessions, online tutorials and independent learning. Teachers may apply to take part through ‘STEM Learning’, which can be found here: https://www.stem.org.uk/.
The National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) supports teachers through the provision of online CPD, as well as other elements such as industry-led outreach events, a revision platform, programmes to encourage more girls into computing and a self-assessment tool for schools to review their computing provision. Further details of the support offered to teachers can be found at: https://teachcomputing.org/.
Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses support recruitment to initial teacher training in hard-to-recruit subjects with funding currently available in the following STEM subjects: chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics. SKE participants benefit from blended courses tailored to their individual needs to meet the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject, which leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status. Details can be found here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/how-to-apply-for-teacher-training/subject-knowledge-enhancement.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
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 increase the allied health professional workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan, which will be published in summer 2025, will deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people, including allied health professionals, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need, when they need it.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting the establishment of a medical evacuation scheme for children in Gaza requiring urgent treatment.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have announced £1 million for the Egyptian Ministry of Health, delivered through World Health Organisation (WHO) Egypt, to support medically evacuated Palestinians from Gaza. Israel must ensure sustained passage through the now open Rafah crossing, for those needing treatment unavailable in Gaza, during the first phase of the ceasefire.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to commission research into new cardiovascular treatments.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government, through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) is committed to funding high quality, timely research that leads to improved outcomes for patients and the public and makes the health and social care system more efficient, effective, and safe. Research evidence is vital for improving treatments and outcomes for people, including those with cardiovascular disease.
The Department is proud to invest £1.5 billion per year on health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Over the past five financial years between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the NIHR has invested £145.4 million on cardiovascular disease and stroke research directly through NIHR research programmes. Our wider investments in NIHR infrastructure, including strengthening specialist facilities, workforce, and support services to enable research in the health and care system, have enabled significant cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke research funded by other funders to take place.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including CVD. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of women’s health hubs on health disparities in the treatment of (a) endometriosis, (b) polycystic ovary syndrome, (c) other menstrual health conditions and (d) other women’s healthcare.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women’s health hubs bring together healthcare professionals and existing services to provide integrated women’s health services in the community, centred on meeting women’s needs across their life course. Hubs have potential to have a positive impact on reducing inequalities in treatment of menstrual health conditions including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham, RAND, and the Cambridge Rapid Evaluation Centre conducted a scoping evaluation of women’s health hubs established between 2001 and 2022. The report was published in September 2024, and it identified reducing inequalities and improving quality of care as key aims of women’s health hub pilots. The report found that hub leaders were committed to reducing inequalities and many were implementing strategies to do so, but noted that evidence on hub benefits was still evolving.
The report highlights that the impact on inequalities could be determined through a set of measures, one of these being diagnosis for conditions such as endometriosis. The report is available at the following link:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/JYFT5036/#/abstract
The Department has invested £25 million over 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the establishment of at least one pilot women’s health hub in every integrated care system, with one of the aims being to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. Care for menstrual problems, including PCOS and endometriosis, is included as a core service for these pilot hubs.