Steve Darling

It is crucial that we ensure everyone is treated fairly when accessing services, so that they can thrive and reach their full potential, including people with disabilities.

We believe that the Equality Act 2010 is effective in ensuring service providers make anticipatory reasonable adjustments to facilitate access for people with disabilities and where they do not, it offers a means of redress. The way it operates is kept under review, and the EHRC’s Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations, is under consultation currently.

The government is committed to ensuring that the Civil Service workforce operates across the country, including in the South West, to improve policy making and outcomes for UK citizens.

The Government recognises the challenges and worry facing parents whose babies are admitted to neonatal care; we will set out more information on our plans in this area shortly.

The Government is committed to reviewing the parental leave system so that it best supports working families.

The Government greatly values kinship carers who care for children who cannot live with their parents. The Government has committed in the Plan to Make Work Pay to review the system of parental leave to ensure that it best supports all working families. We will set out more information in due course

In relation to legal safeguarding, the Law Commission will carry out a review into the legal statuses and orders for kinship carers, to ensure that the legislative framework is fair, modern, and meets the needs of its users.

The UK has worked closely with international partners to constrain Russian oil revenues while maintaining energy market security. The Government does not speculate on future sanctions measures as to do so could reduce their impact. We continue to monitor the effectiveness of our sanctions.

The Government has no current plans to change the approach to Daylight Savings.

Impacts of proposed offshore wind developments on affected stakeholders, including fishers, is considered during the development consent process. The Government encourages offshore wind developers and the fishing industry to discuss potential impacts at an early stage.

In cases where there have been monetary settlements for disruption or displacement, these have been agreed on an individual project basis between the offshore wind developer and the affected fishers.

Digital inclusion is a priority for this Government and we have already set up a Digital Inclusion and Skills Unit to ensure that everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to engage in our modern digital society, whatever their circumstances.

This country has been without a digital inclusion strategy for 10 years, and during that time other countries have leapt ahead of us. This Government is determined that that will no longer be the case. I hope to say more on this soon.

Parliament legislated for a registration scheme for short-term lets in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, and we are committed to introducing such a scheme as soon as possible.

We will soon publish the government’s response to the 2023 consultation on how the scheme will work and on the legislative process that will bring the scheme to life.

Volunteering is critical to a vibrant and resilient civil society; it benefits volunteers and the organisations involving them and has transformational impacts on local communities. Government undertakes a range of policy work to enable as many people to volunteer as possible, from developing the wider volunteering ecosystem to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to take part, to supporting the sustainability of the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector.

This Government recognises the vital role that civil society plays in supporting volunteering, and is committed to resetting the relationship with civil society. Government understands the need to treat civil society as an equal, expert partner who is integral to the delivery of the Government’s vision for national renewal. The first step in rebuilding that relationship is going to be the co-creation of the recently announced Civil Society Covenant.

We currently support people to volunteer nationally through a range of programmes. These include the Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) Fund, an up to £30 million funding package running until March 2025, designed to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England.

We also provide funding to the #iwill Fund, a £66 million joint investment between DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund, running since 2016, which supports the creation of new opportunities to engage young people in volunteering and community engagement in their local areas.

The Department does not allocate funds to Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) directly, but has allocated £7.15 million in core funding to its arm’s-length body VisitEngland, plus £1.35 million for destination management organisations; and VisitEngland has accredited Devon and partners which can apply for VisitBritain/VisitEngland grant funding programmes.

Short-term lets are an integral part of what the UK has to offer visitors. They can bring a range of benefits to local and national economies, but communities in tourism
destinations, particularly coastal and rural communities, must be able to reap the benefit of thriving tourism without losing the spirit of their community when the holiday season ends.

Parliament legislated for a registration scheme for short-term lets in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 and we are working on precisely how to implement that statutory
requirement.

This new government will be mission-led, with the Opportunity Mission building opportunities for all by giving every child the best start in life, helping them achieve and thrive, build skills for opportunity and growth and ensure family security.

Building skills for opportunity and growth is key to the Opportunity Mission. The department will ensure every young person around the country, including in coastal areas, can follow the pathway that is right for them. Whether built through high quality apprenticeships, colleges or universities, skills give people the power to progress into good jobs and seize opportunity. We will support the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, regardless of their background, where they live and their personal circumstances. Opportunity should be available to all, and it is our aspiration that no groups are left behind.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) support the department’s long term priority to drive local economic growth by reshaping the skills system to better align provision of post-16 technical education and training with local labour market needs and to support learners to gain the skills they need to get good jobs.

Over 50% (20 out of 38) of LSIP areas have coastal towns and communities within their geographies and in these areas, the designated employer representative body leading the LSIP may have engaged with coastal industry businesses and businesses and supply chain links operationally based in coastal towns and communities, as well as relevant local leaders and national sector and trade bodies.

For example, the Dorset LSIP has identified skills gaps within the marine industry and is in consultation with local providers around the introduction of Level 3 Marine Electrician and Marine Engineer Apprenticeships. These qualifications would help to resolve skills and labour shortages in coastal areas and build clusters of expertise in priority local industries.

A Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) was introduced to support local action. For example, the Cornwall and Isle of Scilly LSIP identified a need to improve sustainability skills in the local construction sector. As a result, Truro and Penwith College received £1.07 million to fund the development of a Level 3 Design, Installation and Commissioning of Electrical Energy Storage Systems, as well as the development of an industry-led Higher Technical Qualification for Construction in Cornwall.

In the South West there are a number of colleges within coastal locations or who are close enough to readily attract learners from coastal areas. All colleges have specialisms to complement a general offer delivering programmes from foundation level through levels 1 to 3 and then, in most cases, offering higher education provision. Further education colleges often work in partnership with key employers and stakeholders to ensure specialist provision meets local and regional need.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, an expert in education policy, including curriculum and social inequality. The review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve, in particular those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disabilities.

The department has collected termly data from local authorities concerning their cohorts of home-educated children since autumn 2022.

The most recent published data shows an estimated 92,000 children in home education in October 2023, a rise of around 12,000 from the previous year. The most common reasons for home education are religious, philosophical, mental health and dissatisfaction with schools. The department has used this data to analyse trends in the growth and motivations behind parents opting to home-educate. This analysis has helped to identify impacts on the school system and local authority resources. For instance, in relation to numbers of school attendance orders issued and types of support offered to home-educating families. It also enables the department to better understand the educational journeys of these children.

The government provides funding through the local government financial settlement, enabling local authorities to carry out their duties toward children not on a school roll. This includes overlap with children’s social care teams, whose work includes those children not in school and their safeguarding.

The government’s elective home education guidance contains information about safeguarding children, as well as the principles of a suitable education. This guidance should be read in conjunction with other documents such as ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The department’s elective home education guidance is currently under review following a consultation and an updated version will be published in due course.

The department’s guidance is clear that parents who choose to home-educate are responsible for the costs of doing so. When a child who is moved into home education has an education, health and care plan, it is the local authority's duty to ensure that the educational provision set out in that plan is provided to the child, unless the child’s parents have arranged for them to receive a suitable education in some other way, in which the responsibility for the educational provision rests with the parents.

The government is committed to a system of registration of children who are not in school, including those who are home-educated. It intends to introduce this system as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as announced in this year’s King’s Speech. Registers will aid local authorities in their duties to identify those children who are receiving their education otherwise than at school and ensure that those children are receiving a suitable education.

The statutory requirements to maintain registers and provide data to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will ensure the department obtains more robust and thorough data on home education issues that will further inform policy development and identification of those children who most need support. The measures in the Bill will include a requirement on local authorities to provide support to those home educating families who request it. A full new burdens assessment will be conducted in anticipation of the measures coming into force, to ensure that local authorities are equipped with the training and resources needed to comply with these new duties.

The department has collected termly data from local authorities concerning their cohorts of home-educated children since autumn 2022.

The most recent published data shows an estimated 92,000 children in home education in October 2023, a rise of around 12,000 from the previous year. The most common reasons for home education are religious, philosophical, mental health and dissatisfaction with schools. The department has used this data to analyse trends in the growth and motivations behind parents opting to home-educate. This analysis has helped to identify impacts on the school system and local authority resources. For instance, in relation to numbers of school attendance orders issued and types of support offered to home-educating families. It also enables the department to better understand the educational journeys of these children.

The government provides funding through the local government financial settlement, enabling local authorities to carry out their duties toward children not on a school roll. This includes overlap with children’s social care teams, whose work includes those children not in school and their safeguarding.

The government’s elective home education guidance contains information about safeguarding children, as well as the principles of a suitable education. This guidance should be read in conjunction with other documents such as ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The department’s elective home education guidance is currently under review following a consultation and an updated version will be published in due course.

The department’s guidance is clear that parents who choose to home-educate are responsible for the costs of doing so. When a child who is moved into home education has an education, health and care plan, it is the local authority's duty to ensure that the educational provision set out in that plan is provided to the child, unless the child’s parents have arranged for them to receive a suitable education in some other way, in which the responsibility for the educational provision rests with the parents.

The government is committed to a system of registration of children who are not in school, including those who are home-educated. It intends to introduce this system as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as announced in this year’s King’s Speech. Registers will aid local authorities in their duties to identify those children who are receiving their education otherwise than at school and ensure that those children are receiving a suitable education.

The statutory requirements to maintain registers and provide data to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will ensure the department obtains more robust and thorough data on home education issues that will further inform policy development and identification of those children who most need support. The measures in the Bill will include a requirement on local authorities to provide support to those home educating families who request it. A full new burdens assessment will be conducted in anticipation of the measures coming into force, to ensure that local authorities are equipped with the training and resources needed to comply with these new duties.

The department has collected termly data from local authorities concerning their cohorts of home-educated children since autumn 2022.

The most recent published data shows an estimated 92,000 children in home education in October 2023, a rise of around 12,000 from the previous year. The most common reasons for home education are religious, philosophical, mental health and dissatisfaction with schools. The department has used this data to analyse trends in the growth and motivations behind parents opting to home-educate. This analysis has helped to identify impacts on the school system and local authority resources. For instance, in relation to numbers of school attendance orders issued and types of support offered to home-educating families. It also enables the department to better understand the educational journeys of these children.

The government provides funding through the local government financial settlement, enabling local authorities to carry out their duties toward children not on a school roll. This includes overlap with children’s social care teams, whose work includes those children not in school and their safeguarding.

The government’s elective home education guidance contains information about safeguarding children, as well as the principles of a suitable education. This guidance should be read in conjunction with other documents such as ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The department’s elective home education guidance is currently under review following a consultation and an updated version will be published in due course.

The department’s guidance is clear that parents who choose to home-educate are responsible for the costs of doing so. When a child who is moved into home education has an education, health and care plan, it is the local authority's duty to ensure that the educational provision set out in that plan is provided to the child, unless the child’s parents have arranged for them to receive a suitable education in some other way, in which the responsibility for the educational provision rests with the parents.

The government is committed to a system of registration of children who are not in school, including those who are home-educated. It intends to introduce this system as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as announced in this year’s King’s Speech. Registers will aid local authorities in their duties to identify those children who are receiving their education otherwise than at school and ensure that those children are receiving a suitable education.

The statutory requirements to maintain registers and provide data to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will ensure the department obtains more robust and thorough data on home education issues that will further inform policy development and identification of those children who most need support. The measures in the Bill will include a requirement on local authorities to provide support to those home educating families who request it. A full new burdens assessment will be conducted in anticipation of the measures coming into force, to ensure that local authorities are equipped with the training and resources needed to comply with these new duties.

The department has collected termly data from local authorities concerning their cohorts of home-educated children since autumn 2022.

The most recent published data shows an estimated 92,000 children in home education in October 2023, a rise of around 12,000 from the previous year. The most common reasons for home education are religious, philosophical, mental health and dissatisfaction with schools. The department has used this data to analyse trends in the growth and motivations behind parents opting to home-educate. This analysis has helped to identify impacts on the school system and local authority resources. For instance, in relation to numbers of school attendance orders issued and types of support offered to home-educating families. It also enables the department to better understand the educational journeys of these children.

The government provides funding through the local government financial settlement, enabling local authorities to carry out their duties toward children not on a school roll. This includes overlap with children’s social care teams, whose work includes those children not in school and their safeguarding.

The government’s elective home education guidance contains information about safeguarding children, as well as the principles of a suitable education. This guidance should be read in conjunction with other documents such as ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The department’s elective home education guidance is currently under review following a consultation and an updated version will be published in due course.

The department’s guidance is clear that parents who choose to home-educate are responsible for the costs of doing so. When a child who is moved into home education has an education, health and care plan, it is the local authority's duty to ensure that the educational provision set out in that plan is provided to the child, unless the child’s parents have arranged for them to receive a suitable education in some other way, in which the responsibility for the educational provision rests with the parents.

The government is committed to a system of registration of children who are not in school, including those who are home-educated. It intends to introduce this system as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as announced in this year’s King’s Speech. Registers will aid local authorities in their duties to identify those children who are receiving their education otherwise than at school and ensure that those children are receiving a suitable education.

The statutory requirements to maintain registers and provide data to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will ensure the department obtains more robust and thorough data on home education issues that will further inform policy development and identification of those children who most need support. The measures in the Bill will include a requirement on local authorities to provide support to those home educating families who request it. A full new burdens assessment will be conducted in anticipation of the measures coming into force, to ensure that local authorities are equipped with the training and resources needed to comply with these new duties.

Development of all policies within Defra, including on fisheries, is undertaken holistically. We work across the public sector, private sector and society to make policy that works for citizens, and to help the Government achieve its missions and priorities. This includes collaborating closely across policy areas in Defra (such as fisheries management plans, offshore wind and the Marine Protected Areas programme), as well as with different Government departments and levels of Government, to fully explore linkages with other areas of policy delivery by Defra and beyond.

Badger culls are industry led and the cost of delivering them has been met by participants. The additional costs to Defra have related to licensing, monitoring and policing for public safety.

Badger control costs are published annually on GOV.UK and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-government-badger-control-costs.

Badger control costs for 2023 will be published in due course.

Whilst a breakdown of costs by individual county is not available, police costs are available on individual force websites. Costs for Devon and Cornwall Police can be found at: https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/police-forces/devon-cornwall-police/areas/about-us/about-us/transparency-and-financial-information/badger-cull-costs/.

On 30 August, the government announced the start of work to refresh the Bovine TB strategy for England, to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and drive down disease to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods. This will be undertaken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring a refreshed strategy continues to be led by the best scientific and epidemiological evidence and advice.

Further details can be found on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-end-badger-cull-with-new-tb-eradication-strategy.

The numbers of badgers removed during culling operations are published annually on GOV.UK. The number of badgers removed cannot be broken down by county as licensed cull areas often overlap multiple counties. However, for licences granted which are predominantly in Devon, approximately 41,000 badgers have been removed since 2013 under these licences.

The cost of Export Health Certificates (EHCs) for fish are set at a commercial rate by private certifiers or, where appropriate by certifiers in local authorities who operate on a cost recovery basis. We will tackle barriers by seeking to negotiate a veterinary / Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement with the European Union to prevent unnecessary border checks and costs for traders.

The Government understands that there are labour shortages across our seafood sectors, and ensuring sufficient labour availability in critical sectors is a Defra priority. The welfare of workers is of utmost importance to this Government as we look to build a coherent approach to skills, migration and labour market policy.

The government has implemented, and enforces, a range of mandatory environmental measures related to the use and carriage of oil, including heavy fuel oil, by sea. International standards are primarily set out in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), to which the UK is a signatory. Annex I of MARPOL makes provision for the prevention of pollution by oil from ships and includes mandatory requirements such as construction standards for oil tankers, limitations on size and arrangement of cargo tanks, fuel and cargo tank protection, damage stability requirements and a robust survey and certification regime. Compliance with these requirements is enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) through surveys of UK registered ships and Port State Control inspections of non-UK ships when in UK ports. Non-compliance is managed through the detention of ships, prohibition notices and, where necessary, prosecution.

The MCA provides the UK’s representation to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is actively involved in the development of environmental measures related to the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil in ships. In addition, the government has introduced provisions, known as ambulatory reference provisions, within the relevant merchant shipping legislation which aim to ensure that the UK stays up to date with the implementation of international environmental standard and is able to enforce those standards.

With regard to insurance, within certain tonnage limitations, UK ships and ships coming to or from the UK must have certificates to prove that they have the relevant compulsory civil liability insurance against oil pollution and liability insurance for the locating, marking and removing of wrecks in the event that the ship causes a pollution incident or is wrecked. Insurers must meet the UK’s criteria to provide appropriate cover and be approved by the MCA before a compulsory insurance certificate can be issued.

The Chancellor set out on 29 July a range of pressures on public spending, including £2.9 billion of unfunded transport specific spending. Following this, the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement on 30 July set out that the Department is undertaking an internal review of its capital spend portfolio. This will support the development of our new long-term strategy for transport.

The review will consider several projects under the former Restoring Your Railway programme.

Any decisions about the capital spend portfolio will be subject to broader discussions and fiscal decisions made at Budget and Spending Review.

We have provided outstanding Pension Credit claims at the date nearest to the date requested.

(a) Outstanding PC claims as at end of w/c 11^th November 2024 was 91,200 (including Unregistered and Advanced claims)

(b) Outstanding PC claims as at end of w/c 22^nd July 2024 was 34,600 (including Unregistered and Advanced claims)

(c) Outstanding PC claims as at end of w/c 13th November 2023 was 25,000 (including Unregistered and Advanced claims)

We are deploying around 500 additional staff to manage the increase in volumes.

Please note, the claims outstanding figures do not include Advanced claims. This data is sourced from the Pension Credit system and for internal departmental use only. As such, they have not been quality assured to the same extent as Official Statistics.

On 28 November 2024 we published national statistics for claims that were not awarded/rejected, up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK

We do not hold the information requested at a constituency level.

We do not hold information in our data sources why Pension Credit applications are not awarded, either nationally or by constituency.

Estimates for pensioner households who are eligible for but not receiving Pension Credit in 2022/23 can be found at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK.

We do not hold the information requested at constituency level.

We do not hold data requested at constituency level, however the total outstanding Pension Credit claims as at the end of week commencing 18^th November 2024 was 91,075. This includes 9,343 advanced claims where the application can be started up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age.

These figures are taken from data held on DWP’s Pension Credit system. This is collected for internal departmental operations use only and whilst it is the best source of information available, it is not intended for publication or quality assured to National Statistics standards.

The Department is significantly increasing the resource on Pension Credit to ensure it processes claims as quickly as possible, with over 500 additional staff to support the increase in applications generated from the successful Pension Credit take-up campaign.

If a claim is made by 21 December, Pension Credit can be backdated for three months if the entitlement conditions have been met throughout that period, and if the claimant was eligible, they would also receive a Winter Fuel Payment.