Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to tackle age discrimination in the workplace.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Equality and opportunity for all are at the heart of the Government’s programme of national renewal and the UK has a strong history of protecting against direct and indirect discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 has protections that enable people to challenge age discrimination across a range of fields, including in the provision of services, employment and recruitment processes. Where age discrimination cannot be objectively justified and is unlawful, individuals can seek redress in the courts or, where relevant, at an employment tribunal.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a signer being present at Government news conferences.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is strongly committed to making our communications accessible and inclusive, and to reducing the barriers Deaf people face in their everyday lives.
Since we have come into power, we have endeavoured to ensure as many of the Prime Minister's speeches as possible have BSL interpretation in vision during live streams. This can be found on the Prime Minister’s social media channels - X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. Where speeches do not have political content, the interpretation is also made available afterwards on gov.uk.
I pay tribute to the outstanding work of the Government’s BSL Advisory Board. We will continue to work with them, and with other members of the Deaf community, on how we can improve further the accessibility of our communications.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to improve access to finance for small manufacturers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our October 2024 call for evidence on access to finance for small advanced manufacturing firms sought views and evidence on the challenges faced in this area. Since that time, the Government has been considering how best to support more advanced manufacturing scale-ups to access the capital they need. Further details will be contained in the forthcoming Industrial Strategy and the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan within it.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to expand (a) financial support and (b) tax relief for small and medium-sized manufacturing firms.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small businesses are vital to high streets, local communities, and economic growth. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government recognised this by:
Despite the difficult fiscal inheritance, we have also been able to protect key business support programmes like Growth Hubs, while allocating £250 million to the British Business Bank's small business programmes in 2025/26.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 merits of developing a dedicated support strategy for smaller manufacturers.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government will continue to support the advanced manufacturing sector, including SMEs, through our forthcoming Industrial Strategy, where advanced manufacturing has been selected as one of eight growth-driving sectors.
Support is available through our Made Smarter Programme where manufacturing SMEs will be able to adopt industrial digital technologies like robotics and autonomous systems to boost their productivity and competitiveness.
Later this year the government will publish its Small Business Strategy, including policies on creating thriving high streets, accessing finance, opening up overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support small manufacturing businesses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government will continue to support the advanced manufacturing sector, including SMEs, through our forthcoming Industrial Strategy, where advanced manufacturing has been selected as one of eight growth-driving sectors.
Support is available through our Made Smarter Programme where manufacturing SMEs will be able to adopt industrial digital technologies like robotics and autonomous systems to boost their productivity and competitiveness.
Later this year the government will publish its Small Business Strategy, including policies on creating thriving high streets, accessing finance, opening up overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the UK.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government will continue to support the advanced manufacturing sector, including SMEs, through our forthcoming Industrial Strategy, where advanced manufacturing has been selected as one of eight growth-driving sectors.
Support is available through our Made Smarter Programme where manufacturing SMEs will be able to adopt industrial digital technologies like robotics and autonomous systems to boost their productivity and competitiveness.
Later this year the government will publish its Small Business Strategy, including policies on creating thriving high streets, accessing finance, opening up overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 help tackle ageism in healthcare services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme on 5 June 2025 to Question 54136.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to close the pay gap between (a) school teachers and (b) college teachers to achieve equity within the higher education sector.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay within colleges. Colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for school teachers but are free to implement their own pay arrangements in line with their own local circumstances.
On 22 May, the department announced an investment of £160 million for colleges and other 16-19 providers in the 2025/26 financial year. This funding will boost opportunities for learners across the country and drive forward delivery of the critical skills needed to grow our economy.
Additional funding of over £30 million will also be included within 16-19 allocations. This funding comes from within the overall funding envelope of £615 million for 2025/26, announced alongside the 2025/26 school teachers’ pay award. Together, this means that a total additional sum of over £190 million will be available for 16-19 funding in the 2025/26 financial year.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that place funding for special school pupils is increased in line with (a) inflation and (b) special educational requirements.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Special schools receive £10,000 per place, alongside high needs top-up funding, which is paid directly by local authorities to the schools in which their placements are made. It is the top-up funding which is intended to reflect the cost of special educational provision in excess of the place funding, and the department’s guidance to local authorities is that top-up funding levels should be kept under review to reflect changes in costs, such as those incurred through overall levels of inflation and changes in provision.
High needs funding for children and young people with complex needs will be £1 billion higher this financial year than last year. This £1 billion increase, and the additional funding for special schools to help with staff-related costs, will bring total high needs funding to well over £12 billion in 2025/26.