Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle childcare deserts in rural areas.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.

In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for early years entitlements, a more than 30% increase compared to the 2024/25 financial year, so eligible working parents of children aged from nine months can access 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year. To support the sector during this period of expansion, the government is providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant. We also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. On top of this, providers will receive £25 million through the forthcoming National Insurance Contributions grant for public sector employers in the early years.

The government’s plan to deliver 3,000 school-based nurseries and will help deliver on our commitment to ensure families right across the country have access to high quality childcare and early education. Funding will be allocated to the first wave of nursery projects in spring 2025 to support delivery for the first cohort of places from September. We know that families in some areas are struggling to find childcare places which meet their needs, so we will be working with schools and local childcare providers to deliver much-needed places across all our communities.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ’Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The department has regular contact with local authorities in England about the sufficiency of childcare and any issues being faced. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support the hospitality sector in South Shropshire constituency.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector and we recognise the significant contribution they have on the UK economy.  
  
Delivering on our manifesto pledge, we will introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27. In the meantime, we have prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.  
  
The Chancellor also announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year. This reduction increased the relief available on draught products to 13.9%.  
 
 The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.  More than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package and eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.

The Government has funded a wide range of community assets, including pubs, through the Community Ownership Fund. On 23 December 2024, this Government announced the outcome of Round 4 of the Community Ownership Fund, the largest ever round to date, where we awarded £36.2m to 85 projects across the UK, including projects in Shropshire.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help expedite Pension Credit claims from South Shropshire constituency.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government put in place the biggest ever pension Credit take-up drive. To help ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims within reasonable timeframes, the Department deployed over 500 additional staff.

On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025 statistics up to 23 February 2025. This shows Pension Credit processing times have improved and outstanding volumes returned to normal levels, 33,700 in February 2025.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that Government procurement focuses on SMEs in local economies.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Procurement Act has introduced a number of reforms to make it easier for small businesses to access public sector supply-chains and removing unnecessary burdens and costs, including:

• a new duty on contracting authorities to have regard to their participation and consider whether they can remove barriers to entry;

• greater visibility of upcoming public sector opportunities and early market engagement to explain requirements to better help SMEs prepare to bid; and

• 30-day payment terms will apply throughout the public sector supply chain.

The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) supports Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSEs), giving them greater opportunities to win public contracts by instructing contracting authorities to maximise their spend with these organisations.

To support implementation of the NPPS, I have announced new rules requiring all government departments and their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs from 1 April 2025, and from 1 April 2026 for VCSEs, and publish progress annually. This will drive greater transparency and accountability for increasing numbers of SMEs and VCSEs delivering public contracts, supporting local economic growth and innovation and creating jobs in local communities up and down the country.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the projected savings that will be raised via the police collaboration and efficiency programme.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

In her Written Ministerial statement of 19 November (Statement UIN HCWS232) the Home Secretary set out her intention to work with policing on a package of reforms to ensure it can operate efficiently and effectively, deliver the Safer Streets Mission and support the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. In particular, she announced a new Police Efficiencies and Collaboration Programme to deliver commercial efficiencies and make cashable savings.

We continue to work with policing to further develop this programme, identify and unlock immediate cost savings and lay the foundations to deliver hundreds of millions of pounds of efficiency savings by the end of this Parliament.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the affordability of firearms licences and renewals for (a) game keepers and (b) veterinarians.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. This gave effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto.

A full impact assessment was published alongside the Firearms (Variation of Fees) Order 2025, the Statutory Instrument that brought the new fees into effect.

The impact assessment covers the impact of increased fees on game keepers and veterinarians. Any future changes to firearms licensing will be subject to further impact assessments in the normal way.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases to employer's National Insurance Contributions on independent specialist schools.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government has taken the decision to increase the rate of employer National Insurance contributions (NIC) from 6 April 2025 by 1.2 percentage points, from 13.8% to 15%, to ensure it can deliver the investment that public services need.

From April 2025, the government is also increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and expanding this to all eligible employers by removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold. Over half of employers with NIC liabilities will see no change or gain overall from this measure.

The department is allocating an additional £125 million to local authorities for them to pass on to special schools for the extra costs they will incur as a result of the NIC increase. Non-maintained special schools will get this funding directly from the department. These NIC funding allocations will be published in May 2025, for payment later in the year.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help public libraries expand outreach work.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Public libraries are funded by local authorities. Each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a delivery model to meet those requirements within available resources. This could include a mobile and or a home library service, as well as other outreach services.

The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.

The Libraries Improvement Fund (LIF) has enabled library services across England to invest in a range of projects to upgrade buildings and technology so they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people are using them. £20.5 million across three rounds has already supported 95 projects which includes investment in outreach services, such as electric tuk-tuks in Portsmouth. On 20 February the Secretary of State announced a further £5.5 million round 4 of LIF for 2025/26.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of recent trends in economic growth.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) are the Government’s official economic forecaster. They published their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) on 26^th March. They forecast GDP growth to be 1.0% in 2025, 1.9% in 2026, 1.8% in 2027, 1.7% in 2028 and 1.8% in 2029.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help increase mobile phone coverage.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The government wants all areas of the UK to benefit from reliable and good quality mobile coverage.

4G geographic coverage from at least one mobile operator has now reached over 95% of the UK landmass through the Shared Rural Network. The programme is continuing to deliver 4G mobile connectivity to places where there is either limited or no coverage.

Our ambition is for all populated areas having higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030, and we are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition. As part of this work, the government intends to reform the planning system to make it easier to build digital infrastructure. We have also increased funding for our 5G Innovation Region programme to £43 million to drive adoption of standalone 5G across key sectors.

We will continue working with Ofcom to ensure that their coverage reporting is more accurate.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help improve the water quality of rivers in South Shropshire constituency.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Cleaning up England’s rivers, lakes and seas is a priority for the Government. The Government has taken immediate and substantive action to address the performance of water companies who are not delivering for the environment or their customers.

That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act. The Act 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.

The Environment Agency (EA) has strengthened its regulatory approach, to ensure that water companies and the farmers who pollute our waterways are held accountable. This has seen an increase in the inspections at Severn Trent sewage assets from 707 in 2024/25 to 1742 in 2025/26 and nationally over 3,400 farm inspections taking place during the first three quarters of the 2024/25 fiscal year. Farm inspections are targeted to areas of the greatest risk, including in the River Clun and Teme catchments. The EA have also installed innovative automatic water quality sampling technology at Ludlow, as part of a trial aimed at identifying sources of poor bathing water quality and recommend actions to improve it.

For Price Review 24 (PR24), which runs from 2025-2030, Severn Trent Water will also be investing £1.7 billion to reduce the use of storm overflows. This investment will reduce storm overflow spills by 26% over the five year period. In addition to the PR24 investment, for high spilling sites, Severn Trent Water must produce a spill reduction plan as required by the Environment Act 2021. Where the EA identifies non-compliance, it will not hesitate in taking enforcement action.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to consult on a statutory target for food production self-sufficiency.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Our ambitious food strategy will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes that create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system. The food strategy will consider the critical role that domestic production plays in our food security. We are developing a programme of stakeholder engagement to inform the strategy, that will include industry, civil society and consumer group representatives. We will consider the need for statutory targets as we develop the strategy.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the tourism sector in South Shropshire.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

With coastal and countryside destinations making up 25% of domestic day trips and 31% of domestic overnight stays in 2023, tourism is recognised as a key sector with the potential to contribute strongly to economic growth and pride in place of an area.

The Government is implementing a range of measures to support the sector and maximise its benefits for local economies, including working with VisitBritain to champion visits to the British countryside to a worldwide audience, and promoting rural areas

DCMS, through VisitEngland, has accredited 38 Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) so far, which aim to drive investment and spend across the regions - including in rural and coastal areas. In November 2024, Telford and Shropshire became an accredited LVEP and continues to provide strong local leadership and governance.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in rural towns and villages.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

​The Government’s Plan for Change, announced by the Prime Minister on 5 December, sets out how we will reduce ASB. Every police force across England and Wales will have a dedicated lead officer for ASB, working with communities, including rural towns and villages, to develop a local ASB action plan.

We are delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, putting 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities – including rural communities - so residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced tougher powers to tackle repeat offending, including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders. Breach of a Respect Order will be a criminal offence and courts will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support access to leisure facilities in South Shropshire constituency.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises that leisure facilities are important to communities up and down the country.

The ongoing responsibility for public leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level. Local Authorities work in partnership with operators who manage leisure services. The Government and Sport England continue to work closely with Local Authorities to monitor pressures in the sector and provide advice and guidance.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help increase opportunities for cultural exchange across the Commonwealth.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK works closely with the Commonwealth, its institutions and with our Commonwealth family through our network of High Commissions. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office supports a range of pan-Commonwealth initiatives, including through its annual contribution of over £1 million to the Commonwealth Youth Programme to promote cultural exchange by showcasing and celebrating the achievements of young people across the 56 member countries. The UK's broader financial contribution to the Commonwealth complements strong bilateral partnerships, trade relationships, supports initiatives like Commonwealth Scholarships and promotes cultural exchange through events including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2026.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if the Government will put the role of Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief on a statutory footing.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is committed to championing freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all around the world. However, we do not see additional value in making the role of envoy statutory. No special envoy roles in the UK are enshrined in legislation and legislation is not required in order to create, or make more effective, the role of special envoys. David Smith MP was appointed as the UK Special Envoy for FoRB in December 2024.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help people in rural areas with energy costs.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently.

The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.

We recognise that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we are delivering the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households this winter. On 25 February, we published a consultation on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to deliver at least one Family Hub in every local authority area.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, measured by a record 75% of children starting school ready to learn, measured by the number hitting the early learning goals at the end of reception.

Delivering this will require strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.

75 local authorities with some of the highest levels of deprivation have received funding and there are now more than 400 Family Hubs open across the 75 local authorities. The department is investing a further £126 million in 2025/26 to give every child the best start in life and deliver on the Plan for Change. Future funding decisions are subject to the multi-year spending review.

The evidence and learning from this investment will help to improve services across England where they are most needed and those local authorities not receiving funding will be able to access expert advice, guidance and resources from the National Centre for Family Hubs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to support women impacted by increases to the State Pension Age in South Shropshire.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government seeks to support people who can work, by helping them to retain, return to or progress in employment. That is why the Government is reforming employment support to ensure it helps everyone who needs it.

DWP currently offers employment support for eligible customers of all ages, through the network of Jobcentres across the UK, and through contracted employment programmes. A dedicated offer for older workers seeks to provide tailored support for those affected by low confidence, menopause, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications. Through Midlife reviews, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK, and online, we support older people to assess their health, finances and skills.

In South Shropshire, Employer and Partnership Teams in Jobcentres work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally for customers.

We have also appointed a Menopause Employment Ambassador who will work closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing menopause and wider women’s health issues.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the National Health Service in helping local authorities to improve the social care sector.

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

The National Health Service plays an important role by working collaboratively with local authorities to deliver social care.

Integrated care partnerships bring integrated care boards and partner local authorities together, alongside wider system partners, to agree priorities and take collaborative action to address cross-system challenges, improve outcomes, and reduce inequalities.

The Better Care Fund (BCF) is a framework for integrated care boards and local authorities to make joint plans and pool budgets for the purposes of delivering better joined-up care. The NHS makes a minimum contribution of approximately £5.6 billion to the BCF, which includes funding for social care. This supports local authorities to provide timely and joined-up support for people with more complex health and care needs.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to improve funding available for youth sports competitions.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

This Government puts children and young people at the heart of our priorities. This includes 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. We are committed to protecting time for physical education in school and supporting the role grassroots clubs play in expanding access to sport.

The School Games Organisers are essential in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to take part in local and accessible sport and physical activity competitions. In the 2023/24 academic year, the country-wide network of 450 SGOs provided 2.3 million opportunities for school children to engage in local and inclusive sporting competitions across 40 different sports and activities. The Government has confirmed funding for the School Games Organisers until the end of the 25/26 Financial Year.

We provide the majority of our funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year and funds National Governing Bodies and sport organisations to deliver a range of local, accessible sport for young people, including competitions.