Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase skills and employment support for people in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire in receipt of sickness benefits.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 2 December to PQ 93871.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help reduce age-related barriers in recruitment practices.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise that young people face additional barriers, with almost one million currently not in education, employment or training. At Budget 2025, the Government committed over £1.5 billion to improve youth participation, including £820 million for the Youth Guarantee and £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. Further details of the announcement can be found here: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament. We have also commissioned the Right Honourable Alan Milburn to author a report that will seek to understand the drivers of the increase in the number of young people who are not in education, employment, or training and to investigate the root causes of this rise in economic inactivity
We also work with employers nationally to recognise the value of older workers and promote age inclusive recruitment and retention. We encourage participation in initiatives such as the Age-Friendly Employer Pledge and provide tailored support to employers to embed flexible working, age positive hiring approaches, and accessible career development. This includes helping employers create recruitment models that attract older jobseekers by promoting flexible job design, return-to-work schemes, and targeted recruitment campaigns. Alongside our work with employers, we support jobseekers through our network of Jobcentres and contracted employment programmes. This includes specific support for eligible older workers including Additional Work Coach Time and Midlife MOTs, which provide an opportunity to review health, finances and skills and signpost to suitable support. There is also a digital Midlife MOT available to everyone
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, further to the answer to UIN 92453 of 21 November 2025, what further assessment will be made of the Disability Confident scheme, and what action will be taken to assess employees and applicants experiences as part of this process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 15 January 2026 I announced more details about the reforms to the Disability Confident Scheme.
Proposed changes include:
We are planning a proportionate assessment of the different strands of the upcoming reforms: this is likely to include qualitative interviews to get insights from employers and employees, conducting short surveys, and gathering feedback on specific processes and products to iteratively improve and adapt.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure continuity of (a) assessments and (b) support across local authorities for children of service personnel with special educational needs and disabilities when families relocate.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All those with statutory responsibilities towards children of service personnel with special education needs and disability (SEND), should ensure that the impact of their policies, administrative processes and patterns of provision do not disadvantage such children when families relocate.
Statutory guidance is clear that when a child moves home across local authority boundaries, the education, health and care plan must be transferred from the ‘old’ local authority to the ‘new’ local authority on the day of the move or within 15 working days from when the old local authority first becomes aware of the move. Upon receiving the plan, the new local authority must arrange the special educational provision set out in it, although a child may have to be placed in a school other than the one named on the plan if the distance of the move makes it impractical to send the child to the named school.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Motor Insurance Taskforce’s final report, published on 10 December 2025, what steps she is taking to assess and help tackle barriers facing low‑income and financially excluded consumers in the motor insurance market; and whether she plans to introduce targeted interventions for those groups.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The taskforce considered proposals related to subsidising motor insurance for households on low incomes but the consequences of direct market intervention are often hard to predict and could result in increased costs for others. The government has no plans to take these proposals forward at this time.
Instead, the taskforce has focused on driving down the cost of claims – rooting out inefficiencies, increasing safety, and reducing opportunities for fraud and theft – to stabilise and ultimately reduce the premiums that all motorists pay, including those on lower incomes.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of guidance on political neutrality in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.
The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of educational psychologists in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is why the department has already invested more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million invested in training more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services for a minimum period of three years.
Following a Joint Area SEND inspection in Gloucestershire in December 2023, leaders in the local area have developed a local strategy to improve access to educational psychologists, including a virtual service. Officials and SEND advisors from both the department and NHS England meet regularly with Gloucestershire local area leaders to monitor progress.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 23 December 2025 to written question 93136, how much funding has been allocated to the RISE Advisor budget by key expenditure items.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government is focused on driving high and rising standards through our Plan for Change, to enable every child to achieve and thrive.
Our targeted regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) programme is ensuring schools who need it most are getting the support they need to improve.
Over 360 schools have already benefited from RISE, supported by 65 advisers, experienced leaders across the schools sector.
£4.8 million has been allocated to the RISE Adviser budget for the 2025/26 financial year. Budgets for future years will be set through business planning.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for the Music and Dance Scheme; and whether she plans to announce a multiple-year settlement.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for North Cornwall to the answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78608.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidelines the Government provides for schools when they are responding to alleged cases of political bias in the classroom.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.
The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.