Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 44144 on Armed Forces: Training, what steps his Department has taken to improve the British Army Apprenticeship programme’s Ofsted rating.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence is committed to ensuring the British Army Apprenticeship Programme (AAP) achieves the highest standards of training and continues its progress towards an Outstanding Ofsted rating. The Army, as the UK’s largest Employer Provider with 12,500 soldier apprentices across 41 programmes, continues to achieve results well above the national average.
The AAP operates a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP), informed by Ofsted inspections and an internal Self-Assessment Process, which is being updated to align with the new Ofsted Further Education and Skills Inspection Toolkit (FES IT) coming into effect in November 2025.
Key improvements being implemented include digitalising the programme by 2027, creating 92 additional management posts to oversee End Point Assessment delivery, enhancing functional skills delivery and governance, improving curriculum standards, reducing the number of Post Planned End Date learners, and strengthening safeguarding measures.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Child Maintenance Service is taking to support paying parents with intermittent long-term disabilities.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring it delivers a safe service which is sensitive to the needs of all customers that use it.
In line with the Equality Act 2010, DWP staff from all areas of the department have a legal duty to make sure every customer can access our services. This means ensuring they have access to the appropriate channel of communication to suit their needs. The CMS completes Equality Impact Assessments on all changes which covers all protected characteristics.
Through the Service Modernisation Programme, we are ensuring customers have a greater choice of how they communicate with us and access our service. The CMS has made significant improvements to customer communications, through more use of SMS text and email, and a full review of its letters making them easier for customer to understand. The online digital service 'Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance ' through GOV.UK is open to any parent who needs unbiased advice and support to make an arrangement. My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC) offers customers the ability to update their information and request changes, is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Although online communication is the preferred option CMS fully recognise digital is not suitable for all customers. For those customers who have to contact us by telephone steps have been taken to update the service through efficient call routing. We have freed up resources to deliver a more responsive service which allows caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. The CMS telephony opening hours are regularly reviewed based on the demand requirements, CMS have extended their telephony service to 6pm on weekdays to meet this demand.
The Customer Experience Strategy equips caseworkers with the tools, skills and support to respond quickly and effectively if we become aware the mental health and wellbeing of any customer is at risk. Caseworkers have received extensive training and follow a well-managed process with clear steps, support tools and procedures to support vulnerable customers. This includes the National District Provision Toolkit and Affordability Hub which provides invaluable information to allow caseworkers to signpost to national and local support organisations for debt help and mental health assistance across the UK.
The maintenance calculation is designed to be affordable for paying parents and is based on their personal income. It uses income information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to quickly set up new cases and allows us to capture a wide range of income types, including income from property, savings and investments (including dividends) and other miscellaneous income. A flat rate of £7.00 per week protects those paying parents on the lowest incomes, for example, those claiming disability benefits. We also take into account if there is a 25% different than the income figure held, the assessment can be updated to reflect the paying parents most up to date income information.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
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 potential impact of the Play well toolkit on children's health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever, which includes ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.
We know that play is a vital part of childhood and health play services help build social-skills, support children’s wellbeing and improve outcomes. To ensure that children’s right to play is supported in healthcare settings, NHS England and Starlight, a national charity for children’s play in healthcare, co-published the Play Well Toolkit. NHS England encourages the use of this toolkit by managers of health play services across a wide range of healthcare environments accessed by children and young people. The Toolkit includes a checklist to support the auditing, monitoring, and evaluation of services.
Asked by: Leigh Ingham (Labour - Stafford)
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 mark Play in Healthcare Week 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the importance of supporting children's right to play as games and play help build social-skills and support children’s wellbeing. In October 2025, the Starlight Children's Foundation will mark Play in Healthcare Week, celebrating 50 years of play and highlighting its importance for children in healthcare settings. Together with NHS England, Starlight co-published the Play Well Toolkit, which is designed to help services enhance the quality of health play provision.
The Department remains supportive of the Starlight Foundation and NHS England’s work to champion that toolkit and promote child-centred care across healthcare settings and encourages work to publicise its use during this week.
Asked by: Leigh Ingham (Labour - Stafford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps (a) his Department and (b) NHS England are taking to support the widest possible implementation of the Play Well Toolkit.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the importance of supporting and maintaining children’s right to play, as games and active play in all settings build social skills and support children’s wellbeing. The Play Well toolkit that was recently jointly launched by NHS England and the charity Starlight helps services to identify opportunities to improve health play services.
While funding decisions for health play services remain the responsibility of local commissioners, the Department remains supportive of NHS England’s work to continue to champion the toolkit and the importance of child-centred care across healthcare settings.
To support implementation, NHS England is promoting the Play Well toolkit to managers of health play services across a wide range of settings, including community clinics, emergency departments, children’s hospices, and acute paediatric wards.
A range of communication channels have been used to raise awareness, including engagement with services via professional bodies, messaging via the Chief Nursing Officer, and a forthcoming blog post and press release in partnership with Starlight. Starlight will be co-leading a webinar with NHS England this month to raise awareness of the toolkit.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase volunteering opportunities for disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March, highlights the value of volunteering in the transition from inactivity to employment.
The Department’s Strategic Relationship Team (SRT) has worked closely with the Shaping the Future with Volunteering Group to demonstrate the benefits volunteering can bring for Jobcentre Plus customers, in particular those that are furthest away from the labour market.
SRT has developed a toolkit and delivered a campaign to raise the awareness of volunteering opportunities, dispel myths, share good news stories and demonstrate how this may be a stepping stone into employment.
Whilst the focus is not specifically on volunteering for disabled customers volunteering is proven to support people with health conditions, building confidence and helping to improve mental and physical health and wellbeing and is an ideal solution for those further away from the labour market to help remove barriers, build skills and confidence, and therefore acts as an employment enabler without any risk to benefit claims.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 extending existing provisions for mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education under the Children and Social Work Act 2017 to ensure everyone under the age of 18 can access (a) guidance and (b) support.
Answered by Janet Daby
Relationships and sex education (RSE) is at the core of the personal development tutorial system in post-16 settings that enables students to discuss important issues relating to their lives as active adult citizens.
As well as learning about British values, resilience, financial literacy and how to navigate the world of work, students participate in debates about respect, consent, coercive control, misogyny, domestic abuse and stereotyping, considering the impact of negative behaviours.
Ofsted’s inspection regime includes personal development. Its judgement evaluates a college’s intent to provide for the personal development of learners and the quality of the way it does this, and education in healthy relationships is one of the areas of focus.
The department has engaged an expert college leader and former Chair of the National Association of Managers of Student Services to develop a RSE toolkit to help colleges deliver high-quality, consistent lessons. This will provide delivery advice and tutorial materials, giving both sixth form college staff and general further education college staff the confidence and skills to deliver on personal development effectively, and to tackle misogyny head on. The toolkit is due to be launched in November.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered making relationships, sex and health education mandatory in (a) sixth form colleges and (b) other further education institutions.
Answered by Janet Daby
Relationships and sex education (RSE) is at the core of the personal development tutorial system in post-16 settings that enables students to discuss important issues relating to their lives as active adult citizens.
As well as learning about British values, resilience, financial literacy and how to navigate the world of work, students participate in debates about respect, consent, coercive control, misogyny, domestic abuse and stereotyping, considering the impact of negative behaviours.
Ofsted’s inspection regime includes personal development. Its judgement evaluates a college’s intent to provide for the personal development of learners and the quality of the way it does this, and education in healthy relationships is one of the areas of focus.
The department has engaged an expert college leader and former Chair of the National Association of Managers of Student Services to develop a RSE toolkit to help colleges deliver high-quality, consistent lessons. This will provide delivery advice and tutorial materials, giving both sixth form college staff and general further education college staff the confidence and skills to deliver on personal development effectively, and to tackle misogyny head on. The toolkit is due to be launched in November.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure Trusts uphold their legal obligations under the (a) Equality Act 2010 and (b) duty of care for staff returning from serious illness such as cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value all National Health Service staff and are committed to improving organisational culture and working conditions, so we can keep staff healthy, motivated, and retain their valuable skills.
A cancer diagnosis is regarded as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, which means that employers have a duty of care to consider any reasonable adjustments to help the employee to return to work in a timely and safe way, and with their health needs in mind.
NHS trusts are expected to have local policies and procedures in place to support staff who have long-term health conditions, including cancer.
The NHS Terms and Conditions of Service handbook sets out interventions that should be considered under the Employment Rights Act 1996 when managing an employee’s return to work. There are tools and resources available to employers to assist their employees returning to work, and this includes NHS England’s NHS Health and Wellbeing framework, and the Sickness Absence toolkit published by NHS Employers. Further information on the NHS Health and Wellbeing framework and the Sickness Absence toolkit is available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/toolkits/sickness-absence-toolkit
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of provision of Relationship and Sex Education for young people aged 16 to19 in post-16 education settings.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department recognises the importance of promoting healthy relationships to young people. This is why relationships and sex education (RSE) is a standard element of the personal development tutorial system in further education.
These regular tutorials allow students to hear about and discuss subjects important to their lives as responsible, active citizens, such as British values, resilience and how to navigate the world of work.
Education in healthy relationships is at the core of each college’s programme. Students participate in debates about respect, consent, misogyny, gender stereotyping, coercive control, sexual violence and sexual health, and consider the impact of negative behaviours.
Ofsted’s personal development judgement evaluates a college’s intent to provide for the personal development of learners, and the quality of the way in which it does this. Education in healthy relationships is one of the areas of focus.
The department has engaged an expert college leader, Polly Harrow, to develop a toolkit for colleges to drive the quality and consistency of RSE. The toolkit, to be launched in November, will provide tutorial materials and delivery advice, giving all colleges the skills and confidence to deliver on personal development effectively, and to tackle misogyny head on.