Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (i) medical, (ii) dental and (iii) midwifery students it will fund to start studies in 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school and dental school places on an annual basis. OfS will publish its intake target for the 2026/27 academic year in due course.
For the 2025/26 academic year, the OfS has published its intake target at 8,126 for medical school places and 809 for dental school places
Undergraduate training places for midwives are not centrally commissioned by the Government. Instead, they are determined by local employers and education providers who decide the number of learners they admit based on learner demand and provider capacity funding.
For the 2025/26 academic year, the number of acceptances for midwifery was 3,390. This data is from 2025 and was taken 28 days after A-level result day. It is not final data. Further information is available on the UCAS website, at the following link:
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish the (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24 Social Fund Annual Reports.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Work on the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Social Fund Annual Reports is underway, and these will be published as soon as possible. The 2023-24 Social Fund Annual Report will follow in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many homes have been upgraded under the Warm Homes Plan in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is investing £13.2 billion in the Warm Homes Plan over the Spending Review period, in line with the Manifesto commitment. This is a major step forward in the government’s plans to upgrade up to 5 million homes, including those in the Yeovil constituency, over this Parliament and cut energy bills for good. Further detail on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out by October.
The Department publishes Household Energy Efficiency Statistics. The detailed annual reports provide breakdowns of measures installed under various government support schemes. These are available at GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/household-energy-efficiency-national-statistics).
Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund schemes began in April 2025. Statistics on the delivery of these schemes will be published in due course.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many homes have been upgraded under the Warm Homes Plan in Yeovil constituency as of 16 June 2025.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is investing £13.2 billion in the Warm Homes Plan over the Spending Review period, in line with the Manifesto commitment. This is a major step forward in the government’s plans to upgrade up to 5 million homes, including those in the Yeovil constituency, over this Parliament and cut energy bills for good. Further detail on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out by October.
The Department publishes Household Energy Efficiency Statistics. The detailed annual reports provide breakdowns of measures installed under various government support schemes. These are available at GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/household-energy-efficiency-national-statistics).
Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund schemes began in April 2025. Statistics on the delivery of these schemes will be published in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 29262 on Insulation: Housing, if he will publish data on the number of homes using the warm homes grant to date.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department publishes Household Energy Efficiency Statistics. The detailed annual reports provide breakdowns of measures installed under various government support schemes. These date back to 2015 and are available at GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/household-energy-efficiency-national-statistics).
Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund schemes began in April 2025. Statistics on the delivery of these schemes will be published in due course.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that newly appointed pension fund trustees are aware of the responsibility to consider climate risks in investments.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are a range of governance and reporting requirements that trustees, including new trustees, must meet. For trustees in scope, this includes disclosing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies in the Statement of Investment Principles (SIP) and explaining how and the extent to which those policies have been followed over the scheme year. Guidance is available from the Pensions Regulator (TPR) to help trustees understand these requirements and the 2024 Market Oversight Review provides further insight into TPR’s expectations around ESG duties.
The Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021 place requirements on trustees in our largest occupational pension schemes to demonstrate how they are managing climate-related risks and opportunities in an annual Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report. TPR’s Guidance includes a step-by-step example to help trustees develop their understanding of the requirements and upskill newer trustees. In a 2024 review of TCFD reports, TPR reported confidence in trustees maintaining up-to-date knowledge and understanding of climate risk.
As set out in their Climate Adaptation Report (2025), TPR is proactively focused on raising trustee awareness of climate-related systemic risks. TPR also continues to support new trustees through specific guidance and the Trustee toolkit, a free online learning programme that helps trustees gain the relevant skills, knowledge and understanding needed to fulfil their role.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on Budgeting Loans (a) overall and (b) in each category in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The total spent on Budgeting Loan awards in the 2023/24 financial year was £260.6 million.
A category breakdown for budgeting loans will be published in due course in the 2023/24 Social Fund annual report. This will include the breakdowns by regions, claimant group, family composition and reason for refusal by application group.
Please see for more information the 2023/24 Social Fund Annual Accounts- Social Fund Account 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK
And previous Social Fund Annual reports- Social Fund accounts and reports - GOV.UK
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average amount paid to individuals for each passported benefit, including (1) funeral payments, and (2) maternity grants.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
There are many passported benefits, for example free prescriptions and free school meals. The information provided relates solely to Funeral Expenses Payments and Sure Start Maternity Grant.
Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) provides help towards the cost of a funeral. To be eligible for FEP, you (or your partner) must get one or more of the following benefits: Universal Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, the disability or severe disability element of Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. You might also be eligible if you’re getting a Support for Mortgage Interest loan. This is in addition to other eligibility criteria which is available here: Get help with funeral costs (Funeral Expenses Payment): Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Sure Start Maternity Grant (SSMG) is payment of £500 to provide help with the costs of a new baby (or babies in the event of a multiple birth) if there are no other children under 16 in the claimant’s family. To be eligible for SSMG, you (or your partner) must get one of these benefits: Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element or Universal Credit. You may also qualify if you’re getting a Support of Mortgage Interest Loan. This is in addition to other eligibility criteria which is available here: Sure Start Maternity Grant: Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The table below provides information of the average award for both FEP and SSMG. Information on average awards along with other data such as number of awards can be found in Annex 1 of the Annual Social Fund Reports which can be found here: Social Fund accounts and reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The 2021/22 Social Fund Report is due to be published in the near future and thus the data below goes up to 2020/21.
Table 1: Average award for Funeral Expenses Payments and Sure Start Maternity Grant
£ | 2020/21 | 2019/20 | 2018/19 |
FEP | 508 | 508 | 508 |
SSMG | 1,838 | 1,561 | 1,517 |
Notes:
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department provides to disabled people who require adaption works to their homes costing more than the £30,000 cap on the Disabled Facilities Grant.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Disabled Facilities Grant is a shared responsibility with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) given that funding for the grant is provided through the Better Care Fund. Officials from both departments meet regularly with a range of stakeholders interested in this policy.
Local areas already have discretion to increase the cap on the grant on a case-by-case basis in line with a locally published housing assistance policy. As with all aspects of the grant, government will keep the upper limit under review.
We do not hold official statistics regarding the number of applications for the DFG submitted and approved in each year from 2010, or the numbers of applications since 2010 that have been submitted for either the maximum amount of £30,000 or for amounts between £25,000-£29,999. However, my Department funds a National Body for Home Improvement Agencies, Foundations who publish an annual report which analyses unaudited, voluntary data from Local Authorities which you may find useful. These reports can be found here.
Since 2010 government has invested £4.8 billion into the Disabled Facilities Grant (2010-11 to 2022-23), delivering an estimated 490,000 home adaptations.
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F/Year | 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | 15-16 | 16-17 | 17-18 | 18-19 | 19-20 | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | Total |
Amount | £169m | £200m | £220m | £200m | £185m | £220m | £394m | £473m* | £523m** | £505m | £573m*** | £573m | £573m | £4.8bn |
No of DFGs | 45,383 | 43,986 | 36,874 | 42,586 | 40,645 | 40,800 | 46,000 | 47,850 | 53,500 | 58,181 | 38,566 | TBC | TBC | 494,371 |
I recognise that for some home adaptations the cost of the works can be higher. Where this is the case, and where an authority has a locally published Housing Assistance Policy, authorities can take a local decision to provide grants above the existing £30,000 limit on a case-by-case basis. However, I must be clear that these discretionary grants are a local decision, and I am unable to intervene in individual cases.
In addition to providing expert support and advice to local authorities, Foundations also regularly provide information and advice to individual disabled people on applying for a DFG, including advice around other sources of financial support. More information can be found here.
* £431m annual grant plus an additional £42m announced in Autumn Budget 2017
**£468m annual grant plus an additional £55m announced in Budget 2018
***£505m annual grant plus an additional £68m paid to LAs in December 2020
**** Source: Foundations, the national body for home improvement agencies
Footnote: Local authorities in England provide annual data on their DFG delivery, however the data is not audited, and local authorities provide this information on a voluntary basis. The headline totals above are based on estimates provided by Foundations which have been extrapolated from the available data.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many applications for the Disabled Facilities Grant were (a) submitted and (b) approved in each year from 2010 for which figures are available.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Disabled Facilities Grant is a shared responsibility with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) given that funding for the grant is provided through the Better Care Fund. Officials from both departments meet regularly with a range of stakeholders interested in this policy.
Local areas already have discretion to increase the cap on the grant on a case-by-case basis in line with a locally published housing assistance policy. As with all aspects of the grant, government will keep the upper limit under review.
We do not hold official statistics regarding the number of applications for the DFG submitted and approved in each year from 2010, or the numbers of applications since 2010 that have been submitted for either the maximum amount of £30,000 or for amounts between £25,000-£29,999. However, my Department funds a National Body for Home Improvement Agencies, Foundations who publish an annual report which analyses unaudited, voluntary data from Local Authorities which you may find useful. These reports can be found here.
Since 2010 government has invested £4.8 billion into the Disabled Facilities Grant (2010-11 to 2022-23), delivering an estimated 490,000 home adaptations.
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F/Year | 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | 15-16 | 16-17 | 17-18 | 18-19 | 19-20 | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | Total |
Amount | £169m | £200m | £220m | £200m | £185m | £220m | £394m | £473m* | £523m** | £505m | £573m*** | £573m | £573m | £4.8bn |
No of DFGs | 45,383 | 43,986 | 36,874 | 42,586 | 40,645 | 40,800 | 46,000 | 47,850 | 53,500 | 58,181 | 38,566 | TBC | TBC | 494,371 |
I recognise that for some home adaptations the cost of the works can be higher. Where this is the case, and where an authority has a locally published Housing Assistance Policy, authorities can take a local decision to provide grants above the existing £30,000 limit on a case-by-case basis. However, I must be clear that these discretionary grants are a local decision, and I am unable to intervene in individual cases.
In addition to providing expert support and advice to local authorities, Foundations also regularly provide information and advice to individual disabled people on applying for a DFG, including advice around other sources of financial support. More information can be found here.
* £431m annual grant plus an additional £42m announced in Autumn Budget 2017
**£468m annual grant plus an additional £55m announced in Budget 2018
***£505m annual grant plus an additional £68m paid to LAs in December 2020
**** Source: Foundations, the national body for home improvement agencies
Footnote: Local authorities in England provide annual data on their DFG delivery, however the data is not audited, and local authorities provide this information on a voluntary basis. The headline totals above are based on estimates provided by Foundations which have been extrapolated from the available data.