Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the surplus of school places in Walsall and Bloxwich constituency on the decision whether to proceed with the Swift Academy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, what steps her Department is taking to assess the (a) need for places and (b) value for money of the Swift Academy; and if she will publish that assessment.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, which trusts her Department invited in 2016.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many major procurement programmes are on hold pending the Defence Investment Plan.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are currently no major programmes on hold pending the Defence Investment Plan. (DIP). The Department is working flat out to deliver the DIP, which will be published as soon as possible. The DIP is the first time in 18 years Defence has completed a single, comprehensive review of programmes and is backed by the Government’s largest sustained increase in defence investment since the end of the Cold War, spending £270 billion on defence in this Parliament alone.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will introduce legislation to prohibit (a) octopus farming in the UK and (b) imports of commercially-farmed octopus.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government have no current plans to prevent the import of farmed octopus products to the UK. Defra is not aware of any plans to establish octopus farming in the UK. Any such plans would be subject to relevant existing regulatory regimes.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration is given within NHS Continuing Healthcare decision-making to the potential impact of decisions to not fund people with significant care needs on (a) families and (b) unpaid carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package of National Health Service-funded care to meet the physical or mental health needs of adults which have arisen as a result of disability, accident, or illness. Eligibility for CHC is not determined by age, diagnosis or condition, or financial means.
A public information leaflet on CHC includes information on other support available for people who are found not eligible for CHC, and is available at the following link:
The Government recognises the vital contribution made by unpaid carers and is committed to ensuring they receive the support they need. Many people wish to care for family members and friends, and we are determined to help them do so. For example, on 7 April 2025, the weekly earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance increased from £151 to £196, equivalent to 16 hours at the National Living Wage. This represents the largest increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976.
Local authorities have duties, under the Care Act 2014, to support people caring for their family and friends. Unpaid carers are entitled to a carer’s assessment from their local authority, and local authorities have a duty to meet eligible carers’ needs, including when the person they care for is eligible for CHC.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will develop a workforce plan for palliative care with service commissioners.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have published our 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and a central part of the plan is our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups. We are committed to working with partners to ensure the plan meets its aims and will engage independent experts, including those in the palliative and end of life care sector, to make sure the plan is ambitious, forward looking, and evidence based. The workforce plan will be published in spring of this year.
We are also developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will align with the Workforce Plan, which commits to ensuring staff have better training, more fulfilling roles, and the right skills for future models of care.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the head of the Office for Statistics Regulation plans to respond to the letter from the Rt hon. Member for Braintree of 8 January 2026 on business rates.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Rt Hon. gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 26th January is attached.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission on tackling Islamophobia.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is an independent Non Departmental Public Body and Great Britain’s national equality and human rights body. The Government regularly engages with EHRC on a range of areas covered in their remit.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing national dementia outcomes for neighbourhood health services and requiring integrated care boards to demonstrate timely access to specialist, community-based dementia support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England already collect and publish data about people with dementia at each general practice in England, to enable National Health Service general practitioners (GPs) and commissioners to make informed choices about how to plan their dementia services around patients’ needs.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Dementia Intelligence Network has also developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.
This Government is empowering local leaders with the autonomy they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia. That is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help simplify best practice for system leaders and help create communities and services where the best possible care and support is available to those with dementia. The D100: Pathway Assessment Tool is available at the following link:
We are making progress on building a National Care Service based on higher quality of care, greater choice and control, and joined-up neighbourhood services, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care by 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.
We are strengthening join-up between health and social care services, so that people experience more integrated and person-centred care, by developing neighbourhood health services and reforming the Better Care Fund. This will be fortified by improved national data and digital infrastructure to ensure health and care staff can access real-time information to improve the safety and quality of care.