Adam Thompson

Justice and change that victims of the Windrush Scandal deserve has not been delivered.

Recently, I met with the WNO and Windrush Cymru Elders as part of this Government’s fundamental reset, and am proud that since taking office, we have re-established the Windrush unit in the Home Office; improved our caseworking with the introduction of a single named caseworker; committed to appointing a Windrush Commissioner; and are bringing in £1.5mil in grants to fund additional advocacy and support for claimants.

I am also pleased to hear about the excellent work of the Long Eaton Settlers Legacy Association in your constituency. Campaign groups like them do very important work in the local community, supporting victims of the Windrush Scandal to access the compensation they deserve. I will ensure that the Windrush Engagement Team is aware of their work as they continue reaching out to organisations and communities across the country.

This Government is determined to right the wrongs of the Windrush Scandal.

The Government encourages university-business collaboration through a range of incentives, funding and knowledge exchange. The Higher Education Innovation Fund, managed through Research England, providing £280m annually for knowledge exchange, including £20m specifically for business and commercialisation activity.

The Government has also established Skills England, which is tasked with identifying and articulating the skills needed while working with other actors in the skills system to ensure provision is aligned with our industrial strategy. We are building a flexible and high-quality system that breaks down the barriers to opportunity and drives growth.

The UKAEA has developed world-leading fusion expertise having hosted JET for 40 years. A decision was made to cease operations at the end of 2023 as major upgrades to JET’s ageing infrastructure would offer only limited scientific value.

Most of the staff linked to JET are now a part of JET decommissioning or other UKAEA programmes. JET decommissioning will provide a unique opportunity to develop knowledge in the decommissioning of a fusion device and will inform the design of STEP. Furthermore, the repurposing of the estate will support ongoing growth of the cluster of fusion organisations based at the Culham campus.

Companies raising revenue from online services should cover the costs of regulation to keep the online environment safe for users. The Online Safety Act allows Ofcom to charge providers above a revenue threshold a justifiable and proportionate fee.

The Secretary of State is considering the contents of Ofcom’s ‘Online Safety – fees and penalties’ consultation, which closes on 9 January 2025. Departmental officials have regular contact with Ofcom regarding respective responsibilities in implementing the fee regime.

Parliament will be responsible for approving key aspects of the fee regime including regulations defining Qualifying Worldwide Revenue and the revenue threshold.

Companies raising revenue from online services should cover the costs of regulation to keep the online environment safe for users. The Online Safety Act allows Ofcom to charge providers above a revenue threshold a justifiable and proportionate fee.

The Secretary of State is considering the contents of Ofcom’s ‘Online Safety – fees and penalties’ consultation, which closes on 9 January 2025. Departmental officials have regular contact with Ofcom regarding respective responsibilities in implementing the fee regime.

Parliament will be responsible for approving key aspects of the fee regime including regulations defining Qualifying Worldwide Revenue and the revenue threshold.

Companies raising revenue from online services should cover the costs of regulation to keep the online environment safe for users. The Online Safety Act allows Ofcom to charge providers above a revenue threshold a justifiable and proportionate fee.

The Secretary of State is considering the contents of Ofcom’s ‘Online Safety – fees and penalties’ consultation, which closes on 9 January 2025. Departmental officials have regular contact with Ofcom regarding respective responsibilities in implementing the fee regime.

Parliament will be responsible for approving key aspects of the fee regime including regulations defining Qualifying Worldwide Revenue and the revenue threshold.

The next Research Excellence Framework (REF) is currently being developed by Research England and the three Devolved higher education funding bodies, in collaboration with the higher education sector.

As development of REF 2029 proceeds, the funding bodies will continue to engage with the sector and assess the feedback and evidence received from stakeholders until final guidance for the next exercise is set in 2026.

The UKRI open access policy aims to make the results of publicly funded research immediately available so they can be accessed and built upon. UKRI encourages preprints across research disciplines and reserves the right to require preprints where necessary.

UKRI Open Access Block Grant Awards support institutions in meeting its policy requirements. Awards cover article publishing charges (APCs) only under certain value for money terms as well as the sharing of papers via repositories and improvements to digital research infrastructures. UKRI monitors progress on open access, as well as how best to increase the accessibility of the research it funds.

The latest figures for the 2023/24 academic year show there have been 44,060 apprenticeship starts at degree level, including 3,540 in the East Midlands.

Degree apprenticeships can provide school leavers and older learners alternative routes into degree level professions, which supports diversity and inclusion.

The department will work with Skills England to ensure that degree apprenticeships continue to offer good value for money and drive economic growth.

1102 private schools closed between 11 May 2010 and 5 July 2024.

The data in the attached table breaks this down into a) Parliamentary constituency and b) Upper tier local authority in England.

The Shared Outcomes Fund Early Support Hubs project aims to increase the Government's understanding of the effectiveness of early intervention and prevention support for children and young people's mental health delivered in a community setting and strengthen the evidence base for early intervention. By evaluating the Early Support Hubs as a delivery model for early intervention, the project aims to build a strong evidence base, assess the impact of these services, and inform potential future expansion of the model. The evaluation of the project aims to report its findings by Summer 2025.

There are currently approximately 65 locally funded early support hubs in England offering early easy access mental health interventions to thousands of children and young people aged 11 to 25 years old, including those from low-income families.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.

Additionally, Every Mind Matters is a campaign run by NHS England, which features the mental health tool My Mind Plan at the heart of their resources and advice for those facing mental health problems.

Ministers and Departmental officials meet regularly with voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) stakeholders in the mental health sector to discuss a range of mental health issues and current challenges.

In October 2024 we launched the 10-Year Health Plan for the National Health Service to gather views from members of the public, NHS staff, VCSEs, and other organisations on their experiences and ideas to reform the NHS and make it fit for the future. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. We are working closely with VCSEs and other mental health stakeholders to ensure the unique challenges for mental health services across England are reflected in 10-Year Health Plan.

We are committed to delivering a range of support, both clinical and non-clinical, to improve children and young people’s mental health. This includes recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult National Health Service mental health services, to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, helping to ease pressure on busy mental health services.

Nearly 500 NHS-funded mental health support teams were operational in approximately 8,500, or 34%, of schools and colleges across England as of the end of March 2024, covering 4.2 million, or 44%, of pupils or learners. These teams work with young people and parents to manage mild to moderate mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, while also assisting schools to develop a whole-school approach to positive mental health and wellbeing.

We will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and roll out Young Futures hubs in every community. The national network of Young Futures hubs is expected to bring local services together, and deliver support for teenagers at risk of being drawn into crime or facing mental health challenges. They will provide open access mental health support for children and young people in every community.

A National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded study has been commissioned to examine the effectiveness and the implementation of maternal mental health services, including the services’ provision of support for perinatal loss. The study will help identify the optimal service delivery models and context-specific barriers to implementation.

The research aims to understand how effective maternal mental health services are in improving mental health for women who have experienced trauma or loss related to childbirth, and the feasibility and effectiveness of maternal mental health services in providing trauma informed training across the maternity workforce.

To date, maternal mental health services have been implemented in 40 of the 42 integrated care system areas in England, and the last two are being supported by NHS England to ensure they are up and running as soon as possible.

We are committed to improving the mental health support available to those in the perinatal period. We know that the National Health Service has struggled to keep up with people’s greater awareness of the challenges of poor mental health, and that waiting lists for those referred for support are too high. We will reduce waiting times, intervene earlier, and increase the workforce as quickly as possible to meet the required needs.

Up to the end of 2023/24, the total amount of funding received by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital scheme was £7.5 million. The breakdown of how much the Trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023

All trusts in the Programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The New Hospital Programme had confirmed £3.7 billion in funding up to the end of 2024/25.

Within the current benefit in kind tax rules employers are able to provide their employees with a loan, which can be provided tax free, as long as the total value of the loan is below £10,000. This type of loan can be used to make purchases such as train season tickets, most of which are under £10,000, and the employee will then reimburse their employer out of their net salary.

The Government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review. Any decisions on future changes will be taken in the context of the wider public finances.