Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans the Ministry of Defence has in place to improve the standard of Single Living Accommodation for military personnel, and how these plans align with the Government's commitment to enhancing the living conditions for service members in line with current operational and welfare needs.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that high‑quality Single Living Accommodation (SLA) is essential to the welfare, retention and operational readiness of our Armed Forces personnel.
The SLA and Overseas Accommodation Review launched earlier this year is focused on identifying recommendations to enhance SLA, which will inform future investments.
All Front-Line Commands have prioritised SLA condition, reinforced by proactive senior leadership engagement, and have plans to eliminate their worst accommodation. Improving the standard of SLA remains a key priority.
The MOD has provided new and refurbished single rooms using a common design and modular off-site construction aiming to reduce build-times and deliver value for money. Their energy-efficient designs minimise operational energy consumption and running costs as well as enhancing the lived experience and thermal comfort.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help increase levels of recruitment of neighbourhood police officers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to rebuilding neighbourhood policing and restoring the vital link between police forces and the communities they serve.
By the end of this Parliament there will be 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales. This year we have provided £200m to support forces to deliver 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by March 2026. We are on track, with forces having already delivered almost 2,400 additional neighbourhood officers in just 6 months.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to consider autistic burnout when shaping policies on SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore the trust of parents. We will do this by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate. We will bring forward a full Schools White Paper early this year, building on the work we have already done to create a system that is rooted in inclusion.
To support the development of the reforms, we are drawing on insights from experts, including the department’s Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion and the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, who were established to provide an expert view and make recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings.
The department has also launched a further period of listening and engagement to strengthen co-creation, listening to children and young people, parents, experts, and education professionals across the country, so that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of the solutions.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
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 implications for his Department’s policies of the Hughes Report entitled Options Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different Government departments. I have met the Patient Safety Commissioner this month to work up the Department’s plans to address her recommendations, and the Government will provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to consider the impact of autistic burnout when shaping policies on disability employment, to ensure autistic people achieve positive outcomes and receive appropriate support.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In January 2025, DWP launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The panel considered the reasons why neurodivergent people (including autistic people) have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate. This included reflections on the challenges autistic people face. We will consider its findings alongside the work of the Keep Britain Working Review, which has now entered its Vanguards Phase to test new employer-led approaches to improving support for individuals to stay in work.
Employers already have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, including workplace flexibilities, where a disabled person or person with a long-term health condition would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage. This includes chronic and fluctuating health conditions and disabilities. DWP provides tailored guidance through its Support with Employee Health and Disability online service and the Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces including guidance on flexible working.
DWP policies also help neurodivergent people into work. Our new supported employment programme - Connect to Work - provides a dedicated specialist employment support adviser who works alongside participants to understand their career goals and help them to address any specific barriers to employment. Connect to Work has a specialist pathway that is dedicated to supporting those with particularly complex barriers.
We are also training DWP staff to better understand the needs of autistic people. In September 2023, DWP’s Learning Delivery and Design Team introduced autism learning for all of our Jobcentre staff, including Disability Employment Advisors and Work Coaches.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he has made an assessment of the (a) value and (b) contribution of the not-for-profit adult social care sector to adult social care delivery.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the vital role and value of not-for-profit providers in delivering adult social care. As of November 2025, 8.1% of Care Quality Commission regulated social care organisation locations are registered as charities.
Local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people under the Care Act 2014. Local authorities are encouraged to commission a range of different approaches to services to ensure people have a genuine choice. This includes supporting and commissioning different types of service provider organisations, including third sector, voluntary, and community-based organisations.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
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 performance of the not-for-profit adult social care sector in (a) ratings achieved through CQC inspections and (b) workforce (i) pay and (ii) turnover reported by the Skills for Care adult social care workforce dataset.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the role and value that not-for-profit providers play in delivering adult social care (ASC). As of November 2025, 8.1% of Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated social care organisation locations are providers with a charity number. Of these locations, 89.1% are rated “Good” or “Outstanding” compared with 83.8% of other providers, of which the vast majority are for-profit. Overall, 84.3% of ASC providers are rated “Good” or “Outstanding”.
Filled posts working for independent sector employers cannot be accurately split into “private” and “voluntary”, as this information is not reported by the CQC. Estimates from the ASC workforce dataset suggests that approximately 74%, or 1,000,000, of the filled posts working for independent sector employers were in private sector establishments, which is approximately 63% of all posts, and 26%, or 345,000, were filled posts in voluntary/charity sector establishments, which is approximately 22% of all posts.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research funded Adult Social Care Research Unit is researching the impact of provider ownership type, including not-for-profit status, on care outcomes and workforce outcomes, including pay and turnover. The project will conclude in June 2026.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide (a) clear routes for progression and (b) development in different subject areas to encourage recruitment and retention of teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child. Our measures will include getting more teachers into shortage subjects, supporting areas that face recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues.
The department wants to ensure all teachers have access to and stay up to date with best practice in continuing professional development at every stage of their career, giving them the expertise and support needed to deliver high-quality teaching.
Through the revised initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF), new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across initial teacher training (ITT) and into their induction.
Beyond the first few years of teaching, our priority is to help all teachers and school leaders to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so every child in every classroom in every school gets the best start in life.
The department has launched a new and updated suite of national professional qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to lead the development of staff to those leading multiple schools across trusts.
The department has established a network of 87 Teaching School Hubs serving schools across the country. The Hubs provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers and play a significant role in delivering ITT, the early career framework and NPQs. These measures will ensure teacher and leader training and development are rooted in the best available evidence.
The department currently offers Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) support in five secondary subjects: chemistry, computing, mathematics, modern languages and physics. The department will continue to explore its options for delivery of SKE training in future academic years to ensure that its funding supports courses in the subjects where these courses are most needed
The department has also expanded the department’s ‘School Teacher Recruitment’ marketing campaign which inspires and attracts candidates to consider a career in teaching, including shortage subjects. It promotes the profession and directs people to the ‘Get Into Teaching’ service, which exists to make teaching a career of choice and supports candidates to apply for teacher training in the most effective and efficient way possible.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of people living in overcrowded housing in Aldershot constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not collect data on overcrowding at a constituency level. The government’s Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament will help tackle overcrowding across the country.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) farmers and (b) food producers use sustainable farming methods in Aldershot constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government’s commitment to farmers and food producers remains steadfast. We will always champion British farming to boost rural economic growth, strengthen food security and improve the environment.
Defra has allocated £5 billion for the farming budget over two years. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery all continuing. This funding will deliver improvements to food security as well as the environment, in the Aldershot constituency and across the country.
Publicly funded research and innovation, including investments under the Farming Innovation Programme, an innovation programme which aims to drive up productivity and enhance environmental sustainability, is enabling us to adapt to climate change more effectively, while improving levels of food security.