Alison Bennett

The Government is fully committed to the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), which protects disabled people from discrimination in the workplace. The Act prohibits direct and indirect disability discrimination and requires employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and applicants/candidates, to ensure that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to their non-disabled colleagues.

On 29 January this year, the Government launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. Many of the panel are diagnosed or identify as neurodivergent and/or have familial experience alongside their professional experience and expertise. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission and Acas have also published comprehensive guidance for employers on their obligations to disabled employees and job applicants under the 2010 Act and Acas provides a helpline for people who think they have experienced discrimination at work.

This government is taking the strongest action against fraudsters that seek to take advantage of the public sector.

That’s why the government introduced the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act in December 2026 - giving us more tools to combat fraud, recover public money and allow the government to investigate fraud. The Procurement Act also takes tougher action on fraud and corruption against public contracts, excluding suppliers which have fallen foul of the fraud exclusion ground and pose particular risks.

Taking action against fraud and error has an impact. In 2024-25, the Government Counter Fraud Function delivered counter fraud and error savings of £7.53bn. This includes not only fraud and error recoveries, but also savings in prevented fraud and error. The Public Sector Fraud Authority’s Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Reports sets out where departments (except HMRC and DWP, which publish their own figures independently) have taken action to prevent and recover fraud and error.

The next report into the operation of the UK Honours System is expected in due course.

Every five years, a review is carried out of how honours are distributed across the different categories of activity in UK life and is reviewed by the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) before it is sent to The Sovereign for approval. This Quinquennial Review is guided both by priorities set by the Prime Minister and also changes to the population and sizes of workforces in each sector of the economy.

The most recent Quinquennial Review set out recommendations for the period of the Birthday Honours 2023 List to the Birthday Honours 2028 List (inclusive). The next review period will begin in 2026/27 for implementation in the New Year Honours 2029 List. The scope of this review has not yet been agreed but will be approved by the HD Committee in due course.

I have not discussed this with the Leader of the House. As announced in the policy paper ‘The fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’, published on January 22, the Government will bring forward amendments to the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988, in advance of longer-term reforms.

The SI will be laid when parliamentary time allows.

This Government is working to ensure we have a high-quality and professional construction industry, with consumer protection at the heart of this. TrustMark, sponsored by the Department and licenced by the Government, is the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme that covers work a consumer chooses to have carried out in or around their home. In addition, the Building Safety Act 2022 has introduced competence requirements for both individuals and businesses working in the built environment.

Any action that the Government takes on licensing to protect customers and standards needs to be robust, proportionate and evidence based.

Companies House does not have any plans to build a specific database for the purpose outlined.

Companies House is taking action to improve the quality of the information on the Register of Companies using powers made available by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

The Act also provides for the compulsory identity verification of directors, persons with significant control and those acting on behalf of companies. This will ensure that consumers are able to more easily trace the previous appointments of company directors. The systems needed to enable the deployment of identity verification are currently being implemented.

The department has published the Warm Homes Plan which will tackle fuel poverty, lower bills, and deliver warmer, more comfortable homes. A new Fuel Poverty Strategy has been published alongside the Warm Homes Plan, which specifically considers the needs of low-income households most at risk from the impact of living in a cold home.

Additionally, the Warm Home Discount will be expanded to support a further 2.7 million households. From this winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support off their energy bill.

There is a robust regulatory framework that addresses the health and safety risks associated with grid-scale battery storage. Specifically, the Health and Safety at Work Act and secondary legislation places legal duties on employers to manage risks to employees and anyone else who may be affected. It is the policy of the Health and Safety Executive to continue to review its regulatory framework to make sure it works in a time of innovation.

The department is committed to doing more to improve the life changes of all children, including children from ethnic minority and working class backgrounds.

Our approach is comprehensive: rebuilding early family support, developing a new model for targeting disadvantage funding so it better reflects need, strengthening teaching quality and ensuring high-quality curricula are embedded across the system.

We are also launching two place-based missions, Mission North East and Mission Coastal, to drive sustained improvement in areas where outcomes remain stubbornly low. These missions will bring together schools, families and local partners at place level to tackle entrenched disadvantage and raise attainment.

An inclusive education system for all children and young people requires a strong universal offer, built on high-quality adaptive teaching and early, effective support.

To support the development of a more inclusive mainstream system, we are investing £500 million per financial year over the next three years through an Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) to support schools, colleges and early years settings with upfront funding to help them move towards becoming more inclusive by design.

We have published guidance for school leaders on how to develop an Inclusion Strategy and use their IMF allocations alongside core budgets to more effectively invest in inclusive approaches and activities that address barriers to learning and participation.

Beyond this investment, we have published guidance on Inclusion Bases, assistive technology, and other resources designed to help education and early years settings deliver high-quality inclusive learning environments and practice. Additionally, following changes to Ofsted inspections, settings are now held to account for their support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), through a new focus on inclusion. The renewed inspection framework sets out expectations for how leaders should ensure needs are identified and met, and how barriers to learning and engagement are removed.

The government is committed to supporting local areas to create high-quality places that are suitable to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, to enable more children and young people to access the right support in their local area. This will enable them to learn alongside their peers and siblings, instead of travelling a long way to a specialist school.

The department is investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding between 2025/26 and 2029/30, to support local authorities to provide places for children and young people with SEND, or who require alternative provision, across early years settings, schools, and colleges.

This funding is expected to fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, as well as adaptations to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings. It can also be used to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.

Additionally, the department is investing around £1.8 billion over three years to develop a new Experts at Hand offer, giving mainstream settings access to specialist support from key health and education professionals.

Our overall package of reforms will ensure every child gets the right support at the right time.

The department holds data on young carers and pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM), which is published in the ‘Schools, pupils and characteristics’ publication. The most recent version was published in June 2025 and the next is scheduled for summer 2026.

Below is a table showing the proportion of pupils who are identified as young carers and known to be eligible for FSM, and the proportion of pupils who are not identified as young carers but are known to be eligible for FSM.

Education is a significant part of the cross-government strategy to keep women and girls safe, focusing on prevention by instilling early the values and skills needed to protect young people, disrupt dangerous attitudes, and stop harmful behaviours escalating.

We have already overhauled the relationships, sex, and health education (RSHE) curriculum, with a new focus on developing skills for healthy relationships from the beginning of primary school, and equipping children with the tools to tackle harmful influences.

We have also committed £11 million to fund three pilot programmes to support teachers to implement the new RSHE curriculum, provide healthy relationships training, and advise on how to tackle harmful behaviours.

Departmental officials are also developing a series of resources on extreme misogyny with Connect Futures to support schools and colleges on whole school approaches, teaching materials, and assembly plans which will be available soon.

Students may defer or withdraw from their studies for different reasons including due to health conditions and other mitigating circumstances. Interest will continue to accrue even if a student suspends or withdraws from their course, but current students on Plan 5 loans will only accrue Retail Price Index level interest, without the additional rates of Plan 2.

Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers, which stay at a constant rate of 9% above an earnings threshold to protect lower earners. If a borrower’s income drops below the repayment threshold, or they are not earning, their repayments will stop.

Any outstanding loan will be cancelled if the borrower becomes disabled and permanently unfit for work, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.

Defra is not planning on further regulating glyphosate use by local authorities.

There is a legal requirement to minimise the use of pesticides along roads and in areas used by the public. It is for each Local Authority to decide the best way of delivering effective and cost-effective weed control in its operations without harming people or the environment.

The UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP) sets out how we intend to increase the uptake of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) across all sectors, including in amenity. Defra funded the recent publication of Parks for London’s Integrated Weed Management guide, which has been made open access. IPM lies at the heart of the government’s approach to minimise the environmental impact of pesticides.

A pesticide may only be placed on the market in Great Britain (GB) if the product has been authorised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), GB’s pesticide regulator. This only happens following a thorough scientific risk assessment that concludes all safety standards are met.

The decline of the barn owl is attributed to several factors including the loss of suitable habitat, which limits the availability of hunting grounds; the use of rodenticides; road traffic collision; and the loss of traditional nesting sites.

To address their decline nationally, agri-environmental schemes are supporting barn owls by the funding of habitat creation, such as rough grassland for hunting, and by supporting the provision of nest boxes in suitable locations.

Defra recognises the vital role smaller abattoirs play in supporting local livestock producers and maintaining a resilient and competitive food supply chain.

Defra works closely with the industry including through the Small Abattoirs Working Group and the Small Abattoirs Task and Finish Group. These groups bring together Government and industry representatives on a regular basis and provide a forum for identifying the challenges and opportunities that the sector faces, and for collaborating on practical solutions to support the sustainability of small and medium sized abattoirs. This includes issues such as regulation, efficiency and labour, to help ensure the sector remains viable and resilient.

The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders to help address the pressures facing small abattoirs and ensure they remain a vital part of a competitive, sustainable and locally rooted food supply chain.

The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. This Government will uphold and protect our high environmental and animal welfare standards in future trade deals. We will promote robust standards nationally and internationally and will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage

All agri-food products must comply with our import requirements in order to be placed on the UK market. This includes ensuring imported meat products have been slaughtered to animal welfare standards equivalent to our domestic standards

The Government recognises farmers’ concerns about imports produced using methods not permitted in the UK. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to support economic growth and promote the highest standards of food production.

We are seeking powers in the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory enforcement guidance to help councils make full and proper use of their fly-tipping enforcement powers. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, vehicle seizure and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment.

We have committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

Defra officials chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, including officials from the Department for Transport, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and devolved governments, to promote good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which can be found at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.