Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what whether she has considered screening all primary school age children for colour blindness.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department knows that effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Whilst the department does not have any current plans to introduce screening for all primary school age children for colour blindness, to support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews from University College London will help to drive inclusive practices. They highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.
We also recently announced new government-backed research into SEN identification, which will be delivered by UK Research Innovation (UKRI) in partnership with the department. This will aim to develop and test trusted and effective approaches to help the early identification of children needing tailored educational support.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people waiting for NHS treatment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know how important it is to patients and clinicians that they receive and deliver treatment faster.
Our Elective Reform Plan is working. Waiting lists are down over 225,000 since we came to office. We delivered 5.2 million extra appointments in our first year; double what we promised.
The NHS is on the road to recovery, saving and transforming more lives through record investment, innovation and modernisation.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to implement social rent convergence.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the Budget on 26 November 2025, the Chancellor restated the government’s commitment to implementing Social Rent convergence. We will announce a decision on how we will do so in January 2026, before the launch of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his planned timetable is to (a) reform the EPC system and (b) introduce a new Home Energy Model in 2026.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is working to reform EPCs so that they support our key objectives of achieving Clean Power by 2030 and accelerating to Net Zero. The government expects to introduce changes to EPCs metrics in 2026.
The Home Energy Model (HEM) will replace the current Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) as the methodology underpinning EPCs and building regulations, and is planned to be implemented first alongside the Future Homes Standard.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the Pathfinder scheme to Hertfordshire.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Pathfinder model is currently operating in six family court areas across England and Wales. Three further court areas will start the model on 11 November in the Black Country and Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire and in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. Courts in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will start the model in January next year.
Further expansion of the model will be considered during the allocations process which follows the latest Spending Review, and we are unable to pre-empt the outcome of this.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many postgraduate students are (a) studying and (b) parents of children of nursery age for which the latest data is available..
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. HESA does not collect data on the parental status of students across all UK HE providers, and so information on the total number of postgraduate students that are parents of children of nursery age is not currently held by the department.
For the 2023/24 academic year, HESA reported there are 847,905 postgraduate students enrolled in UK HE providers. Counts of HE student enrolments by level of study are published in Table 3 of HESA’s Student data, which can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb271/figure-3.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) homes have been purchased through the council homes acquisition programme and (b) former homes bought under right to buy have been purchased back by local authorities since 2023.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Data on the number of homes purchased specifically through the council homes acquisition programme and on the number of homes sold under right to buy subsequently purchased back by local authorities, is not collected centrally.
The number of all acquisitions by councils can be found in the Affordable Housing Supply open data, which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the average deposit paid by (a) all first time buyers and (b) first time buyers using shared ownership schemes in 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
According to the English Housing Survey, the average (mean) deposit of a first-time buyer in 2023-24 was £55,372 (£32,700 median). Further information can be found in the English Housing Survey statistical publication on gov.uk here.
In 2023-24, the mean cash deposit paid by first time buyers in England using shared ownership schemes sold through via private registered providers was £20,300 and the median cash deposit was £12,900. Figures for all shared ownership schemes sold through via private registered providers is available in Live Table 697.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many first time buyers there were in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025; and what proportion of those bought through shared ownership schemes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not collect data on the number of first-time buyers.
The Office for National Statistics publishes data on first-time buyer mortgage sales by local authority in the UK. They can be found on its website here. Data covers the period between 2006 and 2024. Data for 2025 has not yet been published.
While it is not possible to provide information on the overall proportion of first time buyers that bought through shared ownership, my Department collects data on shared ownership sales by private registered providers of Social Housing, including whether these were to first time buyers.
This data is used to produce an estimate of the proportion of shared ownership sales by private registered providers that are to first time buyers. These estimates are published for 2022-23 and 2023-24 as part of the Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistical release. The 2024-25 publication has been pre-announced for publication in January/February 2026. My department only collects similar data from local authorities on a voluntary basis.
Asked by: Andrew Lewin (Labour - Welwyn Hatfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the average value of a redeemed child trust fund since (a) July 2023 and (b) July 2024.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The average market value of Child Trust Fund accounts that have matured and have been claimed or transferred to an ISA can be found in the Child Trust Fund tables of the Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2025