Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the (a) number of Child Trust Fund accounts that remain unclaimed and (b) value of funds held in those unclaimed Child Trust Fund accounts.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of Child Trust Funds that have matured and have not been claimed or transferred to an ISA, and the value of funds held in these accounts, can be found in the Child Trust Fund tables of the Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2025
Table 1a: Market Value of CTFs as of 5 April 2025 | Number of accounts | Average Market Value (£) | Total Market Value (£ Million) |
Matured This Year (Continuing) | 295 | 2,039 | 602 |
Matured Previously (Continuing) | 463 | 1,942 | 899 |
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has made to ensure sufficient NHS staffing and resources during the 2025–26 flu season.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment and resourcing are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care. We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the NHS over the winter months, providing additional support as needed.
The Department is continuing to take key steps to ensure the health service is prepared throughout the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency departments, increasing vaccination rates and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care board and trust winter plans to ensure they are able to meet demand and ensure patient flow.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
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 ensure the NHS is appropriately prepared for winter flu-related admissions in 2025 and early 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have started earlier and done more than ever to prepare for winter this year. We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the National Health Service over the winter months, providing additional support to services across the country as needed.
The Department is continuing to take key steps to ensure the health service is prepared throughout the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency departments, increasing vaccination rates, and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care board and trust winter plans to ensure they are able to meet demand and ensure patient flow.
Flu is a recurring pressure that the NHS faces every winter. There is particular risk of severe illness for older people, the very young, pregnant people, and those with certain underlying health conditions. The flu vaccine remains the best form of defense against influenza, particularly for the most vulnerable, and continues to be highly effective at preventing severe disease and hospitalisation. This year we have:
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to reduce pressure on the NHS from flu-related hospital admissions this winter.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have started earlier and done more than ever to prepare for winter this year. We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the National Health Service over the winter months, providing additional support to services across the country as needed.
The Department is continuing to take key steps to ensure the health service is prepared throughout the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency departments, increasing vaccination rates, and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care board and trust winter plans to ensure they are able to meet demand and ensure patient flow.
Flu is a recurring pressure that the NHS faces every winter. There is particular risk of severe illness for older people, the very young, pregnant people, and those with certain underlying health conditions. The flu vaccine remains the best form of defense against influenza, particularly for the most vulnerable, and continues to be highly effective at preventing severe disease and hospitalisation. This year we have:
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish an analysis of how the updated deprivation indicators have altered funding allocations to individual councils under the new Local Government Finance Settlement for (a) Hampshire; (b) Hertfordshire; (c) Kent; (d) Surrey; (e) Essex; (f) Oxfordshire; (g) Buckinghamshire; (h) West Sussex; and (i) East Sussex.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government published the local government finance policy statement Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 - GOV.UK and government response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on Thursday 20 November, which set out the government’s plans to introduce a fairer and evidence-led system, that will realign funding with need and deprivation.
The government has used the most robust and up to date evidence available. On this basis, we are now using data from the recently published 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation in our assessment of need.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
The government will also include technical annexes for each ‘relative need formula’ – including those which use updated deprivation data – at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (IoD25) on Thursday 30th October 2025. All resources can be accessed online here - English indices of deprivation 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to publish a national strategy for palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England.
The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.
Further information about the MSF is set out in the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms exist to provide emergency support to councils in instances where their Fair Funding allocation does not cover their costs.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through the Fair Funding Review 2.0 reforms and the first multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement in a decade, we are introducing a fairer and evidence-based funding system. These updates will account for local circumstances, including for different ability to raise income locally from council tax. They will also account for the variation in cost of delivering services, including between rural and urban areas. In doing so, we will target a greater proportion of grant funding towards the most deprived places which need it most, ensuring the best value for money for government and taxpayers.
As a result, we expect that councils with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power (CSP) increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement, with most councils seeing their Core Spending Power increase in cash terms. By 2028-29, we expect that the 10% most deprived authorities will see a significant increase in their Core Spending Power per head compared to the least deprived.
While our reforms move funding to the places where it is most needed, the government recognises the challenging financial context for local authorities as they continue to deal with the legacy of the previous system. The government has therefore confirmed that it will continue to have a framework in place to support those in the most difficult positions. Any council that has concerns about its ability to set or maintain a balanced budget should approach the department in the first instance.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how the Government ensures that increases in core spending power per head accurately reflect trends in levels of costs for councils in deprived areas.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through the Fair Funding Review 2.0 reforms and the first multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement in a decade, we are introducing a fairer and evidence-based funding system. These updates will account for local circumstances, including for different ability to raise income locally from council tax. They will also account for the variation in cost of delivering services, including between rural and urban areas. In doing so, we will target a greater proportion of grant funding towards the most deprived places which need it most, ensuring the best value for money for government and taxpayers.
As a result, we expect that councils with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power (CSP) increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement, with most councils seeing their Core Spending Power increase in cash terms. By 2028-29, we expect that the 10% most deprived authorities will see a significant increase in their Core Spending Power per head compared to the least deprived.
While our reforms move funding to the places where it is most needed, the government recognises the challenging financial context for local authorities as they continue to deal with the legacy of the previous system. The government has therefore confirmed that it will continue to have a framework in place to support those in the most difficult positions. Any council that has concerns about its ability to set or maintain a balanced budget should approach the department in the first instance.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with HM Treasury on the potential merits of ringfencing funding received from fines levied on tech platforms by Ofcom under the Online Safety Act to fund specialist violence against women and girls support services, specifically for ‘by and for’ led services.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, any fines collected by Ofcom must be paid into the Consolidated Fund and any subsequent allocation of funds would then be a matter for HM Treasury. It is worth noting that fine income is inherently unpredictable and therefore may not be an appropriate or sustainable way to directly fund initiatives.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funding his Department has committed to providing specialist support services for survivors of technology-facilitated abuse and online violence against women and girls.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
My Department is committed to the Government’s pledge to halve Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade.
The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date.
I have committed two years of grant funding to the 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales. They commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, including victims of technology-facilitated abuse and online violence against women and girls. The funding from the Ministry of Justice includes ‘core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need, as well as funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services.