Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 74930 on Midwives: Recruitment and Training, if he can outlines measures his Department is taking to increase the number of jobs available for newly qualified midwives.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 11 August 2025, the Government announced the Graduate Guarantee for nurses and midwives. The Graduate Guarantee will ensure that there are enough positions this year for every newly qualified midwife in England. Vacant maternity support worker posts will be temporarily converted to Band 5 midwifery roles, backed by £8 million to create new opportunities specifically for newly qualified midwives and to further ease the recruitment strain.
Furthermore, 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 National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department has carried out an assessment of the potential merits of providing childcare support for midwives in training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department for Education provides the primary funding support package for English domiciled students in higher education through the student loans system. Eligible students can also apply for the Childcare Grant and Parents’ Learning Allowance.
The Department of Health and Social Care provides eligible healthcare students, including midwifery students, with supplementary, non-repayable support via the NHS Learning Support Fund. This includes a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year and, for eligible students with childcare responsibilities, an additional £2,000 per academic year for parental support. These funding arrangements are reviewed ahead of the start of each academic year.
Midwifery apprentices can access childcare support schemes available to working parents, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help tackle deaths among homeless people caused primarily by drug use.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
People dying whilst homeless is devasting and we must do all we can to prevent avoidable deaths.
The government’s £61.7 million Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment programme funds drug and alcohol treatment services to improve substance misuse and recovery outcomes, reduce the number of people sleeping rough due to substance misuse, and prevent deaths from drug and alcohol poisoning.
We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including delivering 1.5 million homes over this Parliament and the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding for a generation.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what financial support his Department provides to the recycled plastic industry.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government is committed to improving the business environment for the recycled plastic industry. This includes support for eligible firms through the Energy Intensive Industry relief schemes, depending on scheme eligibility criteria and firm levels of electricity usage. Other mechanisms include the market-based Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRN) system that provides direct funding to the reprocessing sector.
DEFRA’s collection and packaging reforms will also stimulate investment in recycling services and provide feedstock certainty, and while we cannot endorse individual technologies, Government have a range of funding sources available to support innovative and emerging technologies within this space through Innovate UK.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of how imported plastic from Saudi Arabia might impact on the viability of domestic recycled plastic production.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade has not made any specific assessment of the impact of plastic imports from Saudi Arabia on domestic recycled plastic production.
We are, however, working to ensure the viability of domestic production. This year marks the start of DEFRA’s collection and packaging reforms and a Deposit Return Scheme which will provide feedstock certainty through guaranteeing supply of materials for recycling, whilst also stimulating private investment in infrastructure. Government departments also continue to work closely together to identify interventions necessary to stabilise the sector and set it up for success.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to include neurodiversity awareness on the curriculum at (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report and the government’s response were published on 5 November. The Review sought to identify and focus on addressing the most significant and pressing issues facing curriculum and assessment without destabilising the system.
A key focus of the Review was inclusion and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), explored through dedicated inclusion work strands that were embedded across all areas of the panel’s work. Throughout the Review, the experiences and outcomes of children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs were considered to ensure the reformed curriculum works for every child.
In 2025 the department invested in multi-million-pound programmes, such as Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) and Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC), that bring together central and local government, schools and parents to test and learn new ways to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training is available for teachers on supporting neurodivergent children in the classroom.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
From September 2025, the department implemented the revised initial teacher training and early career framework, adding more content related to adaptive teaching and improving inclusivity for SEND pupils. The department also enhanced the requirement on providers to develop SEND training materials.
Beyond the first few years of teaching, national professional qualifications (NPQs) are available to education professionals at all levels. In 2024 we began delivery of the NPQ for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs). This is the mandatory qualification for SENCOs in mainstream schools. Participants will develop the knowledge and skills needed to set the strategic direction of special educational needs policy and the conditions for pupils with SEND to thrive.
The department has committed to a full review of both NPQs and early career teacher training, which will include a focus on SEND.
The Universal SEND Services programme helps the school and further education workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND earlier and more effectively. It also helps them to successfully prepare children and young people for adulthood, including employment.
The Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme is a national programme backed by £22 million of investment. It is a cross-government collaboration between the department, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, supported by the National Network of Parent Carer Forums. PINS deploys specialists from both health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children in mainstream primary schools.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I introduced the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill on 14 October – a significant step in fulfilling our commitment to repeal and replace the Legacy Act.
The Bill received its Second Reading yesterday, and I look forward to continued debate and scrutiny as it progresses through Parliament.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department issued guidance to (a) travel and (b) aviation companies on continuing flights to Jamaica after the Jamaican Government issued a hurricane warning.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is expected that airlines, travel operators and travellers will routinely consider the latest Travel Advice provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) before taking their travel decisions. The FCDO provided regularly updated information and advice in relation to Hurricane Melissa between 22 October and 2 November.
The FCDO arranged for one commercial charter flight to support British nationals and other eligible persons who wanted to return from Jamaica to the UK during that period, which departed from Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport on Saturday 1 November. Commercial options were available shortly thereafter resulting in low demand for further FCDO flights.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many flights were arranged to bring UK citizens home from impacted areas following Hurricane Melissa.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is expected that airlines, travel operators and travellers will routinely consider the latest Travel Advice provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) before taking their travel decisions. The FCDO provided regularly updated information and advice in relation to Hurricane Melissa between 22 October and 2 November.
The FCDO arranged for one commercial charter flight to support British nationals and other eligible persons who wanted to return from Jamaica to the UK during that period, which departed from Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport on Saturday 1 November. Commercial options were available shortly thereafter resulting in low demand for further FCDO flights.