Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that the (a) quality and (b) accessibility of support services to victims of (i) sexual and (ii) domestic abuse are not adversely impacted by the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has increased victims’ funding from 24/25 to 25/26, including providing support for specialist services. In May 2025, the Home Office announced an additional £19.9m investment in the 2025/2026 financial year to provide vital support to victims of VAWG as well as other projects across the country that help prevent these crimes.
This includes over £6 million for national helplines supporting victims of domestic abuse, 'honour'-based abuse, revenge porn and stalking. This is in addition to £2.5m on prevention and early intervention to help stop VAWG happening in the first place, to identify what works to prevent VAWG and improve multi-agency working.
The upcoming VAWG Strategy will be published later this year and will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Spending Review 2025 on funding allocated to national Violence Against Women and Girls (a) helplines and (b) charities supporting victims in 2025-26.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In May 2025, the Home Office announced a £19.9m investment in the 2025/2026 financial year to provide vital support to victims of VAWG as well as other projects across the country that help prevent these crimes.
This includes over £6 million for national helplines supporting victims of domestic abuse, 'honour'-based abuse, revenge porn and stalking. This is in addition to £2.5m on prevention and early intervention to help stop VAWG happening in the first place, to identify what works to prevent VAWG and improve multi-agency working.
The upcoming VAWG Strategy will be published later this year and will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the budget for victim and witness support services will be lower in 2025-26 than 2024-25.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice remains committed to supporting victims and witnesses of crime. For the 2025–26 financial year, the Department has protected funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support, maintaining them at the same level as in 2024–25.
There has been a small reduction to the core budget allocated to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), who are responsible for commissioning local victim support services based on assessed need. This decision was taken in the context of a challenging fiscal environment left behind by the previous Government.
The Department continues to work closely with PCCs and sector partners to support the delivery of high-quality services.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Spending Review 2025 on the safeguarding of victims of (a) sexual and (b) domestic abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the scale of violence against women and girls and is treating it as a national emergency. A new cross-government strategy to tackle this will be published this summer.
Action has already been taken by piloting Domestic Abuse Protection Orders; introducing new offences for sexually explicit deepfakes, intimate image abuse and spiking and providing free transcripts of sentencing remarks to victims of sexual offences in the Crown Court.
We will also establish specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force and introduce free independent legal advice for victims of adult rape.
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, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS nursing associates are (a) recognised for their work, (b) protected from role misuse and (c) supported within their defined scope of practice.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Employers across the National Health Service are best placed to identify, recognise, and reward staff for excellence in the delivery of healthcare. In October 2023, NHS England published their Staff Recognition Framework. This provides ideas and guidance for organisations to inform their own strategies and approaches to recognising the work of staff. The Staff Recognition Framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/staff-recognition-framework/
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC has published standards of proficiency for nursing associates, which set out the knowledge and skills that nursing associates need to meet in order to be considered by the NMC as capable of safe and effective nursing associate practice. Further information on the standards of proficiency is available at the following link:
In addition, the NMC’s Code sets out the professional standards that all NMC registrants must uphold in order to be registered to practise in the United Kingdom.
Nursing associates can expand their knowledge and skills with the right training and governance. This must be coupled with appropriate local governance arrangements to ensure healthcare professionals only carry out tasks that they have received the necessary training to perform.
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 he will make it his policy to introduce (a) clear and (b) nationally-recognised progression pathways for nursing associates for (i) leadership, (ii) specialist and (iii) educational roles beyond top-up registered nurse training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting flexible progression opportunities to ensure that nursing associates (NAs) can grow their careers across the National Health Service. NAs are trained to work across a range of health and care settings. Once qualified, NAs are supported to continue to build their skills and knowledge within their chosen specialist area. Besides the opportunity to complete a shortened nursing degree or nursing degree apprenticeship, NHS England funds a range of post-registration education programmes, including leadership development.
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, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that newly qualified nursing associates are (a) guaranteed appropriate Band 4 roles and (b) are not left without employment opportunities after completing their training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on the availability of job opportunities for newly qualified nursing associates and other healthcare professionals trained in the United Kingdom are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 41654 on Trade: Occupied Territories and Western Sahara, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on the potential impact of recognising Western Sahara as a part of Morocco on British businesses.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
DBT and FCDO frequently engage on how best to deliver the government’s growth mission, including by supporting UK exports and investment across North Africa.
The Department for Business and Trade’s team in Morocco focusses on the business opportunities which will create the most value for the UK economy. An example of this is the work the Department is doing on infrastructure projects, ahead of Morocco’s co-hosting of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
The UK continues to support UN-led efforts to reach a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, based on compromise, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 41654 on Trade: Occupied Territories and Western Sahara, if his Department will make an assessment of the impact on British businesses of the UK recognising Western Sahara as a part of Morocco.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
DBT and FCDO frequently engage on how best to deliver the government’s growth mission, including by supporting UK exports and investment across North Africa.
The Department for Business and Trade’s team in Morocco focusses on the business opportunities which will create the most value for the UK economy. An example of this is the work the Department is doing on infrastructure projects, ahead of Morocco’s co-hosting of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
The UK continues to support UN-led efforts to reach a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, based on compromise, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of increases to employer national insurance contributions on the average staffing costs for each nursery.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
That is why, despite tough decisions to get our public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest, supporting early education and childcare providers with the costs they face.
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
On top of this we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector as they prepare to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, recognising the significant level of expansion needed and the effort and planning this will require. We are also providing £25 million of funding to support public sector employers with increased national insurance contributions (NICs) through the early years NICs grant.
As we continue to roll out the new entitlements, we will keep the funding process under review to ensure that early years funding is distributed fairly and efficiently.