Charlie Maynard

Department for Business and Trade officials have contributed to training events and provided practical information to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to disseminate to trading standards officers about the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, including changes to consumer protection law and trading standards' enforcement powers.

Furthermore, the Department provides grants to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, as well as others, who are developing training material on the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Funding also supports the maintenance of Business Companion which provides trading standards officers and business with the latest information on the application of consumer law.

The Government is keeping the question of UK membership of the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) under active consideration.

The Government is committed to a free, fair and rules-based international trading system. Re-establishing a fully-functioning WTO dispute settlement system is crucially important. The UK is keen to continue working with other WTO Members to achieve that goal.

A more cooperative relationship with the EU is in the UK’s national interest, as it will help grow the economy and boost living standards.

All decisions taken by the Government on regulation will be focused on supporting growth across the UK. The Government will draw on evidence gathered though our strong relationships with stakeholders, including industry, trade associations and consumer groups.

Rules of origin are often highly technical and there are many factors that influence how businesses experience using these rules and whether they would benefit from different rules - from the different types of paperwork involved, to the make-up of their supply chains. We are regularly talking to businesses about their experience and how we can remove trade barriers and support growth. There is also a significant interaction with the existing rules we have with the EU and in our FTAs with PEM partners that would require consideration.

DBT’s Assimilated Law Dashboard and Reports capture changes to legislation inherited from the EU when the UK left the EU. The Reports and dashboard are publicly available and are updated biannually per requirements of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023.

The dashboard was last updated in January 2025 alongside the publication of the third Assimilated Law Parliamentary Report and remains a useful resource for tracking the ongoing status of assimilated law.

The Government continues to monitor EU regulatory developments closely, cooperating with the EU on key regulatory developments via existing TCA structures.

Where a subsidy relates to the decarbonisation of emissions linked to industrial activities in the United Kingdom, My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State is required by the Subsidy Control Act 2022 to consider Principle H – it is not a question of policy - and he will continue to comply with his statutory duties in this regard.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has regular discussions with the Home Office, and with other government departments, to ensure that the UK’s world-class science, research, technology and innovation sectors are supported by a competitive visa system and immigration offer.

Since 2023, UKRI allows Immigration Health Surcharge costs as well as other visa costs to be covered by their grants. Many other organisations also allow these costs on their grants, and the Immigration Health Surcharge are allowable costs on Horizon Europe grants.

Immigration fees ensure that those benefiting from the borders system and the NHS contribute to its costs, reducing taxpayer funding. The Home Office keeps fees for immigration and nationality applications under review.

Phasing out animal testing where possible is a clear goal of this government and innovative technologies, such as organ-on-a-chip, are essential to delivering this ambition.

The Government invests £10m annually in The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). NC3Rs provides major funding for one of Europe’s largest organ-on-a-chip facilities at Queen Mary University. Studies we have funded have assessed the use of such technologies, such as a 2021 NC3R report . We will consider these studies in a strategy published later this year to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods.

The department collects information on the number of requests for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment, the number of EHC needs assessments carried out, and the number of EHC plans issued on a calendar year basis. The latest figures we hold relate to the 2023 calendar year. We do not hold information on the current caseload being dealt with by the local authority.

Information on the number of requests for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment, the number of EHC needs assessments carried out, and the number of EHC plans issued within 20 weeks from the date of the request for an EHC needs assessment in relation to Oxfordshire is shown in the following table: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/95ca811a-c2f6-4b97-6d62-08dd48e2728c.

As the Minister responsible for school and college capital funding, the hon. Member for Witney can contact my office to arrange a meeting to discuss these matters.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We also recognise that access to nature is currently inequitable across England, with some groups such as those from lower socio-economic backgrounds particularly disadvantaged. This is why we committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space, and to reduce barriers to access. We are already taking forward initiatives to help us deliver this, including new initiatives such as the river walks and national forests manifesto commitments and existing initiatives such as completing the King Charles III England Coast Path and upgrading the Coast to Coast trail across the north of England.

The last Labour Government introduced the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provides the public a right of access to large parts of the English countryside. The 8% figure of publicly accessible land does not include the thousands of green spaces (e.g. parks) that are available to the public. Most of the nation's forests managed by Forestry England (more than 253,000 hectares) have been dedicated as open access land.

British farmers are world-leaders and know their own land best - carefully planning their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy. Harvested production of wheat in 2023 was just under 13.9 million tonnes, which represents average UK production.

Food security is built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production and ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply. In 2023, domestically produced wheat accounted for 83% of the wheat used in the milling grist. Due to environmental and climate conditions the UK milling industry require a certain level of imports of high protein milling wheat year on year to meet consumer demand.

The Government is committed to reducing emissions in the farming sector. The transition goes hand in hand with food security and farm productivity. For wheat in 2023, the UK was 96% self-sufficient. We will support farmers to adopt low carbon farming practices, increasing the carbon stored on their land while boosting profitability.

Defra’s flagship crop breeding programme, the crop Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs), funds research to develop crop varieties that are more productive; sustainable; and have greater resilience against a changing climate, including drought tolerance. The latest investment - £15 million over 5 years - covers five crop types, including wheat. The GINs have already successfully identified genetic traits to improve resilience to climate change and common pests and diseases; and the programme is working closely with breeders to incorporate these traits into UK crop varieties.

On 25 February the legislation needed to implement the Precision Breeding Act for plants in England was laid in Parliament and through a new Farming Innovation Programme thematic competition, we have announced £12.5 million to help deliver the practical benefits of precision breeding technology to farmers. This will help transform the plant breeding sector, including potentially supporting more drought resilient cereals.

The Government is committed to harnessing the purchasing power of the procurement food supply chain to set the tone in delivering our wider ambitions on net zero, sustainability, animal welfare, economic growth and nutrition and health. Over the next year, for the first time ever, the government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies.

The Government is committed to harnessing the purchasing power of the procurement food supply chain to set the tone in delivering our wider ambitions on net zero, sustainability, animal welfare, economic growth and nutrition and health. Over the next year, for the first time ever, the government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies.

Transport Business Cases follow the HM Treasury five-case Business Case model. Decisions are informed by the assessment of the scheme in relation to strategic fit, value for money, deliverability, commercial and financial considerations. The Department provides guidance to scheme promoters in DfT’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG).

The relationship between levels of demand and road capacity would be considered as part of the transport modelling and analysis for potential transport investments.

An introduction to this modelling, including the interaction of supply conditions and road demand, is provided in Chapter 3 of the TAG guidance for the Senior Responsible Officer. Further technical detail is provided in Appendix E of TAG unit M3.1, TAG unit M3.1 highway assignment modelling.

Any assessment on congestion levels on this section of the A40 would be a matter for the local highway authority, in this case Oxfordshire County Council. Government has committed over £160 million of investment to the A40 West of Oxford, this would allow the County Council to take forward their housebuilding ambitions in the area with better infrastructure, including improved public transport priority measures.

To ensure that our consultation is accessible, we intend to produce a range of accessible formats of the Green Paper. Additionally, throughout the consultation period, we will continue to listen to and work with disabled people and their representatives through a number of accessible public and virtual events where individuals will be encouraged to give their views on the consultation in person or virtually. Full details on how to sign up and attend these events will be shared in due course, and we will work with partners to publicise them.

The Department does not hold publishable data to identify where whole genome sequencing has taken place and cannot identify tumours by histological type. NHS England holds data that provides a count of hospital activity only, not by the number of patients. This means that a patient may have had more than one admission within this requested timeframe and may therefore be counted multiple times. This data is held for England only and may not reflect when a patient was initially diagnosed.

To reduce avoidable deaths, improve the quality of life for children and young people with asthma, and to raise the profile of this work, NHS England published the first National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma in September 2021. Through this workstream, asthma care has received higher prioritisation within systems, regional leadership, system led governance, and increased accountability, to improve outcomes for children and young people in England. Further information on the National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-bundle-of-care-for-children-and-young-people-with-asthma/

The Asthma Friendly Schools Programme has been very successful in embedding asthma knowledge and management within teaching and non-teaching professionals in schools. Initially developed by a team in London, the approach has been shared through networks and nationally led meetings. NHS England has encouraged integrated care systems to develop similar approaches or programmes to ensure representation of their local requirements and to build synergy between healthcare, education, and local authority teams.

As part of the National Bundle of Care, specially designed courses have been developed to educate all professionals, healthcare and non-healthcare, on children and young people with asthma, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/children-and-young-peoples-asthma/

These courses have been extremely popular, and over two years there were over 80,000 first tier completions. 74% of these completions have been by teaching or school staff. Further data can be found at the children and young people’s asthma dashboard and the dashboard for asthma metrics and dispensing.

The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) published a report in December 2024, reviewing the deaths of children and young people with asthma in England between April 2019 and March 2023. Between this period, there were 54 deaths due to asthma. For the second iteration of the National Bundle of Care, NHS England is adapting the structure to include recommendations from the NCMD and develop a more systems first approach with additional resources for ongoing support. Further information on the NCMD’s report is available at the following link:

https://www.ncmd.info/publications/child-deaths-asthma-anaphylaxis-allergy/#:~:text=This%20NCMD%20thematic%20report%20aims%20to%20identify%20trends,children%20and%20young%20people%2C%20and%20those%20involved%20in

To reduce avoidable deaths, improve the quality of life for children and young people with asthma, and to raise the profile of this work, NHS England published the first National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma in September 2021. Through this workstream, asthma care has received higher prioritisation within systems, regional leadership, system led governance, and increased accountability, to improve outcomes for children and young people in England. Further information on the National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-bundle-of-care-for-children-and-young-people-with-asthma/

The Asthma Friendly Schools Programme has been very successful in embedding asthma knowledge and management within teaching and non-teaching professionals in schools. Initially developed by a team in London, the approach has been shared through networks and nationally led meetings. NHS England has encouraged integrated care systems to develop similar approaches or programmes to ensure representation of their local requirements and to build synergy between healthcare, education, and local authority teams.

As part of the National Bundle of Care, specially designed courses have been developed to educate all professionals, healthcare and non-healthcare, on children and young people with asthma, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/children-and-young-peoples-asthma/

These courses have been extremely popular, and over two years there were over 80,000 first tier completions. 74% of these completions have been by teaching or school staff. Further data can be found at the children and young people’s asthma dashboard and the dashboard for asthma metrics and dispensing.

The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) published a report in December 2024, reviewing the deaths of children and young people with asthma in England between April 2019 and March 2023. Between this period, there were 54 deaths due to asthma. For the second iteration of the National Bundle of Care, NHS England is adapting the structure to include recommendations from the NCMD and develop a more systems first approach with additional resources for ongoing support. Further information on the NCMD’s report is available at the following link:

https://www.ncmd.info/publications/child-deaths-asthma-anaphylaxis-allergy/#:~:text=This%20NCMD%20thematic%20report%20aims%20to%20identify%20trends,children%20and%20young%20people%2C%20and%20those%20involved%20in

To reduce avoidable deaths, improve the quality of life for children and young people with asthma, and to raise the profile of this work, NHS England published the first National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma in September 2021. Through this workstream, asthma care has received higher prioritisation within systems, regional leadership, system led governance, and increased accountability, to improve outcomes for children and young people in England. Further information on the National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-bundle-of-care-for-children-and-young-people-with-asthma/

The Asthma Friendly Schools Programme has been very successful in embedding asthma knowledge and management within teaching and non-teaching professionals in schools. Initially developed by a team in London, the approach has been shared through networks and nationally led meetings. NHS England has encouraged integrated care systems to develop similar approaches or programmes to ensure representation of their local requirements and to build synergy between healthcare, education, and local authority teams.

As part of the National Bundle of Care, specially designed courses have been developed to educate all professionals, healthcare and non-healthcare, on children and young people with asthma, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/children-and-young-peoples-asthma/

These courses have been extremely popular, and over two years there were over 80,000 first tier completions. 74% of these completions have been by teaching or school staff. Further data can be found at the children and young people’s asthma dashboard and the dashboard for asthma metrics and dispensing.

The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) published a report in December 2024, reviewing the deaths of children and young people with asthma in England between April 2019 and March 2023. Between this period, there were 54 deaths due to asthma. For the second iteration of the National Bundle of Care, NHS England is adapting the structure to include recommendations from the NCMD and develop a more systems first approach with additional resources for ongoing support. Further information on the NCMD’s report is available at the following link:

https://www.ncmd.info/publications/child-deaths-asthma-anaphylaxis-allergy/#:~:text=This%20NCMD%20thematic%20report%20aims%20to%20identify%20trends,children%20and%20young%20people%2C%20and%20those%20involved%20in

NHS England is responsible for the commissioning of interstitial lung disease (ILD) services and funds the anti-fibrotic treatments that are part of the treatment pathway for ILD.

No assessment of the West Oxfordshire service has been made. However, the national service specification describes the standards required of clinical teams to support patients physically and emotionally with the diagnosis and management of people with ILD. Information on the specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/interstitial-lung-disease-adults-service-specification/

NHS England is also supporting systems to improve outcomes for people with a range of respiratory conditions, for example through enabling access to pulmonary rehabilitation through the publication of commissioning standards together with the provision of funding. It has also extended the scope of the National Respiratory Audit Programme’s pulmonary rehabilitation audit so that all patients who participate in pulmonary rehabilitation are captured in the audit, irrespective of their condition. Along with providing a more complete picture of participation, the decision to extend was made to recognise and reinforce the value of pulmonary rehabilitation to all who are eligible with chronic respiratory conditions other than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including interstitial lung disease.

The UK Government remains absolutely committed to pushing the Government of India for a faster resolution to Jagtar Singh Johal's case. The Foreign Secretary continues to raise concerns with the Government of India, most recently with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on 25 November. The Prime Minister also raised Mr Johal's case with Prime Minister Modi on 18 November and I raised Mr Johal's case on 19 November with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.

The growth mission is the central mission of this government. The impact of rail infrastructure investment on regional economic growth is a key consideration that is informing decisions for phase 2 of the Spending Review. The first phase of the Spending Review delivered a £1.1bn cash increase to the transport budget in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25 representing 1.5% real terms growth, delivering record spending.

We are already making considerable investment in transport infrastructure in Oxfordshire, including support for East West Rail and the acceleration of works on the Marston Vale Line to deliver services between Oxford and Bedford, as well as £10m in 25/26 to provide improvements to local bus services. In addition, Oxfordshire County Council received £33.5m of total highway maintenance allocations for the County for 2025/26.

Future transport spending is subject to Phase 2 of the SR and will be considered in the round through that process.

This Government has a cast iron commitment to food production. We have committed £5 billion over this year and next to the farming and countryside programme which includes the largest ever amount for sustainable food production. We have also committed to deliver an ambitious food strategy which will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes for a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system.

In regards to business rates, the Government published the ‘Transforming Business Rates’ Discussion Paper at Budget setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. We are accepting written submissions, which will inform policy development, to the transformingbusinessrates@hmtreasury.gov.uk mailbox until 31 March 2025.

This Government has a cast iron commitment to food production. We have committed £5 billion over this year and next to the farming and countryside programme which includes the largest ever amount for sustainable food production. We have also committed to deliver an ambitious food strategy which will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes for a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system.

In regards to business rates, the Government published the ‘Transforming Business Rates’ Discussion Paper at Budget setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. We are accepting written submissions, which will inform policy development, to the transformingbusinessrates@hmtreasury.gov.uk mailbox until 31 March 2025.

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer provided on 25 February 2025 to Question UIN 31371.

The Ministry of Defence recognises the unique circumstances faced by our Service personnel and that frequent mobility can disrupt children’s education. Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) helps by providing the children of Service personnel with a stable education that would not otherwise be available in the state-maintained day school sector, due to their family’s mobility.

Termly rates of CEA are recalculated to account for changes to fees made by schools for the new academic year. This is usually an annual event but as schools changed their fees for January 2025 in response to the Government’s new VAT policy, the CEA rates were recalculated in December 2024. New rates will be calculated ahead of changes in school fees for September 2025.

The single Services will monitor the impact on retention in service for those claiming CEA following the introduction of VAT on independent school fees. The Pay and Allowances Casework and Complaints Cell (PACCC) will monitor the impact on Service personnel changing schools and withdrawing from CEA. Where a Service person does not meet the eligibility criteria as laid out in JSP 752 and has made a personal choice to use a private school for their child’s education, the MOD is not involved.

Local authorities are independent of central government and are responsible for managing their own services and financial positions.

The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. The majority of the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities, including for local trading standards services.

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across the key government departments with the greatest impact on homelessness to develop a long-term strategy, and an Expert Group bringing together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector. We continue to engage with DEFRA on measures as part of the development of our long-term housing strategy. We are also delivering a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy.

We are already taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget, grant funding for homelessness services is increasing this year by £233 million compared to last year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total funding to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.

Further information on the allocations of homelessness grant funding in the 2025/26 financial year can be found in the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-prevention-grant-allocations-2025-to-2026

The Government is also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including the delivery of the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. And the Renters’ Rights Bill will abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.