Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has had discussions with (a) Ripple Energy and (b) the administrators of Ripple Energy on protections for the customers of Ripple Energy’s cooperative energy projects.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including postgraduate students in the eligibility criteria for the (a) Childcare Grant and (b) Parent Learners Allowance.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Postgraduate master’s and doctoral loans are intended as a contribution to the cost of study. They can be used by students according to their personal circumstances to cover the costs of fees and living costs, including for childcare. The Childcare Grant and Parents’ Learner Allowance form part of the undergraduate support package and there are no plans to extend access to those in receipt of a postgraduate loan.

Students are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education which is available to all three and four-year-olds regardless of family circumstances.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of adopting intelligent booking systems to maximise the utilisation of the NHS property estate.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of adopting intelligent booking systems to maximise the utilisation of the National Health Service’s property estate. NHS trusts decide locally how best to manage their estate.

Data for the occupancy and utilisation rates of clinical rooms in the NHS estate for the latest period, from 2023 to 2024, published in December 2024, is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2023-24

No estimate has been made of the cost to the NHS of unused and underused clinical buildings and rooms.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) occupancy and (b) utilisation rates of clinical rooms in the NHS estate was in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of adopting intelligent booking systems to maximise the utilisation of the National Health Service’s property estate. NHS trusts decide locally how best to manage their estate.

Data for the occupancy and utilisation rates of clinical rooms in the NHS estate for the latest period, from 2023 to 2024, published in December 2024, is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2023-24

No estimate has been made of the cost to the NHS of unused and underused clinical buildings and rooms.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the cost to the NHS of (a) unused and (b) underused clinical (i) buildings and (ii) rooms.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of adopting intelligent booking systems to maximise the utilisation of the National Health Service’s property estate. NHS trusts decide locally how best to manage their estate.

Data for the occupancy and utilisation rates of clinical rooms in the NHS estate for the latest period, from 2023 to 2024, published in December 2024, is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2023-24

No estimate has been made of the cost to the NHS of unused and underused clinical buildings and rooms.

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 12 February 2025 to Question 28599 on Doctors: Training, if he will conduct a review of the selection process for medical specialty training places with a view to giving priority to UK medical graduates, in the context of that being the case in Canada, the US and Australia.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Working with NHS England, we continue to keep the selection process for all applicants to medical speciality training under review.

NHS England launched an extensive engagement and listening exercise to help shape the future of postgraduate medical training in February 2025. This engagement exercise will run through to June, with findings evaluated and reported in the summer.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average length of time was for children fleeing domestic abuse to be allocated a school place in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Children living in a refuge are, among a number of other categories of vulnerable and hard-to-place children, eligible for consideration under the fair access protocol. Where a child is referred to the protocol, they must be allocated a school place within 20 school days.

Where a child has difficulty in securing a school place via the usual in-year admissions processes, fair access protocols exist to ensure that school places can be secured as quickly as possible for vulnerable and hard-to-place children.

Each local authority is required to have a fair access protocol in place and all admission authorities are required to participate in it.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applications for naturalisation as a British citizen took longer than the six month service standard in the latest reporting period for which data is available.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The information requested is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/passports-and-citizenship-data-q4-2024.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 39567 on Local Plans: Gardens Trust, what criteria was applied to the decision to remove the Gardens Trust as a statutory planning consultee.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure that air pollution levels near (a) schools, (b) hospitals and (c) GP surgeries do not exceed the World Health Organisation's recommended limits.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is committed to continue reducing everyone’s exposure to air pollution. We are developing a series of further interventions to reduce emissions from key sources. We have set a Population Exposure Reduction Target for PM2.5, which will continue to reduce peoples’ average exposure across the country. We will consider WHO guidelines as part of an evidence led process when considering future targets and plan to publish a revised Environmental Improvement Plan later this year, which will set out the action we intend to take on air quality.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of air pollution on children’s health.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children can be susceptible to the health effects from long and short-term exposure to air pollution. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants published advice on susceptibility to air pollution in March 2025. They concluded that, based on the latest evidence, advice for children with asthma should continue to be included in the Daily Air Quality Index. The full review is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-given-to-the-air-quality-information-system-aqis-review-steering-group

In addition, the UK Health Security Agency has a Cleaner Air Programme which aims to reduce people’s exposure to air pollution, particularly in the most vulnerable groups, including children. The programme is organised around three core outcomes, namely increasing the evidence base, influencing and supporting stakeholders, and improving awareness and understanding. Further information is available at the following link:

https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/06/16/clean-air-day-how-ukhsa-is-tackling-air-pollution-and-how-you-can-help/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department provides to support services for the children of alcoholics.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Our mission-based approach will ensure that every child has the best start in life and that we create the healthiest generation of children ever. This includes supporting the children of parents with alcohol problems and other adverse childhood experiences.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve services and wider recovery support, which includes housing and employment. Further details are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drug-and-alcohol-treatment-and-recovery-funding-2025-to-2026/drug-and-alcohol-treatment-and-recovery-funding-allocations-2025-to-2026

All local authorities can invest some of their allocation on interventions that strengthen the support available to children and families affected by alcohol and/or drugs, according to local need.

The Government also has an alcohol and drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce alcohol and drug use and its harms by providing awareness to young people, parents, and concerned others. Further information on Talk to FRANK is available at the following link:

https://www.talktofrank.com/

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including postgraduate students in receipt of (a) stipends and (b) bursaries in the eligibility criteria for free childcare.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

To be eligible for the working parent entitlement, both parents, including if they are a student, will need to earn between the equivalent of 16 hours a week at National Minimum Wage, which is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,140 per year in 2024/2025, and £100,000 adjusted net income per year.

A student receiving a bursary does not count as qualified paid work, so this cannot be used towards the working parent entitlement. Students may only be considered eligible for the working parent entitlement if they work and meet the income requirements in addition to studying.

Students are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education, which is available to all three- and four-year-olds regardless of family circumstances. This is available the term after the child turns three.

There is a range of support for students in further or higher education. If they meet the eligibility criteria, students can apply for the Childcare Grant and Parental learning allowance. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/childcare-grant and https://www.gov.uk/parents-learning-allowance.

Additionally, working parents on Universal Credit may be eligible for help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare, which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/universal-credit.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear in her commitment to early years. Despite tough decisions to get our public finances back on track, this government has increased investment in the early years sector to drive forward progress towards our Plan for Change target of a record number of children starting school ready to learn.

Later this year, the department will launch a new strategy to revitalise early years education, rooted in creating positive early childhood experiences for children.

Oaklands College success in sport and academia

Refusal of Citizenship to refugees who have made irregular crossings

Replacement of Personal Independence Payments with a voucher system

Introduction of the Hillsborough Law and the 36th anniversary

Israeli Defence Force attacks on humanitarian workers

Humanitarian response to the Myanmar earthquake

Chalk stream river protection

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