Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding for SEND provision in (a) Liverpool and (b) England.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion in England. Of that total, Liverpool City Council is being allocated over £103 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), which is an increase of £10 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 10% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.

In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate core schools budget grant (CSBG), and funding in respect of the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, in 2025/26. This CSBG continues the separate grants payable this year, which are to help special schools and alternative provision with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases, and other staff pay increases. Individual local authorities’ allocations for both grants for 2025/26 will be published in due course.

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 21 January 2025 to Question 24125 on Parish and Town Councils: Employers’ contributions, what discussions her Department is having with parish and town councils about these issues.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer my hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 27565 on 7 February 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with (a) dentists and (b) dentist representatives on the recent dentist pay award.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department formally consults with the British Dental Association on the details of contract uplift proposals before these are implemented, as the recognised representative body for dentists. We consulted the British Dental Association on the proposed uplift for 2024/25, as we do each year.

The Government implemented the overall uplift to contract values on 29 January. Uplifted payments will be made in March, backdated to 1 April 2024.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the number of children and young people reading for pleasure.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Liverpool Walton to the answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 29850.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to renew the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

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

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Liverpool Walton to the answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 26025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the Autonomy Institute's report, entitled Transforming Employment and Support Infrastructure, published in February 2025.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The findings from the Autonomy Institute's report, entitled ‘Transforming Employment and Support Infrastructure’, demonstrates the importance of reforming Jobcentres and the difference this can make to citizens.

Through the Get Britain Working White Paper published in November 2024, the government set out our vision to reform Jobcentre Plus and create a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access employment support, aligned more effectively with skills and careers. We recognise that people are individuals with different support needs, and we want everyone who wants it to be able to access tailored support, not just those on benefits.

We are taking a test and learn approach to developing the new service and are committed to working with users of the new service, and organisations representing their needs, throughout the design process to ensure the new service is inclusive, accessible, and works for everyone.

We want to shift the focus of the customer-work coach relationship away from compliance and box-ticking around these requirements to make room for more constructive, personalised, career-focused conversations. As we set out in the White Paper, we have committed to develop the work coach profession and the careers adviser profession in England. Further building our work coaches’ capabilities is essential to delivering our ambition for the new service. We will launch a coaching academy that will upskill our teams and ensure they can deliver the high-quality, personalised, action-oriented coaching conversations.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of Common Wealth's report, entitled Public Coordination of a Just North Sea Transition, published on 10 January 2025.

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

The Government is committed to a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea to boost Britain’s energy security and ensure good, long-term jobs. That is why we have already launched Great British Energy, begun the biggest ever investment in offshore wind, and are moving ahead with new North Sea industries like carbon capture and storage and hydrogen.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of Common Wealth's briefing, entitled Housing Coalitions of the Future, published on 18 January 2025.

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

The government has made no formal assessment of the potential implications for MHCLG policies of the briefing in question.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of central funding for fire and rescue services in (a) Merseyside and (b) England.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion in 2024/25. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances.

The Home Office will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure fire and rescue services have the resources they need to protect communities.

The Foreign Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry into the Government’s proposed reset of the UK-EU relationship. The inquiry will consider all facets of the reset, across the three “pillars” articulated by the Government (security, safety and prosperity) with a particular focus on how the reset process can be engaged to ensure the UK-EU partnership is able to respond to the challenging international context and the shared strategic challenges that the UK and EU face. The Committee will also consider the role of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in shaping and managing that relationship.

Submit Evidence (by 18 Apr 2025)

This inquiry considers how effectively the UK uses its position at the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) to influence and bring about an end to global conflict, whilst advancing its goals for a rules-based international order. It will focus on countries for which the UK is a ‘Penholder’ at the UN. This includes (but is not limited to) Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The inquiry asks how the UK, as Penholder for these countries, has sought to reduce conflict and instability, and considers practices that have brought about previous successes, drawing upon lessons learned. It also asks how this position may be used more effectively. In its assessment of the UNSC, this inquiry examines the extent to which the Security Council is an effective tool to further conflict resolution, and considers how increasing polarisation on the Security Council may hinder this objective. Finally, this inquiry assesses the relationship between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UK’s representation at the UN.