Darren Paffey

This Government recognises that batteries have a key role to play in decarbonising the power sector by 2030 by balancing the electricity system and facilitating the integration of renewable power.

The Government does not intend to commission an assessment of storage in this specific area. To ensure that we develop the right strategic mix of energy infrastructure in the appropriate locations, the government has commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to develop a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) to support a more actively planned approach to energy infrastructure across Great Britain.

The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the route is unsafe. There are extended rights to free home-to-school travel for children from low-income families, aimed at helping them exercise school choice.

The department knows that local authorities’ spending on home-to-school travel has increased sharply in recent years, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities. This is largely due to increases in the number of children with education, health and care plans and the number of those children who have to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs.

The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. This will reduce home-to-school travel costs for local authorities over time.

Funding for the number of 16 year olds entering further education in Southampton Itchen constituency is part of the 16 to 19 funding allocations, which uses student numbers from the previous year as a basis for the calculation. To support providers that have exceptional increases in the number of students, compared to their allocation, the department announced in year growth funding ahead of the GCSE results on 22 August. Details of the funding are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025.

Capital investment to support the demographic increase in 16 to 19 learners has been available through the Post-16 Capacity Fund, which provides funding to schools and colleges. This includes projects by Itchen Sixth Form College to ensure enough capital capacity in schools and colleges to accommodate the additional learners. It has made available £238 million in capital funding since 2021.

All future funding commitments are subject to the Spending Review.

The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE). This remains the responsibility of individual colleges who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs.

The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers play in developing the skills needed to drive our missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. That is why we are investing around £600 million in FE across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, including extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and provides support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a Budget on 30 October to be followed by a multi-year Spending Review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.

Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving all our children and young people the start in life they deserve. The government is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care across all settings, and to improve outcomes for care leavers.

The King’s Speech set out the government’s plans to introduce a Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will help raise standards for children in care and ensure that every child can thrive in a safe, loving home as part of the government’s commitment to deliver high and rising standards in education for children and young people in England. The Bill is expected to be introduced within the first session of Parliament and will be a crucial step in breaking down barriers to opportunity for children and young people.

The Secretary of State recently met with water company bosses, including Southern Water, to make clear that water firms will be held accountable for their performance for customers and the environment. During the meeting, water bosses signed up to the Government’s initial package of reforms to cut sewage dumping and attract investment to upgrade infrastructure.

The Government also announced a new Water (Special Measures) Bill, which will turn around the performance of water companies, in the King’s Speech. The Bill will strengthen regulation, give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives. These are the first critical steps in enabling a long-term and transformative reset of the entire water sector.

I would also refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.

DWP offers employment support for eligible customers of all ages, including those below State Pension age, through the network of Jobcentres across the UK, and through contracted employment programmes.

A dedicated offer for older workers seeks to provide tailored support for those affected by low confidence, menopause, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications. This includes an online midlife review tool that supports people to assess their health, wealth and skills.

The government has set out ambitious plans to improve employment support by bringing together jobcentres and the national careers service.

There are no current plans to make an assessment of the feasibility of extending free prescriptions to care leavers aged 18 to 25 years old.

The NHS Breast Screening Programme has high levels of activity, however NHS England has advised that some women are simply not coming forward for screening. To address this, NHS England is carrying out research into the best approaches to target specific groups that are not coming forward for screening. Evidence suggests approaches such as personalised appointments from a general practitioner (GP), fixed appointment with a date and time, and text messaging reminders are the best ways to engage underserved communities.

In addition, The Help Us Help You national campaign helps to raise awareness of early diagnosis of cancer and encourages people to see their GP sooner. The campaign activity is designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by reducing barriers to seeking earlier help, and by increasing body vigilance and knowledge of key red flag symptoms.

No specific assessment has been made. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

We are hugely sympathetic to the families who believe that they have suffered because of using Hormone Pregnancy Tests (HPTs). Currently, the available scientific evidence does not support a causal association between the use HPTs during early pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, together with the wider Government, has committed to review any new scientific evidence which comes to light since the conclusions of the 2017 independent Expert Working Group convened by the Commission on Human Medicines.

Due to the unavailability of scientific evidence supporting a causal association between the use of HPTs and adverse pregnancy outcomes, options for financial redress have not been considered further.

The first meeting of the Expert Working Group (EWG) on antidepressant risk minimisation convened by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, on the advice of the Commission on Human Medicines, was held on 4 July 2024.

At the initial meeting of the EWG, the terms of reference, scope of work, additional expertise, and plans for patient engagement were discussed. The EWG will consider whether the patient information can be improved and whether additional risk minimisation measures are required for all antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.