Dave Robertson

I am proud that we have finally ended the injustice of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme. Miners across the country powered our economy for decades, working in the toughest environments. They should not have had to fight so long for a fair pension. The party opposite had 14 years to end this injustice but did nothing. Within 4 months we have ended the scandal. That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

The government is committed to delivering the expansion of the 30 hours free childcare offer, so that from September 2025 eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks of the year, from when the term after their child turns nine months old to when they start school. Accessible and high quality early education and childcare is a crucial part of giving every child the best start in life, boosting children’s life chances and giving parents work choices.

Students who work in addition to their studies and earn the equivalent of at least 16 hours a week at National Minimum Wage (equivalent to £183 per week or £9,518 per year in 2024/2025), and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year, may be eligible for this offer. If they are unable to meet this threshold, they will remain eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education, which is available to all 3 and 4 year-olds regardless of family circumstances.

The department recognises the value of parents continuing in education and provides a range of support for students in further or higher education to support them with childcare. Support available to full-time students with dependent children includes the Childcare Grant and Parents’ Learning Allowance. Entitlement to these grants is based on a student’s household income.

There are multiple routes into teaching to suit the needs of different candidates. There are postgraduate pathways that can be undertaken as a student, funded through a student loan and, in some subjects, bursaries, or employment-based training where trainees will earn a salary while they train. In September last year, the department launched a new salaried teacher degree apprenticeship which, upon completion, is itself equivalent to a degree.

Get Into Teaching, which is a free information service from the department, supports anyone considering teaching with their journey to entering the classroom. The service can be found here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/.

Further information on the childcare offers available to parents can be found here: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

The Spending Review confirmed Defra’s budget for 2024-25 and 2025-26. The settlement provides £5 billion total departmental expenditure limit over two years (2024-25 and 2025-26) to support the transition towards a more productive and environmentally sustainable agricultural sector in England, ensuring food security. It also confirms £208 million funding across 2024-25 and 2025-26 to support the transformation of the Government’s biosecurity facilities at Weybridge. More detailed budgets will be set following the department’s business planning exercise. The department does not hold constituency level spending information for the farming budget.

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent dog attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, making sure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and that the full force of the law is applied.

We have no plans currently to reintroduce a mandatory dog licence. The old licensing system was repealed by the Local Government Act 1988 because it cost more to administer than the revenue it generated. The old licensing system was in effect an ownership registration scheme. Now that microchipping is mandatory, this is no longer necessary.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

Due to the way the hospice movement organically grew, hospice locations were largely not planned with a view to providing even access across the country or to prioritise areas of greatest need based on demographics.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are pleased to confirm that the Government has released the first £25 million tranche of the £100 million of capital funding, with Hospice UK allocating and distributing the money to hospices throughout England.

Following publication of the independent review, organisations directly involved in Clive’s care were invited to reflect on their practice and went on to develop high-level actions in response to its findings. There was an overwhelming commitment from all organisations engaged to address the systemic issues raised in the report. NHS England Midlands set up a group which became known as the Clive Treacey Conscience Group, including Elaine, Clive’s sister, to drive meaningful improvement. In July 2024, the Midlands region published Clive’s Way: A Conscience Manual, which outlines in detail the progress in taking forward the learning from Clive’s review, and which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/midlands/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2024/07/July-2024-Report-Progress-in-Implementing-Learning-from-Clive-Treacey-Review.pdf

Significant time and resources have been invested in this process, designing the programme and following up on the recommendations in the review, and Clive’s Way remains a thread through the work of the National Health Service regional team. The report was shared with all Learning Disability and Autism Programmes nationwide and integrated care systems were encouraged to draw on its recommendations to appraise the effectiveness of their improvement programmes and look at areas needing further attention.

We engage regularly with our international partners on irregular migration, with a commitment to tackling people trafficking and the gangs profiting from it. In July we announced steps to reinforce our cooperation with Europol and, through our new Border Security Command, we will intensify efforts in transit countries to break the business models of these gangs.

The government expects that police officers will be used in tackling crime and protecting the public.

It is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions based on their local knowledge and experience, including how best to allocate resources.

Mr Speaker, the criminal smuggling gangs are international operations and it will require international cooperation from governments and law enforcement agencies to dismantle their networks, and disrupt their supply chains.

Our new Border Security Command is already building and strengthening partnerships across the world to tackle this evil trade in human lives, signing new agreements from Germany to Iraq, and using every opportunity we have on the global stage to put this issue on the agenda, and drive collective action.

The government has published consumer guidance on how to sell a home which sets out that sellers should leave their property in the condition they wish to find their next home.

We know that the overall process of buying and selling a home is far too time consuming and costly for consumers. On 9 February we announced action to help modernise the way our home buying and selling system works. We want to see consumers at the heart of a system that is faster, more certain and less stressful, resulting in significant savings to consumers and industry.

Approved Document B: Fire Safety - Frequently Asked Questions do not introduce any new guidance beyond what is included in Approved Document B but simply offer helpful clarifications where appropriate. When Approved Documents are updated, they undergo a public consultation and are subject to a comprehensive economic impact assessment.

The government recently declared a moratorium on any new statutory consultees, along with a review of the existing statutory consultee arrangements to ensure they align with the government’s ambitions for growth. Any further announcements will be subject to this review.

The government recognises the need for high standards in the private parking industry and is committed to working with both consumers and the two parking trade associations to raise standards and deliver better outcomes for motorists.

The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.

We will announce our plans regarding the government code in due course.

As part of the Chancellor’s planning reform announcement on 26 January 2025, the government declared a moratorium on new statutory consultees and a review of the existing arrangements for statutory consultees to ensure they align with the government’s ambitions for growth.

Any further announcements will be subject to this review.