David Williams

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is committed to investing in heritage buildings, ensuring these buildings serve the needs of local communities. Historic England, the government’s statutory advisors, have taken several steps to do this through;

• Supporting the Stoke-on-Trent North Council to find sustainable new uses for historic buildings in Burslem and the surrounding area.

• Funding emergency safeguarding repairs at the Wedgwood Institute, providing conservation architectural and surveyor expertise at no cost at The Leopard, Price & Kensington, the Wedgwood Institute and Burslem Market.

• Provided funding to support Re-Form Heritage, whose office is based in the constituency, in employing staff dedicated to delivering heritage projects.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has identified Stoke-on-Trent as one of twenty Heritage Places across the UK. Heritage Places is a UK-wide initiative to help places thrive by unlocking the potential of their heritage. Stoke-on-Trent council has been awarded £250,000 for collaboration and development of plans for preserving the city’s heritage. The Architectural Heritage Fund has also chosen Re-Form Heritage in Stoke-on-Trent to be part of its Heritage Development Trust programme.

Specifically in Kidsgrove, The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £9,700 to Engage Communities CIC for a project to explore the heritage of games and sports traditionally played by South Asian people engaging local young people in the project.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and the vital role that youth workers play in delivering those services and building trusted relationships.

This government has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to look afresh at the training, recruitment and retention of youth workers. As part of the Strategy, we will be consulting closely with young people and the youth sector over the coming months to fully understand their needs and the issues they consider to be most crucial in addressing.

The Strategy will be published next year.

After 14 years of indifference and cultural vandalism, this government is committed to making sure that arts and cultural activities will no longer be the preserve of a privileged few.

DCMS supports its Arms Length Body, Arts Council England (ACE), to improve accessibility to culture. For example, ACE is working in partnership with other arts councils in the UK and Ireland to develop All In, an access scheme dedicated to removing barriers and improving the experience of D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people when attending creative and cultural events. This scheme aims to increase overall attendance by making it easier for people with access requirements to find and book tickets; and develop standards for creativity and culture to promote quality and consistency across the UK and Ireland. There will be a pilot of the scheme this autumn, ahead of a wider roll-out in the second half of 2025.

Claybody Theatre, which receives funding from ACE as a National Portfolio Organisation, makes arts more accessible to the people of Stoke-on-Trent, North and beyond. Claybody brings theatre to non-traditional venues in local communities, as well as delivering audio drama in virtual spaces. ACE also provides funding for ‘The Lost Note’ project, an immersive theatre project for family audiences that reworks the idea of the seasonal grotto. Working with local neurodivergent and autistic young people from Water Mill School and Fegg Hayes Futures, both based in Stoke-on-Trent North, the project will see children create stories and songs for a series of performances over nine days in January 2025.

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. This government is aware that after 14 years of decline, many local authorities are struggling with budgets and this has had a direct impact on young people across the country.

That is why, on 17 October 2024, the Secretary of State committed to a new National Youth Strategy, co-produced with young people and the youth sector to support a generation to succeed. We will provide further updates to the House in due course.

On 17 October, the Secretary of State committed to a new National Youth Strategy, co-produced with young people and the youth sector to support a generation to succeed. Further details will be shared in due course.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in their early years and later in life, including in all aspects of their later attainment in school. To support early language skills, the department is investing over £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme. NELI is an evidence-based programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, increasing to seven months additional progress for those eligible for free school meals. In July 2024 the department announced funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the NELI programme, two thirds of English state primaries, for the 2024/25 academic year.

To further support early language skills, the department is also delivering the early years education recovery programme. This includes providing funding for settings to undertake evidence-based continuous professional development programmes, including those focussed on speech, language and communication, via a national network of early years stronger practice hubs. The department is also supporting training through the professional development programme and the online early years child development training, both of which include a specific module focused on early language.  Additionally, training for up to 7,000 special educational needs coordinators will help children with speech, language and communication needs and support earlier identification of those needs.

The department is working in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders for 2 to 11-years olds and is working with partners to deliver an early language local innovation and excellence programme which includes implementation of published speech and language communication pathway guidance and an early language identification measure.

The department is publishing early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment guidance and resources, including practical advice, tools, and downloadable resources. These will help educators assess children with SEND, capture their voice and set learning targets, featuring a dedicated tool for communication and interaction.

This government sees the early years sector as more than just childcare, it is central to our Opportunity Mission to give every child the best start in life. We are determined to create a sea change in the approach to early years, focusing on high-quality early education, celebrating and supporting early years careers, and embedding the sector into the wider education system. We are supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders by creating conditions for improved recruitment, alongside programmes to better utilise the skills of the existing workforce and make early years careers as accessible and rewarding as possible.

Our key interventions include a national recruitment campaign urging the public to ‘Do something BIG’ and start a career working with small children, testing whether financial incentives and a childminder start-up grant in early years boost recruitment, and Skills Bootcamps for the early years which lead to an accelerated apprenticeship.

These interventions are in addition to a package of changes to the early years statutory framework and new childminder flexibilities which give providers more choice over how they operate, as well as uplifting funding rates to support providers in dealing with the costs they face, including staffing costs.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in the early years and later in life.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life and is prepared for school. The three prime areas of learning and development within the EYFS are particularly important for building a strong foundation, with communication and language being one of these prime areas.

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. The assessment requirements in the EYFS includes the progress check at age two and the EYFS profile, both of which involve reviewing a child’s development in communication and language.

To support early language skills, the department is providing funding for settings to undertake evidence-based continuous professional development programmes, including those focused on speech, language and communication, via a national network of Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs. Additionally, we are providing training through the Professional Development Programme and the online early years child development training, both of which include a specific module focused on early language. Furthermore, we are providing training for up to 7,000 special educational needs coordinators that will help children with speech, language and communication needs and support earlier identification of needs.

In partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), we have also developed the early language identification measure, which supports local area health and early years partnerships to work in a more integrated way, helping to identify speech, language and communication needs as early as possible. We are also enabling Family Hubs to train practitioners to support families with the home learning environment and to help parents learn new skills, including providing effective support for children’s speech and communication.

Furthermore, we are developing programmes to support early language development, such as the department’s joint home learning campaign with the DHSC, Little Moments Together, which encourages parents to chat, play and read with their children, and provides helpful tips on activities on learning to talk. The campaign can be accessed here: https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/better-health-start-for-life/better-health-start-for-life-home-learning-environment-2024/.

We are also working in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders for 2-11 year-olds, working with partners to deliver an Early Language Local Innovation and Excellence programme which includes implementation of published speech and language communication pathway guidance and an early language identification measure. We are also publishing early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment guidance and resources, which includes practical advice, tools and downloadable resources. These will help educators assess children with SEND, capture their voice, and set learning targets. It includes a dedicated tool for communication and interaction.

​​The department’s vision for a Youth Guarantee is to ensure all young people aged 18 to 21 have access to training or employment support to prevent them from becoming economically inactive before their careers have even begun. This includes young people leaving care.

From spring 2025, the department will launch trailblazers in eight mayoral authorities to design and test the Youth Guarantee. As the new framework for supporting young people into further learning and onto fulfilling work, it will guarantee tailored support to 18 to 21 year olds who need it, to ensure they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or employment support. The department will ensure that trailblazers test how the Youth Guarantee can best support groups that face additional barriers, including care leavers.

The Youth Guarantee offers will sit alongside other support available to care leavers who are particularly vulnerable to not being in education, employment or training. For example, care leavers are a priority group for a 16-19 bursary if they are studying in further education and up to £1,200 a year can be paid by their college.

In addition, care leavers who enter higher education are eligible for a statutory bursary of £2,000 from their local authority and care leavers who take up an apprenticeship are eligible for a £3,000 bursary.

Good quality teaching is the main determinant of quality outcomes for learners. The population of 16 to 19 year olds in further education (FE) is set to grow in the coming years, which is why we need more great FE teachers in critical subject areas.

To boost recruitment and retention of teachers, the targeted retention incentive will give eligible early career teachers in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and technical shortage subjects, who work in disadvantaged schools and in all colleges, up to £6,000 after tax annually, on top of their normal pay.

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 support for industry professionals to enter the FE teaching workforce through its ‘Taking Teaching Further’ programme.

The national FE teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share Your Skills’ targets those with industry skills to think about a career in FE teaching. The campaign raises awareness and increases consideration by encouraging industry professionals to think about using their skills to teach in FE.

FE colleges are being supported by an additional £300 million funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 to deliver the best opportunities for learners.

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.

Most central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the local government finance settlement administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The government recognises the challenges local authorities are facing. The government has listened to voices across the sector and prioritised local government in the budget. The government announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in the 2025/26 financial year for local government to deliver core services. Together with local income from council tax and business rates, this will provide a real-terms increase in core spending power of around 3.2%.

Improving local transport services is a key part of this government’s growth mission, and the government has set out plans to deliver better bus services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions.

As announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the government will introduce a Buses Bill later this parliamentary session. The Bill seeks to deliver new powers for local leaders and will empower them to choose the model that works best in their area, whether that be franchising high quality partnerships with private operators, or public ownership.

In addition, government is undertaking a review into Enhanced Partnerships between local authorities and bus operators with a view to strengthening collaboration and delivery.

Under our plan to Get Britain Working, we are working closely with the Department for Education to develop a new Youth Guarantee that will ensure that all young people aged 18-21, in England, including those who are economically inactive can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. This will sit alongside; a new national jobs and careers service to help get more people into work, work health and skills plans for the economically inactive, and the launch of Skills England to open new opportunities for young people. We will set out further detail in the upcoming ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper.

Currently through the Youth Offer, we provide labour market support to young people aged 16-24 claiming Universal Credit through a range of tailored interventions to help reduce the barriers young people may face, bringing them closer to employment or appropriate training opportunities.

Recent examples of positive collaboration in Stoke on Trent North constituency include working with Movement to Work participants along with a local project Urban Wilderness and YMCA outreach to support vulnerable youth customers towards work offering additional support from Employment Advisors, community work and with the local council. For Work ready customers we are working with National Career Service, the Youth Employment Skills programme, and Stoke-on Trent and Newcastle college to deliver programmes that build on work experience.

In Kidsgrove, we have been working with Stoke on Trent College to promote suitable apprenticeship options with a view to extending this to more local partners. We also have a successful ongoing work experience offer with Browns Recycling.

It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult, and children and young people’s mental health services, including in the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and Kidsgrove.

The Department of Health and Social Care is working with Department for Education to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. Alongside this we are working towards rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.

The Mental Health Bill announced in the King’s Speech will deliver the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, so that it is fit for the modern world. The bill will amend the act, which applies to England and Wales, and sets out the legal rights that apply to people with a mental disorder. This bill does not apply to general mental health services to help individuals with their mental wellbeing. Under this law, a person can be admitted, detained, and treated in hospital for a mental disorder without their consent, if they are a posing a risk to themselves or others.

More broadly, the NHS Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of the people of the Stoke on Trent constituency and Kidsgrove, taking into account local considerations. The NHS Mental Health Dashboard shows how National Health Service mental health services are performing, broken down to ICB level, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/mental-health-five-year-forward-view-dashboard/

The Government is working closely with NHS England to reduce infant mortality, while training thousands more midwives to better support women throughout their pregnancy and beyond.

Infant mortality remains a complex multifactorial public health issue and is a priority for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), with local partners increasing efforts to address above-average infant mortality.

The Staffordshire and Stroke-on-Trent ICP Strategy includes an action plan, led by the Infant Mortality Steering Group, focusing on high-impact actions to address infant mortality, such as reducing smoking at time of delivery, which has now fallen from 9.81% to 5.06%. This strategy is available at the following link:

https://staffsstoke.icb.nhs.uk/your-nhs-integrated-care-board/our-publications/integrated-care-partnership/acge-13346-ssot-icp-strategy-design-v4-23-04-13-single-page/?layout=default

The ICP is implementing the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, an initiative to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal deaths, and preterm birth. They are also introducing a new maternity equity and equality action plan that includes an equity and equality midwife to address inequalities during pregnancy, which contribute to infant mortality risk and poor maternal outcomes. A new working group has also introduced neonatal cardiopulmonary resuscitation information for parents at postnatal discharge.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Government recently announced Respect Orders, which will be introduced in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders. They will include a power of arrest for any suspected breach, meaning officers can take action quickly to disrupt ongoing ASB. Breach will be a criminal offence, which is heard in the criminal courts with a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.

We will also put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities, so residents know who to turn to when things go wrong.

The Government will give police the powers they need to swiftly seize dangerous and antisocial off-road vehicles and take them off the streets for good.

Enforcement of road traffic law, including in relation to the anti-social behaviour caused by the use of illegal off-road bikes, is an operational matter for Chief Officers who will decide how to deploy available resources, taking into account any specific local problems and demands.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this government and we will treat it as a national emergency. Our mission is to halve levels of these crimes within a decade, using every lever available to us. This means reforming the police response to these crimes, strengthening the criminal justice system, and empowering victims by providing access to specialist support when they need it. The Home Office is working closely with other departments and stakeholders in developing plans to deliver this ambition.

In September, we unveiled a series of measures designed to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse, protect victims and hold perpetrators to account. From early 2025, under a new approach named ‘Raneem’s Law’, domestic abuse specialists will be embedded in 999 control rooms to advise on risk assessments, work with officers on the ground and ensure that victims are referred to appropriate support services swiftly. We are also working with the police to develop a national framework utilising data-driven tools and algorithms to track and target high-harm offenders involved in domestic abuse, sexual assault, harassment, and stalking.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

​We will put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities, such as Stoke-on-Trent, and crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets by introducing tougher powers including new Respect Orders to tackle repeat offending.

The government wants to see homes built faster and we recognise the frustrations that stalled or delayed sites can cause to communities.

Once housebuilders have been granted permission for residential development, meeting local housing needs and preferences, we expect to see them built out as quickly as possible.

Local planning authorities already have powers to issue a completion notice to require a developer to complete their development if it is stalled. If they fail to do so, the planning permission for the development will lapse.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December includes policies designed to support increased build out rates, including the promotion of mixed tenure development.

In addition, our New Homes Accelerator aims to unblock and accelerate the delivery of housing developments that have for various reasons become delayed, or which are not progressing as quickly as they could be.

To enhance transparency and accountability in respect of build out rates, the government intend to take steps to implement build out reporting following technical consultation.

We also intend to provide local planning authorities with powers to decline to determine planning applications submitted by developers who have failed to implement previous permissions.

Local authorities, in areas such as Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, are responsible for designing and managing their own housing allocations policies to meet local need. As part of this, they have the freedom to manage their own waiting lists but must give priority to people who are homeless or who need to move for medical or welfare reasons. This includes victims and their families who have escaped abuse. Allocations guidance also encourages local authorities to give additional preference to people who are homeless and require urgent rehousing as a result of domestic abuse.

Further to my answer to Question UIN 2150 on 9 September 2024, the department will bring forward changes to social housing allocations regulations to exempt all victims of domestic abuse from local connection and residency tests to improve their access to social rented housing.

Furthermore, the government has committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, and I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.

By law, local authorities in England are also required to ensure victims of domestic abuse and their children can access the support they need within safe accommodation if they have to flee their homes. This includes refuges, sanctuary schemes, and dispersed accommodation. The Government will be providing £160 million in funding to local authorities to support them to fulfil their duties in 2025/26.

The government are committed to introducing Awaab’s Law to the social rented sector, setting new time limits for social landlords to fix dangerous hazards which can have a serious impact on the health of residents, including damp and mould. We are working with social housing providers and other stakeholders to determine how we best implement Awaab’s Law. We will develop new guidance for landlords and residents on the new duties under the forthcoming regulations.

Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected. The Government is taking action by setting up a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) will chair, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness, including youth homelessness.

As announced at the Budget on 30 October, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). The increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping and brings the total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. We also confirmed a further £450 million for councils through the Local Authority Housing Fund enabling councils to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for homeless families.

More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness, including: delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament; and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.

Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected. The Government is taking action by setting up a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) will chair, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness, including youth homelessness.

As announced at the Budget on 30 October, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). The increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping and brings the total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. We also confirmed a further £450 million for councils through the Local Authority Housing Fund enabling councils to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for homeless families.

More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness, including: delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament; and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.