Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to ensure that young people's home to school transport needs are met.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

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%.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.

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

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.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support social housing providers to meet their duties under section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 in relation to (a) damp and (b) mould.

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

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.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage more people to (a) enter the youth sector workforce and (b) become youth workers.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

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.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to invest in heritage buildings in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

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.

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