Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the current Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund fair access limit on the mental health outcomes of (a) adopted children and (b) children living with a special guardianship.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department always considers the impact of decisions on vulnerable children. The level of funding per child in 2025/26 will still allow adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support. Where needed, local authorities and regional adoption agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence base was used to inform the new per-child funding allocation of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Changes to the Fair Access Limit have been made to ensure that the maximum number of children can benefit from the fund, on the basis of forecast demand. The level of funding per child in 2025/26 will still allow adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support. Where needed, and as before, local authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reallocating the funding for National Citizen Service to the youth sector from April 2025.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We appreciate the disappointment many will be feeling following the decision to wind down the NCS programme from March 2025 and close the NCS Trust when parliamentary time allows.
This Government acknowledges the great work NCS have done over the years providing thousands of young people from all backgrounds with opportunities to become ‘work-ready and world-ready’.
We also acknowledge the challenges facing the sector and the changing needs of the young people it supports. That is why this government has launched the co-production of an ambitious new National Youth Strategy, which will be developed together with young people and the youth sector.
Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 ensure youth voice is integrated into the new national youth strategy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Youth Strategy will be co-produced in partnership with young people and the youth sector.
DCMS has already conducted Ministerial roundtables with young people and over the next couple of months will conduct a number of different engagement activities with young people, including focus groups. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a wide-reaching survey, and a series of youth engagement activities across the country to ask young people about their issues and priorities.
We have also set up a Youth Advisory Group and an Expert Advisory Group to work alongside us throughout the development of the strategy.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the need for the National Youth Strategy to register the importance of long-term sustainable revenue funding in providing youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government will publish the National Youth Strategy this summer. The detail and scale of the funding commitments included in the strategy will be shaped by engagement with young people and the youth sector and will be dependent on Spending Review decisions.
In 2025/6, DCMS funding for Youth will include over £85 million of capital funding to create fit-for-purpose spaces in places where it is most needed. This includes the £26 million Better Youth Spaces Fund for youth clubs to buy new equipment and do renovations, the Local Youth Transformation Fund to start the journey of building back lost capability in local areas and completion of Youth Investment Fund projects underway.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects the timelines for the delivery of Young Future Hubs to be clarified.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. Too many children and young people do not have access to the same enrichment opportunities as their peers, suffer from poor mental health and, in some cases, end up being drawn into crime rather than going on to achieve and thrive. Young Futures Hubs are just one part of addressing this, as part of a much wider youth landscape which will be brought together in the forthcoming youth strategy.
To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building upon the successes of existing infrastructure and provision, the department will first establish early adopter hubs. These early adopters, and work with local areas, will inform the longer term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs. We will set out more details on timelines in due course.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of restoring the hourly electric train service between Crewe and Birmingham.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The previous change in the December 2022 timetable was designed so West Midlands Trains could optimise the connections for passengers travelling to and from Stone and deliver high levels of operational performance. Officials continue to discuss possible ways of restoring such a service with West Midlands Trains.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent settings will be able to access (i) Early Years and (ii) workforce funding.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department expects to provide over £8 billion for early years entitlements, an increase of over 30% compared to 2024/25, as the department rolls out the expansion of the entitlements.
This funding is distributed to local authorities as hourly funding rates, determined using the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF). The hourly rate includes funding to support providers with the cost of delivering the entitlements, including workforce costs, to deliver essential local early years services and ensure children with special educational needs and disabilities can access the funded childcare offer. The EYNFF, and local formulae which local authorities use to distribute that funding to individual providers, cover private, voluntary and independent settings, as well as public sector providers.
Alongside hourly funding rates, eligible children, in any setting, can also attract additional funding through the early years pupil premium (EYPP). Early education gives all children, and especially disadvantaged children, the best start in life. This government is therefore delivering the largest ever uplift to the EYPP, increasing the EYPP rate by over 45% from 68p per hour in the 2024/25 financial year to £1 per hour in the 2025/26 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
On top of over £8 billion through the core funding rates, we are also providing an additional £75 million grant for the 2025/26 financial year to support the sector in this pivotal year to grow the places and the workforce needed to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025.
In addition, pilot funding is being given to 20 local authorities to pass onto providers to recruit eligible early years staff, who spend at least 70% of their time working directly with children. Eligible joiners and returners will receive a payment of up to £1,000 after tax and National Insurance shortly after they take up post. The pilot runs from April to December 2024.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce dropout rates of students studying T-Levels.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government wants all young people to have access to high-quality education options that enable them to learn the skills they need to progress in life and build successful careers.
T Levels are an excellent post-16 option for students, and we want to extend the opportunities they provide to as many young people as possible. The department has listened to feedback about barriers to delivery and taken action as a result. For example, we have announced updated approaches to industry placements, including allowing up to 20% of the placement to be remote, with up to 50% for T Levels in Digital. These changes which will unlock more opportunities for students and employers, while maintaining quality.
T Levels are still early in their implementation, and the retention rate is now improving. To support this, the department is raising awareness of T Levels with schools and careers advisers, backed up by case studies of students’ experiences and access to face to face support to ensure they understand the requirements of T Levels and can advise students effectively.
The department has addressed issues specific to the Health and Science T Levels, which may have affected the second cohort of students. In September 2023, a new T Level in Health Qualification Specification was published, with changes to the core content, alongside a suite of support from the awarding organisation to help providers deliver the T Level effectively. The department expects retention rates to continue rising as providers become more familiar with delivering the courses, and we continue to support providers to deliver T Levels effectively.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 tackle land banking.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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.