Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the requirement upon Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to make savings of £99 million this year on the delivery of health services in Oxfordshire.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Like many other trusts, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust overspent against their own plan in 2024/25, despite receiving significant additional support to deliver that plan. We can no longer accept overspends as standard. It is critical that all National Health Service organisations maximise every penny available to them and deliver the plans that they agree to. All efficiency savings will be used by organisations such as the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to reinvest in services and deliver on their plans.

All systems have agreed breakeven financial plans for 2025/26, requiring £11 billion of efficiencies and other savings, or 7.1% of total allocation. While ambitious, NHS England has provided detailed efficiency and productivity support during 2025/26 planning and will continue to do so through a new finance improvement programme to ensure efficiency and financial plans are met without adversely impacting service delivery or patient care.

As of the second month, the trust reports that it is on track to deliver the efficiencies set out in their plan for 2025/26.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that early years providers are not disadvantaged by restrictions on charging flexibility for funded childcare hours.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is this government’s ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

Government funding for the entitlements does not cover consumables like meals, nappies or sun cream or additional activities, such as trips, so providers are able to ask parents to pay for these things.

However, in line with a recent high court judgment, these charges must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing a funded place. The high court judgement is accessible here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2025/224. The government’s guidance sets out requirements for the delivery of the early education and childcare entitlements in line with the law.

The statutory guidance emphasises transparency at the heart of how the entitlement should be passed on to parents, including that any costs should be clearer on invoices and websites. Providers have until January 2026 to update their information in line with transparency requirements.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase workforce numbers in the early years sector.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The early years workforce is at the heart of the government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change.

The department is supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders to join the workforce by creating conditions for improved recruitment. Our national recruitment campaign is urging the public to ‘Do Something BIG’ and start a career working with small children. A dedicated website is helping people to find out more about gaining qualifications and to search for existing job vacancies. To further boost recruitment in early years, we are continuing to offer £1,000 financial incentives.

We are creating new routes into the workforce through skills bootcamps for the early years which lead to an accelerated apprenticeship, and also funding early years initial teacher training as a route for new and existing staff to gain early years teacher status. Our commitment to grow the early years skills pipeline can also be seen through the expansion of the Levelling Up Premium payments. To support childminders to join and stay in the profession we have implemented new flexibilities to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 64334 on Roads: Noise, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of the installation of noise cameras, following the 2022 trial.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport conducted roadside trials of noise camera technology between October 2022 and February 2023. Reports of these trials, including detailed assessment of the technology’s performance and potential merits, were published on 17 March 2024. Overall, the trials demonstrated that noise cameras currently have the potential to be used for enforcement, but only when accompanied by human review of the recorded evidence, which is likely to lower the cost effectiveness of deploying the technology in many circumstances. A link to these reports can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/noise-camera-technology-roadside-trial.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent changes to stamp duty thresholds on the number of first time buyers entering the property market.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Recent changes to stamp duty thresholds on 1 April 2025 were the result of policy introduced by the previous government. HMRC analysis estimates that there will be 4,000-6,000 fewer first-time buyer transactions per year between 2025/26-2029/30 as a result.

At Budget 2024, the Government increased the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for additional dwellings by two percentage points from 3% to 5%. This measure will help to ensure that those looking to move home, or purchase their first property, have a greater advantage over second home buyers, landlords, and companies purchasing residential property. The OBR certified costing estimates that increasing the higher rates of SDLT by two percentage points is expected to result in 130,000 additional transactions over the next five years by first-time buyers and other people buying a primary residence.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allocating SEND funding to schools on the basis of their current cohort of pupils rather than the cohort in a previous academic year.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The schools national funding formula (NFF) operates on a lag, where schools are funded based on their pupils in the previous October census. This helps to give schools more certainty over funding levels, to aid their planning, and is particularly important in giving schools that see year-on-year reductions in their pupil numbers time to re-organise their staffing and costs before seeing the funding impact.

Schools are expected to meet from their core funding the additional support costs of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities up to £6,000 per pupil per annum. When those support costs exceed £6,000, the authority should also allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. This funding comes from the authority’s high needs budget, and is based on the needs of current pupils.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to introduce noise cameras.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Further to my response to PQ66815, the Department does not currently have plans to introduce noise cameras but is keeping up to date with any advancements in this technology. It is ultimately for local authorities and the police to consider what the most appropriate enforcement routes may be for addressing issues with excessive vehicle noise within their area.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 63264 on Water: Reform, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of wider reform one.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In November 2024, the Government, jointly with the Welsh Government, consulted on Reforms to The Bathing Water Regulations 2013, in the first shake-up to the Bathing Water Regulations since they were introduced.

We have begun policy development and research, including epidemiological studies, to determine how best to implement both of the wider these reforms detailed in this consultation consulted on; clarifying and expanding the definition of ‘bathers’ and using multiple monitoring points at each bathing water site to classify water quality. This work will take into account any potential environmental, societal and access impacts of these reforms. We are keen to work closely with stakeholders in the development of any future reforms and a timetable for any implementation will be agreed once this work has concluded.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63716 on Bathing Water, what kind of epidemiological studies she is carrying out in relation to wider reforms.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have begun policy development and research on how best to implement the wider reforms as consulted on last year. These are expanding the definition of a ‘bather’ and introducing the use of multiple monitoring points at bathing sites. Policy development and research includes epidemiological studies which we are doing so that bathing waters can be used, monitored and classified with all users in mind. This research will also help us understand the public health implications and provide accurate advice. We are keen to work with stakeholders and welcome any information they can provide in developing this reform. We are exploring also the potential of conducting immersion studies as part of the research for the wider reforms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) help tackle online harassment and (b) improve protection for people in public life.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

As Chair of the Defending Democracy Taskforce, I want to be clear: the harassment or intimidation of elected representatives - whether online or in person - is never acceptable. The work we are taking forward includes working across Government with the police, parliamentary authorities, to actively review our levers to tackle the harassment and intimidation of elected representatives, candidates, and electoral staff. For example, the Online Safety Act 2023 now requires platforms to remove illegal content - including threats and abuse - with Ofcom enforcing compliance.

But we must go further. The threat is evolving, and so must our response. Under the Taskforce's renewed mandate, we are reviewing how to strengthen protections and close any gaps. Measures such as the new aggravating factor in the recently published Elections Strategy introduce clearer consequences for behaviour that crosses the line into abuse. I also welcome the important work of the Speaker's Conference and look forward to its final recommendations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted a review of the consistency of early years funding implementation across local authorities in England.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department will review early years funding, including the early years national funding formulae, consulting on a set of changes by summer 2026. We will review how funding is distributed both nationally and locally to ensure the funding system is fair and effective at reflecting the costs of delivery and appropriately targeting additional need.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Designate a bathing water: guidance on how to apply, updated on 15 May 2025, for what reason applications cannot include organised swim events.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As per the criteria set out on GOV.UK, for a site to be eligible for designation as a bathing water, it must be used by an average of at least 100 bathers a day during the bathing season (15 May to 30 September). User surveys must be taken at a site to evidence this.

An organised swim event is likely to result in an unusually high number of bathers for that day and therefore would not provide a fair reflection of the number of bathers per day during the bathing season.

The application guidance will continue to be reviewed for suitability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a regulatory body for antenatal education organisations.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are cutting the number of regulatory bodies as they are overwhelming the National Health Service system and taking focus away from the basics of patient care. The changes we are making will improve quality and safety by making it clear where responsibility and accountability sits at all levels of the system, and making it easier for staff, patients, and users to directly feed into the system to improve quality of care.

We therefore have no plans currently to introduce a further regulatory body specific to antenatal education organisations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to (a) improve access to antenatal care education for women and families and (b) ensure that high-quality (a) information and (b) information on birthing is delivered during antenatal classes.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Maternity services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs), and it is the responsibility of local commissioners to ensure services, including antenatal education, are designed to be accessible and high-quality.

As was set out in the 2025/26 National Health Service operational planning and contracting guidance, when taking decisions, ICBs and providers are asked to pay particular attention to challenged and fragile services, including maternity and neonatal services, thereby delivering the key actions of the Three Year Delivery Plan and continuing to address variation in access, experiences, and outcomes. Antenatal care is a key focus of the plan.

In addition, NHS England expects ICBs to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. For antenatal care education, NICE guidelines recommend offering antenatal classes to all first-time mothers and their partners, covering a range of topics, including preparing for labour and birth. It also advises that classes should be considered for women in subsequent pregnancies where there may be a benefit.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support NHS Trusts with (a) additional pharmacist staff salaries, (b) the cost of additional monitoring blood tests and (c) additional service delivery costs when new drug treatments are funded for NHS patients.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme, published on 4 April 2025, governs transactions between providers and commissioners of secondary healthcare by setting the rules for determining the amount payable for the provision of healthcare services. In short, it defines the basis for fairly reimbursing National Health Service trusts for the work they do. More information on the scheme is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Prices in the scheme have been updated to reflect the latest NHS pay awards. The 2025/26 prices have been calculated in part by updating 2024/25 pay award prices, published in September 2024. for inflation and efficiency;

The scheme includes a published list of 2025/26 prices reflecting the latest pay awards, which are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2025-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

This list includes the price paid to NHS trusts for persons who solely require a blood test. High-cost drugs, which can include those that have just received approval, are excluded from prices and are subject to separate agreement on appropriate funding between providers and commissioners.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent changes to National Insurance contributions on the financial viability of early years settings.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life.

Despite tough decisions to get public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest in supporting early education and childcare providers, including social enterprise nurseries, with the costs they face.

In the 2025/26 financial year, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, rising to over £9 billion in 2026/27. We are also providing the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45%, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. The department is also providing £25 million in respect of additional National Insurance contributions (NICs) costs through the Early Years NICs and Teachers Pay Grant, for public sector employers in the early years. This is in addition to a further £75 million through the early years expansion grant to support the sector as it prepares to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the inclusion of Oxford University Hospitals Trust in the rapid review of NHS maternity services.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The investigation will carry out rapid reviews of up to ten trusts with specific issues. The process of determining which trusts to review is ongoing, and once decided, they will be announced as soon as possible.

Provision of trained Family Liaison Officers

UK-based medical charities in Palestine

Reform of the special educational needs and disabilities system

Government policy on the Hillsborough Law

Post Offices in rural areas

Support for farmers

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Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Nichols Irene Campbell Siân Berry Ellie Chowns Dawn Butler Tessa Munt Adrian Ramsay Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Jones Manuela Perteghella Caroline Voaden Lisa Smart Mike Martin Sir Gavin Williamson Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Jones Manuela Perteghella Caroline Voaden Lisa Smart Mike Martin Sir Gavin Williamson Freddie van Mierlo