Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to help bring awareness to the National Year of Reading within schools and alternative provision settings.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change during 2026 and beyond.

​It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.

The department is raising awareness of the National Year of Reading in schools through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust and promotion via the English Hubs network.

For libraries, The Reading Agency are providing public libraries with resources, toolkits and print and digital materials to activate the National Year of Reading.

Schools, alternative provision settings and all interested parties are encouraged to sign up to www.goallin.org.uk to receive regular updates on the National Year of Reading.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has to help bring awareness to the National Year of Reading.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change during 2026 and beyond.

​It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.

The department is raising awareness of the National Year of Reading in schools through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust and promotion via the English Hubs network.

For libraries, The Reading Agency are providing public libraries with resources, toolkits and print and digital materials to activate the National Year of Reading.

Schools, alternative provision settings and all interested parties are encouraged to sign up to www.goallin.org.uk to receive regular updates on the National Year of Reading.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to increase the purchase limit for properties outside of London when using a Help to Buy ISA.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

This Government is committed to helping first time buyers own their own home and will do this by building 1.5 million more homes.

The Government keeps savings policy under review, any changes of this kind would be made at a relevant fiscal event.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the overseas scale rates.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Where employers reimburse allowable travel expenses, tax relief is available provided the expenses are wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred for work purposes.

Ordinarily, employers must hold evidence of the employee’s actual expenditure. However, to reduce administrative burdens on employers, HMRC allows expenses for travel outside the UK to be reimbursed without evidence up to the levels contained within the Overseas Scale Rates. Where the Overseas Scale Rates do not cover the expense incurred by employees, employers can still reimburse and provide tax relief provided they have appropriate evidence.

The government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, on what dates, and in what form, have IPSA asked hon. Members to provide information about (a) the volume of casework being undertaken by their offices and (b) any other such data referred to at the SCIPSA oral evidence session which took place on 4 March 2026.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

IPSA regularly engages and communicates with both Members and Members’ staff through informal and formal channels.

IPSA has discussed the need for information and evidence relating to casework volumes and other pressures experienced by offices, including through regular informal engagement with proxies and office managers, as well as via account manager liaison with offices. For instance, as part of IPSA’s consultation ahead of 2026-27 budget decisions, IPSA encouraged office managers to provide data on casework volumes at a Members’ Office Managers’ meeting on 22 October 2025. A written follow-up with this request was also distributed.

IPSA’s consultation on staffing was open from 6 October until 31 October 2025. In total, IPSA received over 440 responses. Of those, 60 responses referred to casework.

The regular engagement IPSA has with offices is an invaluable opportunity in which IPSA is able to informally seek and receive feedback, outside, or as part, of formal consultation cycles.

IPSA has listened to the feedback received in the wake of the announcement of 2026-27 staffing funding and will be setting up a joint working group with House services that will aim to assess the evidence of need and agree a practical, deliverable plan to accelerate efforts to help MPs manage workloads and secure value for money beyond the additional funding provided, reporting back to the Speaker in four months’ time.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, if the transcript of the meeting titled Staffing budget drop in - session 1 held on Monday 23 February 2026 will be placed in the Library.

Answered by Charlotte Nichols

The transcript of that meeting will be placed in the Library and sent to the hon. Member once it has been reviewed for any personal data.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support humanitarian aid organisations operating in Yemen.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK remains committed to working towards lasting peace and prosperity for the Yemeni people. We continue to support the work of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and use our role as penholder for Yemen at the UN Security Council to galvanise international support and advance progress towards an inclusive political settlement.

We also continue to urge the international community to respond to the rapidly deteriorating levels of food security in Yemen. The UK is currently the largest donor to the UN-led Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, delivering £139 million in aid through the UN and other agencies in 2025/26, including dedicated support to enable those organisations to carry out their work.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support a peaceful political settlement in Yemen.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK remains committed to working towards lasting peace and prosperity for the Yemeni people. We continue to support the work of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and use our role as penholder for Yemen at the UN Security Council to galvanise international support and advance progress towards an inclusive political settlement.

We also continue to urge the international community to respond to the rapidly deteriorating levels of food security in Yemen. The UK is currently the largest donor to the UN-led Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, delivering £139 million in aid through the UN and other agencies in 2025/26, including dedicated support to enable those organisations to carry out their work.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to improve a) universal, b) targeted and c) specialist speech, language and communication support.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

On 23 February, we published the ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper, alongside a ‘SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First’ consultation. We announced an investment of over £40 million to increase support available from speech and language therapists and educational psychologists, including for those with speech, language and communication needs.

We are providing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to universal and targeted support from key services, including speech and language therapists.

The government is investing £200 million to give all staff in schools, colleges and nurseries the training needed to better support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream settings.

We are extending the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.

We are continuing to invest in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, which significantly impacts oral language and early literacy, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

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Found: Members present1 Nick Smith, in the Chair Mr Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman Alberto Costa Gill Furniss