Helen Maguire

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Lady’s Parliamentary Question of 13 December is attached.

Following the general election, the Prime Minister was clear that he wanted national renewal and a return of politics to public service.

The Government is committed to ensuring the public has diverse opportunities to take part in our vibrant democracy. The Government is taking steps to ensure meaningful public involvement in the work of government, including as part of mission-driven government and the broader toolkit for policy development and public engagement.

In addition to regular national and local elections, the public can engage in our political system and the policy-making process through various avenues. These include writing to their MP or to a government department, attending constituency surgeries, signing a petition which may end up the subject of debate in Parliament, taking part in a consultation (see the GOV.UK website for current consultations) or a parliamentary call for evidence, and of course taking part in politics directly by, for example, standing for office. The public are also encouraged to come and visit the UK Parliament to meet with their representatives and see the work of politics in action.

Section 31 of the Postal Services Act 2011 outlines the minimum requirements of the universal postal service and includes the requirement that free-of-charge postal services are provided to people who are blind or partially sighted.

Earlier this year, I met representatives of Ofcom, who reasserted their commitment to ensuring that the universal postal service meets the reasonable needs of users. The Government has no current plans to change the minimum requirements set out in the legislation.

The latest published Warm Home Discount statistics are for 2023/4 and use the constituency boundaries operating prior to the 2024 General Election. Most (87%) of the residential premises in Epsom and Ewell constituency come from Epsom and Ewell constituency under the previous boundaries, in which 2,369 households received the Warm Home Discount rebate in 2023-24. The statistics only cover receipt of the Warm Home Discount and not eligibility.

The Government believes the only way to protect consumers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.

We continue to monitor energy prices and the price cap and are working to ensure bills are affordable for consumers in the long-term, including through our work with Ofgem to reform standing charges, and through our Warm Homes Plan which will upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

The Government's review of the 2021 fuel poverty strategy reveals progress towards the statutory target has stalled. A new strategy is required, with a consultation open until 4 April.

The UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe and the government recognises that there is no “one-size-fits-all" approach to tackle the UK’s diverse building stock, and the need to ensure more historic buildings are able to achieve Net Zero. The Department commissioned research into complex to decarbonise homes and is currently considering the findings available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/defining-and-identifying-complex-to-decarbonise-homes.

Our Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock. We have committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. Further details will be set out in due course.

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, and completion of Youth Investment Fund projects underway. Further funding allocations to youth services for 2025/26 will be announced in due course.

Local authorities hold the statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. In September 2023 DCMS published updated statutory guidance to support local authorities’ understanding of the existing duty and how to deliver it. Alongside this, DCMS funds a Peer Review programme for local authorities to learn from each other about the best approaches to youth service provision.

This government has also committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to move away from one-size-fits all approaches from central government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector. We plan to publish the strategy in the summer.

This Strategy, co-produced with young people and the youth sector, will better coordinate youth services, bringing power back to young people and their communities, and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector.

Over the coming months, we will be developing our plans in partnership with young people and with organisations within the youth sector, engaging closely with them to fully understand their needs and the issues they consider to be most crucial in addressing. This National Youth Strategy will cover youth services and policy at local, regional and national levels, and will outline a long-term vision for how all young people can realise their potential, with choices and chances, and be empowered and active members of society. It will also look to empower local areas and communities, moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches.

We will be holding a series of youth-led roundtables and we will set up a youth advisory board to work alongside us, influence our work and challenge us every step of the way. We will ensure this is an accessible engagement period that reaches as many young people as possible.

We will be publishing the Strategy in 2025.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will strengthen multi-agency working between local authorities, health, police and education and childcare settings, and those settings will be designated in regulations. The department expects safeguarding partners to work together with relevant agencies to promote the welfare of children in their local area regardless of what type of education or training establishment they are attending.

The department is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, regardless of their background.

The government continues to provide means-tested non-repayable grants to low income full time undergraduate students with children and/or adults who are financially dependent on them. We have announced an increase to maximum dependants’ grants for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, based on forecast inflation using the RPIX inflation index. Students undertaking nursing, midwifery and allied health profession courses also qualify for non-repayable grant support through the NHS Learning Support Fund.

The department is also increasing the maximum maintenance loans for living costs for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation, to ensure that more support is targeted at students from the lowest income families. Higher rates of loan for living costs are also paid to students eligible for benefits such as lone parents and some disabled students as well as care leavers, who are normally assessed as low income independent students. In addition, care leavers are also entitled to a £2000 statutory bursary, paid via their local authority.

However, the department recognises that there is much more to do to expand access and improve outcomes for disadvantaged students. Too many people across our country do not get the opportunity to succeed. We will act to change this. We are calling for providers to go further and play a stronger role in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students, making sure that they are delivering robust and ambitious access and participation plans. By the summer, the department will set out our plan for higher education (HE) reform and the part we expect HE providers to play in this.

Generally, to qualify for higher education (HE) student support and home fee status in England, a person must have settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and Isle of Man) for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course.

This means that under existing student support legislation, holders of a Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa would qualify for home fee status and financial support once they have acquired settled status in the UK and meet the three-year ordinary residence requirement. This also applies to any dependants who have been granted Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status.

There are no plans to extend HE student support and home fee status to Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) or their dependants before they are settled in the UK.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. The best way of supporting education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects is to ensure high quality teaching in these subjects, by helping schools to recruit and retain good teachers.

The department has therefore announced an Initial Teacher Training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 academic year worth £233 million, a £37 million increase on the last recruitment cycle. This includes a range of measures, including bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £31,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees in key STEM subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is also offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

In the 2025/26 financial year, the government will continue to fund subject continuing professional development (CPD) and other programmes in mathematics, computing and physics. This includes Maths Hubs, which co-ordinate mathematics CPD, and the ‘Subject knowledge for physics teachers’ programme, an intensive retraining programme for teachers teaching physics out of specialism.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life, breaking down the barriers to opportunity.

Educational psychologists play a crucial role in the support available to children and young people, including those with SEND. Local authorities, as the employers of educational psychology services, are responsible for ensuring that their services are adequately staffed.

However, the department is taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline. We are investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.

The Government and Ofwat – the financial regulator for the water sector – are carefully monitoring the situation with Thames Water, and Ofwat continues to engage with Thames Water to support it in improving its resilience within the context of its licence and broader statutory obligations.

The company remains stable. However, we do want to provide reassurance that we are prepared for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries – including water – as any responsible Government should be.

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion will be invested over two years in better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026.

Lead local flood authorities (unitary and county authorities) are required to manage local flood risks from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Local flood risks should be identified and managed as part of a local flood risk management strategy. In managing these risks, the lead local flood authority will work closely with other risk management authorities. This includes water companies, which have a duty to maintain their sewers, under Section 94 of the Water Industry Act 1991, to ensure their areas are effectually drained.

To improve understanding of current and future floor risk from rivers, the sea and surface water in England the Environment Agency has just published its new National Flood Risk Assessment. This data is available to everyone, improving individuals’ understanding of their local flood risk.

The Government has taken immediate and substantial action to address the performance of water companies who are not delivering for the environment or their customers.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will provide the most significant increase in enforcement powers for the regulators in a decade, giving them the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies in the next investment period. The Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

Separately, the regulators have also launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever They will take action if any illegality is identified. As part of their investigation, Ofwat has proposed fines of £168 million against the first three companies. This investigation is a priority for Ofwat, and it will continue to work as quickly as possible on all remaining companies.

Additionally, through the next investment period, which runs from 2025 – 2030, there will be improvements at wastewater treatment works protecting rivers across England and Wales.

Since July the Defra Secretary of State has met with water company Chief Executives and chairs, including Thames Water.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to nutritious, affordable food. The Government’s recently launched Food Strategy will ensure that access to healthy food is affordable and accessible to all.

The Government has also committed to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, whilst also tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million. Additionally, this Government has committed to delivering its plan to make work pay to turn the minimum wage into a real living wage so that working families can afford healthy food

Defra regularly engages with supermarkets and producers about a range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. These measures include maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing. The range and price of food is a commercial decision for each retailer and the Government does not interfere in their day-to-day operations.

This Government will also be introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increasing the National Living Wage, boosting the pay of 3 million workers, ensuring that everyone can afford to make healthy food choices.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as lowering the age of eligibility, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.

Local authorities in England have the power to offer concessions in addition to their statutory obligations such as lowering the age of eligibility. Additional local concessions are provided and funded by local authorities from local resources.

The government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Surrey County Council has been allocated £12 million of this funding. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish. This could include extending the discretionary concessions available in the local area.

The Government is committed to making EV charging infrastructure affordable and accessible.

Energy suppliers providing energy to EV chargepoints are regulated by Ofgem. Ofgem does not currently set a limit for the price that can be charged for the resale of electricity through EV chargepoints. We continue to work with DESNZ and Ofgem on measures to keep EV charging affordable.

Under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, all chargepoint operators must display the price of charging using a common metric of p/kWh and make their data on pricing available freely. This allows drivers to easily compare the price of charging and find the best chargepoint for their needs.

There are already specific criteria in place to assess the need for a Blue Badge for children under three years old who require the use of bulky mobility aids. The Department has no plans to amend the current eligibility criteria.

Department officials have regular conversations with the operator seeking to improve accessibility across South Western Railway’s fleet. Improvements include the new fleet of Class 701s with fully accessible toilets replacing the Class 455s which do not have toilets, an App with Artificial Intelligence generated British Sign Language and a planned rollout of improved Passenger Information Screens on services between Waterloo and Exeter. South Western Railway also has guards on all of its fleet providing assistance for all passengers who require it.

Whilst we aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey, Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) is a key element of the Department’s decision-making process. MR offers customers an opportunity to challenge decisions and provide any additional information which may be relevant to their claim.

In law there is no time limit within which a MR decision must be made. This reflects the overarching policy that the focus should be on making the right decision and not on the speed of response. Decisions should always be made without delay, but if the Decision Maker believes more time is needed to gather or consider evidence, they must give themselves that time to ensure they are confident that the decision made is correct. However, for PIP we are recruiting MR decision makers and making overtime available to increase productivity.

We have a multi-tiered Quality Assurance Framework to ensure MR decisions are legal and payments are accurate, and Decision Makers receive thorough training on all aspects of decision-making.

We are committed to tackling food poverty and reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels. Economic factors including the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have resulted in record levels of need for food banks. This issue is being discussed as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce.

We have announced additional support to address financial pressures on households. These measures include tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increasing the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers. In England, Healthy Starts supports over 356,000 beneficiaries, 3 million pupils are eligible for a Free School Meal, we have invested over £200 million every year into the Holiday Activities and Food Programme. Additionally, the Household Support Fund has provided billions of pounds of support to millions of households across England since its inception, helping vulnerable households with the cost of household essentials and supporting those most in need, and provided further funding of £742 million, extending the Household Support Fund until 31 March 2026.

Budgeting Advances help Universal Credit customers meet intermittent miscellaneous expenses, such as buying essential items like furniture or household equipment. These advances ensure that low-income families that have an emergency financial need and do not have access to adequate savings or affordable loans can access funding to meet the emergency.

Only eligible customers are able to access Budgeting Advances and there are limits set out in regulation on the amount that can be awarded. Information on the eligibility criteria can be found in the House of Commons Library.

The three month qualifying period is not a waiting period. Its purpose is to help establish that the disability or health condition, and the resulting care, supervision or mobility needs are of a long-standing nature. This ensures that disability benefits are targeted to support those with long term health conditions or disabilities.

Children applying for DLA do not always have to wait for the full three months from the date of their claim before they become entitled to the benefit. The case manager will always look at whether, and for how long, the person has required the necessary level of help for care/daily living and/or mobility purposes before the date of claim and consider whether some or all of the qualifying period has already been completed.

Children claiming DLA under the special rules for end of life do not have to satisfy the three--month qualifying period. Their claim is fast tracked, and they are eligible for the higher-rate care component from the date of claim.

Financial and practical support may be available during the qualifying period, for example through the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme or support provided by Local Authority.

The decision to maintain Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates at current levels for 2025/26 considered a range of factors such as, rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, the Government’s missions and wider fiscal context and the fact that rates were increased in April.

We are also investing £1bn in funding for both the Household Support Fund (HSF) and Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) (including Barnett impacts) for 2025/26 and will be ensuring DHP funding is maintained at current levels. DHPs are available from local authorities for those unable to meet a shortfall in their rent.

We are publishing a Long-Term Housing Strategy in the Spring, to reform the housing market so that it works better for communities, to build 1.5 million high-quality homes, and deliver the biggest increase in affordable housing for a generation, this includes an extra £500m in new funding for the Affordable Homes Programme.

Data is not held on the percentage of National Health Service dental appointments that were missed, cancelled or delayed. The Government recognises that certain groups of patients such as people with disabilities may find it difficult to access dental care. We are committed to ensuring NHS dental services are available to all who need them.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.

We are committed to ensuring National Health Service dental services are available to all who need them. The January 2025 Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) report on community dental services (CDS) highlighted several known challenges in the operation and monitoring of CDS. NHS England and the Department have taken the recommendations on board and are working to improve the data reporting process to increase oversight of CDS activity, including current waiting lists and performance reporting.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for undertaking special care oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of oral health need, to inform local commissioning intentions, and determine the local priorities for investment.

On 5 October 2024, NHS England announced a new dental check-up service for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The dental check-ups will be offered to all special residential schools and colleges across England from next year and will reach around 18,000 children and young people. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2024/10/nhs-rolls-out-free-eyesight-hearing-and-dental-checks-for-children-at-residential-special-schools/

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published technology appraisal guidance that recommends tirzepatide to treat obesity, alongside a reduced calorie-diet and increased physical activity, in adults with a body mass index of 35 or over and at least one weight-related comorbidity.

The NICE’s recommendation itself, once fully implemented, does not specify the weight-related comorbidity needed to be eligible. Under the recommendation, if polycystic ovarian syndrome is considered to be weight-related for an individual, they would be eligible if they met the other criteria in the recommendation.

NHS England submitted a funding variation request, on behalf of National Health Service providers and integrated care boards, to extend the time needed to comply with the recommendations. NHS England will now publish an interim commissioning policy outlining how patient cohorts should be prioritised and the service models that are recommended during the initial three-year implementation period. During this time, evidence will be generated, which will inform a NICE re-evaluation of the remaining roll out period to the wider group of eligible patients.

The Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority.

Research is a vital part of improving diagnosis and treatment for children and young people with cancer. The NIHR spent approximately £9.9 million over the last five financial years, from 2019/20 to 2023/24, on directly funded research to improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer, including for neuroblastoma.

These investments are pivotal to informing efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and outcomes. An example of a recent award is the RElapse Decision MAking Parent Process trial, for the development of a treatment decision aid for parents of a child with neuroblastoma which has relapsed. The total award value was £308,000.

The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including neuroblastoma research and other childhood cancers. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

The Department relaunched the Children and Young People’s Cancer Taskforce, which met on 4 March 2025. Caroline Dinenage and Professor Darren Hargrave have been appointed as co-chairs. The taskforce will examine clinical and non-clinical ways to improve outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer, including neuroblastoma research. The taskforce will feed into wider Department work on the National Cancer Plan.

The safety of National Health Service staff and patients is a top priority for the Government.

The NHS was provided with £4.1 billion in operational capital in 2024/25, enabling systems to allocate funding according to local priorities, including hospital repairs and estate safety. In 2025/26, the Government is again backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital, which will continue to be allocated to local system priorities.

The Government is also providing significant support through ongoing estates safety programmes delivering vital upgrades, eradicating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), and tackling backlog maintenance and critical infrastructure risk. The 2024 Autumn Budget confirmed over £1 billion of additional investment in 2025/26 for these programmes, including £750 million for an estates safety fund to help ensure hospitals are safe and sustainable, and £440 million for RAAC mitigation and eradication.

Alongside 2025/26 funding to address hospital repairs, the Government is taking a fresh look at how to make the current system effective and efficient to protect quality of care and improve patient safety. Following last year’s review by Dr Penny Dash into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the CQC is rebuilding its approach and trust in its regulation. Dr Dash is conducting a second review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. The conclusions of the review are due to be published shortly and will inform our 10-Year Health Plan to transform the NHS and social care system.

Our commitment to patient safety is further demonstrated by other key measures that include the introduction of death certification reform and medical examiners, our commitment to introduce professional standards for and regulate NHS managers and reviewing the statutory duty of candour.