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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) extended producer responsibility fees and (b) other tax increases on the viability of UK breweries.

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

The 2024 pEPR impact assessment can be found here.

The impact assessment estimated the pEPR producer fees would generate over £1 billion annually to support local authority collection and disposal services, including recycling services. We expect Greenhouse Gas Emissions savings of approximately 0.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the 10-year appraisal period.

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government has decided to offer a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025-26 and frozen the small business multiplier.

By tapering RHL relief to 40%, rather than letting it end, the Government has saved the average pub, with a rateable value (RV) of £16,800, over £3,300 in 2025.

At Budget, the Government also announced that from 2026-27, it intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government intends to fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on the most valuable properties, which includes the majority of large distribution warehouses, including warehouses used by online giants.

The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) investing in auditory verbal therapy and (b) expanding access to support for deaf children and their families.

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

Audiology services are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing children lies with local National Health Service commissioners. It is important that local commissioners have the discretion to decide how best to meet the needs of their local population, and we are giving systems greater control and flexibility over how funding is deployed to support this.

We expect local commissioning to be informed by the best available evidence, relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and guidance issued by NHS England. In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and health and local authority providers which supports non-hearing children and young people. This is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/what-works-chswg-guide.pdf

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunities and ensuring that every child, including children with hearing loss, has the best start in life. I met with Auditory Verbal UK and heard their views about the potential benefits of guidance on auditory verbal therapy, which I agreed to consider.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to issue guidance to ICBs on providing equality of access to auditory verbal therapy for deaf babies and young children.

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

Audiology services are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing children lies with local National Health Service commissioners. It is important that local commissioners have the discretion to decide how best to meet the needs of their local population, and we are giving systems greater control and flexibility over how funding is deployed to support this.

We expect local commissioning to be informed by the best available evidence, relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and guidance issued by NHS England. In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and health and local authority providers which supports non-hearing children and young people. This is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/what-works-chswg-guide.pdf

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunities and ensuring that every child, including children with hearing loss, has the best start in life. I met with Auditory Verbal UK and heard their views about the potential benefits of guidance on auditory verbal therapy, which I agreed to consider.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the average amount of money families would receive if the two-child limit was rescinded.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty, including considering social security reforms, before publishing a strategy that will deliver lasting change.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Early Language Support for Every Child pilot programme on improved outcomes for deaf babies and children.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department knows that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, health and care.

Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) is a pilot programme operating in the department's nine Change Programme Partnerships. It seeks to improve capacity and knowledge of the workforce that supports children with emerging, mild to moderate speech, language and communication needs in early years and school settings.

ELSEC does not directly support deaf babies and children. However, the intention is that needs will be identified earlier and those who require specialist support will receive this in a more timely fashion, which could include children with hearing impairments.

The department recognises the importance of teachers of the deaf and is continuing to support the pipeline of these teachers. There are currently seven providers of the Mandatory Qualification in Sensory Impairment (MQSI). Teachers who teach a class of pupils with sensory impairment are required to hold MQSI. Teachers working in an advisory or peripatetic role are also strongly advised to complete MQSI.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has developed a sensory impairment apprenticeship. IfATE worked with universities, local authorities and sector representatives, including the National Deaf Children’s Society, the Royal National Institute of Blind People and the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People to develop the qualification. The apprenticeship is expected to be available from September 2025 and will open up a paid, work-based route into teaching children and young people with sensory impairments. This will improve the supply of those qualified to teach this important cohort and further help to improve their outcomes.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr James Frith; Damian Hinds; Dr

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr James Frith; Damian Hinds; Dr

Found: Paulette Hamilton Danny Kruger Ms Diane Abbott Sir Julian Lewis Jess Asato Sarah Smith Mr James Frith

Found: Paulette Hamilton Danny Kruger Ms Diane Abbott Sir Julian Lewis Jess Asato Sarah Smith Mr James Frith

Found: Vaughan Llinos Medi Chris Hinchliff Abtisam Mohamed Iqbal Mohamed Jon Trickett Ellie Chowns Mr James Frith