Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) closure and (b) lack of capacity of producer compliance schemes for fridges and freezers on local authorities, including the need for them to meet the cost of such disposals.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with stakeholders to monitor the situation and support industry to develop solutions.
The Environment Agency has published a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) to allow temporary storage. Producer Compliance Schemes should work with councils and treatment facilities to identify appropriate sites and come to arrangements over the costs.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of requiring produce compliance schemes for fridges and freezers that lack sufficient processing capacity to identify and utilise suitable storage sites.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with stakeholders to monitor the situation and support industry to develop solutions.
The Environment Agency has published a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) to allow temporary storage. Producer Compliance Schemes should work with councils and treatment facilities to identify appropriate sites and come to arrangements over the costs.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure producer compliance schemes for fridges and freezers are able to operate effectively, given the reduction in the number of processing facilities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with stakeholders to monitor the situation and support industry to develop solutions.
The Environment Agency has published a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) to allow temporary storage. Producer Compliance Schemes should work with councils and treatment facilities to identify appropriate sites and come to arrangements over the costs.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with colleagues in the Treasury on the potential impact of reducing food waste on the cost of living.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials engage regularly with His Majesty’s Treasury as part of the policy making process. Latest data from WRAP show that 58% of UK food waste occurs in households, with the average family wasting around £80 of food each month.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of requiring large businesses to publicly report food waste.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of improving food waste data to help reduce food waste and improve resource efficiency. Defra is engaging with industry to improve reporting and data quality, while considering a range of policy options.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on bringing new carers into the sector and stopping carers exiting the sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving standards across the foster care sector and is taking steps to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers, which is critical to improving outcomes for children.
The department’s action plan to renew fostering, backed by £88 million over the next two years, sets out the urgent steps we are taking to reverse the decline in foster carers and reform the system. 14 regional hubs are moving towards end-to-end recruitment from September, backed by £12 million in transformation funding. Our Room Makers programme will provide up to £25 million to add additional capacity to existing loving foster homes. We have launched a £12.4 million innovation programme, and enhanced digital tools and a communications campaign will launch in the autumn.
The government is currently consulting on revised national fostering standards to ensure children and foster families receive consistently high-quality support. Alongside this, the department continues to support and invest in the rollout of the Mockingbird model, while drawing on programme data and feedback from fostering services and carers to assess its impact on children, placement stability and carer support.
We recognise the benefits Mockingbird can offer in building peer support, stability and resilience for fostering families and will continue to promote effective practice across the sector.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what further steps her Department has taken to evaluate the Mockingbird fostering model since the 2020 evaluation by her Department.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving standards across the foster care sector and is taking steps to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers, which is critical to improving outcomes for children.
The department’s action plan to renew fostering, backed by £88 million over the next two years, sets out the urgent steps we are taking to reverse the decline in foster carers and reform the system. 14 regional hubs are moving towards end-to-end recruitment from September, backed by £12 million in transformation funding. Our Room Makers programme will provide up to £25 million to add additional capacity to existing loving foster homes. We have launched a £12.4 million innovation programme, and enhanced digital tools and a communications campaign will launch in the autumn.
The government is currently consulting on revised national fostering standards to ensure children and foster families receive consistently high-quality support. Alongside this, the department continues to support and invest in the rollout of the Mockingbird model, while drawing on programme data and feedback from fostering services and carers to assess its impact on children, placement stability and carer support.
We recognise the benefits Mockingbird can offer in building peer support, stability and resilience for fostering families and will continue to promote effective practice across the sector.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of expanding the Mockingbird Programme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving standards across the foster care sector and is taking steps to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers, which is critical to improving outcomes for children.
The department’s action plan to renew fostering, backed by £88 million over the next two years, sets out the urgent steps we are taking to reverse the decline in foster carers and reform the system. 14 regional hubs are moving towards end-to-end recruitment from September, backed by £12 million in transformation funding. Our Room Makers programme will provide up to £25 million to add additional capacity to existing loving foster homes. We have launched a £12.4 million innovation programme, and enhanced digital tools and a communications campaign will launch in the autumn.
The government is currently consulting on revised national fostering standards to ensure children and foster families receive consistently high-quality support. Alongside this, the department continues to support and invest in the rollout of the Mockingbird model, while drawing on programme data and feedback from fostering services and carers to assess its impact on children, placement stability and carer support.
We recognise the benefits Mockingbird can offer in building peer support, stability and resilience for fostering families and will continue to promote effective practice across the sector.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve standards across the foster care sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving standards across the foster care sector and is taking steps to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers, which is critical to improving outcomes for children.
The department’s action plan to renew fostering, backed by £88 million over the next two years, sets out the urgent steps we are taking to reverse the decline in foster carers and reform the system. 14 regional hubs are moving towards end-to-end recruitment from September, backed by £12 million in transformation funding. Our Room Makers programme will provide up to £25 million to add additional capacity to existing loving foster homes. We have launched a £12.4 million innovation programme, and enhanced digital tools and a communications campaign will launch in the autumn.
The government is currently consulting on revised national fostering standards to ensure children and foster families receive consistently high-quality support. Alongside this, the department continues to support and invest in the rollout of the Mockingbird model, while drawing on programme data and feedback from fostering services and carers to assess its impact on children, placement stability and carer support.
We recognise the benefits Mockingbird can offer in building peer support, stability and resilience for fostering families and will continue to promote effective practice across the sector.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what consideration his Department has made in the Parental Leave and Pay Review of kinship carers.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government’s Parental Leave and Pay Review is considering all current parental leave and pay entitlements, as well as the needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, such as kinship carers. We are engaging with a broad range of stakeholders and considering a wide range of evidence as part of the Review. The Review will conclude in early 2027 with findings which will outline next steps for any potential reforms.