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 training convenience store staff and managers on the (a) administration and (b) acceptance of NHS Healthy Start cards.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) runs the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Retailers do not need to register to be part of the Healthy Start scheme. Retailers can accept Healthy Start card payments where they sell eligible Healthy Start foods, and where their store accepts Mastercard. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/retailers/

The NHSBSA does not provide training for convenience store staff or managers. The NHSBSA provides a range of materials to help retailers promote the scheme and understand where the prepaid card is accepted. The NHSBSA provides a guide for retailers to explain how the scheme works, their role, and how to promote the scheme. A copy of this guide for retailers is attached.

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 permitting pay-as-you-save soft loans from community energy enterprises into solar panels on schools.

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

This government continues to look for opportunities to support schools in the growth of renewables in order to reduce emissions and energy bills. Options like Great British Energy’s scheme, which will provide funding to put rooftop solar panels on around 200 schools, provide a way forward.

The department has considered the soft solar loan scheme models being offered by community energy enterprises. However, commercial loans by schools impact on public debt, and broader fiscal considerations at this time around accountability and achieving best value for investment mean schemes of this type cannot currently be supported.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the funding criteria for the Museum Renewal Fund to include museums that are independent charities.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Museum Renewal Fund, delivered by Arts Council England, will invest an additional £20m in our treasured civic museums across England, and is now open to applicants.

Museums run by independent charities are eligible to apply, where they have links to Local Authorities, which can be evidenced in a number of ways, as set out in the guidance: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-open-funds/museum-renewal-fund-2025-26.

This government is committed to supporting museums to continue doing what they do best: serving communities, caring for and sharing Collections, and telling our national story at a local level. The government operates several tax and grant schemes for museums, including the Museum Estate and Development Fund, Museums VAT Refund Scheme, and Museums and Galleries Exhibitions Tax relief, to support large numbers of museums all over the country.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil legal aid offices with a civil legal aid contract started less than 10 cases by each (a) local authority and (b) area of law in the (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25 financial year.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Regarding the number of civil offices starting zero cases, I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 11 March to Question 35876.

The number of civil legal aid offices with a civil legal aid contract which started fewer than 10 cases can be found in the attached table.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil legal aid offices with a civil legal aid contract started zero cases by each (a) local authority and (b) area of law in the (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25 financial year.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Regarding the number of civil offices starting zero cases, I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 11 March to Question 35876.

The number of civil legal aid offices with a civil legal aid contract which started fewer than 10 cases can be found in the attached table.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she has taken to increase provision of legal aid in the south west of England.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Data regarding the number of civil legal aid providers in Truro and Falmouth is set out in the below table:

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. The LAA monitors the numbers of providers in each procurement area and across all categories of law. It takes operational action to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.

For civil contracts, the LAA aims to ensure supply across designated procurement areas, as opposed to specific towns or counties. The procurement areas may be different for different categories of law and the LAA aims to ensure the commissioning standard for each procurement area in each category of law is met throughout the life cycle of its contracts. The commissioning standard for the Southwest, which encompasses Truro and Falmouth, is currently met across all categories.

Generally, the LAA has changed its approach to commissioning for legal aid services. Procurement for legal aid contracts is now operated under the ‘always on principle’ so that the procurement remains open during the life of the contract. This is a significant change from the previous approach where firms could only bid to join at the initial tender of what typically was a five-year contract term. This new approach enables new entrants to apply for a contract at any time and for existing providers to expand their services. It is a more flexible approach, removing hard deadlines and maximising the available supply of services.

Further, the Ministry of Justice has undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and recently concluded a consultation on uplifts to housing & debt and immigration & asylum legal aid fees, which when implemented, would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year. We are currently reviewing consultation responses and will publish the Government’s response in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data her Department holds on the number of civil legal aid firms in Truro and Falmouth for each year data is available.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Data regarding the number of civil legal aid providers in Truro and Falmouth is set out in the below table:

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. The LAA monitors the numbers of providers in each procurement area and across all categories of law. It takes operational action to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.

For civil contracts, the LAA aims to ensure supply across designated procurement areas, as opposed to specific towns or counties. The procurement areas may be different for different categories of law and the LAA aims to ensure the commissioning standard for each procurement area in each category of law is met throughout the life cycle of its contracts. The commissioning standard for the Southwest, which encompasses Truro and Falmouth, is currently met across all categories.

Generally, the LAA has changed its approach to commissioning for legal aid services. Procurement for legal aid contracts is now operated under the ‘always on principle’ so that the procurement remains open during the life of the contract. This is a significant change from the previous approach where firms could only bid to join at the initial tender of what typically was a five-year contract term. This new approach enables new entrants to apply for a contract at any time and for existing providers to expand their services. It is a more flexible approach, removing hard deadlines and maximising the available supply of services.

Further, the Ministry of Justice has undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and recently concluded a consultation on uplifts to housing & debt and immigration & asylum legal aid fees, which when implemented, would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year. We are currently reviewing consultation responses and will publish the Government’s response in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding the Government has allocated to legal aid in England and Wales in each financial year since 2010.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The previous Government left the legal aid system under significant strain following years of neglect. This Government has begun to put legal aid back on a sustainable footing by investing up to £92 million in addition per year by the end of this Parliament in criminal legal aid and £20 million additional each year in immigration and housing legal aid.

We have also announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation from 2024. That confirmed we are uplifting the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes will provide a £24 million boost for criminal legal aid providers.

The Lord Chancellor has a duty to ensure that legal aid is made available in accordance with the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, for cases where the relevant eligibility criteria are met.

The Ministry of Justice works within HM Treasury allocations as shown in the Main and Supplementary Estimates (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-main-estimates) each year. However, the nature of legal aid funding means that it is demand led, and as such the Ministry of Justice ensures sufficient allocation is made to cover the incurred costs.

Legal aid expenditure since 2010 is published as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s official statistics. The most recent publication can be viewed here, and includes expenditure up to 31 December 2024.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil legal aid firms there were in Cornwall in each year for which data is available.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The information requested can be found in the below table:

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. The LAA monitors the numbers of providers in each procurement area and across all categories of law. It takes operational action to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.

For civil contracts, the LAA aims to ensure supply across designated procurement areas, as opposed to specific towns or counties. The LAA aims to ensure each procurement area in each category of law has at least the minimum amount of contracts to ensure adequate provision. The commissioning standard for the Southwest, which encompasses Cornwall, is currently met across all categories.

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 ensure that everyone entitled to NHS Healthy Start is registered to receive it.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Those eligible for Healthy Start must apply to the NHSBSA to receive Healthy Start payments.

All applicants, where they meet the eligibility criteria, must accept the terms and conditions of the Healthy Start prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, the NHSBSA is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card.

We remain open to all viable routes to improve uptake to ensure that as many eligible people as possible are accessing the scheme, to support their children with a healthy start in life.

In March 2025 Healthy Start supported over 359,000 people.

Found: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee’s Oral Evidence session, I promised to liaise with Jayne Kirkham

Found: Engagements 02 Apr 2025 | 765 c302 Asked by: Jayne Kirkham One year ago yesterday, my constituent