Joe Robertson

Six tidal stream projects were successful in Allocation Round 6, meaning that just over half of the world's tidal stream deployment is in UK waters. The Secretary of State is working with industry to accelerate ways the Contracts for Difference scheme can be expanded to deliver our 2030 clean power mission, and we will publish further information about the next Allocation Round in due course.

Six tidal stream projects were successful in Allocation Round 6, meaning that just over half of the world's tidal stream deployment is in UK waters.

As Great British Energy will be operationally independent, it would not be for Ministers to engage specifically on what support may be provided to specific sectors. The Government believes that tidal stream power has a role to play as we work towards our Clean Power by 2030 Mission. Tidal energy projects continue to be eligible for a suite of research funding programmes, operated both by DESNZ centrally, and, by UK Research and Innovation.

The department is providing over £2.9 billion of pupil premium funding in 2024/25 to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils in England.

The criteria for pupil premium eligibility are:

• Pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals or who have been eligible in the past six years.
• Pupils who have been adopted from care or have left care.
• Children who are looked after by the local authority.

The portion of funding for looked-after children and previously looked-after children is often referred to as pupil premium plus.

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils and schools do not have to spend this funding so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. Schools can direct spending where the need is greatest, including to pupils with other identified needs, such as children in kinship care. Schools can also use pupil premium on whole class approaches that will benefit all pupils such as, for example, on high quality teaching.

The department will continue to keep eligibility under review to ensure that support is targeted at those who most need it.

We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget 2024, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.

Primary care providers, including general practice, dentistry, pharmacy, and eye care, are valued independent contractors who provide nearly £20 billion worth of services in the National Health Service. Every year we consult with each sector both about what services they provide, and the money providers are entitled to in return under their contract. As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process.

We have no plans to hold such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops its guidance independently and in line with its established methods and processes, which have been developed through extensive engagement with interested parties to ensure that they reflect best practice and societal preferences.

In its evaluations of new medicines, the NICE considers National Health Service and publicly funded personal social services (PSS) costs and, when relevant, the health impact of treatments on carers. Any changes to the NICE’s methods to include a wider economic perspective to, for example, account for productivity benefits to carers, would be methodologically and ethically challenging and could have unintended consequences. There is a risk that such a change could result in fewer treatments being recommended for populations that are disproportionately older, economically inactive, or have greater care needs. It is crucial that the NICE’s methods remain fair, consistent, and provide the most health benefit for society.

Ministers have had a number of recent discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and NHS England, about patient access to new, licensed treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

Recommendations on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service are made independently by the NICE on the basis of an assessment of their costs and benefits. The methods and processes that the NICE uses are internationally respected and have been developed through extensive engagement with academics, industry, patients, and clinicians, to ensure that they reflect best practice and societal preferences. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance.

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme aims to speed up the development of new treatments for dementia and neurodegenerative conditions, and is working with the relevant partners to develop solutions around access for patients to licensed treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications to support ICBs in this duty.

2023/24 was the final year of the Children’s Hospice Grant. In 2024/25, however, NHS England provided an additional £25 million of funding for children and young people’s hospices, maintaining the level of grant funding from 2023/24. This funding was distributed, for the first time, via ICBs, in line with National Health Service devolution.

We understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including children’s hospices, due to the increased cost of living. We want a society where these costs are manageable for both voluntary organisations, like hospices, and the people whom they serve.

I recently met NHS England, Together for Short Lives, and one of the chairs of the Children Who Need Palliative Care All Party Parliamentary Group to discuss children’s palliative and end of life care, and this funding stream was discussed at length at that meeting.  NHS England is currently considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.

We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications to support ICBs in this duty.

2023/24 was the final year of the Children’s Hospice Grant. In 2024/25, however, NHS England provided an additional £25 million of funding for children and young people’s hospices, maintaining the level of grant funding from 2023/24. This funding was distributed, for the first time, via ICBs, in line with National Health Service devolution.

We understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including children’s hospices, due to the increased cost of living. We want a society where these costs are manageable for both voluntary organisations, like hospices, and the people whom they serve.

I recently met NHS England, Together for Short Lives, and one of the chairs of the Children Who Need Palliative Care All Party Parliamentary Group to discuss children’s palliative and end of life care, and this funding stream was discussed at length at that meeting.  NHS England is currently considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.