Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to ensure the continuation of the Lionesses Future Fund.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport, including football.
The department is working with the Football Foundation to embed standard criteria to ensure access for women and girls for all their major capital projects, meaning more women and girls benefit from our investment. At the Autumn Budget, the Government confirmed our continued support for elite and grassroots sport by investing in multi-use facilities. Further details will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Q33 of the oral evidence she gave to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 10 December 2024, HC 330, what assessment she has made of the (a) demand for women's and girl's football facilities and (b) the funding required for that provision over the next five years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport. High-quality, inclusive facilities help clubs to get more people active and by backing these clubs, the Government will support more women and girls to get onto the pitch wherever they live.
We are pleased to see the significant progress in the number of women and girls taking up football in recent years, and wider developments in the women’s game. In 2023, Karen Carney OBE published a major Independent Review of Women’s Football which made a series of recommendations including supporting grassroots women and girls’ football. This Government fully endorses those recommendations and looks forward to ensuring tangible progress is made.
The Government continues to support grassroots facilities, including through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme, which provides funding to build and improve grassroots facilities, and a commitment to support the Football Association’s ambition to double their number of gold-standard (3-star) community clubs by EURO 2028. This will deliver more opportunities for women and girls to get on the pitch.
£123 million of funding is being delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2024/25. Following the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Government confirmed its continued support for elite and grassroots sport through future investment, of which further details will be confirmed in due course.
We are also working with the Football Foundation to embed the learnings of the Lionesses Futures Fund as standard criteria for all their major capital projects, meaning more women and girls benefit from our investment. This includes guaranteeing a share of priority slots to women’s and girls’ teams and setting up a new small grants programme specifically targeted at creating female-friendly facilities off the pitch.
The Football Foundation plans their investment pipeline based on Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs) which have been developed in partnership with local authorities and are in the process of being refreshed to reflect the increase in demand for women and girls’ grassroots facilities.
The Football Association is a long-term partner of Sport England, and have received over £26 million of funding from them for the period 2022-27 for grassroots football projects.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on a long-term funding settlement for women and girls' football facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport. High-quality, inclusive facilities help clubs to get more people active and by backing these clubs, the Government will support more women and girls to get onto the pitch wherever they live.
The Government continues to support grassroots facilities, including through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme, which provides funding to build and improve grassroots facilities, and a commitment to support the Football Association’s ambition to double their number of gold-standard (3-star) community clubs by EURO 2028. This will deliver more opportunities for women and girls to get on the pitch.
£123 million of funding is being delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2024/25. Following the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Government confirmed its continued support for elite and grassroots sport through future investment, of which further details will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding was allocated to grass roots football in (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25; and if she will take steps to continue this funding in 2025-26.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Grassroots sports clubs are at the heart of communities up and down the country. We know just how important they are, which is why we are committed to supporting high-quality, inclusive facilities to get more people active, including through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme, which provides funding to build and improve grassroots facilities, and a commitment to support the Football Association’s ambition to double their number of gold-standard (3-star) community clubs by EURO 2028.
£123 million of funding is being delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2024/25. Following the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Government confirmed its continued support for elite and grassroots sport through future investment, of which further details will be confirmed in due course.
The Football Association is a long-term partner of Sport England, and have received over £26 million of funding from them for the period 2022-27 for grassroots football projects.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to identify all people impacted by the collapse of McClure solicitors.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The legal profession in England and Wales operates independently of government. The responsibility for regulating the sector sits with the approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Ministry of Justice to hold or seek to hold the information on people impacted by the collapse of McClure solicitors.
Given the seriousness of the issue raised, my officials have spoken to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, who has confirmed that it is carrying out an investigation into the former partners of WW& J McClure. There are several routes in place to ensure consumers have access to support in the event of the collapse of their solicitor’s law firm.
The Legal Ombudsman deals with service complaints against regulated legal services providers – including those who are no longer operational. Their website provides information with regards to the different routes available for consumers depending on their personal circumstances: Complaining about closed service providers | Legal Ombudsman.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase uptake of free school meals among eligible children in areas with high levels of (a) child obesity and (b) household food insecurity.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are currently around 2.1 million pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM). The department recognises the vital role played by FSM in supporting disadvantaged children and families and encourages all those who are eligible to take up their entitlement. To make this process as easy as possible, the department provides the Eligibility Checking System, which allows local authorities to quickly verify eligibility for FSM. Further to this, our published guidance on FSM provides clarity to families about whether they may qualify for, and how they may claim their FSM entitlement.
The department is aware of a range of measures aimed at maximising take-up of FSM, including through approaches being trialled by local authorities. We welcome local authorities taking action to ensure government support reaches families, subject to them meeting legal and data-protection requirements.
In addition to this, we are also rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school, so children start the day ready to learn. This is part of the department‘s commitment to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all children have the freedom to achieve and thrive in education.
The department is also working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop a child poverty strategy to reduce child poverty by tackling its root causes and giving every child the best start in life. The strategy will be published in the spring.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of reports that the CUT trade union federation’s (a) regional secretary and (b) treasurer in Valle del Cauca, Colombia have received death threats.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We look to the Colombian authorities to investigate fully the threats against all citizens, including trade unionists, and to take appropriate action against those responsible. Through the Integrated Security Fund (ISF), the UK has historically supported the development of protection measures for human rights abuses, working with the Colombian government to strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Protection Unit and civil society organisations involved in the protection of social leaders, including trade unionists. During his visit to Colombia in November, Lord Collins, Minister for Human Rights, met with trade union representatives and other social and political leaders. In our UN Security Council statements, we regularly call on the Colombian government and its institutions to protect social leaders from threats.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide (a) funding and (b) resources to support a year-round online (i) HIV and (ii) STI postal testing service.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Scaling up HIV testing for all population groups will be a key objective of the new HIV Action Plan, which is due to be published in summer 2025. We are currently working together with the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and other key stakeholders and considering which testing interventions would be best suited to achieve our ambitions, including the most effective role for online testing.
On 28 November 2024, the Prime Minister confirmed £27 million of additional funding for 2025/26 to expand the highly successful National Health Service emergency department opt-out HIV testing programme, supporting national HIV testing. As part of the extension of the programme, approximately 90 sites will be offered funding to roll out HIV opt-out testing until March 2026. Further funding will be confirmed in due course after the spending review phase two process has concluded.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual health services, including HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing services, through the public health grant, funded at £3.6 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the services that best suit their population, including decisions about online, face to face or postal testing services. We have set up the national HIV and syphilis self-sampling framework to assist local authority commissioners with providing online testing to their residents.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to (a) measure and (b) ensure improvements in the quality of life of people living with HIV.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) provides key surveillance and data for HIV, including annual official HIV statistics and reports. Their recently published HIV Action Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 2024 report provides key indicators of the quality of life of people living with HIV, and recommendations for improvements to HIV care. The UKHSA also publishes the Positive Voices survey report periodically, updated recently in 2024, which includes questions on people’s lived experience and stigma. As part of the current HIV Action Plan, the Department funds HIV Prevention England, which hosted a HIV Stigma Symposium in March 2024. This brought together approximately 100 community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and people with lived experience to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies across the country. This evidence will inform the Government's new HIV Action Plan, which is due to be published in summer 2025. We will consider the key actions needed to support the groups disproportionately affected by HIV, to ensure improvements in the quality of life of all people living with HIV.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of obesity in (a) Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency and (b) other constituencies with high rates of obesity; and if he will take steps to support dietitian-led weight management programmes in such areas.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services to support their communities to achieve and maintain a healthier weight. These range from behavioural weight management programmes, to specialist services for those living with obesity and associated co-morbidities. Local authorities are able to spend funding from the Public Health Grant on behavioural weight management services, whilst integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning NHS specialist weight management services. Local authorities and ICBs should consider local population need and the relevant guidance when commissioning and designing services, including when considering how the service should be led or the intervention delivered.
The North East and North Cumbria ICB is developing its Healthy Weight and Treating Obesity strategy. Additionally, NHS England commissions the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme nationally for people living with obesity, with an existing comorbidity of either diabetes, hypertension, or both. The 12-week online programme is available to eligible people across England, including in the Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency, via direct referral from any general practice or Community Pharmacy.
The Government will take action to tackle the root causes of the obesity crisis head on, including through shifting the focus from treatment to prevention. We have made a strong start, including laying the necessary secondary legislation to implement the advertising restrictions for less healthy food or drink on television and online from 1 October 2025, taking steps to ensure the Soft Drinks Industry Levy remains effective and fit-for-purpose, and giving local authorities the stronger, clearer powers they have told us they need to block new fast food outlets near schools.