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, what steps he plans to take to ensure that Overseas Territories adopt open and public registers of beneficial ownership.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Work is ongoing to improve beneficial ownership transparency in the Overseas Territories. At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena committed to join Montserrat and Gibraltar in implementing fully public registers by April 2025. The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands agreed to implement registers of beneficial ownership, accessible to those with a legitimate interest, by June 2025. It remains our expectation that the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will ultimately implement fully public registers.
Every Territory is making progress towards these commitments and FCDO officials are in regular contact with counterparts in the Overseas Territories on their proposals for registers to ensure they meet the agreement made at JMC. I have and will continue to raise this directly with elected leaders across the Overseas Territories, and have discussed with the leaders of a number of OTs including Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands in recent weeks.
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, what assessment he has made of the levels of compliance by overseas territories on providing public registers of beneficial ownership.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena committed to join Montserrat and Gibraltar in implementing fully public registers by April 2025. The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands agreed to implement registers of beneficial ownership, accessible to those with a legitimate interest by June 2025, with the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions.
Every Territory is making progress towards these commitments and FCDO officials are in regular contact with counterparts in the Overseas Territories on their proposals for registers to ensure they meet JMC agreements. I have and will continue to raise this directly with elected leaders across the Overseas Territories, and have discussed with the leaders of a number of OTs including Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands in recent weeks.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposals within the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the level of regional disparities in access to (a) out-of-work and (b) in-work disability benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The are no regional disparities in access to disability benefits.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of treating military compensation for injury in the same way as civil compensation for the purposes of means testing for benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer we gave on 3 March 2025 to question UIN 32275.
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.