Katie White

We are committed to strengthening our relationship with the EU to make the UK safer, more secure and more prosperous, including through negotiating a Security and Defence Partnership with the EU. We have been clear that there will be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement.

Late payments are one of the biggest problems facing small businesses in the UK.

Government has already taken steps to tackle the issue through the launch of a new Fair Payment Code which will encourage and highlight businesses with the best payment practices.

We will soon be laying secondary legislation which will make it a requirement for large companies to include payment performance data in their annual reports.

Finally, we will be launching a public consultation in the coming weeks which sets out measures that will go even further to tackle late payments, including additional powers for the Small Business Commissioner.

Most people use fireworks in a responsible, safe, and appropriate manner and there are laws in place to address situations where fireworks are misused. The current regulatory framework is designed to support people to enjoy fireworks whilst lowering the risk of dangers and disruption to people, pets, and property.

To inform any future decisions I intend to engage with stakeholders after the fireworks season to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks. The safety of the public and impact on people, animals, wildlife and property will be central in decisions in relation to the regulation of fireworks.

My department is committed to unlocking innovation-led growth across UK through targeted initiatives.

UK Research and Innovation invested £236 million in West Yorkshire in 2023-24, including the University of Leeds’ £5 million “innovating medical technologies across the Yorkshire region” project. Innovate UK is partnering with West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) on a Health Technologies Launchpad, funding several business-led projects in Leeds including the Hipsense project led by Eventum Orthopaedics.

We are also actively working with the region through the West Yorkshire Innovation Partnership and we have earmarked WYCA for at least £30 million from the new Local Innovation Partnership Fund.

The Creative Industries Sector Plan, published 23rd June, contains ambitious proposals to bolster growth in the creative industries across the UK, and spotlights West Yorkshire along with 11 other high-potential clusters for CI growth and their unique investment offer.

The plan also announces the new Creative Places Growth Fund, which will provide £150m of devolved funding across six Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England, including Leeds North West, West Yorkshire, empowering local leaders to turbocharge the creative industries in their places.

Further support outlined in the Sector Plan includes increased support from the British Business Bank, with debt and equity finance to help creative businesses scale up; almost £150m funding for key sub-sectors, a £9 million creative careers service, £100 million via UKRI for an ambitious new wave of clusters across the UK to accelerate R&D, and a £25 million DCMS-funded Creative Futures Programme.

There is a range of support available to increase access to apprenticeships for students across England.

The department promotes apprenticeships to young people through the Skills for Life campaign and the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN). The AAN, which has around 2,000 volunteers, aims to champion apprenticeships for young people by aligning an ambassador to every state-funded secondary school and further education college by March 2026. As of May 2025, the AAN covers 75% of schools and colleges in England.

We are further increasing access to apprenticeships for young people by introducing new foundation apprenticeships from August 2025. Foundation apprenticeships, which are jobs with training at level 2, will support young people to transition from full-time education to work, providing entry level competence in sectors such as construction and engineering.

Foundation apprenticeships are underpinned by an employer incentive payment of £2,000 to contribute to the costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career. Additionally, the government provides £1,000 to employers and providers for apprentices aged 16 to 18, or 19 to 24 for care leavers or those with an education, health and care plan. We also offer a bursary of £3,000 for apprentices under 25 who are care leavers.

The department has published product safety expectations for generative artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure AI tools are safe for classroom use. The expectations set out clear technical safeguards, including prioritising child-centred design and enhanced filtering of harmful content.

The Education Content Store pilot aims to generate high-quality underpinning content and data needed for high-quality AI tools. By making pre-processed educational content available, the store aims to improve the accuracy of AI tools.

Additionally, online resources and guidance materials are also available to help teachers and leaders use AI safely and effectively, and these materials were published in June 2025.

Finally, the department recently appointed a task and finish group to advise on digital, AI and technology. We will consider how best to develop and implement any of their recommendations. This includes those which aim to prepare children and young people to be ready for an AI and tech-enabled world.

The department is committed to enabling all children and young people to achieve and thrive. To ensure we are providing the best support for children in care and care leavers we have tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which introduces corporate parenting responsibilities on government departments and relevant public bodies to ensure that services and support to children in care and care leavers better take account of the challenges these young people face.

Whilst we currently have no plans to update the Equality Act, we believe our corporate parenting proposals will serve to tackle the stigma and discrimination that we know children in care and care leavers experience.

The department knows that care leavers have some of the worst outcomes in society across all aspects of their lives and we are committed to ensuring that young people leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong, loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.

To support these ambitions, the department has re-established a Care Leaver Ministerial Board, chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which brings together ministers from key departments to improve support for care leavers across government.

The department has also introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to drive forward our reforms on children’s social care, including placing new duties on local authorities to provide ‘Staying Close’ support to care leavers up to the age of 25 and requiring each local authority to publish information about the arrangements it has in place to support care leavers in their transition to independent living.

We are determined to tackle the stigma and discrimination faced by care-experienced young people, by creating a culture where all those who play a role in the lives of children in care and care leavers are ambitious for their outcomes.

The Government is committed to increasing access to nature for all, especially young people. In 2024, Defra invested £4.45 million in a second phase of the Generation Green programme, enabling over 25,000 disadvantaged children and young people to experience the natural environment. While Environmental Land Management schemes don’t specifically target youth, a new three-year capital item supports educational access to farmland and woodland for school groups and care farming initiatives.

Defra also leads a cross-Government Children and Nature Working Group to share best practices on improving outcomes for young people through nature. The £16 million Access for All programme has funded inclusive facilities like pedal and play areas for young people.

Most of the 254,000-hectare public forest estate managed by Forestry England is open to the public, welcoming 313 million visits annually. England’s 15 Community Forests, supported by the Nature for Climate Fund, engage schools and community groups in tree planting and outdoor learning—53% of England’s population lives within 10 miles of one.

Additionally, on 15 May 2025, DCMS announced £4.7 million to increase access to outdoor learning. The competition for the Adventures Away from Home delivery partner is live and closes on 15 July 2025.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and is working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. This is why we have set out our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new national river walks and three new national forests in England, expanding access to the great outdoors. We have also committed to ensuring that everyone lives within a 15-minute walk of a green or blue space. Delivering this commitment will drive increased access to nature for both physical and mental health.

We work closely with Natural England on delivering enhanced access to nature and hold regular discussions on this topic. For example, we collaborate closely on delivery of the King Charles III England Coast Path, the new Coast to Coast National Trail, and Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework. We will continue to work together as we drive forward our commitments in this area.

In accordance with parliamentary convention, the Government will set out its formal position on this Bill when it receives its Second Reading.

Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to produce a report on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The AWC report will add to our understanding of the fur industry and help inform next steps.

A consultation on proposals to improve and extend current method of production labelling was undertaken last year by the previous government. The Government’s response to this consultation is now available on GOV.UK.

Grants of planning permission for new development, unless exempt, are now subject to biodiversity net gain, requiring developers to achieve a 10% increase in biodiversity compared to the value of the site before the development proposal. Developers must use the statutory biodiversity metric to measure and quantify how they will achieve the 10% net gain.

We are starting to see train performance stabilise, following a decade of decline. We are working with the rail industry on a Performance Restoration Framework, with five clear areas of focus to recover performance to acceptable levels, including timetable resilience, staffing and keeping trains safely moving during disruptive events.

The Rail Minister is meeting with the Managing Directors of all train operators and their Network Rail counterparts, to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards.

The Department has been considering all the views expressed in response to our pavement parking consultation in 2020 and is currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. As soon as the Government has decided its preferred way forward, we will announce the next steps and publish our formal response. We will also publish any relevant guidance once that response has been published.

The Department works closely with Sustainable Aviation – an industry alliance to support a sustainable UK aviation sector – and they published an updated Noise Road Map in February 2025. We recognise the nationwide noise reduction benefits that the latest generation of aircraft and aircraft technology will deliver.

The Government has also established the Jet Zero Taskforce to convene stakeholders from across the UK aviation sector to identify, and advise on, unblocking the key barriers in delivering greener aviation. Further, through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme, Government is co-investing with industry in the development of ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technology. It aims to grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace while reducing harmful emissions, including CO₂ and noise.

The Government’s airspace modernisation programme works closely with a range of industry stakeholders, primarily airports and airlines, to ensure the environmental benefits of airspace modernisation can be realised as quickly as possible.

The Ford EcoBoost engine is a series of engines introduced around 14 years ago that covers a range of engine sizes and Ford vehicle models.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) investigates potential safety defects within the terms of the United Kingdom’s Code of Practice on Vehicle Safety Defects (the Code), which has the support of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (as amended). This has specific requirements as to what can and cannot be considered a safety defect and is clear on its requirement of evidence to support any conclusions made.

As the appointed regulating body, the DVSA’s Market Surveillance Unit acts solely on the evidence available and will demand safety recall action by a manufacturer whenever the requirement to do so presents itself.

The DVSA regularly audits manufacturers to ensure that their policies and procedures fully meet with the expectations of the Code. This is demonstrated by recall action generally taken voluntarily by manufacturers and prior to DVSA formally mandating action.

The DVSA continues to review all reported cases and investigates whether they present a road safety concern. Should remedial action be required, the DVSA will work with the manufacturer to ensure swift action is taken and that the manufacturer informs vehicle keepers directly.

In the past, safety recalls have been conducted for parts of the Ecoboost range, and investigations continue into potential defects today relating to 'belt failures' and whether this could constitute a safety defect, although there are no immediate concerns.

Consumers experiencing issues with Ford Ecoboost engines should contact Ford or the retailer directly to resolve the issue. Consumers can also contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133 for advice.

As part of the Get Britain Working package, the government is investing £240 million to trial new ways of getting people into work. The government will test new approaches and collect robust evidence on how to tackle the root causes of ill-health related inactivity, support young people who are not in education, employment or training, and help people to develop their careers.

Jobcentre Plus is fully equipped to offer advice to anyone who is looking for work, regardless of their background, profession or occupation. It offers comprehensive services including, job search advice, skills advice, CV and job applications support, help with retraining, and access to the thousands of new vacancies posted daily.

In addition to general support, Jobcentre Plus provides a range of tailored opportunities to improve individuals’ likelihood of entering or re-entering the labour market. This includes demand-led training for higher skilled jobs in specific sectors.

Jobcentre Plus provides guidance and good practice ideas to help individuals to direct their job search in the most effective manner. Jobcentres work closely with several organisations to support graduates to secure employment. Our strong network of partnerships with external training providers, universities and colleges enhances the support available. We have also improved online signposting for graduates, managers and professionals looking to use our services.

At the end of March 2024, 2,700 people in Leeds North West parliamentary constituency were in receipt of PIP but were not in employment.

Notes:

- HMRC data is used to determine whether a claimant was in employment. HMRC data covers up to the end of the tax year 2023/24, therefore March 2024 has been provided as the latest data available.

- Self-employment data from the financial year 2023/24 is not available until the end of the 2024/25 financial year, so self-employment data for the financial year 2022/23 has been used as a proxy for 2023/24 instead.

- People without any employment record in the HMRC data, as well as those who have been confirmed to not be in employment in the data, have been considered not employed.

- The data provided includes both normal rules and special rules for end of life claimants.

- The volume provided is rounded to the nearest 100.

Estimates of the volumes of PIP claimants affected by the reform in the future are forecast for England and Wales only and therefore have not been broken down by Parliamentary Constituency or any other geographic area.

After taking account of behavioural changes, OBR predicts that 370,000 people in England and Wales who will be receiving PIP at the point of implementation of the four point requirement in November 2026, will have lost their PIP Daily Living entitlement by 2029/30. Of all PIP recipients at the point of implementation, 9 in 10 will not lose PIP during the subsequent 3 years from this change.

The proportion of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment daily living component who were awarded fewer than four points in all daily living activities, by Parliamentary Constituency area, is available as part of the Pathways to Work Evidence Pack in Chapter 2, table 2.26.

There will be no immediate changes. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. Changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.

We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.

We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.

The government has committed to raising awareness of all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace. In January 2025, DWP launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations in the summer.

The Department is dedicated to supporting employment opportunities for neurodiverse individuals in the Leeds North West constituency. Currently, two Disability Employment Advisers are conducting a neurodiverse trial designed to assist customers in progressing towards or securing employment. These advisers are stationed at the jobcentre and operate from an outreach office at Leeds City Hub on Fridays. They are available for both ad hoc drop-ins and scheduled, health-focused appointments that are longer in duration.

This initiative offers comprehensive support, including promoting independence, updating Health Adjustment Passports, and assisting with Access to Work claims. Additionally, the Disability Employment Advisers have delivered sessions at Scope for neurodiverse customers, concentrating on employability, digital skills, and confidence building.

The trial has shown encouraging outcomes, with 50% of participants advancing towards employment. We are also enhancing our partnerships with Autism Aim and Leeds Autism Services to provide both individual and group advocacy support.

To better accommodate neurodivergent individuals, those with high anxiety, and other vulnerable claimants, we facilitate a quiet hour at all our job fairs.

The Get Britain Working White Paper set out the government’s plans to drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity, create an inclusive labour market in which everybody can participate and progress in work, and meet the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. The White Paper set out three major reforms: to create a new Jobs and Careers Service, address the growing and unsustainable problem of people being out of work due to poor health, and establish a new Youth Guarantee.

The Youth Guarantee will be for all 18-21 year olds in England and will ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work, starting in eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazer areas this Spring.

Department for Work and Pensions already provides young people aged 16-24, who are claiming Universal Credit, with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work. Youth Employability Coaches specifically work closely with Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions.

The Government also recognises that many people find health conditions and disabilities, including mental ill health, a barrier to employment. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.

There are a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals with health conditions to stay in work and get back into work, which involve joint working between Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Health and Social Care. Support includes Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support programme for people with severe mental illnesses, and Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme aimed at disabled people with complex barriers to employment. In addition, Department for Health and Social Care’s Early Support Hubs also provide employment advice and broader mental health and wellbeing support to young people aged 11-25.

Policy relating to waiting lists for people referred for mental health support sits with my Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Health and Social Care, and you may wish to raise the matter with them.