Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to create more national parks.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England have the statutory responsibility for identifying areas for new National Park designations. The Government is committed to supporting our existing Protected Landscapes to become greener, wilder and more accessible.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in what way he plans to help tackle the environmental impact of vapes.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 June 2025 we banned the sale and supply of single-use vapes due to the harm that they cause to the environment, with over 5 million of these products being thrown away each week in 2023. This will help to prevent the environmental harms caused by vapes, including littering, the leaching of harmful chemicals into the soil and the risk of fires.
In addition, on the 12th of August we introduced legislation to create a new category under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations specifically for vapes (including reusable vapes). This will ensure that the costs of collection and treatment fall fairly on vape producers.
We will continue to monitor the impact of these changes to ensure that they have the desired positive environmental impact and will not hesitate to act further to tackle the environmental impact of vapes if needed.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help protect businesses facing (a) scams and (b) fraudulent activity.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We remain absolutely committed to protecting all of society from the threat of fraud, including businesses. The Home Office is currently developing a new fraud strategy which will include additional measures to protect businesses and educate them on the threat of fraud.
Fraud against business frequently starts with a cyber-attack. The Government also supports the network of cyber resilience centres which provide guidance to businesses to help them protect themselves against cyber threats. There are 10 centres in England and Wales with a particular focus on sole traders, micro companies and small companies.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help improve rail (a) reliability and (b) performance to ensure people are able to access (i) work and (ii) educational opportunities.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support creative industries in Leeds North West constituency.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase access to nature for young people.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
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 integrate (a) movement and (b) exercise into cancer rehabilitation.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To encourage movement, the National Health Service’s Better Health Campaign signposts people, including those living with long term conditions like cancer, to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app and Couch to 5K.
The NHS Cancer Programme, through local Cancer Alliances, is working to ensure physical activity is fully integrated across the whole cancer pathway, which includes opportunities within rehabilitation for people who have undergone treatment.
We know that more can be done to support people living with and beyond cancer. The National Cancer Plan, due to be published later this year, will set out how we will seek to improve the experiences and outcomes for people at every stage of the cancer pathway, including after treatment.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking with local authorities in Leeds to support research and development across the region.
Answered by Feryal Clark
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.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to create high quality new developments which (a) enhance communities and (b) restore nature.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out that planning policies and decisions should plan positively for the provision and use of shared spaces, community facilities (such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, open space, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship) and other local services to enhance the sustainability of communities and residential environments.
Additionally, planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures and incorporating features which support priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs.
Moreover, under the new statutory framework for Biodiversity Net Gain, every grant of planning permission (subject to some exemptions) is subject to the condition that the development must deliver at least a 10% increase in biodiversity value relative to the pre-development biodiversity value of the onsite habitat.
When it comes to development and the environment, we know we can do better than the status quo, which too often sees both sustainable housebuilding and nature recovery stall. Instead of environmental protections being seen as barriers to growth, we want to unlock a win-win for the economy and for nature. Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduces a new Nature Restoration Fund that will unlock and accelerate development while going beyond neutrality to unlock the positive impact development can have in driving nature recovery.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to improve student access to apprenticeships.
Answered by Janet Daby
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.