Lisa Smart

High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. This is reviewing the existing national curriculum and qualification pathways, including GCSEs, to ensure they are fit for purpose and prepare young people for life and work.

The review group has now published a well-evidenced, clear interim report, which sets out its interim findings and confirms the key areas for further work. This highlights the successes of the current system, making clear that the most trusted and valued aspects of our system will remain, whilst setting a positive vision for the future. This report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report.

The Review is committed to ensuring a high quality, knowledge-rich curriculum that drives excellence in education across a broad range of subjects and pathways. The next phase of work will consider whether there is sufficient coverage of knowledge and skills in the current curriculum and associated qualifications that are essential to sufficiently prepare children and young people for future life and to thrive in a fast-changing world.

The government will consider any changes it wishes to make to the curriculum, assessment and qualifications whilst the Review is conducted, and will respond to the final recommendations in autumn.

It is vital that students with special educational needs and disabilities can access exams and assessments without disadvantage. The Equality Act 2010 requires exam boards to make reasonable adjustments where a student with disabilities would be at a substantial disadvantage in undertaking an exam or an assessment.

Ofqual, who are the independent regulator of qualifications, exams and assessments in England, require exam boards to publish their arrangements for making adjustments, including how a student qualifies for an adjustment, and what adjustments might be made.

The Joint Council for Qualifications sets out the guidance on access arrangements and reasonable adjustments on behalf of the exam boards. This guidance is updated for each academic year.

Supporting care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government.

Housing and concerns about accommodation rank as one of the highest worries for care leavers, and for professionals trying to support them.

The department is introducing, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, a new duty for local authorities to consider whether former relevant children, up to age 25, require support to find and keep suitable accommodation, and support to access services relating to health and wellbeing, relationships, education and training, employment and participating in society. If support is required, the local authority should then provide this in the form of a ‘staying close’ arrangement.

The Bill also introduces an additional requirement on local authorities to publish the arrangements they have in place for the purpose of supporting and assisting care leavers in their transition to adulthood. This information in the local authority’s local offer will aid care leavers to look at all the options open to them and help them make informed decisions when deciding upon accommodation and other support they might wish to access.

The Bill also includes a measure to ensure that where a council is their corporate parent, no care leaver can be found to have become homeless intentionally.

All care leavers are entitled to support from a Personal Adviser (PA) until they are 25. PAs help care leavers to access services like housing, health and benefits, as well as providing practical and emotional support for independent living. PAs also work with care leavers to create a mandatory pathway plan outlining the support provided by the local authority.

The ‘Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards’ set out the expectations that are placed on foster carers and their agencies at standard 28. The department is clear that no one should be financially disadvantaged because of their fostering role, and we expect all foster carers to receive at least the national minimum allowance (NMA) plus any agreed expenses to cover the cost of caring for each child placed with them. The standards are available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/192705/NMS_Fostering_Services.pdf.

The NMA was introduced by the Labour government in 2007 and has kept pace with inflation over time. The current levels of the NMA are available at: https://www.gov.uk/support-for-foster-parents/help-with-the-cost-of-fostering. The NMA is being uplifted by 3.55% in the 2025/26 financial year. Combined with increases to qualifying care relief, which provides tax relief and is uplifted with inflation every year, this provides additional support for foster carers and the children in their care. There are currently no plans to review the way the NMA is calculated.

The NMA was developed by calculating the cost of caring for a birth child and accounting for the additional cost of caring for a foster child. The criteria for calculating fees and allowances should be applied equally to all foster carers, whether the foster carer is related or unrelated to the child, or the placement is short or long term.

The department knows that many fostering service providers offer incentive schemes as rewards for their foster carers and we encourage the use of these. Discount schemes, free or discounted leisure centre passes, IT grant schemes and council tax exemptions are common examples.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is keen to ensure that the department meets with stakeholders from across the fostering sector, so that a variety of voices are heard. Departmental officials meet with foster carers and young people who have experienced the fostering system, as well as fostering charities, unions and those who represent and oversee fostering services.

The department also runs a fostering advisory board, which brings together strategic leaders and people with lived experience of fostering to advise on government policy. This is just one of the ways that the department interacts with fostering stakeholders when considering policy. Departmental officials also meet bilaterally with several fostering organisations and have recently hosted a roundtable meeting which had representation from a wide range of stakeholders.

Finally, the department also ensures that the voices of children and young people are heard when formalising policy. This includes our Children and Young People Advisory Board, which aims to give children and young people a say in the services that directly affect them. This provides an opportunity for them to feed into policy development and create a feedback loop to show them where their views are being incorporated. The Board is run by the National Children’s Bureau on behalf of the department, with membership for those aged 11 to 25.

The new National Flood Risk Assessment data published on 28 January 2025 uses the best currently available data to provide a single picture of current and future flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water for England. The Environment Agency has not undertaken an assessment of the impact of land lost through adverse possession on flood resilience – this would need to be undertaken at a local level by the asset owners or interested parties.

HM Land Registry has operational responsibility for considering land registration applications based on adverse possession and publishes guidance about this at GOV.UK here and here.

The Government takes invasive species seriously and has legislated to tackle the spread of invasive plants.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 does not impose an explicit obligation for landowners to manage plant species listed under Schedule 9 not introduced onto their land by their own actions. However, they should prevent them from spreading off their land.

It is also an offence to intentionally cultivate, or release plants listed under the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019. This means landowners cannot intentionally plant listed species or intentionally cause existing listed plants to spread. Landowners should treat or dispose of listed plants where possible.

The Government is not currently considering adding additional requirements for landowners, but funding is available for invasive plant species control and management through Defra’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) Countryside Stewardship scheme.

We operate one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe. All dogs, cats and ferrets entering Great Britain non-commercially on approved routes undergo 100% documentary and identity check. We keep resource allocation for these checks under review in close liaison with enforcement agencies.

By its very nature, we cannot know the true extent of puppy smuggling operations. However, the Animal and Plant Health Agency does hold data on the numbers of interceptions and detentions. In 2023, there were over 500 landings of cats and dogs intercepted at the Port of Dover and found to be non-compliant with the import requirements. Of these, 116 puppies and kittens were quarantined for being below the legally required minimum age for import.

The Government is committed to introducing the most ambitious boost in animal welfare in a generation.  As outlined in the manifesto, this includes ending puppy smuggling.

As outlined in our manifesto, the Government is committed to ending puppy smuggling. We will clamp down on unscrupulous traders who prioritise profit over welfare. We are considering the most effective ways to deliver this and will be setting out next steps in due course

It is a legal requirement for the keeper of a vehicle to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of any changes to details on the vehicle record including a change of address or when someone has bought or sold a vehicle. This can be done by sending a notification by post or the online channel at GOV.UK. The DVLA aims to issue a revised registration certificate within four weeks.

The DVLA is not responsible for the issue of a penalty charge notice. These are generally issued by local authorities or Transport for London in relation to parking offences or congestion charging, for example. The DVLA is responsible for issuing Late Licensing Penalty or Out of Court Settlements to the keeper of untaxed vehicles or Fixed Penalty Notices to the keeper of an uninsured vehicle. Any penalty issued by the DVLA will be sent to the keeper held on record at the time of the offence.

The Government continues to review how works are planned, managed and communicated and how this can be improved. The Government announced in December that we will be clamping down on disruptive works by doubling fixed penalty notices for utility companies who fail to comply with rules and extending charges for works that overrun into weekends.

The Government has no plans to consider amending the Road Traffic Act 1988 in the way suggested.

THINK!, the Government’s flagship road safety campaign, aims to reduce those killed and seriously injured on the roads in England and Wales by driving awareness of key road safety issues and encouraging attitude and behaviour change among high-risk road users.

We encourage the use of bright or reflective clothing for pedestrians and cyclists through our THINK! social channels, including at key moments such as around school term times, when the clocks change and darker mornings and evenings in the winter.

This advice is also shared via THINK! education resources, which are used widely by schools and other teaching intermediaries to support road safety education for children, and the THINK! campaign works closely with road safety charities and partners to share road safety advice and resources.

The primary audience for THINK! paid campaign activity is young men aged 17-24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over. To maximise the impact of our paid campaigns, these focus on the road safety issues which contribute to the highest numbers of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, such as speeding and drink driving.

It is not possible to block book car practical driving tests. A driving licence number can only be assigned to one car practical driving test at a time. A survey by The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) suggests that only 10% of learner drivers use third parties to book their tests. Most either book appointments themselves or through their approved driving instructor (ADI).

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests. Such apps or bots are not approved by DVSA. They make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test. DVSA will continue to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system, which are having a positive impact.

DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for instructors and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.

In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, DVSA has issued 283 warnings, 746 suspensions, and closed 689 businesses for misuse of its booking service.