Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve the affordability of childcare.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We want all children, regardless of background, to have access to high quality early education and childcare. This allows parents to work and supports children’s development as they grow, getting them ready for school and beyond.
Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare.
It is important that government childcare entitlements remain accessible and affordable for families. Earlier this year we updated the existing statutory guidance for local authorities to clarify the section on additional charges and to support transparency and consistency for parents and providers.
Local authorities also have duties under section 7 of the 2006 Act and under the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022 to ensure free childcare is available to eligible children in their area (for either 30 or 15 hours per week over 38 weeks per year depending on the entitlement). To do this, local authorities have the key role of managing their local markets to ensure they meet the needs of parents.
In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27 and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we have provided further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant to help providers meet their local demand. The EYNFFs target funding to local authorities where it is needed most, reflecting the relative needs of the children and costs of delivering provision in that area.
We increased core funding rates for 2025 to 2026. This increase ensured funding for the entitlement’s forecasts of average earnings and inflation and also reflected the National Living Wage announced at the 2024 Autumn Budget.
In addition to childcare entitlements, the Universal Credit childcare offer supports claimants with the costs of childcare, no matter how many hours they work. Claimants may be able to claim up to 85% of eligible childcare costs, for children aged up until the 31 August after their 16th birthday, if they are eligible for Universal Credit and are usually in paid work or starting a job in the next month. Claimants may also be eligible for help with certain costs of childcare if they are on sick leave, or maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0-11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours government-funded childcare.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 on Northern Ireland.
Answered by Matthew Patrick - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Northern Ireland Office)
The defence of the United Kingdom is always the first duty of any Government.
As part of our defence industrial strategy, we will invest £250m across five regions for Defence Growth Deals - including one in Northern Ireland which already boasts a booming defence sector - and it looks like it will only get stronger in 2026.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
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 improve patient safety for people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to advancing patient safety and fostering a learning culture across the National Health Service. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will usher in a new era of transparency, a rigorous focus on high-quality care for all and a renewed emphasis on patient and staff voice.
The Patient Safety Incident Reporting Framework (PSIRF) is a patient safety approach within the NHS covering all patient groups, including people with a learning disability. It sets standards for how organisations should meaningfully and compassionately engage with those affected by safety events and guides organisations on responding effectively for learning and improvement.
PSIRF emphasises the importance of considering inequalities when setting priorities and supports consideration of inequalities throughout the learning response process.
Where a person has a learning disability, integrated care boards can also utilise the findings from a Learning from Lives and Deaths Review to understand how services can be improved across their local system to reduce health inequalities for people with a learning disability and autistic people in their area.
Additionally, a range of wider action is being taken to improve patient safety for people with a learning disability and autistic people. This includes:
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
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 improve patient safety for people with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking a range of actions to improve patient safety for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
We are rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism across the health and adult social care workforce. This will help to ensure that staff have the right knowledge and skills to provide safe and informed care.
NHS England’s Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Quality Transformation Programme works to tackle the root causes of unsafe and poor-quality inpatient care, supporting the cultural changes needed to create environments where people can flourish.
The Mental Health Bill, which is currently in Parliament, will limit the scope to detain people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals. and put existing NHS England policies on a statutory footing to improve community support. There is funding in integrated care board baselines during 2025/26 to improve community support provision and reduce reliance on inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people, in line with the NHS Operational Planning Guidance.
More widely, the Government is committed to advancing patient safety and fostering a learning culture across the National Health Service. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will usher in a new era of transparency, a rigorous focus on high-quality care for all and a renewed emphasis on patient and staff voice.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to p.15 of the 10 Year Health Plan for England, what his Department's timetable is for publishing further details on the national maternity and neonatal taskforce; and whether that taskforce will focus on multiple pregnancies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will be chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and will take forward the recommendations from the independent investigation into maternity and neonatal care to develop a national plan to drive improvements.
The taskforce will be made up of a breadth of independent clinical and international expertise, including those who can speak to the inequalities within maternal health, as well as family and staff representatives, charities and campaigners.
Once the independent investigation is underway, my Rt. Hon. Friend will work with families and external partners to set up the taskforce including its terms of reference and membership. These will be published in due course.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, what steps his Department is taking to support dispensing general practices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that the services of dispensing practices play an important role in meeting the needs of rural communities, by ensuring patients receive their medicines promptly and conveniently.
Every year, the Department and NHS England consult with the British Medical Association (BMA) regarding the services general practices will provide, and the funding they will receive in return for these services. This includes the services, and relevant remuneration, of dispensing practices.
We have committed to substantive General Practice (GP) contract reform within this Parliament following acceptance of the 2025/26 contract by the England General Practitioners Committee of the BMA. As part of this, we expect to consider a breadth of topics, including dispensing practices.
On 3 July 2025, we published the 10-Year Health Plan, which announced the plan to introduce two new contracts, for neighbourhood providers and multi-neighbourhood providers, which will encourage GPs to work over larger geographies. We will begin to make these new contracts available in 2026, and more details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
What steps her Department is taking to improve technological innovation in Yorkshire and the Humber region.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is committed to supporting technological innovation across the UK.
That is why we have earmarked at least £30 million for each of West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire through our new Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. This will empower local leaders to grow high-potential innovation clusters and unlock their innovation potential.
This builds on UKRI’s wider investment in the Yorkshire and the Humber region which totals almost £1 billion active projects.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to ensure that Disabled Students’ Allowance funding for completed Non-Medical Help support is paid in the event of a provider’s insolvency.
Answered by Janet Daby
In the event of a provider’s insolvency, the Student Loans Company would act in accordance with the instructions issued by the appointed liquidator or administrator in relation to the payment of any outstanding invoices. The department remains fully committed to ensuring that Disabled Students Allowance funding for completed Non-Medical Help support is administered appropriately, and to minimising any potential disruption to students.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the powers of traffic commissioners.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Traffic Commissioners perform important and independent regulatory, compliance and tribunal roles for the road freight and public transport sectors. A functional review conducted by the Ministry of Justice, published in May 2023, found the function generally effective and offered proposals for improvement. My Department are considering these alongside other reform options.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the Patient Safety Commissioner has made on their work on Sodium Valproate and surgical mesh implants.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex area of work, involving several Government departments, and it is important that we get this right. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.