Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 19399 on Dangerous Dogs, what the outcomes were from his discussions on improving data (a) collection and (b) recording on dog attacks; and what recent discussions he has had with (i) police and (ii) local authorities on this matter.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) police forces, (b) local authorities and (c) animal welfare groups on helping to prevent future dog-on-dog attacks.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on 28 February 2025, if he will publish the data showing that 900 new GPs have been employed since July 2024.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Data on the number of general practitioners in the workforce is available through the General Practice Workforce series of Official Statistics, at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/general-and-personal-medical-services/31-january-2025

Information on the number of recently qualified general practitioners for which primary care networks are claiming reimbursement via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme will be published shortly

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of (a) importance of the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund to families with adopted children and (b) funding provided to families out of the Fund in the last reported financial year.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As part of spending review discussions, there are regular conversations between the department and His Majesty’s Treasury. We will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions.

The ASGSF has provided valuable support to both adoptive and special guardianship families during 2024/25, helping them to thrive and enabling children and young people to make the best start in life. In 2023/24, the last full financial year, the Fund supported a total of 19,495 children and families with funding of £49,191,908.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure the continuance of the funding for the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund after March 2025.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As part of spending review discussions, there are regular conversations between the department and His Majesty’s Treasury. We will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions.

The ASGSF has provided valuable support to both adoptive and special guardianship families during 2024/25, helping them to thrive and enabling children and young people to make the best start in life. In 2023/24, the last full financial year, the Fund supported a total of 19,495 children and families with funding of £49,191,908.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she is having with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the future of the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As part of spending review discussions, there are regular conversations between the department and His Majesty’s Treasury. We will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions.

The ASGSF has provided valuable support to both adoptive and special guardianship families during 2024/25, helping them to thrive and enabling children and young people to make the best start in life. In 2023/24, the last full financial year, the Fund supported a total of 19,495 children and families with funding of £49,191,908.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answers of 21 March 2025 to Question 38389 on NHS England and Question 38390 on NHS England: Redundancy Pay, if he will publish modelling outlining (a) how the short-term upfront costs will be recouped; and (b) in which financial year those costs will be recouped.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will consider carefully how any information is published. At this stage it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while we are scoping the programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answers of 21 March 2025 to Question 38389 on NHS England and Question 38390 on NHS England: Redundancy Pay, what the short-term upfront costs of integrating NHS England and his Department will be.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will consider carefully how any information is published. At this stage it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while we are scoping the programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish modelling outlining the estimated cost of staff being made redundant from NHS England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will consider carefully how any information is published. At this stage it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while we are scoping the programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse is of staff being made redundant from NHS England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will consider carefully how any information is published. At this stage it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while we are scoping the programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the minimum tapered annual allowance on trends in the levels of extra work taken on by (a) GPs and (b) consultants.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

From 6 April 2023, the standard annual allowance threshold increased from £40,000 to £60,000, giving individuals scope for greater tax-free pension growth. The tapered annual allowance further restricts the amount of tax-free pension saving available to the very wealthiest in society. The taper applies when taxable earnings reach £200,000.

A range of factors may influence personal decisions around intentions to take on extra work, making it difficult to measure the unique impact of tax measures. There is no clear evidence from National Health Service payroll data that the annual allowance pension tax regime constrains the activity of the consultant workforce in aggregate. Given measurement difficulty, no assessment has been made on the impact of the annual allowance pension tax regime on general practice activity, or consultant activity at specialty level.

Where NHS Pension Scheme members do incur annual allowance pension tax charges, these do not have to be met in the current tax year. The NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility through which individuals can ask the scheme to pay the tax on their behalf in exchange for a fair reduction in the generous pension benefits paid at retirement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the annual allowance threshold on trends in the levels of extra work taken on by (a) GPs and (b) consultants.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

From 6 April 2023, the standard annual allowance threshold increased from £40,000 to £60,000, giving individuals scope for greater tax-free pension growth. The tapered annual allowance further restricts the amount of tax-free pension saving available to the very wealthiest in society. The taper applies when taxable earnings reach £200,000.

A range of factors may influence personal decisions around intentions to take on extra work, making it difficult to measure the unique impact of tax measures. There is no clear evidence from National Health Service payroll data that the annual allowance pension tax regime constrains the activity of the consultant workforce in aggregate. Given measurement difficulty, no assessment has been made on the impact of the annual allowance pension tax regime on general practice activity, or consultant activity at specialty level.

Where NHS Pension Scheme members do incur annual allowance pension tax charges, these do not have to be met in the current tax year. The NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility through which individuals can ask the scheme to pay the tax on their behalf in exchange for a fair reduction in the generous pension benefits paid at retirement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the abolition of NHS England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise that there may be some short-term upfront costs as we undertake the integration of NHS England and the Department, but these costs and more will be recouped in future years as a result of a smaller, leaner centre. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the contribution of statutory planning consultees in protecting the role of playing fields for sports and exercise.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

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 increase the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of speech and language therapists.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual National Health Service employers. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

NHS England is leading the National Retention Programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts. This ensures trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to use external consultants to support the transfer of NHS England responsibilities to his Department.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to determine the structure and requirements of the team required to support the creation of a new centre for health and care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 34655 on Department of Health and Social Care: Workplace Pensions, by what date his Department plans to finalise production of the revised delivery plan for remedial service statements.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS566 which I gave on 31 March 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 34655 on Department of Health and Social Care: Workplace Pensions, by what date all affected individuals will be contacted under the revised delivery plan for remedial service statements.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS566 which I gave on 31 March 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 34655 on Department of Health and Social Care: Workplace Pensions, by what date her Department plans to communicate the revised delivery plan for remedial service statements to affected individuals.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS566 which I gave on 31 March 2025.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory bodies her Department has consulted on opportunities for grassroots music collaboration as part of the national youth strategy.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We are developing a new National Youth Strategy with young people and cross-sector experts, and have set up a Youth Advisory Group and Expert Advisory Group as part of this engagement. Members of our Expert Advisory Group have a range of different professional and academic expertise related to young people and work in different fields including: youth work, music, creative skills industries, funding, policy development and sport. We are also in contact with a wide range of other stakeholders working with young people across relevant sectors.

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