Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to Review Progress 8 measures and their effectiveness in supporting the outcomes for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s accountability system must promote high standards and good progress for all.
We have recently consulted on an improved version of Progress 8 that maintains a strong academic core alongside breadth and choice for every child. As part of this consultation, we sought views on a possible new progress measure to recognise the progress of children who start secondary school significantly behind their peers.
This measure would sit alongside existing measures such as Progress 8 and is intended to provide additional insight into the progress of this subset of pupils, who are more likely to have special educational needs and disabilities. This measure would also sit alongside other information designed to support inclusion.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of substantive posts for newly qualified midwives at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust; and whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that midwives who train locally are able to remain and work within the Trust following qualification.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Approximately a third of student midwives have no roles to go into when they qualify. We are determined to change that. We will boost maternity care with £10.6 million of investment, funding an additional 1,000 temporary roles to help newly qualified midwives join the National Health Service.
Roles will be created within local maternity services, where the need for safe staffing is greatest. Decisions will be made locally, with NHS England regions working with providers to ensure placements reflect demand, acuity, and access to strong early‑career support like preceptorship and supervision.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions had with housing associations on their responsibilities to shared ownership tenants.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department engages regularly with housing associations about their duties in respect of shared ownership properties.
The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme places new expectations on shared ownership providers to improve customer experience. These include giving greater consideration to long-term customer affordability and increasing transparency and fairness on costs.
The majority of Shared Ownership providers are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing and are required to meet applicable regulatory standards, including relevant consumer standards relating to transparency, influence, and accountability.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to correspondence reference MC2026/09208/NA, what assessment he has made of the potential impact pEPR rules being for glass distributors on (a) costs to consumers and (b) levels of plastic packaging by those distributors.
Answered by Mary Creagh
The Government published its October 2024 assessment of the impact of introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging. It assessed packaging producers as a whole, including consumer-price impacts, but did not assess glass distributors specifically. It estimated the overall inflationary impact to be small, with a central estimate of 0.07% on CPI.
The Department has not made a specific assessment of impacts on levels of plastic packaging used by glass distributors. From 2026, pEPR fees are modulated so less recyclable packaging incurs higher fees and more recyclable packaging lower fees. Defra continues to engage with industry stakeholders including the glass sector.