Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Scottish Government on the effectiveness of the (a) Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 and (b) Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the Disclosure and Barring Service check regime.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The disclosure and barring regime in Scotland is devolved and the UK Government engages regularly with the Scottish Government to ensure that the regimes work effectively together to keep the public safe.
We keep the disclosure and barring regime in England and Wales under constant review to ensure that it continues to strike an appropriate balance between keeping the public safe and enabling ex-offenders to move on with their lives.
On 9 April 2025, the Government published an update on its work to tackle child sexual abuse, available on GOV.UK: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a minimum recommendation of 80 hours of enrichment per academic year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Worsley and Eccles to the answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62871.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support social housing tenants affected by the transition from Employment and Support Allowance to Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We work collaboratively with a broad range of representatives from the Social Rented Sector, with two-way communications to ensure that the customers they represent get the support they need to move safely to Universal Credit.
Help to Claim support, provided by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland, provides support to anyone making a new Universal Credit claim, whether that is a new customer or someone moving to Universal Credit from legacy benefits. This includes helping social housing tenants to access adaptations such as direct payments to landlords, as well as navigating the claim process until the first payment is made.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring organisations to provide information on (a) staff turnover and (b) workforce changes in corporate reporting.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is currently reviewing the UK’s corporate reporting framework. The aim of the review is to simplify and streamline reporting requirements to ensure reporting is focussed on providing decision-useful information to investors and creditors. The Government has no plans to introduce new reporting in relation to workforce planning and staff turnover. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is conducting research on the merits of an international corporate reporting standard on human capital-related issues. This research will inform the ISSB’s plan to develop future standards and the Government will consider any standard the ISSB develops in due course.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the UK Space Agency becoming part of his Department on that agency’s partnership with the Scouts.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Space Agency‘s merger with DSIT’s Space Directorate from 1 April 2026 will not affect any changes to grants, contracts, or partnerships, including to the sponsorship of Scouting Space badges which help promote awareness of the UK’s space programme and develop STEM knowledge and skills among young people.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent developments in organ-on-chip technology on the generation of data on how organs react to potential new medicines.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government is committed to non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research, including organ-on-chip technologies. Data from alternative methods can support medicine development as part of clinical trial applications. The impact of individual technical advancements are however a matter for individual regulators to consider, and the Government strategy will help facilitate the inclusion and adoption of alternative methods in these regulatory contexts.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase the recruitment and retention of school nurses; how much funding was allocated for school nursing services in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years; and what steps his Department is taking to help to ensure the effectiveness of school nursing services in supporting (i) early intervention, (ii) mental health, (iii) immunisation programmes and (iv) wider public health objectives.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The child health workforce, including school nurses, is central to how we support families to give their children the best start in life. We will ensure we have the staff we need so that children and their families are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. This will take time, but we are committed to building a health service fit for the future with the workforce it needs.
School nursing is part of the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) and is commissioned by local authorities with funding from the Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2023/24, local authorities spent £305 million on services for children aged five to 19 years old. Data on local authorities’ PHG spending for the financial years following 2023/24 is not yet available.
The HCP includes delivery of public health promotions such as the school nurses’ championship of early intervention, mental health awareness, the uptake of immunisation offers, and engagement with wider public health objectives. We are currently refreshing the HCP guidance to strengthen service quality and reduce unwarranted regional variation in service delivery.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Performance assessment and economic analysis of a human Liver-Chip for predictive toxicology study published in 2022 in Nature Communications Medicine.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government is committed to non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research, including human Liver-Chip models. The economic impact of individual technical advancements are to be defined as these technologies are utilised more widely by industry stakeholders in drug discovery and development. The Government strategy will help facilitate the inclusion, review and adoption of these types of validated alternative methods by regulators.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies on animal testing of the ability of (a) organ-on-chip, (b) artificial intelligence and (c) advanced use of human cells and tissues to provide human-relevant data on the effects of potential new medicines in whole biological systems.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government is committed to non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research, and provide human-relevant translatable data, including organ-on-chip, cell-based assays and AI. The impact of individual technical advancements are however a matter for individual regulators to consider, and the Government strategy will help facilitate the inclusion and adoption of alternative methods in these regulatory contexts.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Animals in Science Regulation Unit is taking to (a) help ensure the maintenance of animal welfare standards at licensed facilities during periods of extreme heat, (b) monitor compliance and (c) respond to any identified concerns.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Licensed establishments are responsible for the welfare of animals in their care at all times, including during extreme weather. Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), all such establishments must comply with legal requirements and standards set out in the Home Office’s published Operational Guidance and Code of Practice.
These documents require establishments to have contingency plans for temperature extremes to ensure animal welfare. Establishment licence holders must ensure sufficient trained staff are in place to maintain high standards of care and facility management.
Daily checks by competent personnel are mandated under Standard Condition 4 to monitor animal welfare and environmental conditions, with prompt action required to address any issues. Standard Condition 18 requires that any breaches or potential breaches of licence conditions be reported to the Secretary of State.
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) monitors compliance through regular audits, including both announced and unannounced visits, to assess animal welfare and adherence to ASPA.