Mohammad Yasin

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides support to property owners in England and Wales to replace their existing fossil fuel boiler with a low carbon alternative by providing grants to reduce the total cost of the installation.

Other government schemes provide support for low-income households including social housing tenants to get a heat pump, such as the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Warm Homes: Local Grant, Energy Company Obligation, Local Authority Delivery and Home Upgrade Grant.

The Government hopes to see as much as possible of the copper network reused for other purposes. For example, the Government welcomes the recent commercial deal between BT Group and a recycling company to repurpose legacy copper cables that are being replaced by its new full fibre network. Copper is a valuable material and the Government expects the network providers to make the best use of it in line with their in-house policies, but does not plan to intervene in this emerging market.

The government is committed to supporting creative subjects, such as the arts and humanities, in higher education (HE).

​For the 2024/25 academic year, the department has allocated around £12.9 million in high-cost subject funding from the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) towards creative and performing arts courses to cover course costs. This increases the per student funding rate to £130.54, which is an increase of 3.8%.

​The department has also maintained SPG funding for world-leading small and specialist providers at £58 million for the 2024/25 academic year. Of the 20 providers recognised in this way, 12 are creative and performing arts providers.

The department knows that the HE sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve. That is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we have taken the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation. ​

​The department will continue to work with the Office for Students to ensure that costs of provision are assessed.

The department does not currently have any plans to propose changes to the school calendar or to the setting of school holidays.

School holidays are not determined at national level, they are decided locally by trusts, schools and local authorities depending on school type. The department believes that they are best placed to set school term and holiday dates in the interests of the pupils at their schools and their parents.

If schools, trusts or local authorities decide to change their term dates, it is expected that they will act lawfully and reasonably, giving parents notice and considering the impact on those affected. This includes pupils, teachers, the local community, parents’ work commitments and childcare options for both parents and teachers.

In determining student eligibility for 16 to 19 funding, including for Ukrainians aged 16 to 19 living in the UK under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine), institutions must satisfy themselves that there is a reasonable likelihood that the student will be able to complete their study programme before seeking funding for the student. However, when a student applies for a study programme where their current legal permission to remain in the UK expires six months or more after they start, then institutions may allow them to enrol. The department considers it sufficient for institutions to rely on confirmation from the student, and/or family, that they intend to apply for the necessary extension to their permission to remain for the duration of their study programme.

The situation is similar for adult learners. Providers should only fund a learner if their visa has enough time for the learner to complete their course. However, where the learner’s visa will expire before the end of the course, the provider can use their discretion to fund the learner where they have a high degree of certainty that the learner intends to renew their visa. The department would expect that individuals who are not yet eligible to apply for the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, but intend to apply for it, would be eligible for funding under this rule.

The department’s apprenticeship funding rules state that an individual must be able to complete the apprenticeship within the time they have available. Where the learner’s residency permit does not extend to the entire length of the apprenticeship, they are not eligible for funding. The department must be mindful when spending taxpayers’ funds on training and it wants learners to be able to complete their apprenticeships within the time they have available. The department will keep this under review as it does with all of its rules.

It is essential that there are enough children’s homes for those vulnerable children who need residential care, and that these homes are in the areas children live so they can stay as part of their wider communities.

All homes must register with Ofsted and in order to register as a children’s home, providers are required to undertake a location assessment which must show the steps that have been taken to ensure the location is safe and promotes positive opportunities for children. Ofsted will take a view on whether these requirements have been met.

The department is developing options in regard to planning of children’s homes, including considering the location of new homes and registration requirements.

Domestic combustion remains a major source of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions in the UK, and ownership of solid fuel appliances is increasing.

The Government recognises that it is important that we take further action to reduce emissions from domestic burning, and the impact on human health. We are currently evaluating a number of options to reduce emissions of PM_2.5 from domestic burning both in and outside of Smoke Control Areas.

The Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 (BSOR) require operators to notify the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in advance if drilling is taking place in a defined mining area. These Regulations do not apply to drilling for the purposes of installing ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs).

Drilling for the purposes of installing GSHPs is covered by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA), which places a fundamental general duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees, and of other people who may be affected by the work activity. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also apply, which requires suitable and sufficient risk assessments to be carried out and suitable arrangements to be implemented to manage risks.

There is currently no intention to bring drilling for the installation of GSHPs within the scope of BSOR.

There are no current plans to make such an assessment.

The hospice sector has been provided with the largest capital spend in a generation - £100 million.

We are also providing £26 million revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices.

I recently visited Katharine House hospice in Stafford and heard from staff how important this record investment is.

The Department is still considering Ministerial attendance at the World Health Assembly 2025. The Government continues to be a strong supporter of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UK actively engaged in negotiations on the WHO resolution on Reducing the Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through the Promotion of Kidney Health and Strengthening Prevention and Control of Kidney Disease in advance of the 156th WHO Executive Board in February 2025. The Executive Board recommended adoption of all resolutions considered to the World Health Assembly, including this one, subject to ongoing budget discussions. We remain committed to tackling NCDs, including kidney disease, domestically and internationally.

There have been no discussions between the current health ministers in England and the British Medical Association on incentivising hospital consultants to routinely work on weekends.

Hospital consultants agree job plans with their employer at a local level. The job plan sets out all the consultant’s duties and responsibilities and includes a job schedule, which details when those duties and responsibilities will be delivered. Any scheduled work delivered on weekends would fall under enhanced pay arrangements as per the national terms and conditions of employment for hospital consultants in England.

The Department has not received any further advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme for older adults since the Committee’s advice of 3 June 2023.

The latest discussion of RSV by the JCVI was during their October 2024 main committee meeting. The Committee agreed that it would need to formally review, in detail, the evidence for a potential extension to the programme for the very elderly and for those in risk groups which would be undertaken by the RSV sub-committee.

The JCVI will review the necessary scientific evidence once it is available and will continue to keep evidence under review, including data from clinical trials and real-world evidence emerging from immunisation programmes in different countries. The next JCVI committee meeting is scheduled to take place in February 2025. The minutes from this meeting will be made publicly available in spring 2025 at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation

The Department will consider any further JCVI advice on who should be offered an RSV immunisation in due course.

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. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.