Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support access to postal services for small businesses.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The government recognises that small businesses are critical to our communities and essential to our economic success. We are committed to hardwiring the voice of small business into everything we do and collaborating with businesses and workers to kickstart and rebuild our economy.

The universal postal service ensures that SMEs have access to an affordable service, both in the UK and internationally.

Ofcom, as independent regulator for the postal sector, is responsible for securing the provision of a universal postal service. In its 2023-24 Post Monitoring Report, Ofcom found that overall three-quarters (74%) of SMEs were satisfied with the quality of service they receive from Royal Mail, while overall satisfaction with other providers stood at 81%.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with Royal Mail on improving (a) service and (b) delivery.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider.

It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards and decide how to use its powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without good justification.

Ofcom is investigating Royal Mail’s performance in the 2024-25 financial year for failing to meet its regulated targets. The government expects that Ofcom will continue to closely monitor Royal Mail’s performance and take action where appropriate.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overseas voters from Twickenham constituency are impacted by frozen British Pensions; and what steps she is taking to support those overseas voters.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

UK State Pensions are payable worldwide, without regard to nationality, and are only up-rated abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so, for example in countries with which we have a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.

The policy on up-rating UK State Pension paid overseas is a longstanding one and has been in place for over 70 years, including under recent Conservative and Liberal Democrat governments.

People move abroad for many reasons, and it is for individuals to weigh up the factors involved. Information regarding the effect of living abroad on State Pension entitlement is available on GOV.UK.

The Department does not hold information on overseas voters from a specific constituency among those with frozen pensions.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the announced expansion to Free School Meals eligibility will affect eligibility for Free School Transport.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

100,000 children will be lifted out of poverty by the end of this Parliament, through the extension of free school meals (FSM) to all households on Universal Credit. Children who meet the new, higher threshold for FSM from September 2026 will not automatically be entitled to ‘extended rights’ home to school travel. The government’s overriding priority is to tackle child hunger.

Children will continue to be eligible for ‘extended rights’ home to school transport if they live in a household with an income below the existing FSM threshold and meet the eligibility criteria relating to the distance between their home and school. Further information about a new mechanism for assessing eligibility for ‘extended rights’ home to school travel will be available shortly.

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 help ensure that statutory duties for safeguarding (a) children with special educational needs and disabilities and (b) other children are met, in the context of the NHS England model framework for integrated care boards.

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

NHS England has asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and NHS foundation trusts in a letter on 1 April 2025, where ICBs were tasked with developing plans setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities. This letter is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/

NHS England is actively engaged with ICB executive leads for special educational needs and disability (SEND) across the system, to ensure that ICBs continue to ensure that statutory duties and accountabilities for children with SEND are met. We will be working with a range of partners and stakeholders to review the proposals to ensure that statutory duties, as laid out in legislation, continue to be met for children with SEND.

NHS England is actively engaging with safeguarding professionals across the system, including those in local government, ICBs, and provider organisations, to ensure that safeguarding responsibilities are not compromised.

This engagement is being supported by the NHS Safeguarding Accountability and Assurance Framework 2024 and the National Safeguarding Steering Group ICB Safeguarding Protocols, which outline the roles, accountabilities, responsibilities, and expectations for safeguarding across NHS-funded care. NHS England is also setting up a joint working group with the Local Government Association to carefully consider issues relating to safeguarding.

Ministers and the Department will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England to ensure ICBs continue to fulfil their functions effectively within the running costs cap and unlock the benefit of working at scale to deliver better care for their population.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the affordability of rail fares in (a) Twickenham constituency and (b) London.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

We are overhauling the fares and ticketing system to make it easier for passengers to trust that they are buying the right ticket and getting the best fare, with the move to Great British Railways passengers will be able to receive a more consistent offer across the network. We need to balance affordability for both passengers and taxpayers as we reform fares and deliver Great British Railways, ensuring everyone gets a fair deal.

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) – this includes responsibility for setting fares on TfL services. We know the success of the London transport network is critical for both the capital and the UK’s economy, which is why in the spending review TfL received a four-year settlement of £2.2 billion.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the Environment Agency's budget for the maintenance of assets in Twickenham.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We inherited flood defences in their worst state on record. We’re investing a record £2.65 billion over two years (2024/25 - 2025/26) to maintain, repair and build flood defences, and we have reprioritised £108 million of this funding into asset maintenance.

As part of this investment, we will refurbish Teddington Launch Lock and maintain Barge Lock whilst this refurbishment takes place. Twickenham is within the London Excluded Area. Under the Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1879, private owners of the flood defences in this area are responsible for their maintenance.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on the maintenance of assets in Twickenham.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We inherited flood defences in their worst state on record. We’re investing a record £2.65 billion over two years (2024/25 - 2025/26) to maintain, repair and build flood defences, and we have reprioritised £108 million of this funding into asset maintenance.

As part of this investment, we will refurbish Teddington Launch Lock and maintain Barge Lock whilst this refurbishment takes place. Twickenham is within the London Excluded Area. Under the Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1879, private owners of the flood defences in this area are responsible for their maintenance.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on care-leavers.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on care leavers. However, we recognise the challenges that care leavers may face in transitioning to independent living and navigating the welfare system, and remain committed to supporting them as with all vulnerable groups.

Our care leaver offer provides additional support such as access to the higher one-bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate up to the age of 25, as well as tailored support through Jobcentre Plus. We review this regularly.

The Department continues to engage with stakeholders and welcomes views on how best to ensure that care leavers are supported through future reforms to UC and PIP. As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, we are also inviting views on proposals to raise the age at which individuals can access the UC health element to 22.

• There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.
• Protecting those most in need is at the heart of our reforms. Our Green Paper outlines why we think removing the WCA and moving to using the PIP assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, is the correct decision for the reformed system.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that care leavers are not disproportionately impacted by the proposed changes in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

On 18 June, the Government introduced the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill to Parliament, marking the next legislative step in delivering some of the reforms set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper.

The changes in this Bill will put more money into the pockets of some of the poorest families, alongside more support for people to work. These reforms protect the most vulnerable in our society, ensure the future of our welfare state, and give disabled people equal choices and chances to work.

We will consider the wider impacts of reforms including for care leavers as part of our wider considerations of responses to the Pathways to Work consultation as we develop our detailed proposals for change.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the increase to the core schools budget for 2025-26 and 2026-27 is expected to be spent by schools in covering part of the (a) recent teacher pay rise and (b) National Insurance contribution increase.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department is providing £1.4 billion to support schools with their increases to employer National Insurance contributions and staff pay awards in the 2025/26 financial year. Following the spring Spending Review, this level of funding will continue, and we announced additional funding that will take core school budgets to £65.9 billion by the 2028/29 financial year. Schools have autonomy over how they use their core funding to best meet their priorities, including any decisions on staffing.

More information on core funding allocations for 2026/27 will be announced in the autumn, as part of the usual national funding formulae process. Costs such as pay for future years are currently uncertain and subject to the outcomes of separate pay processes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the funding announced in the Spending Review 2025 for reform of the SEND system will be invested in improving early identification of SEND.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

At the 2025 Spending Review, the department announced that funding for schools will increase by £4.7 billion per year by 2028/29 compared to the 2025/26 core schools budget, which was published in the Spring Statement 2025.

This additional funding will enable us to transform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system to make mainstream education more inclusive and improve outcomes for children with SEND.

Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform, including how we will ensure children get the support they need earlier, will be set out in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.

We do not expect local authorities to use their future high needs funding allocations to pay down their historic deficits.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any of the funding announced in the Spending Review for reform of the SEND system will be used to cover existing SEND related deficits at local authority level.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

At the 2025 Spending Review, the department announced that funding for schools will increase by £4.7 billion per year by 2028/29 compared to the 2025/26 core schools budget, which was published in the Spring Statement 2025.

This additional funding will enable us to transform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system to make mainstream education more inclusive and improve outcomes for children with SEND.

Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform, including how we will ensure children get the support they need earlier, will be set out in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.

We do not expect local authorities to use their future high needs funding allocations to pay down their historic deficits.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of ending transitional protections for free school meals on levels of school funding.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have now announced that we are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. It will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.

Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.

Transitional protections have been in place since 2018 to ensure no one who gained FSM eligibility would lose it while Universal Credit was rolled out. Following our expansion of eligibility from September 2026, it is our intention to end all protections.

Schools will receive an increase in funding as a result of the change in FSM policy. We have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multiyear spending review period to cover the cost of additional free meals, after taking into account the removal of protections.

There will be no impact of the removal of FSM protections on the pupil premium or related disadvantage funding during the spending review period. Pupils that are currently protected will remain so for 6 years after they receive FSM under the "FSM6" categorisation.

Over the longer term, we are reviewing how we allocate pupil premium and related funding to schools and local authorities to ensure it is targeted to those who need it most, while maintaining the overall amount we spend on these funding streams.

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