Oliver Dowden

We know this is a difficult time for businesses and workers alike, the Low Pay Commission are independent experts who conducts extensive consultation, analysis and evidence gathering when recommending the minimum wage rates.

We asked the LPC to make progress in extending the National Living Wage to more adults than ever before, by continuing to narrow the gap between the 18-20 rate and the NLW.

We do recognise that the 18-20 band are more vulnerable to unemployment, and therefore any impacts on employment - as well as incentives to remain in training or education - must be monitored carefully, as we proceed.

My Department meets regularly with representatives of the BBC on a range of matters.

The BBC is editorially and operationally independent of the Government. As the external independent regulator of the BBC, Ofcom is responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is duly impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter.

This government is committed to providing the necessary support to improve the experiences for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. We are committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and alternative provision settings, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.

Ofsted inspected local arrangements for children with SEND in Hertfordshire in July 2023. Its report, published on 10 November 2023, concluded that there are widespread and/or systemic failings, leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND, which the local area partnership must address urgently.

The department provides support and challenge to the Hertfordshire local area partnership by monitoring progress against its priority action plan and improvement plan, and by providing advice and guidance via a SEND expert advisor. The partnership has also established a SEND Improvement Board, independently chaired by Dame Christine Lenehan to oversee progress and provide appropriate challenge.

The department is providing schools with extra funding of almost £1.1 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, to support schools with overall costs, including the costs of supporting their pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Following the Budget, schools funding will be increased by a further £2.3 billion in 2025/26. Of this overall increase, nearly £1 billion is for children and young people with complex needs and will bring high needs funding to a total of £11.9 billion next year. As overall funding for the 2025/26 financial year has been announced later than normal, allocations calculated through the high needs and schools national funding formulae have not been published to the usual timescales. We will publish further information as soon as possible.

Allocations of high needs funding for the 2025/26 financial year will be published as soon as possible now that overall budgets for next year have been announced. The department will take longer to consider changes to the funding formula that is used to allocate funding and which creates the variations in funding levels between local authorities across the country. The department fully recognises the importance of establishing a fair education funding system, that directs funding to where it is needed.

As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for tackling antisemitism on campus and should have processes in place to deal with unlawful abuse and harassment.

Universities, as well as Jewish groups and other stakeholders, have told us that the previous government’s Freedom of Speech Act prevented them from taking effective action. The department is stopping further commencement of the Act, in order to consider the options, including its repeal.

The department will continue to work closely with Jewish groups, including the Union for Jewish Students and the University Jewish Chaplaincy, to understand their concerns and what further action is needed.

Further to my answer of 3 September 2024, we are not yet able to comment on next steps regarding Access for All. This Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

We are not yet able to comment on next steps regarding Access for All projects at specific stations including at Radlett station. However, please be assured that we are committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognise the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

We are carefully considering the best approach to the Access for All programme. This Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognise the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

There are currently no plans to review the provision and location of inpatient and outpatient health services in South Hertfordshire. Integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring that the provision and location of both inpatient and outpatient health services meets the demand of their local population.

We know that patients are finding it harder than ever to see a general practitioner (GP) and we are committed to fixing the the crisis in the National Health Service, to ensure that patients receive the care they deserve, and to secure the long-term sustainability of the NHS.

We will increase the proportion of funding for GPs and shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals, and into the community. We have committed to end the 8:00am scramble for GP appointments by introducing a modern booking system. Additionally, the Government will train thousands more GPs across the country to increase capacity, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and take the pressure off those currently working in the system.

We will introduce and trial new Neighbourhood Health Centres to bring vital health and care services together under one roof, ensuring healthcare is closer to home and that patients receive the integrated, patient centered services we all want to see.

Hertsmere sits within the NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, where the percentage of appointments delivered within two weeks of booking is 5.6% lower than the national average.

We are pleased to announce that newly qualified GPs will be included in the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) as part of an initiative to address GP unemployment with additional funding over 2024/25. This is a step on the journey while the Government works with the profession to identify longer term solutions to GP unemployment and general practice sustainability.

UNRWA plays a critical role in Gaza and the wider region, providing essential services, including healthcare and education, to Palestinian refugees.

Following the independent review by Catherine Colonna, UNRWA set out an action plan with detailed management reforms including stronger independent oversight, better detection systems, improved screening procedures, mandatory training for staff on humanitarian principles and more proactive donor engagement. We are now confident that UNRWA is taking action to ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality, staff vetting and transparency.

On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools. Any fees paid from 29 July 2024 relating to the term starting in January 2025 onwards will be subject to VAT.

A start date of January 2025 will have given schools and parents 5 months to prepare for the changes, and it is right that we introduce these changes as soon as possible in order to raise the funding needed to help deliver our education priorities.

The Government has carefully considered the impact that these changes will have on pupils and their families across both the state and private sector, as well as the impact they will have on state and private schools. Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government will confirm its approach to these reforms at the Budget on 30 October, and set out its assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes in the normal way.

The Government recognises that some pupils may subsequently move into the state education sector. However, the number of pupils who may switch schools as a result of these changes represents a very small proportion of overall pupil numbers in the state sector.

The Government is confident that the state sector will be able to accommodate any additional pupils and that these policies will not have a significant impact on the state education system as a whole.

On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools. Any fees paid from 29 July 2024 relating to the term starting in January 2025 onwards will be subject to VAT.

A start date of January 2025 will have given schools and parents 5 months to prepare for the changes, and it is right that we introduce these changes as soon as possible in order to raise the funding needed to help deliver our education priorities.

The Government has carefully considered the impact that these changes will have on pupils and their families across both the state and private sector, as well as the impact they will have on state and private schools. Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government will confirm its approach to these reforms at the Budget on 30 October, and set out its assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes in the normal way.

The Government recognises that some pupils may subsequently move into the state education sector. However, the number of pupils who may switch schools as a result of these changes represents a very small proportion of overall pupil numbers in the state sector.

The Government is confident that the state sector will be able to accommodate any additional pupils and that these policies will not have a significant impact on the state education system as a whole.

The Jewish Community Protective Security (JCPS) Grant provides protective security measures (such as security personnel services, CCTV and alarm systems) at synagogues, Jewish educational establishments and community sites. The JCPS Grant is managed on behalf of the Home Office by the Community Security Trust.

The Community Security Trust will receive funding of £18 million per year through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant from 2024/25 to 2027/28.

We continue to work closely with CST on how best to respond to live incidents that affect the Jewish communities in the UK.

We are committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and we will not tolerate anti-Hindu hatred in any form.  Government and police regularly review potential threats to ensure that measures are taken to protect communities from terrorism and hate crime.

Additionally, Hindu communities can apply to the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme. The scheme provides physical protective security measures (such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing) to places of worship and associated faith community centres that are particularly vulnerable to religiously or racially motivated hate crime in England and Wales.

The Government is committed to ensuring that our most important and cherished landscapes are appropriately protected so they can be enjoyed by future generations.

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how planning policies and decisions should recognise the character and beauty of the countryside, and local authorities are expected to protect heritage assets which can include landscape and setting of listed buildings.

It is open to local authorities to take the historic literary importance of a place into account in their decisions if they find that it is a material consideration.

We have announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26 for local government to deliver core services, of which £600 million is for social care and £700 million to support general pressures. We have also announced a £1 billion uplift to special educational needs and disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision funding, the second biggest ever year-on-year increase.

Further details of total allocations will be made in the Local Government Finance Settlement.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces, including remuneration. The Government recognise the challenges that local authorities are facing as demand increases for critical services. We have listened to voices across the sector, and we have prioritised local government at this Budget.

The government was elected on a manifesto commitment to extend the franchise to 16–17-year-olds, and we intend to deliver on that commitment.

In the county of Hertfordshire, 40 buildings registered for funding from the Building Safety Fund. Fewer than five of these have been deemed eligible, the remaining registrations either withdrew, were deemed to be ineligible or transferred to other schemes.

Of the 40 in Hertfordshire, seven of them are in the constituency Hertsmere all of which were deemed ineligible. Ineligibility can include those buildings that are under the height threshold (17.7m) or those with no eligible materials.

To date, there have been seven applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme in Hertfordshire, one of which is in the Hertsmere constituency. Two of these applications are currently undergoing eligibility checks and five are confirmed as in programme.

The Hertsmere application has been started and the CSS are currently carrying out checks of the applicant's uploaded Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall (FRAEW) survey and further information from the applicant is required. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.

For the remaining application that is undergoing eligibility checks (based in the Broxbourne constituency), the application has been started and we are awaiting the FRAEW submission to carry out our review. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.

In the county of Hertfordshire, 40 buildings registered for funding from the Building Safety Fund. Fewer than five of these have been deemed eligible, the remaining registrations either withdrew, were deemed to be ineligible or transferred to other schemes.

Of the 40 in Hertfordshire, seven of them are in the constituency Hertsmere all of which were deemed ineligible. Ineligibility can include those buildings that are under the height threshold (17.7m) or those with no eligible materials.

To date, there have been seven applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme in Hertfordshire, one of which is in the Hertsmere constituency. Two of these applications are currently undergoing eligibility checks and five are confirmed as in programme.

The Hertsmere application has been started and the CSS are currently carrying out checks of the applicant's uploaded Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall (FRAEW) survey and further information from the applicant is required. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.

For the remaining application that is undergoing eligibility checks (based in the Broxbourne constituency), the application has been started and we are awaiting the FRAEW submission to carry out our review. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.