Paul Davies

It is this government’s ambition for all families to have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, thereby improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.

Through the student loans company, the department offers a specific Childcare Grant (CCG) to support students with the costs of childcare whilst they are in study. The CCG offers support of up to 85% of childcare costs where both parents are students, the student is a lone parent, or the student-parent’s partner is on a low income. Students are also eligible for universal 15 hours childcare, which is available to all two, three and four year olds, regardless of family circumstances and/or income.

The government has committed to continue to roll out the expanded childcare entitlements for eligible working parents of children aged from nine months. The department is also growing the provision of wraparound before and after school provision of childcare for primary school children.

In addition to the entitlements, parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit Childcare. Parents can check what childcare support they are entitled to via the Childcare Choices website.

The government is committed to delivering a modern childcare system from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school, providing every child with a firm foundation which sets them up for life, ensuring parents are able to work the jobs and hours they choose and effectively breaking down the barriers to opportunity for every family.

This government is transforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy to create opportunities for learners of all ages, including young people at the start of their careers, and to give employers greater flexibility to train and upskill their workforce.

The department is working across government to develop the design of the Growth and Skills Levy and will set out more detail in due course. This will include further information on the role of Skills England in identifying the training for which the Growth and Skills Levy will be accessible and ensuring that those training programmes, including apprenticeships, are well designed and delivered to meet the needs of both learners and businesses.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, which will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

The review will seek to deliver a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, and one that builds the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to seize opportunity and to thrive in the changing workplace. This includes weaving speaking and listening skills, as well as digital and other life skills, into their learning.

The review will be undertaken in close partnership with stakeholders, including employers. A call for evidence will be launched in the coming weeks, which will set out the areas where the review group would particularly welcome input.

Fire Services are responsible for responding to and fighting fires. Defra will not provide training on firefighting equipment beyond the control of managed vegetation fires.

We are committed to protecting our nature-rich habitats, including our moorlands, through promoting sustainable land management and restoration practices. Wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands are more resilient to the impacts of fire.

My Department is committed to improving transport links in West Yorkshire, and across the country. West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has been allocated £830m of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements funding over a five-year period, to help transform local transport into an integrated and inclusive network. Included in the investment is £160m set aside for mass transit development in West Yorkshire.

WYCA has also received £13.373m of additional Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding for 2024/2025, helping deliver their vision for better buses in West Yorkshire. The Department’s Buses Bill will support WYCA in their vision to bring buses back under local control, ensuring their networks can meet the needs of the communities who rely on them.

Additionally, as part of improving rail connectivity in West Yorkshire and the rest of the country, we have established Shadow Great British Railways to bring a major overhaul of the rail network, putting passengers first and driving up performance.

The Department understands the importance of having effective rehabilitation services available when people need them to help them recover and return to their day-to-day activities and regain their quality of life.

People who have sight loss to the degree they are certified as blind or partially sighted will receive a certificate of visual impairment (CVI). With the patient’s permission the CVI form is shared with a person’s local authority to help facilitate access to social care support. In accordance with the Care and support statutory guidance, local authorities should offer to carry out a needs assessment with a view to providing a care and support plan aimed at meeting any identified needs. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-statutory-guidance/care-and-support-statutory-guidance

Statutory integrated care systems are partnerships of organisations which come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services. An integrated approach to person-centred care can enable a seamless route for patients coming out of hospital into social care. This helps to make sure people get the right support from health and social care services to return home as soon as possible, including patients requiring vision rehabilitation.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities in England have a legal duty to support people with sight loss to develop practical skills and strategies to maintain independence.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is now assessing how local authorities are meeting the full range of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. These assessments identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for development, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed. This will also facilitate the development of national standards as part of our steps towards creating a National Care Service.

Therefore, although CQC is not currently required to assess vision rehabilitation services as regulated activities under Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, sensory services, including vision rehabilitation, do form part of CQC’s overall assessment of local authorities’ delivery of adult social care. In that context, CQC will report on sensory services when there is something important to highlight, for example, something being done well, innovative practice or an area for improvement.

Our new Client Level Data collection requires local authorities to collect person-level information covering most of their activity under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. Information on visual impairments is voluntary at this stage, but this will be kept under review.

Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. The report will inform the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS, including further detail on how we will improve outcomes for cancer, including less survivable cancers.

The Government’s Health Mission aims to reduce lives lost to the biggest killers, including cancer, and we recognise the importance of tackling less survivable cancers as part of that Mission.

We do not currently have plans to regulate vision rehabilitation specialists.

NHS England is taking steps to deliver a range of interventions to improve awareness of the hereditary risk of pancreatic cancer. This includes providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer. Through local Cancer Alliances, NHS England is working to spread knowledge across NHS providers about hereditary pancreatic cancer risks.

NHS England is working with Pancreatic Cancer UK to develop a public-facing Family History Checker, which enables people, and their families affected by pancreatic cancer, to self-assess if they have inherited risk. People identified at risk are referred directly to European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatic Diseases research trail, which aims to understand inherited conditions of the pancreas. Referrals to the trail can be made by any healthcare professional across all health sectors, or by individuals via self-referral.

As a founding partner, the UK has been a proud supporter of UNITAID for nearly 20 years. We continue to highly value our partnership and have contributed more than half a billion pounds in funding.

We assess UNITAID to be a highly impactful partner. More than 300 million people use UNITAID-supported health products every year - and they have consistently delivered against their programmatic objectives. We welcome recent analysis from UNITAID and Cambridge Economic Policy Associates showing they deliver £46 of impact for every £1 invested.

On 12 September, I [Minister for Development] met with the CEO of Gavi to discuss Gavi's recent Investment Case launch and replenishment timings. FCDO hosted the annual strategic dialogue with the Global Fund on 17 September, which focused on the UK's priorities ahead of the eighth replenishment.

The UK is working with the international community to coordinate efforts and ensure sustainable resources for all upcoming global health replenishments; including for Gavi, the World Health Organization, and the Global Fund. Effective coordination across the Global Health Initiatives will be needed to deliver for the global health challenges ahead.

The FCDO regularly engages with key partners including the Global Fund, UNITAID, UNAIDS and grassroots organisation the Robert Carr Fund, as part of our ongoing commitment to the HIV response and advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights, including for vulnerable groups. This includes through our Board representation, bilateral dialogue and programmatic funding.

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to ensure that 350 banking hubs are delivered across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament. Over 80 banking hubs are already open and Cash Access UK, who oversee banking hub rollout, expect 100 hubs to be open by Christmas.

The specific location of these hubs is determined independently by LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network. Criteria that LINK considers includes whether another bank branch remains nearby, local population, number of cash-accepting businesses and the financial vulnerability of the community.

An alternative option for accessing face-to-face banking services in rural areas is via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, cash cheques, and check their balance at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.

The UK has some of the highest tobacco duty rates in the world, payable at £316.70 per thousand cigarettes, plus 16.5% of the retail price and £412.32 per kilogram for hand rolling tobacco. These have helped to support a significant fall in smoking prevalence over the last 10 years to 11.9%. The Chief Medical Officer considers them a key part of the wider anti-smoking strategy.

The government is also funding more smoking cessation services. This includes providing an additional £70 million per annum for local Stop Smoking Services, working to ensure all NHS hospitals offer 'opt-out' smoking cessation services and delivering the national Smoke-free Pregnancy Financial Incentives scheme and the Swap to Stop scheme.

As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its Budget process.

Fire and Rescue Services are operationally independent in England. Each fire and rescue authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfire), through their Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) while having regard to the views of other key local responders. The Government does not issue guidance on the operational use of helicopters.

Fire and Rescue Services undertake a range of activities alongside local partners, including prevention and educational activities. Additionally, Defra encourage landowners and land managers to adopt good quality wildfire management plans, use sustainable land management practices that reduce fuel loads and restore their peatland – wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands are more resilient to the risk of wildfire.

In 24/25, the Home Office is funding a new National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.

Fire and Rescue Services are operationally independent in England. Each fire and rescue authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfire), through their Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) while having regard to the views of other key local responders. The Government does not issue guidance on the operational use of helicopters.

Fire and Rescue Services undertake a range of activities alongside local partners, including prevention and educational activities. Additionally, Defra encourage landowners and land managers to adopt good quality wildfire management plans, use sustainable land management practices that reduce fuel loads and restore their peatland – wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands are more resilient to the risk of wildfire.

In 24/25, the Home Office is funding a new National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government works closely with Local Resilience Forums, which include local councils and fire and rescue services to support local collaboration and preparation for a wide range of the resilience risks including fires.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provides no specific funding to local councils to enforce the ban on the use of barbecues and open fires on moorland. The majority of the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced in acknowledgement that local areas know best how to prioritise spending within their communities.

The Government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and ensuring that every part of the country benefits from it.

We will set out further details in due course.

All prisons assess prisoner literacy on entry, and deliver English Functional Skills qualifications via the main Prison Education Framework.

HMPPS also fund 62 additional literacy and reading contracts across 80 prisons via the more locally commissioned Dynamic Purchasing System.

All prisons have a library, and to further support reading the Shannon Trust operates their Turning Pages programme in nearly all prisons in England. This programme teaches prisoners to read and is delivered by prisoner mentors who work with individual learners.

Every prison also has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign.

In addition, the Literacy Innovation Fund provided funding to a further 15 prisons for projects delivered by the Shannon Trust, to further boost the reach of their peer mentoring and the National Literacy Trust who deliver workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.

All prisons assess prisoner literacy on entry, and deliver English Functional Skills qualifications via the main Prison Education Framework.

HMPPS also fund 62 additional literacy and reading contracts across 80 prisons via the more locally commissioned Dynamic Purchasing System.

All prisons have a library, and to further support reading the Shannon Trust operates their Turning Pages programme in nearly all prisons in England. This programme teaches prisoners to read and is delivered by prisoner mentors who work with individual learners.

Every prison also has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign.

In addition, the Literacy Innovation Fund provided funding to a further 15 prisons for projects delivered by the Shannon Trust, to further boost the reach of their peer mentoring and the National Literacy Trust who deliver workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.

All prisons assess prisoner literacy on entry, and deliver English Functional Skills qualifications via the main Prison Education Framework.

HMPPS also fund 62 additional literacy and reading contracts across 80 prisons via the more locally commissioned Dynamic Purchasing System.

All prisons have a library, and to further support reading the Shannon Trust operates their Turning Pages programme in nearly all prisons in England. This programme teaches prisoners to read and is delivered by prisoner mentors who work with individual learners.

Every prison also has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign.

In addition, the Literacy Innovation Fund provided funding to a further 15 prisons for projects delivered by the Shannon Trust, to further boost the reach of their peer mentoring and the National Literacy Trust who deliver workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.