Paula Barker

The Government is committed to supporting households with the cost of energy this winter, and we are continuing to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 rebate off energy bills for eligible low-income households.

I have also outlined our expectation to energy suppliers that they should do everything they can to support customers who are struggling with their bills, especially vulnerable consumers. Last month I met with energy suppliers and encouraged them to sign up to the Voluntary Debt Commitment for this winter, and I will work closely with them in the weeks ahead to ensure vulnerable consumers are supported through this winter.

The Government has not made an assessment on the impact of energy price rises on child poverty. The latest statistics on fuel poverty in England cover 2023 and can be found in the published Official Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics. Table 22 provide estimates of the number of households in fuel poverty by age of the youngest person in the household. Statistics for 2024 will be published in early 2025.

The Government is working with the recently announced Child Poverty Taskforce to deliver an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start in life.

Online safety is a priority for government. Services in scope of the Online Safety Act must remove illegal content and protect children from harmful content - including when this content is AI-generated. Services providing pornographic content must use highly effective age assurance to ensure that children cannot access it.

We are committed to tackling the atrocious harm posed by the creation of non-consensual intimate images and are bringing in legislation to criminalise this behaviour in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.

The Government supports the vibrant life sciences sector, which contributes £108 billion to the economy and 300,000 jobs nationwide. A new Life Sciences Sector Plan, part of the upcoming Industrial Strategy, is due to be published in late Spring. This will set out a comprehensive plan of how the Government intends to drive growth in the sector. In addition, the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund will allocate up to £520 million to deliver economic growth and build health resilience, and is available UK-wide, including to projects in the Liverpool City region

The government is working with Ofcom, the independent online safety regulator, to implement the Online Safety Act. The Act requires platforms to proactively tackle illegal content and content harmful to children, much of which disproportionately affects women and girls.

Ofcom and the government have ongoing online safety research programmes. On 6 February, DSIT published research entitled ‘Platform design and the risk of online violence against women and girls’ which can found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a39e2cad556423b636cadd/Platform_design_risk_of_online_violence_against_women_girls_A.pdf

We are already witnessing AI’s impact within the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and displacing old ones. The Government will work to harness the benefits that AI can bring – such as productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing – while managing potential risks.

The Get Britain Working White Paper from DWP, HMT and DfE sets out how we will address key labour market challenges. We continue to work closely with these and other government departments through the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

We are already witnessing AI’s impact within the labour market: transforming the workplace, demanding new skills and displacing old ones. The Government will work to harness the benefits that AI can bring – such as productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing – while managing potential risks.

The Get Britain Working White Paper from DWP, HMT and DfE sets out how we will address key labour market challenges. We continue to work closely with these and other government departments through the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

Football is nothing without its fans and the Government is keen to see as many people as possible benefit from and enjoy the spectacle of live sport.

The matter of ticket prices is a commercial decision for individual clubs and leagues to take. However, the Government remains in conversation with stakeholders to ensure that fans are engaged properly.

This is also why the Government has introduced legislation to establish an Independent Football Regulator to protect and promote the sustainability of English football in the interests of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

As a result of changes made by this Government, the Football Governance Bill will now explicitly require clubs to consult their supporters on ticket prices making sure their voice is heard on this key issue.

The government is firmly committed to supporting the growth of the film industry across every nation and region. Through our UK-wide funding programmes, investment in infrastructure, tax reliefs and support for independent British content, we want the UK to be the best place in the world to make films.

We fund the British Film Institute (BFI) to support the film sector through nationwide funding and initiatives. The BFI’s ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, sets out its core principle to reach across the full breadth of our nation. The BFI have sought to devolve funding, share power, and support networks across regions, in particular through their Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) which is a collaboration of 8 film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK. Film Hub North covers Liverpool.

The BFI is also tackling skills shortages in the sector to underpin growth across the UK. Under the BFI’s National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund, £8.1 million has been awarded to enable six Skills Clusters across the UK to identify skills gaps, coordinate local skills training, and develop clearer pathways to long-term employment in the sector. This programme includes £2.3m awarded to Screen Alliance North - created by the Liverpool Film Office, North East Screen, Screen Manchester, and Screen Yorkshire - over 2023-2026.

We support the British Film Commission (BFC) work, with £6 million in funding, to support the growth of seven geographic production hubs across the UK, by investing in infrastructure and attracting global film productions that bring inward investment into the local and national economy. This includes support for Liverpool, most recently supporting and advising on the Liverpool Littlewoods film studio development.

We also want to support independent British content, to ensure stories from across the UK are told on screen. We recently brought in the Independent Film Tax Credit to support homegrown talent, and we support indie content to grow internationally through the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF). Daliland and The Almond and The Seahorse, both of which were shot in Liverpool, received international distribution awards from UKGSF.

In addition, to boost the contribution of film tourism to local economies, DCMS Arm’s-Length Body VisitBritain uses high profile filming locations as part of its international tourism marketing activity.

The government is firmly committed to supporting the growth of the film industry across every nation and region. Through our UK-wide funding programmes, investment in infrastructure, tax reliefs and support for independent British content, we want the UK to be the best place in the world to make films.

We fund the British Film Institute (BFI) to support the film sector through nationwide funding and initiatives. The BFI’s ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, sets out its core principle to reach across the full breadth of our nation. The BFI have sought to devolve funding, share power, and support networks across regions, in particular through their Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) which is a collaboration of 8 film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK. Film Hub North covers Liverpool.

The BFI is also tackling skills shortages in the sector to underpin growth across the UK. Under the BFI’s National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund, £8.1 million has been awarded to enable six Skills Clusters across the UK to identify skills gaps, coordinate local skills training, and develop clearer pathways to long-term employment in the sector. This programme includes £2.3m awarded to Screen Alliance North - created by the Liverpool Film Office, North East Screen, Screen Manchester, and Screen Yorkshire - over 2023-2026.

We support the British Film Commission (BFC) work, with £6 million in funding, to support the growth of seven geographic production hubs across the UK, by investing in infrastructure and attracting global film productions that bring inward investment into the local and national economy. This includes support for Liverpool, most recently supporting and advising on the Liverpool Littlewoods film studio development.

We also want to support independent British content, to ensure stories from across the UK are told on screen. We recently brought in the Independent Film Tax Credit to support homegrown talent, and we support indie content to grow internationally through the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF). Daliland and The Almond and The Seahorse, both of which were shot in Liverpool, received international distribution awards from UKGSF.

In addition, to boost the contribution of film tourism to local economies, DCMS Arm’s-Length Body VisitBritain uses high profile filming locations as part of its international tourism marketing activity.

The Government is committed to resetting the relationship with civil society and treating them as an equal, expert partner who will be integral to delivery of the Government’s vision for national renewal.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has policy responsibility for civil society. Ministers and senior officials are engaging regularly with a range of civil society leaders to discuss the contribution that civil society can make to Government priorities.

Work is currently underway across Government to shape and define the five core missions and DCMS is working closely with lead departments to ensure that civil society is appropriately involved in delivery of these missions.

The Government is committed to resetting the relationship with civil society and treating them as an equal, expert partner who will be integral to delivery of the Government’s vision for national renewal.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has policy responsibility for civil society. Ministers and senior officials are engaging regularly with a range of civil society leaders to discuss the contribution that civil society can make to Government priorities.

Work is currently underway across Government to shape and define the five core missions and DCMS is working closely with lead departments to ensure that civil society is appropriately involved in delivery of these missions.

The department’s Opportunity Mission will break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success, ensuring family security, providing the best start in life, with all children achieving and thriving and building skills for opportunity and growth.

High and rising standards in every school are at the heart of this mission, driving better outcomes for every child, and delivered through excellent teaching and leadership, a high quality curriculum, and a system which removes the barriers to learning that hold too many children back.

The department knows that disadvantaged young people in particular face barriers to engagement with education, including insecure housing. If children are unable to engage with education, it doesn’t matter how good teaching and learning is, they will not benefit.

From April 2025 the department will be rolling out family help services that will prioritise supporting the whole family and intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent challenges escalating. Lead practitioners will undertake assessments of all needs of the family, including those who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness, and work to support families where this may be part of a more complex set of needs.

As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year, 2024/25. This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.

The Child Poverty Taskforce has also started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy. The Strategy will tackle overall child poverty, including a focus on children in deepest poverty lacking essentials. This is set out in more detail in the 23 October publication ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy.

In addition, homeless children are included in the Fair Access Protocol, which is a mandatory mechanism developed by local authorities in partnership with all schools in their area. Its aim is to ensure that vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible.

As set out in the government’s Plan for Change, the Safer Streets Mission aims to reduce serious harm and increase public confidence in policing and in the criminal justice system. Integral to this is the ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The department plays an important role in delivering that ambition.

The relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, currently under review, is designed to provide a comprehensive basis, from primary school onwards, for building respectful, healthy relationships, recognising prejudice and the impact of stereotypes, and understanding what counts as harmful or abusive behaviour. The guidance is clear that schools should be alive to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes and take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated, and any occurrences are identified and tackled. The RSHE curriculum is supported by teacher training modules available online.

The department’s Ministers and officials engage regularly with school staff and their representative bodies on a wide range of issues, including on the behaviour of pupils and students. As part of the work to review the current RSHE statutory guidance, we have been discussing with stakeholders and are planning further engagement directly with teachers.

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An Equality Impact Assessment of changes to tuition fees and student support for the 2025/26 academic year was published on GOV.UK on 20 January when the Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 were laid before Parliament. These regulations increase maximum tuition fee limits in 2025/26 by 3.1%, based on forecast inflation using the RPI All Items Excl Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.

The government expects that a 3.1% increase in maximum tuition fees, which will be accompanied by a similar increase in fee loans in 2025/26 for full-time, full-time accelerated and part-time undergraduate courses, will have a broadly neutral impact as the total level of debt for students who qualify for up-front tuition fee loans should remain unchanged in real terms.

The government also considers that the increase in maximum tuition fees will not significantly alter participation decisions for most students as the value of tuition fees will remain unchanged in real terms.

The government plans to lay further regulations in February increasing maximum fee loans for 2025/26 by 3.1%.

The government is determined that the higher education funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university.

The government recognises the impact that the cost of living crisis has had on students. That is why we are increasing the maximum maintenance loans for living costs for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation, to ensure that more support is targeted at students from the lowest income families.

Maximum maintenance loans will increase in line with forecast inflation, giving students up to an additional £414 a year of support in the 2025/26 academic year. This is the increase in the maximum loan for living costs for students living away from, and studying in, London from £13,348 to £13,762.

Therefore, a student living away from home and studying outside London on a household income of £25,000 or less will qualify for a maximum loan for living costs of £10,544 for the 2025/26 academic year, an increase of £317 compared to 2024/25. Students living away from home and studying in London will qualify for higher rates of loan, as will students eligible for benefits and some disabled students.

The regulator for the social work profession, Social Work England, sets the professional standards which all social workers must meet. The professional standards include that social workers must be able recognise the risk indicators of different forms of abuse and neglect and their impact on people, their families and their support networks. Social workers complete initial education and training courses which are approved by the regulator against the education and training standards. The provision of continuous professional development for employed social workers is a matter for their employer.

We are confident that Ofwat are delivering their core functions effectively.

Ofwat holds water companies to account for the delivery of affordable, secure and resilient water services. Ofwat must protect the interests of consumers whilst ensuring the companies properly carry out and finance their statutory functions.

It is Ofwat's responsibility to independently scrutinise water company business plans and ensure that the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate. Ofwat’s final determination saved customers £11 billion compared to what companies initially proposed in the next price review period.

Furthermore, the Independent Water Commission, launched in October 2024 by the UK and Welsh Governments, will consider the roles and responsibilities of the water industry regulators and how we can ensure our regulators operate as effectively as possible.

For too long, investment has not kept pace with the challenges of an ageing infrastructure system, a rapidly growing population and climate change. Bills will therefore now need to rise to invest in our crumbling infrastructure and deliver cleaner waterways.

These bill rises equate to around £3 additional per month on average, before inflation. This will pay to fix crumbling infrastructure, which will dramatically reduce sewage spills and lead to cleaner rivers, lakes and seas.

This Government has been clear with Ofwat that increases to customer bills must not flow through to company profits, or to executive bonuses where performance is poor.

The Secretary of State has been clear the Government has no intention to nationalise water companies. Nationalising a water company would cost billions of pounds, and it would take years to unpick the current ownership model, during which time underinvestment in infrastructure and sewage pollution would only get worse. The Government wants to improve the situation in the water industry as quickly as possible, by focusing on improving the privatised regulated model.

For too long, investment has not kept pace with the challenges of an ageing infrastructure system, a rapidly growing population and climate change. Bills will therefore now need to rise to invest in our crumbling infrastructure and deliver cleaner waterways.

Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 on 19 December. This will deliver substantial, lasting, improvements for customers and the environment through a £104bn upgrade for the water sector.

These bill rises equate to around £3 additional per month on average. This will pay to fix crumbling infrastructure, which will dramatically reduce sewage spills and lead to cleaner rivers, lakes and seas.

Funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will also ensure that when money for investment is not spent companies refund customers.

All water companies offer affordability support for customers struggling to pay their bills and companies have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help through social tariffs, from 4% to 9%, between 2025-30. The Government is working with industry to keep current support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers across the country are supported.

Defra officials are working with colleagues across the Government to ensure continuity of supply into Northern Ireland of specialist food products used by the NHS and to facilitate patient care, recognising the importance of these products to enable patients to meet their dietary requirements and live full lives.

No specific discussions have been held with London Northwestern on the subject of the adequacy of train services between Liverpool and Winsford. West Midlands Trains, who operate London Northwestern, keep train loadings under review and is expected to propose adjustments to train lengths and timetables where possible if required.

No specific assessment has recently been made of the adequacy of train services between Liverpool and Winsford. West Midlands Trains, who operate London North-Western Railway, keeps train loadings under review and is expected to adjust train lengths where possible if required.

The Department requires train operating companies and Network Rail to put in place measures to avoid, where possible, the potential impact of disruption including as a result of weather.

Network Rail owns and is responsible for maintaining railway infrastructure to ensure passenger and freight services operate safely. Officials hold regular discussions with Network Rail and industry to ensure severe weather preparedness plans are in place with clear mitigations to reduce the impacts of weather on punctuality and reliability. Network Rail Routes liaise closely with train operators to ensure comprehensive checklists are in place and to align customer messaging. Extreme Weather Action Telecons (EWATs) are stood up in anticipation of adverse or extreme weather conditions likely to impact upon rail networks, attended by Network Rail, British Transport Police, the Rail Delivery Group, train operators and the Department. EWATs coordinate the response to severe weather, for example by prepositioning people, equipment, assets to at-risk areas and implementing speed restrictions and emergency timetables where appropriate. Where services need to be cancelled, train operators will seek to provide alternative transport where possible, although there may be instances where this is not viable.

Between the start of this financial year and 9 November, there have been 1,772 points failures compared with 1,715 points failures in the same period last year.

Avanti West Coast and Network Rail are working together to address issues with the lifts and canopies at Crewe. Options to improve passenger facilities are also under consideration as part of the renewal works expected to complete by 2029.