Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) schools and (b) teaching bodies on using vapes in school settings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In the UK, it is against the law to sell nicotine vaping products to under 18s or for adults to buy them on their behalf. Young people should not have these products in schools.
Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including which items are banned from school premises. School staff can search pupils for banned items as outlined in the department’s Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance.
Schools have an important role in educating pupils about the dangers of harmful substances. Primary pupils should be taught about legal and illegal harmful substances while secondary pupils are also taught about the associated legal and psychological risks. The relationships, sex and health education curriculum is currently being reviewed and will consider vaping as part of the review of the statutory guidance.
FRANK, the government-funded national drug and alcohol advisory service, has also been updated with relevant information on vapes, including the risks, physical effects and addictiveness of nicotine vapes.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools reported finding students in possession of illegal drugs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department does not collect such information centrally.
The Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance emphasises the importance of the school’s duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils. Searching can play a critical role in ensuring that schools are safe environments. Authorised members of school staff have the statutory power to search a pupil when they have reasonable grounds to suspect them to be in possession of prohibited items, such as illegal drugs. At all times, schools must ensure they continue to adhere to their statutory safeguarding duties as outlined in the Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance documents.
The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including drug-taking. To support schools to deliver this content, the department has published a suite of teacher training modules, including one on drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many failed asylum seekers still in the UK hold criminal records.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 19 June to Question 58400.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of failed asylum seekers scheduled for deportation are known to have mental health issues.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no specific figure available of the type described in these questions.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reporting rate is of failed asylum seekers to her Department.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no specific figure available of the type described in these questions.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many deportations have taken place to Somalia since 8 July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Statistics on returns from the UK by nationality and destination are published on a quarterly basis. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, and are currently available to the end of March 2025, available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of cricket participation rates among state school pupils.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey for Academic Year 2023-24 shows that 252,500 (6.6%) children in academy schools have participated in cricket at least once a week or more, and 253,000 (7.3%) children in maintained schools have participated in cricket at least once a week or more.
The Government is committed to protecting time for physical education in schools. The Prime Minister recently announced a new School Sport Partnerships approach and a new Enrichment Framework for schools to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. The ongoing independent expert-led review of the curriculum will ensure that all children can engage with a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the National Governing Body for cricket, has committed to making the sport as inclusive as possible for children and young people through their new strategy and state school action plan. I have also seen the work of their charitable arm, Chance to Shine, to encourage more children to take up cricket, at the Mill Academy in Worsbrough last year.
We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million of National Lottery and government money. The ECB receives £10.2 million funding from Sport England across up to five years to help deliver strategic objectives, including tackling inequalities and improving access to sport.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of (a) the long-term viability, (b) the financial position and (c) levels of participation in cricket clubs in cities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is committed to ensuring everyone, no matter their age, background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.
This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the National Governing Body for cricket, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives. This includes programmes that will benefit everyone, including people who live in cities, as set out in their “Inspiring Generations” strategy for 2025-2028.
On 20 June 2025, the Culture Secretary announced at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK following the Spending Review, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with the England and Wales Cricket Board on increasing levels of access to cricket in cities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is committed to ensuring everyone, no matter their age, background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.
This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the National Governing Body for cricket, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives. This includes programmes that will benefit everyone, including people who live in cities, as set out in their “Inspiring Generations” strategy for 2025-2028.
On 20 June 2025, the Culture Secretary announced at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK following the Spending Review, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support university students with the cost of living.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government recognises the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has had on students.
The government has therefore announced that maximum loans for living costs will increase by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year. A 3.1% increase is in line with forecast inflation based on the Retail Prices Index Excluding Mortgage (RPIX) inflation index.
We continue to provide means-tested non-repayable grants to low-income full-time students with children and adults who are financially dependent on them.
In addition, students with disabilities can apply for non-means tested disabled students’ allowance to support additional disability-related study costs. For the 2025/26 academic year, maximum dependants’ grants and disabled students’ allowance are being increased by 3.1%.
Students undertaking nursing, midwifery and allied health profession courses also qualify for additional non-repayable grant support through the NHS Learning Support Fund.
The department aims to publish our plans for higher education reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy White paper in the summer, and work with the sector and the Office for Students to deliver the change that the country needs.