Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of Behind the Metre energy systems for energy-intensive industries.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

There are increasingly greater opportunities for energy-intensive industries to make use of behind-the-meter energy systems. Demand flexibility, often in tandem with on-site generation and energy storage, enables industrial consumers to be financially rewarded for shifting their energy consumption to periods where energy is cheap, green and abundant, without compromising their commercial functions.

The Department is continuing to build its evidence base on how demand flexibility, on-site generation and energy storage can be deployed to support our mission to deliver Clean Power by 2030 and beyond. This includes improving visibility of the complex challenges and barriers faced by energy-intensive industries to participating in and benefiting from demand flexibility.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to help support the adoption of smart technologies in environmental (a) data collection and (b) monitoring involved in the (i) construction and (ii) development of offshore wind infrastructure.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Clean Power Action Plan (CPAP) committed to delivering clean power by 2030 whilst enabling nature recovery. A key action in the CPAP is to consider options for harmonising the offshore wind environmental data and modelling used for assessing environmental impacts of offshore wind projects. The use of new and innovative smart technologies will be key in collecting, monitoring, analysing and harmonising environmental data for offshore wind development and the Government has partnerships in place to facilitate development of these technologies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on children with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department always considers the impact of decisions on vulnerable children, including those with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The level of funding per child in 2025/26 will allow adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support. Where needed, local authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase guidance available to parents on SEND (a) provision and (b) support.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to publish a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) local offer, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have special educational needs (SEN) or are disabled, including those who do not have education, health and care (EHC) plans.

The local offer has two key purposes:

• To provide clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available provision and how to access it.
• To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving disabled children and those with SEN and their parents, and disabled young people and those with SEN, and service providers in its development and review.

In developing and reviewing the SEND local offer, the local authority must work in collaboration with a wide range of partners. The SEND local offer must be co-produced with parents and young people, and information on their feedback and how it has been taken into account must be published. The local authority must also work with its statutory EHC partners, including schools, colleges and early years settings and the Integrated Care Service.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS) offer information, advice and support for parents, carers children and young people with SEND. Under the Children and Families Act 2014 it is a legal requirement that all local authorities have a SENDIASS.

The department additionally supports participation by parents in local and national decision making, this has included £2.66 million in grant payments direct to local parent carer forums, and funding to maintain a national helpline providing advice and support for parents and carers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding through the National Funding Formula for (a) small schools and (b) rural schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The government recognises the essential role that small schools play in their communities, many of which are in rural areas. The schools national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factor. This recognises that some schools are necessarily small because they are remote and do not have the same opportunities to grow or make efficiency savings as other schools, and that such schools often play a significant role in the rural communities they serve.

All small and rural schools have benefited from the increase to core factors in the NFF in 2025/26 financial year, including the NFF lump sum, which is set at £145,100. This provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to pupil-led factors. The lump sum is particularly beneficial to small schools more reliant on an element of funding that is not driven by pupil numbers.

Schools can attract additional funding through the sparsity factor in the NFF if they are both small and remote. Eligible primary schools attract up to £57,400, and all other eligible schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in the 2025/26 financial year. The department is providing £100 million in total through the sparsity factor in the 2025/26 financial year.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to reduce SEND funding differentials between local authorities.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The government has indicated that it will take the time needed to consider changes to the high needs national funding formula (NFF) used by the department to allocate funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities.

It is important that there is a fair education funding system that reflects differences in the level of underlying need across the country and directs funding accordingly to support improved outcomes for children and young people.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he would make it his policy to create exemptions for Extender Producer Responsibility depending on (a) a producer’s sustainability and (b) B-Corp status.

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

There are no exemptions planned for producers with B-Corp status. While private ESG schemes like B-Corp certification can play an important role in driving sustainability, they are complementary to, rather than a replacement for regulatory measures like pEPR.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve signage for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

A reliable, accessible public charging network to support electric vehicle (EV) drivers on long journeys is essential. Ensuring this is visible and functional will build consumer confidence, which is vital for mass EV adoption. An EV charging symbol is in use on traffic signs to direct drivers to the growing number of chargepoints. There are now over 5,250 open-access rapid and ultra rapid chargers within one mile of the Strategic Road Network (SRN), having doubled over 18 months.

Government is working with industry, including chargepoint operators, and with National Highways, which manages the SRN in England, to improve signage deployment. This includes looking for opportunities to make it easier to provide signage for EV-only charging hubs.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure local authorities are adequately staffed to (a) build and (b) organise electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government’s £381m Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund includes £37.8m capability funding to ensure local authorities can hire staff to plan, procure and tender the delivery of local chargepoints.

The LEVI Fund also supports local authorities through one-to-one guidance, workshops and an online knowledge repository with expert advice on chargepoint planning, procurement and delivery. This is in addition to a dedicated electric vehicle training course, completed by over 150 local authority officers to date. In December 2024 the Department announced a £22m extension to the LEVI Capability Fund in financial year 2025/26, building on the successful work to date.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing 90 day termination convenience clauses from charge point operator contracts.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department has worked extensively with stakeholders including industry to develop procurement guidance for local authorities which encourages private investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This includes recommendations around the appropriate termination clauses, where termination at convenience is explicitly excluded.

Local authorities are the contracting authorities responsible for their procurements, who need to make the assessment and determination on termination clauses in their contracts.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating parking bays for electric vehicles through traffic regulation orders.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Traffic regulation orders (TRO) can already be used to designate and enforce electric vehicle only, on-street parking bays. Their use is at the discretion of the local traffic authority.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle theft of electric vehicle infrastructure.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

I have raised this issue with the Home Office and my Department will continue to work with them on this.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of potential merits of introducing a new public media campaign to promote the (a) financial and (b) environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to accelerating the transition to zero emission vehicles and increasing awareness of the benefits of electric vehicle ownership. We are working closely with the electric vehicle sector and key partners to ensure that we are delivering consistent and clear information to drivers about making the switch to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. Combating misinformation is a key part of this, and we continue to assess how we can do this most effectively.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring District Network Operators provide (a) free and (b) national access to data on (i) power cable routes, (ii) substation locations and (iii) spare capacity.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government recognises the value of electricity network data to energy stakeholders, for example in helping to identify where best to connect projects. The energy regulator, Ofgem, has placed licence obligations on energy networks, including distribution network operators (DNOs), to make network data open by default, subject to certain considerations such as national security [1]. As part of this, DNOs publish free data on their networks, including network capacity ‘heat maps’ [2]. Under its review of the regulation of connections, Ofgem is also considering how best to ensure that network companies continuously improve data visualisation tools [3].

[1] https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/decision/decision-updates-data-best-practice-guidance-and-digitalisation-strategy-and-action-plan-guidance

[2] https://www.energynetworks.org/industry/connecting-to-the-networks/connections-data

[3] https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-11/Connections_End_to_End_Review_consultation.pdf

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the merits of increasing penalties for electric cable theft.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Theft, including the theft of cables, is a serious crime and this Government recognises the distress and disruption it can cause, not only to businesses, but also to local communities and critical infrastructure.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was introduced to reduce metal theft by strengthening regulation of the scrap metal industry. The Act requires scrap metal dealers to obtain a licence from their local authority and to verify the identity of those selling the scrap metal; it also bans dealers from paying cash.

Following introduction of the Act, there was an overall downward trend in metal-related theft offences. The latest figures for the year ending March 2024 are 64% lower than in the previous year.

Furthermore, the sentencing guidelines on theft have been amended to highlight that where theft causes disruption to infrastructure, this should be taken into account when assessing the harm.

We work closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership who bring together industry and policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including cable theft, by sharing intelligence to target offenders and implementing crime prevention measures.

We are also delivering on our commitment to put 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle cable theft from electric vehicle infrastructure.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Theft, including the theft of cables, is a serious crime and this Government recognises the distress and disruption it can cause, not only to businesses, but also to local communities and critical infrastructure.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was introduced to reduce metal theft by strengthening regulation of the scrap metal industry. The Act requires scrap metal dealers to obtain a licence from their local authority and to verify the identity of those selling the scrap metal; it also bans dealers from paying cash.

Following introduction of the Act, there was an overall downward trend in metal-related theft offences. The latest figures for the year ending March 2024 are 64% lower than in the previous year.

Furthermore, the sentencing guidelines on theft have been amended to highlight that where theft causes disruption to infrastructure, this should be taken into account when assessing the harm.

We work closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership who bring together industry and policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including cable theft, by sharing intelligence to target offenders and implementing crime prevention measures.

We are also delivering on our commitment to put 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to collaborate with training providers to increase skills levels in high voltage dynamic cables.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The skills system is designed to enable close collaboration between government, employers and training providers to equip learners with the skills they need. We encourage employers to work with providers and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and, in time, Skills England, to develop the necessary training to meet the needs of crucial clean energy sectors like floating offshore wind.

Training providers collaborate with IfATE and employers to ensure the training they deliver meets labour market needs. IfATE develops and maintains occupational standards which outline the skills and knowledge required for roles. Employers provide input on these standards, ensuring they reflect current industry requirements. The department supports these partnerships through its policy direction and funding.

Skills England will provide an authoritative assessment of national and regional skills needs in the economy now and in the future. It will also ensure that there is a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications for individuals and employers to access, and which are aligned with skills gaps and the needs of employers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ringfencing funding for small and specialist Higher Education Institutions.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Small and specialist higher education (HE) institutions provide a highly valuable role in nurturing talent and contributing to the UK’s academic, cultural and economic landscape.

The Office for Students (OfS) provides targeted funding to twenty small and specialist providers that they assessed as world leading. This is delivered through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which is funding that the government provides on an annual basis to support teaching and students in HE, including expensive-to-deliver subjects, such as science and engineering, and for students at risk of discontinuing their studies.

For this 2024/25 academic year, funding from the SPG for these small and specialist providers was maintained at £58 million. Funding for the 2025/26 academic year will be announced by the OfS, following government guidance, later this year.

Ensuring stability for Ukrainian refugees in the UK

Found: Melanie Ward Neil Coyle Antonia Bance Gill Furniss Mary Kelly Foy Valerie Vaz Sean Woodcock Perran Moon

Found: Melanie Ward Neil Coyle Antonia Bance Gill Furniss Mary Kelly Foy Valerie Vaz Sean Woodcock Perran Moon

Found: Maskell Melanie Ward Neil Coyle Antonia Bance Gill Furniss Mary Kelly Foy Sean Woodcock Perran Moon

Found: Maskell Melanie Ward Neil Coyle Antonia Bance Gill Furniss Mary Kelly Foy Sean Woodcock Perran Moon