Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department plans to release the £400 million announced in the Spending Review for grassroots sports facilities; and what proportion of this funding will be allocated to support (a) local leisure centres, (b) swimming pools and (c) gyms at risk of closure.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure centres and swimming pools, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.

In June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health, wellbeing and community cohesion and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether assessment of local housing needs includes (a) share of second homes, (b) prevalence of short-term lets and (c) local house-price-to-income ratios.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government’s revised standard method for assessing local housing need, introduced in December 2024, uses a baseline of local housing stock, adjusted for affordability using median workplace-based affordability ratios. The affordability adjustment directs more homes to where they are most needed.

As set out in the government’s response to the proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, the revised standard method does not adjust the housing stock baseline to account for vacant and second homes.

Local authorities have powers available to respond to locally specific concerns related to vacant and second homes.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the clean energy workforce strategy on UK jobs in critical mineral supply chains.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Critical minerals underpin the UK’s Industrial Strategy and the Government’s clean energy goals. The Office for Clean Energy Jobs will publish a full Clean Energy Workforce Strategy shortly setting out further actions to support delivery of the clean energy workforce and ensure that the jobs created across the country are high quality.

The Department for Business and Trade is working closely with industry and partners such as the Critical Minerals Association to identify and to help address workforce gaps across UK critical mineral supply chains.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number and proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training in (a) Cornwall and (b) Camborne and Redruth constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England, however, these estimates are not available at lower-level geographies due to limitations with sample sizes. Therefore, NEET rates for young people aged 16 to 24 in Cornwall and Camborne and Redruth constituency are not available. Statistics for England can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.

Data showing the number of young people aged 16 and 17 years old who were known to Cornwall local authority and the number and proportion of those NEET or activity not known is accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/5dbec461-d6ee-4ee3-19fd-08dde95206d2. These statistics are published as transparency data so some caution should be taken when using these figures.

Additionally, 16 to 18 destination measures are published, showing the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16 to 18 study, that is six months of continual activity. The latest publication includes destinations in 2022/23 by parliamentary constituency boundaries at that time, and data for Cornwall local authority and Camborne and Redruth parliamentary constituency can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/5994cbf5-1e91-4af3-19ff-08dde95206d2.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the weight of transport accessibility in allocating regional funding by including metrics such as (a) transport cost as a percentage of household income, (b) public-service frequency, (c) waiting time for buses, and (d) reliability and (e) time taken to travel to capture transport poverty’s multiplier effects.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is distributed through the Settlement Funding Assessment. This funding includes Revenue Support Grant and retained business rates.

The Settlement Funding Assessment uses a range of formulas to determine the relative funding need of areas, which when combined with a measure of tax base, determines their relative income. Further details on the current funding methodology can be found online, within the ‘Calculation of 2013/14 Formula Funding’ page, linked here.

The government recently published the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, which outlines proposals to update the distribution of funding within the Local Government Finance Settlement for the first time since 2013 – ensuring our approach uses the best available data and evidence. Our proposals include taking account of journey times when calculating the relative differences in cost local authorities face when delivering services to inform funding allocations.

We will publish further information in the government’s consultation response in the Autumn, followed by the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year.

The Department for Transport leads on all other wider public transport funding for local authorities.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will launch a public awareness campaign to support the integration of children’s social care services into local communities.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Through the Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme, the department is giving children and families access to better local support services to break the cycle of late intervention and help more children and families stay safely together. We recognise the crucial role that universal services and community-based early help play in identifying emerging problems and providing early and ongoing support at an early stage.

The department’s reforms to Family Help will embed targeted support in the heart of communities, providing a non-stigmatising access point to a range of services to address the needs of the whole family. The FFP programme guide is clear that local areas should build on the strengths of their universal and community-based early help models when implementing Family Help, and we continue to share learning from the Families First for Children Pathfinder areas to support this.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of banning animal testing.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is committed to supporting alternatives to animals in science and will publish a strategy to support their adoption. It is not yet possible to replace all animal use due to the complexity of biological systems, so the carefully regulated use of animals in science remains necessary for improving the understanding of how biological systems work, in the development of safe new medicines and in testing chemicals. The legal framework in the UK requires that animals are only ever used in science where there are no validated alternatives available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what will be in the terms of the Carr Hill review.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The review will consider how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP contract, drawing on a range of evidence and advice from experts.

Arrangements for the Carr-Hill review are being finalised. Further details will be confirmed in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to introduce a performance framework that (a) publicly tracks local authority delivery of affordable housing and (b) links it to future funding eligibility.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The new Local Government Outcomes Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, sets out a priority outcome that everyone has access to a decent, safe, secure, and affordable home.

The government has published twelve draft metrics measuring delivery of this outcome, including metrics to measure social housing demand, and number of homes held within council Housing Revenue Accounts. We expect to publish the final metrics for the framework alongside the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year.

Funding decisions for the Affordable Homes Programme are made on an individual basis and are made by our delivery partners, Home England and the GLA. All applications are expected to demonstrate how they meet the usual funding criteria, including value for money.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage partnerships between (a) councils, (b) housing associations and (c) community-led housing groups through matched funding or shared risk models.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

As set out in our five-step plan for delivering a decade of renewal for the social and affordable housing, we are committed to strengthening social housing providers’ financial capacity to deliver new homes, including through our new ten-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

We also encourage providers to explore opportunities to extend their financial capacity further, and to enable delivery in sensitive, rural areas, by working together to deliver new homes through joint ventures.

Where advice on how to make best use of these arrangements is required, councils, housing associations, and community led-housing groups outside of London can reach out to Homes England’s Self Commissioned Homes Delivery Unit. Councils in England can also seek specialist advice on all aspects of housing delivery from the Local Government Association’s Council Housebuilding Support Service.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with employers on (a) the adequacy of employer sick pay top-up schemes and (b) their role in supporting workers with long-term health conditions.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government has engaged extensively, including with employers, on the impact of our plan to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay. While employers can choose to go further than their statutory requirements and provide more financial support to their employees when they are sick, and around 60% of all employees report they are eligible for this extra support, our engagement has not included the adequacy of contractual or occupational sick pay schemes. Those who need additional financial support while off sick are able to claim more help through the welfare system such as Universal Credit, depending on their individual circumstances.

In our Get Britain Working White Paper, published November 2024, we committed support for employers to recruit, retain, and develop staff. As part of that, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead ‘Keep Britain Working’, an independent review to consider how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence.

Following the discovery publication in March 2025, Sir Charlie and the review team engaged with a broad range of stakeholders, including employers. In total there were over 500 individual submissions and over 150 meetings and events through which evidence was submitted. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver a final report with recommendations in the autumn.

The Disability Confident (DC) Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face.

Officials have been discussing with stakeholders, including employers, the options for making the DC scheme criteria more robust. The Government is working towards announcing next steps for improving the scheme later this autumn

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to establish a national fund to support planning and housing teams in councils with limited resources or expertise.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Since February this year, the government has provided over £29 million in direct grant funding to support local planning authorities in implementing policy changes following the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024.

I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 67508 on 21 July 2025, which sets out our wider plans for supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop the skills they need.

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 market potential of shared ground loops.

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

Shared ground loops deliver highly efficient, low-carbon heating. They can be an effective solution, for example, for buildings with limited space for individual air source heat pumps. That is why shared ground loops are eligible for funding under government schemes including the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on implementing a ban on the use, sale, and possession of snare traps in England; and whether she has a planned timeline for legislative action.

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

The Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation. As outlined in our manifesto, we will bring an end to the use of snare traps in England. We are considering the most effective way to deliver this commitment and will be setting out next steps in due course.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding seals to Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

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

The GB Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (GBCBs) acting through the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have carried out the latest quinquennial review of species afforded legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA). JNCC submitted the resultant advice to the previous government.

We continue to consider the evidence for making legislative change to protect our endangered species. This includes consideration of the proposals submitted by the JNCC in their advice to amend the lists of species afforded protection by the WCA, to include the grey and harbour seal.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of continued IPP incarceration on the mental health of prisoners; and what steps he is taking to ensure appropriate psychological support is available to those affected.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

It is right that Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were abolished. We are committed to working at pace to support the progression of all those serving the IPP sentence, but not in a way that undermines public protection.

The Government recognises that, for any prisoner serving an indeterminate sentence, the lack of certainty over a release date may adversely affect their mental health, as they are unable to plan for the future.

We are committed to improving outcomes for offenders with mental health needs, including IPP prisoners, and recognise the importance of providing the right interventions at the right time. All people in prison have access to integrated mental health services commissioned by NHS England. This includes access to a range of treatments and interventions within prison as set out in the national service specification for mental health care in prisons.

If a prisoner has a severe mental health need to an extent that detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 may be appropriate, they will be referred and assessed by qualified clinicians to determine whether a transfer to a mental health hospital is warranted.

The refreshed IPP Action Plan, published on 17 July 2025, commits HM Prison and Probation Service to target support towards those who most need it and to further understanding the individual needs of those serving the IPP sentence.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve community (a) understanding and (b) acceptance of (i) residential and (ii) support services for vulnerable children (A) in the community and (B) in the criminal justice system.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Social Care National Framework acknowledges that receiving help from children’s social care can be a stigmatising experience and encourages practitioners from first interactions to tackle stigma, build strong relationships with children, young people and families, and communicate clearly and effectively.

Through the Families First Partnership Programme, we are giving children and families access to better local support services to break the cycle of late intervention and help more children and families to stay safely together. Our reforms to Family Help will embed targeted support in the heart of communities, providing a non-stigmatising access point to a range of services to address the needs of the whole family.

We are determined to address the stigma and discrimination faced by children in care and care leavers and ensure they are supported. We are prioritising extending corporate parenting responsibilities to all government departments and relevant public bodies, through measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This will ensure that policies and services take account of the challenges they face, and remove barriers and provide opportunities for them to achieve and thrive.