Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools' policy responds to increases in Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, including for pupils with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.
To strengthen inclusive practice, the department has commissioned evidence reviews from University College London to identify effective strategies for supporting children and young people (0–25) with different types of needs, including SEMH needs.
High-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes. From September 2025, the new Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) will set out a minimum training entitlement for new teachers, with significantly more content on adaptive teaching and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), developed with input from SEND experts
To ensure it remains effective, the department will review the ITTECF in 2027. This will include a focus on teaching pupils with SEND.
The department also offers the Universal Services programme, which supports the school workforce in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND, including those with SEMH needs.
The government will expand Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. By April 2026, we estimate that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.
To support education staff, the department provides guidance and practical resources on promoting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, available here: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including a farm education option in the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Educational access features as part of the wider Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes and we are developing it further as a new 3-year capital item; we expect this to be available later in 2025. It will be a stand-alone capital item, though applicants must have an agri-environment or woodland agreement with management actions for this capital item. In countryside stewardship, currently eligible visitor groups are school age children and care farming groups only, but in the new educational access capital item, more diverse groups of people will be able to visit and benefit from an educational experience on farms and woodland across England.
As part of the development of the new educational access capital item, funding levels were considered, and agreement holders will receive £363 per visit, up to a maximum of 25 visits per agreement year.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the provision of dentistry services in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Camborne and Redruth constituency, this is the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ICB. ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ICB is expected to deliver 10,910 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
ICBs have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. As of 10 April 2025, in England, there are 53 dentists in post with a further 44 dentists who have been recruited but are yet to start in post under this scheme. Another 256 posts are currently advertised.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil in the domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Hydrotreated vegetable oil is a low carbon fuel made from oils and fats, which is used in rail or road transport.
Oils and fats are also used to make a type of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) called HEFA or hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids. HEFA will play a vital role in our aviation decarbonisation journey. The UK is already producing and supplying this type of SAF, and we welcome the further development of this industry. The supply of HEFA SAF is incentivised by the UK’s SAF Mandate, which came into force this year. The SAF Mandate could deliver up to 6.3 megatonnes of carbon savings per year by 2040.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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].
[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
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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.