Sarah Bool

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting UK businesses, including in South Northamptonshire, including those in the manufacturing industry, to grow and export. UK businesses can access DBT's wealth of export support via great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and a wider network of support including the Export Academy, UK Export Finance, the International Markets network and one-to-one support from International Trade Advisers.

As part of our work on a new trade strategy and a small business strategy, we are looking at further proposals to help UK businesses to export more.

Hairdressing salons and barbers, like other employers, are subject to normal business regulations such as health and safety requirements, employer and public liability insurance. The Hairdressers Registration Act of 1964 already provides for a UK register of qualified hairdressers and HMRC will investigate evidence suggesting businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes and Government collaborates closely with law enforcement to monitor criminal behaviour.

The Government has no immediate plans to introduce further regulation of the hair industry, but we will always remain open to evidence

As part of our Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency measures, including those in rural communities.

This includes supporting property owners in England and Wales through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, offering grants up to £7,500 for heat pumps and £5,000 for biomass boilers. This also includes £1.8 billion to support low-income households through the Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.

Additional support is also provided through the Energy Company Obligation which offers insulation and low-carbon heating to GB households.

The Department does not plan to publish a national register of safety incidents and near-misses involving battery energy storage systems (BESS). However, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has developed a publicly available database of global BESS failure incidents. The EPRI database can be accessed here: https://storagewiki.epri.com/index.php/BESS_Failure_Incident_Database

The Government considers that the safety risks posed by BESS are small and well managed under the robust regulatory framework overseen by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This framework requires responsible parties to take measures to ensure health and safety throughout all stages of a battery system’s deployment.

The safety standards framework for BESS is kept under review to respond to changing circumstances. Government, working alongside the industry-led Electricity Storage Health and Safety Governance Group, will continue to monitor events in the sector to ensure that a robust framework is sustained.

The Government considers that the safety risks posed by BESS are small and well managed under the robust regulatory framework overseen by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This framework requires responsible parties to take measures to ensure health and safety throughout all stages of a battery system’s deployment.

The safety standards framework for BESS is kept under review to respond to changing circumstances. Government, working alongside the industry-led Electricity Storage Health and Safety Governance Group, will continue to monitor events in the sector to ensure that a robust framework is sustained.

According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 99% of homes and businesses in the South Northamptonshire constituency can access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps) and over 93% have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection (>1000 Mbps).

To improve this coverage further, CityFibre is delivering a Project Gigabit contract across Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, targeted at bringing gigabit-capable broadband to homes and businesses in hard-to-reach areas that are unlikely to be otherwise reached by suppliers’ commercial rollout. Approximately 1,700 premises in the South Northamptonshire constituency are currently expected to benefit from this contract. The vast majority of these premises are in rural parts of the constituency.

In the South Northamptonshire constituency, Arts Council England has provided over £600,000 of funding between 2021-2025.

This includes 11 awards across combined arts, music and theatre, totalling more than £290,000. “The Play’s The Thing” Theatre Company received £39,366 for their biennial ‘Taking the Stage’ symposium, celebrating the role of women in the performing arts.

Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice has also supported four individual artists with a total of £47,113 across theatre and visual arts. ItsCreative People and Places funding stream has awarded £321,703 per annum to ‘Made with Many’ for 2022-25 – to produce events and activities that put the community at the heart of commissioning artists and producing new and exciting events, through conversations with local people and community decision-making panels.

Since 1994, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded more than £18.2m to 95 projects in South Northamptonshire. Examples of organisations and projects they have supported include £11.6m in support of Silverstone Heritage and a grant of £233,800 supporting much needed repairs to the roof of the Grade I listed All Saints' Church, Middleton Cheney.

Since 2020, Historic England provided £56,000 towards re-roofing the Brewhouse at Sulgrave Manor. They also provided financial support for the Peterborough Diocese Places of Worship Support Officer for 10 years up to 2024 and £4,000 for Weedon Lois Castle site.

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme provide grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship. Since August 2022, a total of £228,640.15 has been awarded to 33 Listed Places of Worship in the South Northamptonshire constituency area.

This year, the Secretary of State also announced a new £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund. This will include support to museums, heritage, arts and music venues across the country and is a critical step that this Government is taking to help create jobs, boost local economies, and expand access to arts, heritage and culture for communities.

The Government is committed to ensuring that communities across the UK benefit from high-quality sports facilities, removing barriers to participation and enabling as many people as possible to be active.

The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

In March, DCMS confirmed an additional £100 million investment in new and upgraded facilities across the UK as part of our Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. Our delivery partner for the programme in England is the Football Foundation, who plan their investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs), which are developed in partnership with local authorities so as to understand the needs of each community. These plans are being updated to better reflect current demand.

Future funding is subject to the ongoing Spending Review process, with further details to follow in due course.

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s educational outcome. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is critical to the government’s opportunity mission and boosting the life chances for every child. This is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new teachers across secondary and special schools and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

We have announced a 4% pay award to school teachers and leaders, accepting in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s pay recommendation and two months ahead of last year.

This comes on top of the 5.5% pay award that we announced last July. We are seeing early improvements in recruitment and retention with over 2,000 more people training to become secondary school teachers this year. Recruitment is also on track to improve further for 2025/26, with 1,070 more acceptances to postgraduate and teacher degree apprenticeship initial teacher training courses in secondary subjects by the end of April 2025, compared to the same time last year. Additionally, over 2,500 more teachers are expected to stay in the profession over the next three years.

We are doing more to continue to improve recruitment and retention, including in rural secondary schools. We have increased funding for training bursaries to £233 million in 2025/26, worth up to £29,000 tax-free. We are also offering scholarships worth up to £31,000 tax free. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department is also offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including rural and coastal areas.

As part of our recruitment and retention strategy, it is vital that we improve the day-to-day experience of teachers and ensure that teaching is once again a respected and attractive profession that teachers remain and thrive in. We are supporting teachers to reduce their workload and improve their wellbeing and enabling greater opportunities for greater flexible working.

The department recognises the essential role that small, rural schools play in their communities. The national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges, including those of providing for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. The NFF lump sum for the 2025/26 financial year is set at £145,100 and provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to pupil-led factors. In addition, eligible (small, rural) primary schools attract up to £57,400, and eligible secondary or all-through schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26 through the NFF.

Where the additional support for a pupil with SEN exceeds £6,000 per annum, the local authority provides the school with extra funding from its high needs budget. The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26, bringing total high needs funding to over £12 billion, to help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting their pupils with complex needs. Of that total, West Northamptonshire Council is being allocated over £79 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £5.5 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs NFF.

I refer the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire to the answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 34828.

The Department for Business and Trade is responsible for the overall policy on shared parental leave, but how it applies in schools specifically is covered by the Burgundy Book, a national agreement negotiated with employers by the six teachers’ organisations. Further information can be found on the Local Government Association website.

The department has no authority or responsibility for the Burgundy Book and, therefore, we are unable to provide any further information on this matter.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life, breaking down the barriers to opportunity.

Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, providing statutory input into education, health and care (EHC) assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND.

As set out in the SEND Code of Practice, when carrying out an EHC needs assessment, local authorities are required to seek psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist, who should normally be employed or commissioned by the local authority.

As the employers of educational psychology services, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that their services are adequately staffed. The department does not hold data on waiting times for the commissioning of educational psychologists.

However, the department is taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline. We are investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.

Although the term “regenerative agriculture” does not have a legal or universally accepted definition, and is used variably, it is based on an understanding that the health of the food system is intrinsically linked to soil health.

Healthy soils that are rich in nutrients and organic matter, abundant pollinators and clean water are essential for sustainable food production. We will support farmers and land managers to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security, support productivity and build resilience to climate change.

Fertiliser product regulation does not fall within the scope of the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.

Fertiliser is a global market. Ensuring a resilient supply chain involves maintaining diverse sources, domestically and through international imports. The UK sources fertiliser from a wide range of countries including the EU. The UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement has not changed this situation.

Work is ongoing in South Northamptonshire to protect biodiversity. The constituency has a number of protected areas that provide for a host of notable habitats and species, from the ancient woodlands of the Whittlewood Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest to the rich wetland systems of the Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection Area.

Farmers are helping to recover nature through Countryside Stewardship schemes, protecting these special sites and creating wildlife corridors, so species can move and colonise new areas.

Defra is buffering and expanding wildlife rich woodlands through grant support for woodland creation and tree cover expansion. And Natural England provides advice to developers and local authorities, to ensure that nature is firstly protected and all opportunities are taken to create new wildlife rich spaces through the planning system.

The Technical Barriers to Trade chapter of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provides the structures to address non-tariff barriers for businesses. Annex 14 to the TCA recognises the equivalence of organic regulations between EU and UK, facilitating trade in organic products. The TCA does not otherwise make binding provision for mutual recognition of technical regulations in relation to agri-food standards, pesticides and fertilisers.

On 19 May, the UK and the EU agreed the principles for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The agreement will cover SPS standards and controls and also wider agrifood rules related to food labelling, organics, and key marketing standards and compositional standards – as well as pesticides. This will further bring down costs for UK businesses by removing the majority of regulatory trade barriers to agrifood trade.

At February’s National Farming Union Conference, the Secretary of State announced a raft of new policies to put money in the pockets of farmers in South Northamptonshire and across the country.

We remain committed to investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget over two years and are on track to do so. This is the highest budget for sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our history.

We will be working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. Further details about the re-formed SFI offer will be announced following the spending review in summer 2025.

We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome; and we are making £110 million available for new grant competitions to support research and innovation, technology and equipment for farmers.

Sections 59 and 60 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 places a duty on local highway authorities and statutory undertakers (including water companies) to co-ordinate works in order minimise inconvenience for road users and for safety. This is supported by the Code of Practice for the Co-ordination of Street and Road Works produced by my Department to ensure that, although there will always be some disruption from road and street works, these are minimised. Where road closures are unavoidable as part of construction of HS2, contractors work closely with relevant local highway authorities to minimise disruption to local communities.

The Government recognises the vital role community transport operators play in connecting people with their communities, enabling access to employment, education, and other essential services such as healthcare.

The Department makes available up to £3.8 million each year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to community transport operators. An uplift of 60% has been added to BSOG claims for community transport operators until 31 March 2026. This means community transport operators will receive £1.60 for every £1 claimed, reflecting the increased costs faced by the sector.

The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December as part of its ambitious plan for bus reform. The Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including in rural areas in South Northamptonshire.

In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council have been allocated £5.2 million and £5.4 million respectively. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.

The Government takes road safety very seriously and reducing those killed and injured on our roads is a key priority. National Highways is currently progressing a safety study on the A5 in South Northamptonshire. The study covers the stretch of the A5 from A508 Roundabout in Stony Stratford to Fosters Booth Junction. Work is funded for the study and early feasibility design phase within the 2025/26 financial year. Funding for the detailed design and on-site implementation would be considered as part of planning the next Road Investment Period.

For the A43, a further three studies are being carried out during the 2025/26 financial year. If a cost-effective improvement that reduces injury collisions is deemed feasible at these sites, funding to deliver the interventions would also be considered as part of setting the next Road Investment Period.

The three study locations are as follows:

• A43 J/W A421 Barleymow Roundabout
• A43 Evenley Roundabout
• A43 J/W C188 Towcester Road Junction

The Government takes road safety very seriously and reducing those killed and injured on our roads is a key priority. National Highways is currently progressing a safety study on the A5 in South Northamptonshire. The study covers the stretch of the A5 from A508 Roundabout in Stony Stratford to Fosters Booth Junction. Work is funded for the study and early feasibility design phase within the 2025/26 financial year. Funding for the detailed design and on-site implementation would be considered as part of planning the next Road Investment Period.

For the A43, a further three studies are being carried out during the 2025/26 financial year. If a cost-effective improvement that reduces injury collisions is deemed feasible at these sites, funding to deliver the interventions would also be considered as part of setting the next Road Investment Period.

The three study locations are as follows:

• A43 J/W A421 Barleymow Roundabout
• A43 Evenley Roundabout
• A43 J/W C188 Towcester Road Junction

The government is reforming jobcentres to better match people with the right jobs and provide employment skills, and career support to individuals including older workers and those in rural areas.

Design elements of the new National Jobs and Careers Service will be tested to develop a service that is effective for local areas, individuals, and employers. The service will cover Great Britain and will adapt to operate differently in each locality to accommodate local systems and needs, including rural regions and reflecting devolution settlements in Scotland and Wales.

DWP currently offers tailored employment support through Jobcentres, including a review of health finances and skills for eligible over 50’s on Universal credit, with an online offer available to all. Our network of 50plus Champions drive localised activity through Jobcentres. In rural communities this includes adapting delivery of employment support, to ensure attendees in rural communities can access information, training courses and job opportunities.

War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Payments are not taken into account in Universal Credit. Guaranteed Income Payments, Service Attributable Pensions and service-attributable, non-taxable Service Invalidity Pensions are also not taken into account. New Style Employment Support Allowance (ESA) disregards any guaranteed income scheme payable under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

In the legacy income-related benefits, e.g. income-related ESA, there is a statutory £10 weekly disregard. However, Local Authorities have discretionary powers fully to disregard ‘war pension’ income in the assessment of Housing Benefit.

The Department has not formally commissioned research into this topic. However, on 14 March 2025, the Environment Agency published the paper, Net zero: Environmental and social implications of energy storage technologies: summary, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-environmental-and-social-implications-of-energy-storage-technologies/net-zero-environmental-and-social-implications-of-energy-storage-technologies-summary

On 3 June 2025, a paper was also placed in the House of Commons library which has details of Battery energy storage systems; this is available at the following link:

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7621/CBP-7621.pdf

Despite the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) not currently undertaking research per se on fires involving lithium ion batteries, UKHSA draws upon previously published Public Health England guidance on products of combustion, for example, Combustion products: a toxicological review, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/combustion-products-a-toxicological-review

In addition, practical guidance has been developed by the Waste Industry Safety and Health forum, Fire Risk and Lithium Batteries at Waste Transfer, Recycling and Recovery Operations, which is available at the following link:

https://www.wishforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/INFO-08.pdf

Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments for children in rural areas, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs, including those in rural areas, and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these. NHS England is also working with research organisations to explore evidence-based models that support improved outcomes for those people waiting for an autism assessment.