Sarah Olney

I have not had any recent discussions with stakeholders about the safety of rehydration clauses in combat sports. It is the responsibility of individual sports and event organisers to determine the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of participants.

The Royal Parks are Crown Land managed on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by The Royal Parks Charity. The policing of the parks is an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police Service, who are in regular contact with The Royal Parks Charity. No discussions have been held between the Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport regarding this matter.

As the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is not responsible for the Royal Parks, it is also assumed that no discussions have been held between that Secretary of State and the Home Secretary.

The government is committed to delivering the expansion of the 30 hours free childcare offer so that from September 2025 eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks of the year, from the term after their child turns 9 months old to when they start school. Accessible and high-quality early education and childcare is a crucial part of giving every child the best start in life, boosting children’s life chances and giving parents work choices.

To be eligible for the working parent entitlement, parents will each need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at National Minimum Wage (£9,518 per year) and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year. This offer aims to support parents to return to work or to work more hours, if they wish. The income eligibility criteria are the same for Tax-Free Childcare.

The £100,000 level was chosen to correspond with Income Tax thresholds and be easily understandable for parents, and only a very small proportion of parents (3.8% of parents of 3 and 4-year-olds in 2023/24) earn over the £100,000 adjusted net income maximum threshold. There are no current plans to change the income threshold for the working parent entitlement or Tax-Free Childcare.

The government is committed to managing public finances in a responsible way by targeting support with childcare towards those who need it the most in order to work. These are the parents for whom childcare support makes a bigger difference to their ability to work, given that childcare costs make up a bigger proportion of their earnings.

However, the universal 15 hours of free childcare offer remains in place for all parents of 3 and 4-year-olds, regardless of parental circumstances, including those who earn over £100,000.

Parents can find out about the government-funded support they are eligible for via the Childcare Choices website: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

For secondary schools, democracy is currently taught through the national curriculum for citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, which covers parliamentary democracy, the key elements of the constitution of the United Kingdom, the power of government and how citizens and Parliament hold it to account. Primary schools can choose to teach citizenship, using non-statutory programmes of study at key stages 1 and 2.

Support for curriculum delivery is available through optional, free and adaptable resources from Oak National Academy (Oak). Oak launched its new curriculum sequences for secondary citizenship earlier this academic year, with the full package of curriculum resources expected to be available by autumn 2025. Oak resources are available here: https://www.thenational.academy/.

The UK Parliament runs educational tours for pupils, youth and community groups to see how Parliament works in action and produces free resources.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport funds the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) to support young people to engage in the democratic process. Every two years, the UKYP runs ‘Make Your Mark,’ a youth vote open to all 11 to 18 year-olds in the UK, for them to be able to vote on what are the most important issues for young people.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, conducted by a group of education leaders and chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The terms of reference were published last July and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review.

The review group will publish an interim report in early spring setting out its interim findings and confirm key areas for further work. Its final report, with recommendations, will be published this autumn. The department will take decisions on what changes to make in light of these recommendations.

The UK funded Biodiverse Landscapes Fund supports developing countries to fight poverty, protect nature, and tackle climate change in six landscapes, spanning 18 countries. In the Andes Amazon landscape, covering parts of Ecuador and Peru, the £12.3 million funding will be targeted to deliver three aims including: strengthening Indigenous Peoples and local community organisations; developing bio-business value chains that drive nature-friendly economic growth; and improving the connectivity and quality of conserved areas. Implementation is through a consortium of international and national organisations led by the global development charity Practical Action, selected through a competitive bid exercise, working in partnerships with the Governments of Ecuador and Peru. It is not possible to give a full breakdown of funding per activity at this stage as this will change over the course of delivering the seven-year programme.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not model flow at gauging stations using drought event return periods. The modelling of flow under a range of climate scenarios is carried out as part of planning by water companies to assess how resilient their supply systems are to droughts. This assessment is set out in their statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP) and Drought Plans.

Thames Water have worked with Water Resources South East (WRSE) regional group to model flow under a range of climate scenarios as a component of regional system simulation modelling which informs their WRMP.

The EA is a statutory consultee for water company WRMPs and reviews the technical analysis undertaken by water companies showing how secure supplies are now (known as the baseline) and what actions are needed to ensure secure supplies in the future.

The EA has reviewed Thames Water’s latest draft WRMP and is satisfied with the company’s evidence provided alongside its latest draft WRMP.

I attended the National Drought Group meeting earlier this month on Wednesday 16 October 2024 where I outlined the pressure climate change is having on our water system and that we need to be prepared for all eventualities. This Government is taking decisive action to improve the resilience of our precious water supplies.

For more information on water resource system modelling completed on behalf of Thames Water see the following links:

wrse-hydrological-modelling-method-statement-november-2022.pdf

method-statement-regional-simulation-model-aug-2021.pdf.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not model how resilient water company owned supply systems are to drought. It is the responsibility of the water companies to ensure that their systems can deliver secure water supplies for customers whilst ensuring they meet their environmental obligations and legal requirements during a drought.

Every 5 years, water companies are required to evidence in their statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP) how they will ensure secure supplies for the next 25 years. This includes consideration of resilience to extreme droughts, population growth, climate change and environmental water needs.

The EA is a statutory consultee for water company WRMPs and reviews the technical analysis undertaken by water companies showing how secure supplies are now (known as the baseline) and what actions are needed to ensure secure supplies in the future. The EA has reviewed Thames Water’s latest draft WRMP and is satisfied with the company’s evidence provided alongside its latest draft WRMP.

I attended the National Drought Group meeting earlier this month on Wednesday 16 October 2024 where I outlined the pressure climate change is having on our water system and that we need to be prepared for all eventualities. This Government is taking decisive action to improve the resilience of our precious water supplies.

For more information on water resource system modelling completed on behalf of Thames Water see the following links:

Library | WRSE - Water Resource South East

method-statement-regional-simulation-model-aug-2021.pdf (wrse.org.uk)

The Environment Agency operates six river flow gauging stations on the River Thames between Reading and Kingston. These are located at Reading, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, Walton and Kingston. The recent daily mean flow at these sites on 11 September 2024 ranged from 12.0 to 28.7 cubic metres per second (m³/s).

River level and flow data can be found via the GOV.UK website: https://environment.data.gov.uk/hydrology.

Public water supply reservoirs are the responsibility of the water companies. The Government has not made such estimates; however we are committed to improving water resilience and we are closely monitoring the delivery of their water resources management plans. Their plans set out how they will continue to provide secure water supplies in the long term.

The government supports airport expansion and has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow. It expects any proposals to be brought forward by the summer and is clear that any scheme must be delivered in line with the UK’s legal, climate and environmental obligations.

TAG, or Transport Analysis Guidance, provides information on the role of transport modelling and appraisal. It is a set of guidance for senior responsible owners, project managers and technical practitioners and focuses on guidance for all modes and any scheme, rather than a specific scheme such as Heathrow Expansion.

My Department seeks to minimise the impact of aviation on people’s health and wellbeing, in the context of other government priorities. My officials are in regular contact on this issue with other government departments and their agencies, including the Department of Health and Social Care sponsored UK Health Security Agency.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is one of the key measures required to decarbonise aviation. The SAF Mandate could deliver up to 6.3 million tonnes of carbon savings per year by 2040.

The SAF Mandate encourages a diverse range of feedstocks and technologies. It also has strict sustainability criteria that SAF must meet to be eligible. SAF must be made from sustainable wastes or residues (such as used cooking oil or forestry residues), recycled carbon fuels (such as unrecyclable plastics), or power to liquid fuels made using low carbon (renewable or nuclear) electricity. This prevents negative environmental consequences such as the loss of biodiversity, deforestation and the clearance of land with high carbon stock (e.g. peatland) that could be associated with the cultivation of raw materials used in SAF production.

The proposed UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS) will be focused on delivering holistic and modernised airspace design for the UK.

As is currently the case, the UKADS would still be required to follow the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA’s) CAP1616 Airspace Change Proposal (ACP) process. CAP1616 sets out how sponsors of airspace change must undertake full, comprehensive environmental assessments for airspace options which are under consideration.

All ACPs must also allow for sufficient consultation to take place with those potentially affected by the proposed changes.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests.

DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection on its public facing booking system to stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing and DVSA continues to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system.

DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs) and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.

In January 2023, DVSA changed its booking service terms and conditions to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, the DVSA has issued 327 warnings, 779 suspensions, and closed 727 business accounts for misuse of its booking service.

The most recent information on processing times for Disability Living Allowance for children was published in the DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 3.5% of Disability Living Allowance for children claims within the planned 40 working day timescale. The next publication of the ARA will include the percentage of claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer.

Although, DWP has seen improvements in processing times across many service lines during 2023-24, continued high demand has meant that the Department’s ability to process claims consistently in a timely manner across all its services has come under considerable pressure, with performance remaining below standard in some areas including in Child DLA where demand has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes. During 2020-21 DWP deferred reviewing existing cases to focus on processing new claims. Since then, the high volumes of both new claims and the deferred renewal work has resulted in longer processing times. Additional resources have been deployed and cases are being cleared in date order to ensure fair customer service.