Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made on the number of people with a Plan 3 student loan in England and Wales; and what is the total value of those loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of England‑domiciled borrowers with a Plan 3 student loan was 603,000, rounded to the nearest thousand, and the total value of those loans was £6.521 billion, rounded to the nearest million, as of 31 March 2025.
Education is a devolved matter, and the Welsh Government is responsible for providing equivalent figures for borrowers in Wales.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what measures her Department is taking to support women working in UK science technology, engineering and mathematic sectors.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology recognises the importance of supporting women working in the UK science, technology, engineering and mathematic sectors.
In December 2025, DSIT launched the Women in Tech Taskforce to address the systemic barriers that prevent women from entering, progressing, and leading in the tech sector. In March 2026 DSIT launched a package to get more women into tech, including 300 paid tech placements and support for those returning after a career break. DSIT also announced a TechFirst Girls Competitition and the Women in Tech Taskforce launched a call for evidence on building a more diverse tech sector.
This is on top of major programmes that DSIT supports such as the £187 million TechFirst initiative to support entry into the sector, the CyberFirst Girls annual tech competition, and Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme.
Alongside this, DSIT and UKRI are working to improve retention and career outcomes for women in research. On 11th March, DSIT Secretary of State called on research institutions and funders to do more to support women in research and back a voluntary charter to raise standards and drive culture change. The charter, which will be shaped with employers and funders of researchers, will set a firm expectation that all PhD funders commit to meeting or exceeding UK Research and Innovation’s parental leave offer for doctoral students. It will also agree clear, tangible commitments on other issues like support for those returning to work with caring responsibilities, greater job flexibility and addressing sexual discrimination and harassment.
DSIT have also doubled the government’s support for the Daphne Jackson Trust, who support researchers who have taken a career break, to £4m per year.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for publication of the final findings of the independent maternity services investigation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Baroness Amos has advised that the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation will publish its final report and recommendations in June.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits of increasing the statutory entitlement to paternity leave.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Through the Employment Rights Act, we are making Paternity Leave a ‘day one’ right from 6 April this year. This will bring an extra 32,000 fathers and partners into scope of the entitlement.
The Government also launched the Parental Leave and Pay Review on 1 July 2025, which will consider all existing and upcoming parental leave entitlements, including Paternity Leave and Pay. The Review will conclude in early 2027 with a set of findings in which the Government will outline next steps for taking any reforms forward to implementation.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress his Department has made on improving parental rights for workers in (a) Congleton constituency and (b) Cheshire.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government is dedicated to improving rights for working parents. In April, we are making Unpaid Parental Leave and Paternity Leave day-one rights, as well as introducing Bereaved Partners Paternity Leave.
In 2027, we will further improve protections for pregnant women and those returning from Maternity Leave. These reforms will benefit millions of employees across the country.
We also know that more can be done to support working parents. The ongoing Parental Leave and Pay Review is looking at all parental leave entitlements and will conclude next year, informing our next steps.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will estimate how many four year-olds live in families that would be eligible for Healthy Start vouchers had their child not become ineligible on their fourth birthday.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from low-income households. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA does not hold data relating to children aged four years old and over.
Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the annual cost to the public purse of the Healthy Start scheme; and what proportion of this cost is attributed to (a) administration and (b) payments to families.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Healthy Start is a demand led scheme, and therefore, the cost of the scheme differs from year to year. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) delivers the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. In the financial year 2023/24, the cost to the public purse for the NHSBSA to administer the scheme was £9,620,000.
In the same financial year, the cost to the public purse for payments made to families in receipt of Healthy Start was £86,382,173.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children live in families eligible for Healthy Start vouchers; and how many and what proportion of those children are in receipt of those vouchers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
In April 2025 there were 361,122 people on the digital scheme, and of these there were 328,798 claims supporting children under four years old.
The NHSBSA does not currently hold data on the number of children living in families that are eligible for Healthy Start.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle workplace sexual harassment.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The Office for Equality and Opportunity is working closely with the Home Office to deliver on our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
We are also working with the Department for Business and Trade to progress the Employment Rights Bill. As part of this, we will strengthen protections against harassment and sexual harassment in the course of employment, by introducing three amendments to the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pressurised metered dose inhalers were prescribed by the NHS in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information provided by the NHS Business Services Authority gives the quantities of each medicine dispensed in the community in England. The total number of pressurised inhalers that were dispensed in England from October 2023 to September 2024 was 42.3 million.