Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the adequacy of the provision of British Sign Language teaching in schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

Schools may choose to offer British Sign Language (BSL) as part of their school curriculum, or as an extra-curricular activity. The government does not hold data on the extent to which BSL is currently taught in schools.

The department is in the process of developing a BSL GCSE. The BSL GCSE is a key feature of our commitment to enhancing the status of BSL in education and society. This landmark GCSE is an important step towards greater recognition of BSL as a language and will foster better communication between deaf and hearing communities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has plans to make changes to the rules on public notices for small online news publishers.

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

Public notices are important for ensuring that the public is kept informed of decisions made by their council which may affect their quality of life, local services or amenities, or their property. The independent 2019 Cairncross Review into sustainable journalism found that public notices are also an important source of revenue for local newspapers.

However, the Government is aware of feedback from some sectors about the audience reach of these notices and the desire for greater digitalisation. In this context, the sector’s Public Notice Portal is a welcome innovation, intended to take advantage of print publishers’ growing digital audiences and provide a centralised resource for all types of public notice. We are monitoring the progress of the Portal, and the effect that it has on the audience reach of public notices.

We also welcome the plans for expansion of the Portal, announced in December and funded by the Google News Initiative, including a fully searchable archive and new consultation functions to help public bodies and commercial entities engage with the public more effectively. We consider this type of industry innovation and collaboration to be integral to securing the sector’s future, and will seek to further support and incentivise it through our Local Media Strategy.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, on people with Parkinson's Disease.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

25 years of the Water of Leith visitor centre

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Dr Scott Arthur; Catherine

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur

Found: Jones David Smith Joani Reid Euan Stainbank Jo White Johanna Baxter Jonathan Hinder Dr Scott Arthur