Shockat Adam

The requirement for an export licence for military goods is set out in the Export Control Order 2008. Export licence applications for all controlled goods are rigorously assessed on a case-by-case basis against strict assessment criteria, the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria.

Where licence applications include items that are not covered by the 2008 Order, exporters can be informed that no licence is required.

Department officials have met with City Council officers on several occasions to understand their public library proposals, as well as their consultation plans and to remind the Council of its statutory duty. This included a meeting on 24th March 2025. The City Council’s consultation on ‘Proposals for Leicester city libraries and community centres’ opened on 2nd April 2025.

The guidance set out in Libraries as a Statutory Service encourages, but does not mandate, councils to inform the department when it is considering changing its library service, before public engagement or consultation.

DCMS has carried out a range of work to research the impact of arts and creativity upon health. For instance, through the Culture and Heritage Capital (CHC) Programme, the Department has recently published a new study that monetises the impact of culture and heritage engagement on health and wellbeing. This draws on evidence for a range of groups, including children and young people. While the report is not specifically about children from socially deprived communities, its findings are striking. For example, one model within the research finds that general engagement with culture and heritage for adults aged 30-49 has annual health and wellbeing benefits worth £992 per person and £8bn to wider society each year. Specifically for children, another model finds that participating in art can have benefits worth £134 per child per year in terms of improvements to quality of life and self esteem, worth £120mn per year to society.

The research highlights one of the many reasons that Government invests to support arts and creativity, including activity with children and young people. For example, one third of organisations supported through Arts Council England's National Portfolio Investment Programme (334 Organisations) report that they deliver “creative health” activity, including 121 who support the health of children and young people.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people. Statutory Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Teacher induction training must cover adaptive teaching and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and this includes training which would support effective teaching of neurodiverse pupils.

The department has reviewed the content for the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, adding significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting and improving inclusivity for pupils with SEND.

From September 2025, the department has also enhanced the requirement on providers of Early Career Teacher training to develop, in conjunction with educational experts, SEND specific training materials.

The government is expanding the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, providing neurodiversity training to teachers and staff in a further 1200 mainstream primary schools.

The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential and have committed to a full review of the Early Career Teacher Entitlement in 2027.

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.

Ofsted publishes data on the numbers of all types of providers joining and leaving the sector each year. Some caution is required in using the numbers because, for example, a nursery may resign one registration and immediately register new provision. Please also note that this data was released under the previous government:

Note that from 2019/20, the numbers of annual joiners and leavers are calculated by comparing the beginning of the year to the end. Therefore, the numbers of providers joining and leaving from 2019/20 are not comparable with the figures up to 2018/19.

Ofsted’s most recent publication shows the number of places available increased by 12,100 (1%) between August 2023 and August 2024. The department’s projections on demand for places are not published by region but show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September 2025, with the highest uplift being in some of the most disadvantaged areas.

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.

Ofsted publishes data on the numbers of all types of providers joining and leaving the sector each year. Some caution is required in using the numbers because, for example, a nursery may resign one registration and immediately register new provision. Please also note that this data was released under the previous government:

Note that from 2019/20, the numbers of annual joiners and leavers are calculated by comparing the beginning of the year to the end. Therefore, the numbers of providers joining and leaving from 2019/20 are not comparable with the figures up to 2018/19.

Ofsted’s most recent publication shows the number of places available increased by 12,100 (1%) between August 2023 and August 2024. The department’s projections on demand for places are not published by region but show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September 2025, with the highest uplift being in some of the most disadvantaged areas.

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.

Ofsted publishes data on the numbers of all types of providers joining and leaving the sector each year. Some caution is required in using the numbers because, for example, a nursery may resign one registration and immediately register new provision. Please also note that this data was released under the previous government:

Note that from 2019/20, the numbers of annual joiners and leavers are calculated by comparing the beginning of the year to the end. Therefore, the numbers of providers joining and leaving from 2019/20 are not comparable with the figures up to 2018/19.

Ofsted’s most recent publication shows the number of places available increased by 12,100 (1%) between August 2023 and August 2024. The department’s projections on demand for places are not published by region but show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September 2025, with the highest uplift being in some of the most disadvantaged areas.

It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.

In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.

To set early years funding rates, we uplift the national average rate from the previous year taking into account cost pressures facing the sector, including forecasts of average earnings and inflation, and the National Living Wage. We use the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF includes a base rate for each child, which is the same minimum funding for every child no matter where they live or whether they have additional needs. This rate is based on the core costs of childcare provision and has been informed by the cost of childcare review.

To make sure we can account for the differences in costs across the country, such as on staffing and premises costs, we also apply an area cost adjustment for each area. This approach only increases funding, it never reduces the base rate or additional needs funding.

The average hourly funding rate provided for 3 and 4-year-olds since 2018 is as follows:

Regular updates ensure the Child Maintenance Service's systems comply with policy. Each change follows industry standards, including thorough testing before and after implementation. The core principles for calculating Child Maintenance have remained largely unchanged since 2012, with no current system defects affecting these calculations.

The Department for Work and Pensions rigorously monitors accuracy, with the National Audit Office setting a target of monetary value errors under 1%. This standard is consistently met.

The Independent Case Examiner’s office investigated 2,142 Child Maintenance Service (CMS) cases over the last 5 complete reporting years, broken down as follows:

The Independent Case Examiner’s office does not hold the information to provide a response to parts (b) and (c) of the question.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in.

The calculation represents an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount that a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them, irrespective of the income or assets of the receiving parent.

The CMS will assess how much the paying parent should pay the receiving parent, which in most cases is based on a percentage of the paying parent's gross annual income. The income of the receiving parent is not taken into consideration as they are already contributing as the child's primary caregiver and their income should not remove the responsibility of a paying parent to support their child.

A review is ongoing to look again at the child maintenance calculation to ensure it is fit for purpose and fair for both parents in light of societal changes since it was last looked at.

Employment programmes such as the Restart Scheme and the Work and Health Programme currently use multi-year funding to ensure the Department secures value for money and delivers employment support that is cost effective.

The Department is also working with local areas in England and Wales to deliver the manifesto commitment to enable local areas to shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer for local people. This will start with multi-year funding to expand the availability of a new national supported employment programme with an offer shaped around local priorities. This new programme will help disabled people, those with health conditions and those with complex employment barriers to find and fulfil their potential to work.

The main costs for these programmes and their providers are staffing, estates and digital infrastructure, all of which would be higher for single year than for multi-year funded programmes due to a combination of set-up and recruitment costs being absorbed over lower volumes and costs of temporary staff, short leases and other provider costs being higher generally.

The benefits of multi-year funded programmes include reduced costs, increased value for money and positive returns to the Exchequer.

The Government’s Eatwell Guide already advises that people should eat more fruit, vegetables, and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less processed meat, and less food and drink that is high in sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt.

The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the NHS.UK website and Government social marketing campaigns. For example, the Better Health Healthier Families website and the Healthy Steps email programme, which aims to help families with primary aged children in England to eat well and move more.

The range of actions that have already been taken to create a healthier environment to help children reduce their consumption of processed foods that are high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and to improve access to affordable, minimally processed foods, include:

- the Healthy Start scheme, which supported over 361,000 people in April 2025;

- the Nursery Milk Scheme, which provides a reimbursement to childcare providers in England and Wales for a daily 1/3 pint portion of milk to children and babies; and

- the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, which provides approximately 2.2 million children in Key Stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables per day at school.

In relation to foods and drinks high in calories, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, work on our commitments is progressing through:

- implementing the television and online advertising restrictions for less healthy food or drink;

- consulting on plans to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old; and

- giving local authorities stronger, clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools and where young people congregate.

National Health Service planning guidance for 2025/26 includes a focus on improving care for people with a learning disability and autistic people and contains the objective to deliver a minimum 10% reduction in the use of mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people in 2025/26. As part of operational planning, each integrated care board (ICB) is expected to: reduce the number of adults with a learning disability, including those who may also be autistic, in mental health inpatient care by 20% from a 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2026; and reduce the number of autistic adults, with no learning disability, in mental health inpatient care by 20% from a 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2026.

The baseline is from Assuring Transformation data and was extracted from 31 March 2024. The expectation is that ICBs will have been working towards achieving a 10% reduction from the 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2025 and will build on this during 2025/26. They are therefore expected to achieve a 20% reduction from the 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2026.

National Health Service planning guidance for 2025/26 includes a focus on improving care for people with a learning disability and autistic people and contains the objective to deliver a minimum 10% reduction in the use of mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people in 2025/26. The baselines being used to measure progress against operational planning guidance are: adults with a learning disability, including those who may also be autistic, in mental health inpatient care as of 31 March 2024, based on Assuring Transformation data extracted from 31 March 2024; and adults who are autistic, with no learning disability, in mental health inpatient care as of 31 March 2024, based on Assuring Transformation data extracted from 31 March 2024.

The expectation is that integrated care boards will have been working towards achieving a 10% reduction from the 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2025, and will build on this during 2025/26. They are therefore expected to achieve a 20% reduction from the 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2026.

The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to preventing and managing conditions such as glaucoma in all parts of the country. More tests and scans delivered in the community and better joint working between services will support the management of conditions, including glaucoma, closer to home.

The plan will draw directly from the extensive engagement we have undertaken with the public, patients, and staff, including in the eye care sector. We are in the final stages of working on the plan and will publish it shortly.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will continue to play a crucial role in evaluating new medicines, medical devices, and other technologies, to determine their clinical and cost-effectiveness, before recommending them for NHS use.

Regular sight tests play a crucial role in the early detection of glaucoma, which is often symptomless in the early stages. Free National Health Service sight tests are available for many, including individuals diagnosed with glaucoma or those aged 40 years old and over with a close family history of glaucoma. Patients with suspected glaucoma will be referred for further investigation, any clinically necessary treatment, and ongoing monitoring, which can delay its progression.

NHS England has been testing how IT connectivity between primary and secondary eye care services and the development of a single point of access could improve the referral and triage of patients, reducing the time from referral to treatment. It could also allow for more patients to be managed closer to home, within community optometry. This could benefit all patients with eye care needs, including those with suspected or diagnosed glaucoma.

I condemn all forms of political violence in the strongest terms. Our thoughts are with all those affected. The Foreign Secretary speaks often to Secretary Rubio, who knows he has our full support on this issue.

The UK's long-standing policy is that any determination as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent national or international court. There has been no such determination for Darfur. Irrespective of any such determination, it is clear that atrocities have been committed in this conflict, which the UK condemns. The UK is committed to securing accountability for those responsible. The UK is strongly supporting the humanitarian response in Sudan. The Foreign Secretary visited the Chad-Sudan border in January to see first-hand the impact the UK's recent £113 million aid uplift is making, including providing emergency food assistance to nearly 800,000 displaced people. The Foreign Secretary will soon be hosting a conference in London to mark the two-year point in the Sudan conflict, where we aim to make collective progress on improving the humanitarian response.

As the Foreign Secretary said on 13 January, Israeli legislation means the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) faces a cliff edge in its ability to support Palestinian refugees across the West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA plays a vital role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza and enabling the broader international response through its logistics and distribution network. We remain opposed to the legislation, and unequivocally reject attempts to undermine or degrade UNRWA. The Foreign Secretary raised our concerns on 13 January with Foreign Minister Sa'ar, during his visit to the region. The Minister for Development set out our concerns with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Haskel on 4 December, and the Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories also raised this with the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs on 23 January.

As the Foreign Secretary said on 13 January, Israeli legislation means the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) faces a cliff edge in its ability to support Palestinian refugees across the West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA plays a vital role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza and enabling the broader international response through its logistics and distribution network. We remain opposed to the legislation, and unequivocally reject attempts to undermine or degrade UNRWA. The Foreign Secretary raised our concerns on 13 January with Foreign Minister Sa'ar, during his visit to the region. The Minister for Development set out our concerns with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Haskel on 4 December, and the Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories also raised this with the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs on 23 January.

Supporting British nationals travelling and living overseas who request consular assistance is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). However, the personal safety of British Nationals overseas does not fall within the jurisdiction of the FCDO, as this is the responsibility of the individual and local authorities. We provide information and guidance in our Travel Advice on the issues most likely to be of relevance to British nationals visiting or living in each country/territory for them to consider such as entry requirements, the security situation and local laws & customs.

The government remains committed to restoring ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow. As set out at Budget, the OBR’s latest forecast shows that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within the Parliament. The government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm whether a return to spending 0.7% GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast. We will remain one of the most generous donors amongst the G7.

Facial recognition is an important tool that assists the police in protecting the public, and identifying the perpetrators of crime, and we want to ensure that we maximise the potential of that technology to support our Safer Streets mission.

At the same time, we recognise the importance of ensuring that facial recognition technology operates on a firm footing, and I have been meeting with the police, regulators, civil society groups, industry and others to discuss this matter carefully.

We will continue to have those discussions, and I will be meeting with MPs and Peers in the coming weeks.

The financial requirements for the Family Immigration Rules include the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) which is currently set at £29,000 and is intended to maintain the economic wellbeing of the UK whilst respecting family life.

The Home Secretary has announced her intention to commission the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules.

Conducting a review of the financial requirements across the family routes will ensure we have a clear and consistent system. There will be no changes to the current threshold of £29,000, or the ways in which the MIR can be met, until the MAC review is complete.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to his Question 60404 on 24 June, where I answered:

The UK Armed Forces provided various forms of military training to around 120 countries in 2023- 24 and 140 countries in 2024-25. Our training provision is tailored to the specific needs of Allies and partners, spanning several branches across the Services to provide the relevant expertise needed. In the interests of national security and upholding trust and confidentiality with our international partnerships, it is not appropriate to provide a detailed breakdown of these countries, or the nature of that training. All training is carried out in adherence to International Humanitarian Law.

The UK Armed Forces provided various forms of military training to around 120 countries in 2023-24 and 140 countries in 2024-25. Our training provision is tailored to the specific needs of Allies and partners, spanning several branches across the Services to provide the relevant expertise needed. In the interests of national security and upholding trust and confidentiality with our international partnerships, it is not appropriate to provide a detailed breakdown of these countries, or the nature of that training. All training is carried out in adherence to International Humanitarian Law.

The Ministry of Defence keeps under careful consideration its policy on training being provided in the UK.

Fewer than five IDF personnel are currently enrolled in non-combat military academic courses in the UK.

The Ministry of Defence’s provision of assistance to foreign armed forces is assessed carefully on a case-by-case basis.UK training courses promote British values, including human rights, democracy and compliance with international humanitarian law.

Pursuant to the answer provided to Question 56822, there is no cost to the Ministry of Defence for Israel Defence Force personnel on UK training courses. The numbers are fewer than five people and I can confirm these are academic, non-combat education courses.