Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated for STEM professional development from April 2025; and how teachers will access this funding.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The following programmes are delivering teacher professional development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the 2024/25 academic year.
The Maths Hub Programme, which is supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, provides school-to-school support on subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers of mathematics. The aim is to raise the standard of mathematics education from reception to age 18 and enhance the quality of mathematics teaching through a collaborative national network of mathematics educational professionals. Teachers can access support by contacting their Maths Hub here: https://www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs/find-your-hub/.
The Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP) provides high quality teacher continuing professional development (CPD) and national support to increase participation and attainment in level 3 Maths. Support is provided across all state-funded schools and colleges in England and prioritises areas of greatest need. Teachers can access support through the AMSP website here: https://amsp.org.uk/.
The mathematics and English 16 to 19 further education (FE) workforce grant supports CPD activity targeted at teachers who teach level 2 and below mathematics and English to 16 to 19 year-olds, including GCSEs and Functional Skills Qualifications (FSQs), in FE settings in line with the Condition of Funding policy. The department is currently running a grant competition to secure new providers.
The Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching programme is a series of blended learning courses, offered for free, covering the key stage 3 and key stage 4 physics curriculum to support non-specialist teachers of physics to enhance their subject knowledge. These are delivered and supported by physics specialists who identify eligible schools across England and include face-to-face sessions, online tutorials and independent learning. Teachers may apply to take part through ‘STEM Learning’, which can be found here: https://www.stem.org.uk/.
The National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) supports teachers through the provision of online CPD, as well as other elements such as industry-led outreach events, a revision platform, programmes to encourage more girls into computing and a self-assessment tool for schools to review their computing provision. Further details of the support offered to teachers can be found at: https://teachcomputing.org/.
Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses support recruitment to initial teacher training in hard-to-recruit subjects with funding currently available in the following STEM subjects: chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics. SKE participants benefit from blended courses tailored to their individual needs to meet the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject, which leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status. Details can be found here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/how-to-apply-for-teacher-training/subject-knowledge-enhancement.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the allied health professional workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan, which will be published in summer 2025, will deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people, including allied health professionals, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need, when they need it.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting the establishment of a medical evacuation scheme for children in Gaza requiring urgent treatment.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have announced £1 million for the Egyptian Ministry of Health, delivered through World Health Organisation (WHO) Egypt, to support medically evacuated Palestinians from Gaza. Israel must ensure sustained passage through the now open Rafah crossing, for those needing treatment unavailable in Gaza, during the first phase of the ceasefire.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to commission research into new cardiovascular treatments.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government, through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) is committed to funding high quality, timely research that leads to improved outcomes for patients and the public and makes the health and social care system more efficient, effective, and safe. Research evidence is vital for improving treatments and outcomes for people, including those with cardiovascular disease.
The Department is proud to invest £1.5 billion per year on health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Over the past five financial years between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the NIHR has invested £145.4 million on cardiovascular disease and stroke research directly through NIHR research programmes. Our wider investments in NIHR infrastructure, including strengthening specialist facilities, workforce, and support services to enable research in the health and care system, have enabled significant cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke research funded by other funders to take place.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including CVD. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of women’s health hubs on health disparities in the treatment of (a) endometriosis, (b) polycystic ovary syndrome, (c) other menstrual health conditions and (d) other women’s healthcare.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women’s health hubs bring together healthcare professionals and existing services to provide integrated women’s health services in the community, centred on meeting women’s needs across their life course. Hubs have potential to have a positive impact on reducing inequalities in treatment of menstrual health conditions including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham, RAND, and the Cambridge Rapid Evaluation Centre conducted a scoping evaluation of women’s health hubs established between 2001 and 2022. The report was published in September 2024, and it identified reducing inequalities and improving quality of care as key aims of women’s health hub pilots. The report found that hub leaders were committed to reducing inequalities and many were implementing strategies to do so, but noted that evidence on hub benefits was still evolving.
The report highlights that the impact on inequalities could be determined through a set of measures, one of these being diagnosis for conditions such as endometriosis. The report is available at the following link:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/JYFT5036/#/abstract
The Department has invested £25 million over 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the establishment of at least one pilot women’s health hub in every integrated care system, with one of the aims being to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. Care for menstrual problems, including PCOS and endometriosis, is included as a core service for these pilot hubs.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of spending on international aid on the effectiveness of his Department's steps to tackle (a) hunger and (b) poverty.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are committed to a modernised approach to international development, based on a reconnected Britain, with a strong focus on poverty and hunger. We will reset our relationship with the global South, founded on genuine respect and partnership to support our common interests.
In [my/her] first international visit, [I/the Minister for Development] travelled to Rio to endorse the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. And on 22 August, [I/the Minister for Development] announced an additional £15 million of vital assistance to Sudan, South Sudan and Chad to support vulnerable people forced to flee violence and seek safety. This funding will provide food parcels for 145,000 people in Sudan and around 60,000 vulnerable refugees in Chad. Displaced people in South Sudan will also receive critical nutrition services for children under 5 and their caregivers.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department plans to take to improve (a) public transportation links, (b) road maintenance and (c) other transport infrastructure in Dudley constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Dudley constituency will benefit from a number of Department for Transport projects. These include the substantial projects of the new Dudley bus and Metro Interchange, and the first phase of the Wednesbury Metro tram extension to Dudley. These are both under construction.
In addition, Dudley Council is benefitting from Highways Maintenance funding for its local road maintenance and pothole programme.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to tackle pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
NHS England is delivering a range of interventions that are expected to improve early diagnosis and treatment for patients with suspected and diagnosed pancreatic cancer. For early diagnosis, this includes providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those patients at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer, and diagnose cancers sooner. New pathways are being created to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types. General practice direct access to diagnostic tests is also being increased.
To improve the consistency of access to treatments, NHS England is funding an audit into pancreatic cancer which aims to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first report is expected in October 2024.
NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time programme has also appointed a team of five specialist clinicians to lead a national review into services for pancreatic cancer patients in England. The workstream supports the delivery of the Optimal Care Pathway, a Pancreatic Cancer UK-led initiative which has brought together 300 health professionals and people affected to agree on how standards of diagnosis, treatment, and care of those patients with pancreatic cancer and their families can be improved, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve the (a) availability and (b) quality of physical rehabilitation services in Dudley.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that the National Health Service and social care face many challenges, including in the area of physical rehabilitation services. We need to have effective rehabilitation services available when people need them to help them recover and return to their day-to-day activities and regain their quality of life. Physical rehabilitation services are a key element of Dudley’s Better Care Fund (BCF) plan developed by the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. The ICB and the council have jointly commissioned a new Short-Term Assessment and Reablement Service (STARS) designed to support timely discharge from hospital. In addition, health and social care partners in Dudley are developing a comprehensive plan for rehabilitation, reablement and recovery following discharge from hospital.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) improve university access for students from underrepresented backgrounds and (b) tackle financial barriers faced by such students.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government will support the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, regardless of their background.
Too many people across our country do not get the opportunity to succeed. The government will act to change this.
The government recognises that UK higher education creates opportunity, is a world-leading sector in our economy and supports local communities. The government is committed to a sustainable funding model, which supports high value provision thereby powering opportunity and growth and meeting the skills needs of the country.