Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department holds data on how many young people between the age of 16-25, as a percentage of the total and as a total number, are not in education, employment, or training within a) the Whipton South and Heavitree East MSOA, b) the Exeter parliamentary constituency area, and c) within the City of Exeter council area.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
One million young people are not in education, employment or training. The Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.
This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through an expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Job Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and the Jobs Guarantee which will provide a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18-24-year-olds.
The Jobs Guarantee will provide over 90,000 jobs to eligible young people over the next three years. The Department will fully evaluate the scheme, and findings will be published when ready.
No estimates are available of the number or proportion of people aged 16 - 25 years who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in these areas. The survey used to estimate numbers of NEETs has too small a sample to produce robust estimates at these levels.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the level of pupil attendance at a) primary school level and b) secondary school level for the Whipton South and Heavitree East MSOA.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department publishes figures from the school census on pupil absence in England on a termly basis. The most recent published data relates to the full 2024/25 academic year, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2024-25.
The published data includes absence rates by local authority and school. School level data includes identifiers that can be used to link the middle layer super output area for the school using the ‘Get Information About Schools’ website: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
The latest absence release has been available since 26 March 2026.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Healthy Women, Children and Newborns: A Coordinated Approach to Ending Preventable Deaths, published on 6 November 2025, what role the Child Nutrition Fund is playing in her Department’s updated approach to ending preventable deaths.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 18 November to Question 89032, which sets out the UK's approach to improving nutrition for women and children, including our role as a proud co-founder and Board member of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF). The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has disbursed £16.7 million in total to the Child Nutrition Fund since its inception in 2020. Of this £13 million has been disbursed through the Child Nutrition Fund's match window, £1 million through the programme window and £2.7 million through the supplier window.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much of the UK's funding to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) has been disbursed through the CNF's (a) programme window and (b) match window.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 18 November to Question 89032, which sets out the UK's approach to improving nutrition for women and children, including our role as a proud co-founder and Board member of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF). The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has disbursed £16.7 million in total to the Child Nutrition Fund since its inception in 2020. Of this £13 million has been disbursed through the Child Nutrition Fund's match window, £1 million through the programme window and £2.7 million through the supplier window.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of therapeutic food procured through UK Overseas Development Assistance (a) directly by the Government and (b) by third party partners, in the latest year for which information is available.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) does not directly procure therapeutic foods and does not currently hold data on the quantity of therapeutic foods procured by third-party partners using FCDO funds.
Therapeutic foods are primarily procured as part of nutrition-related humanitarian programming. Expenditure on nutrition-related humanitarian programming is captured in the FCDO's annual nutrition accountability reports, which are published 18 months in arrears. The most recent report covers spend from 2022, totalling £238.5 million. This figure which includes funding for food assistance and therapeutic foods, should be viewed as a proxy indicator of the level of investment in such products, rather than a direct measure of procurement. Data on nutrition-related spend for 2023 will be published in Autumn 2025.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to hold discussions with the Reclassification Alliance on the future of medicines reclassification.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) chairs the Reclassification Alliance, a collaborative forum involving the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB), pharmacy bodies and industry stakeholders.
The Alliance was relaunched in July 2023 to explore opportunities for improving the reclassification of medicines in the UK. Although the next meeting has not yet been scheduled, the work of the Alliance remains ongoing. MHRA is working with industry to encourage the application of new therapies for consideration in the over-the-counter setting.
As part of this work, the MHRA has developed an updated reclassification procedure and, in April 2024, published updated reclassification guidance. The MHRA also held a reclassification webinar for industry on 12 November 2024 which focused on the updated procedure and the recently published reclassification guidance.
Further information on the Government’s priorities for reclassification, including the list of conditions and categories identified for potential reclassification, is available at the following link: https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2025/02/05/new-opportunities-to-reclassify-medicines-what-you-need-to-know
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of new technologies on the use of animals in medical research.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to the development of alternatives to using animals in science and will publish a strategy to support their adoption later this year.
We support new technologies and approaches that replace animal use in research including organ-on-a-chip, functional genomics and computer modelling.
The impact of individual technical advancements are a matter for individual regulators to consider.
The Government strategy will facilitate the inclusion and adoption of alternative methods in these regulatory contexts.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 report, published on 28 July 2025, what steps his Department plans to take to support initiatives to close the financing gap for (a) food security and (b) nutrition.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are committed to addressing global food insecurity and malnutrition, this includes working to scale-up finance from diverse sources towards more sustainable, nutritious, and resilient food systems. We leverage financial reforms and systems change through the International Financial Institutions and the UN system, and crowd in private and philanthropic investment. This must be done in partnership. We are supporting global initiatives and new approaches to partnership with the Global South, like the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration to accelerate action and unlock finance. The UK is also a co-founder of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and remains committed to its success. The CNF supports partner governments in scaling up a range of high-impact nutrition interventions, including provision of ready-to-use therapeutic foods for the treatment of wasting.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 report published on 28 July 2005, what assessment he has made of the implications for his his policies of the projection that 512 million people will be chronically food insecure in 2030.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The persisting high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition referenced in the report are deeply concerning. We are committed to addressing these, working alongside partners to address urgent humanitarian need and support long-term solutions for food and nutrition security.
We are working to better prevent crises and reduce reliance on emergency aid through early action and resilience building, last year enabling hundreds of thousands of food-insecure households to build resilience to climate and other shocks.
Through our partnerships, like the ones with the Gates Foundation and CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research), we are investing in science and innovation, helping increase nutritious yields for farmers, while protecting critical ecosystems.
We do this in partnership, supporting global initiatives like the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration to accelerate action and unlock much-needed finance.
Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 by 2030.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are tackling the catastrophic hunger and malnutrition seen in Sudan, Gaza and beyond. We are also working to reduce the need for humanitarian assistance, supporting long-term solutions for food and nutrition security which boost economies and protect the environment. Last year, we enabled hundreds of thousands of food-insecure households to build resilience to climate and other shocks. We have invested in science and innovation for resilient food security in UK and across Africa. Our partnerships with the Gates Foundation and Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) help increase nutritious yields for farmers, while protecting critical ecosystems.