Sureena Brackenridge

Whilst DSIT hasn’t conducted specific analysis on the impact of small and micro tech companies on the economy, DSIT recognises that these businesses form a large part of the digital sector. Businesses classified as micro or small by employment band made up 91.9% and 6.4% of the businesses in the UK digital sector respectively in 2023. The digital sector as a whole contributed £158.3bn in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2022, 7.2% of total UK GVA.

The school admissions code requires every local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol (FAP), agreed with the majority of the mainstream state-funded schools in its area, to ensure that unplaced and vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.

All admission authorities, including academies, are required to participate in the FAP for their area. This includes admitting pupils when asked to do so in accordance with the Protocol, even if the school is full. Where an admission authority fails to comply with the FAP, they may be directed to do so by the local authority, in the case of maintained schools, and currently by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education in the case of academies.

To further strengthen this framework, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes measures to allow local authorities to not only direct a maintained school to admit a child, but also to direct academies in the same way. It aims to streamline existing direction processes and provide a more robust safety net for vulnerable children, by giving local authorities the levers they need to secure school places for children more quickly and efficiently when the usual admissions processes, including the use of the FAP, have been exhausted.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to grow the economy. Too many young people are struggling to access high-quality opportunities and this government wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships.

The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships to give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working lives whilst supporting the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth.

Foundation apprenticeships will be a work-based offer in broad foundation level occupations that will support young people in key sectors where there are real vacancies and enable them to progress to more occupationally-specific apprenticeships or other vocational training in the sector. Progression routes will be a critical part of the offer. The department will set out more detail on foundation apprenticeships, including the sectors they will be available in, in due course.

The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. We know how challenging it currently is for local authorities to arrange home-to-school travel for all eligible children, and that the cost of doing so has increased in recent years. We are grateful for local authorities’ considerable efforts in ensuring eligible children can continue to get to school.

Most central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement, which is administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The government recognises the challenges local authorities are facing. That is why the Autumn Budget included the announcement of £1.3 billion of new grant funding in the 2025/26 financial year for local government to deliver core services. Together with local income from council tax and business rates, this will provide a real terms increase in core spending power of around 3.2%.

Most of the increase in the cost of home-to-school travel can be attributed to transport for children with special educational needs. This is largely due to an increase in the number of children with education, health and care plans and the number of those children who have to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. This will reduce home-to-school travel costs for local authorities over time.

The department publishes statutory guidance to assist local authorities in meeting their home-to-school travel duties, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance. Departmental officials host bi-monthly online meetings to which all local authority school travel officers are invited to share good practice and seek advice from one another and the department.

Local authorities will continue to fund places at independent special schools for pupils who need them due to their education, health and care (EHC) plan and will be able to reclaim VAT applied to fees.

The Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill provides that private schools that are charities that wholly or mainly provide education for pupils with an EHC plan remain eligible for charitable rates relief. In business rates, wholly or mainly generally means more than 50%. In practice, the government believes that this will ensure most special schools, which predominantly serve pupils with EHC plans, will not be affected by the measure.

Private schools that benefit from the existing rates exemption for properties that are wholly used for the training or welfare of disabled people will continue to do so.

The Government keeps all policies under review and is aware that disabled people continue to report facing inadequate or discriminatory treatment when using taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs).  We recognise the need for quality disability awareness training and the latest guidance issued to all licensing authorities in England confirms our expectation that all drivers undergo such training. The Government continues to consider how to improve the regulation of the sector to enable the provision of safe and accessible services that meet a wide range of passenger needs.

We have carried out an Impact Assessment, which is in the public domain and is available on the Bills Parliament web page. The benefits related to wellbeing in the Impact Assessment are not quantified but are explored through breakeven analysis. The analysis seeks to estimate the non-monetised benefits required to offset the estimated net monetised impacts of the policy.

The bill largely follows the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, which heard from a broad range of stakeholders and views, including service users and carers, to make recommendations to improve people’s experience of the Mental Health Act.

We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. This government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.

I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care.  We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.

Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver a NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.

More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

The Department has a responsibility to work with United Kingdom medicine license holders, to help ensure continuity of supply. We monitor and manage medicine supply at a national level, so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand.

We have inherited ongoing global supply problems that continue to impact medicine availability. We know how frustrating and distressing this can be for patients, and we are working closely with industry, the National Health Service, manufacturers, and other partners in the supply chain to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, to make sure patients can access the medicines they need.

Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the UK and outside of the Government’s control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.

While we cannot always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, and to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing NHS communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

The UK is committed to supporting efforts to promote and protect human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Guinea. We raise human rights issues of concern with the Guinean authorities and provide programme support to local partners, particularly on the rights of women and girls.

The UK is clear about the importance of a return to constitutional order, maintaining good governance and ensuring the rule of law in Guinea. The Minister for Africa discussed this recently with Guinea's Minister for Planning and International Cooperation. We will continue to urge the Government of Guinea to guarantee the rights of all people in Guinea in accordance with its constitution and international standards.

On the 10th September 2024, the Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules.

The MAC has completed a call for evidence which gathered the views of stakeholders and those affected by changes to family rules and saw more than 2,000 responses. The comments received will inform the review being conducted by the MAC.

There have also been representations in the form of parliamentary questions and written correspondence both from members of both houses and members of the public.

On 20 January Members of Parliament took part in a debate regarding the MIR in Westminster Hall.

The findings of the MAC review will be carefully considered by Ministers alongside other representations received.

There will be no changes to the current threshold of £29,000, until the MAC review is complete.

The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people. We will look at these issues carefully and will consider youth homelessness as we develop our long-term, cross-government strategy working with Mayors and councils across the country, to get us back on track to ending homelessness.

The Homelessness Prevention Grant is allocated to councils across England based on local homelessness pressures and is used to meet local needs. Wolverhampton will receive £1,892,940.00 for 2025-26 through the Homelessness Prevention Grant.

Temporary accommodation must be suitable in relation to the applicant and to all members of their household who normally reside with them, or who might reasonably be expected to reside with them. Applicants may ask for a review on request of the housing authority’s decision that the accommodation offered to them is suitable.

The £1.2 billion Local Authority Housing Fund will provide capital funding directly to English councils and is expected to provide up to 7,000 homes by 2026. It will create a lasting asset for UK nationals by building a sustainable stock of affordable housing for local communities. The Local Authority Housing Fund will ease local homelessness pressures, reduce spending on unsuitable B&B accommodation, and provide safe and sustainable housing for those on Afghan resettlement and Ukrainian sponsorship schemes.

The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people. We will look at these issues carefully and will consider youth homelessness as we develop our long-term, cross-government strategy working with Mayors and councils across the country, to get us back on track to ending homelessness.

The Homelessness Prevention Grant is allocated to councils across England based on local homelessness pressures and is used to meet local needs. Wolverhampton will receive £1,892,940.00 for 2025-26 through the Homelessness Prevention Grant.

Temporary accommodation must be suitable in relation to the applicant and to all members of their household who normally reside with them, or who might reasonably be expected to reside with them. Applicants may ask for a review on request of the housing authority’s decision that the accommodation offered to them is suitable.

The £1.2 billion Local Authority Housing Fund will provide capital funding directly to English councils and is expected to provide up to 7,000 homes by 2026. It will create a lasting asset for UK nationals by building a sustainable stock of affordable housing for local communities. The Local Authority Housing Fund will ease local homelessness pressures, reduce spending on unsuitable B&B accommodation, and provide safe and sustainable housing for those on Afghan resettlement and Ukrainian sponsorship schemes.

The government are committed to introducing Awaab’s Law to the social rented sector, setting new time limits for social landlords to fix dangerous hazards which can have a serious impact on the health of residents, including damp and mould. We are working with social housing providers and other stakeholders to determine how we best implement Awaab’s Law. We will develop new guidance for landlords and residents on the new duties under the forthcoming regulations.