Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the action relating to a specialised service for patients with very severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was included in the Final Delivery Plan without full consideration of system constraints affecting its implementation.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure integrated care boards are accountable for commissioning effective services for patients with very severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome until the nationally commissioned specialised service is introduced.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has made on moving decisions on youth services funding to local communities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Youth Strategy includes a shift from ‘national to local’ - this means there is a renewed focus on the role, capability, and leadership of local authorities, working closely with local partners. It also means local young people being more involved in funding decisions.
The £70m Local Youth Transformation programme is improving local authorities’ capability to rebuild a high-quality youth offer and develop a network of 50 Young Futures Hubs which will be co-designed by local authorities and young people. Through the Richer Young Lives Fund, we are also investing over £60 million over the next 3 years, enabling local organisations to deliver high-quality youth work and activities.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what incentives are available to employers to support day-release arrangements for young people in further education and apprenticeships; and whether she plans to introduce additional measures to encourage employer participation in such schemes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
T Levels include a substantive industry placement, with 96% of students completing their placement last year.
The Skills for Life campaign raises awareness of T Levels and other training, ensuring businesses understand their value. The department is increasing awareness of T Level industry placements and encouraging employers to take part through a network of T Level ambassadors, a targeted small and medium businesses (SME) campaign, and investing £6.3 million in the employer support fund. As part of the construction skills package, £100 million is committed to support 40,000 industry placements each year for construction learners.
An apprenticeship is a job with a formal programme of off-the-job training. The government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, giving greater flexibility to employers and learners. To support our ambition of 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, we will expand foundation apprenticeships, launch a £140 million pilot with mayors to better connect young people to local apprenticeships, and fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible 16 to 24-year-olds.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a multi-year funding settlement for the further education sector, and what assessment she has made of the potential benefits of a three-year funding cycle for workforce planning and financial sustainability in FE colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education colleges have a number of different funding streams, including funding for 16-19 year-olds.
Funding for 16-19 year-olds is through a lagged funding system whereby the funding for each college is based on its student numbers in the previous year. However, for those institutions with a significant growth in students, the department recognises that there are additional costs and provides in-year growth funding to help with these.
This system allows funding for colleges to respond to changes in their delivery and give them confidence on 16-19 funding in the year ahead. Colleges are informed of their allocations several months before the start of the academic year to help them finalise their financial and workforce planning. Ensuring that funding directly reflects the number of students recruited enables institutions to recruit with confidence, whereas a fixed multi-year funding allocation would not. The department keeps the effectiveness of the funding system under review.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve staff (a) pay and (b) conditions in further education colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.
In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to19 providers in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year.
Across the Spending review period, we will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29. This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to enable the recruitment and retention of excellent staff, including expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.
Targeted Recruitment Incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical shortage subjects, in disadvantaged schools and colleges, including in sixth form colleges. This payment is separate to teachers’ usual pay.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of extending VAT exemption to further education colleges on (a) college finances, (b) learner outcomes and (c) skills provision; and whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on this matter.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
While VAT is a matter for His Majesty’s Treasury, we are aware that the VAT status of providers is an area of interest for the sector. Many public bodies cannot recover the VAT they incur. The government keeps all taxes under review, and any proposals to change the tax system would need to be considered in the context of the broader public finances.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the use of industry specialists within further education colleges to provide masterclasses, staff training and professional development; and whether funding is available to expand such industry-FE partnerships.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the Construction Skills package the department announced that areas with Local Skills Improvement Plans would benefit from £20 million to form partnerships between further education (FE) providers and construction employers, helping boost the number of teachers with construction experience in colleges through a teacher industry exchange scheme. The scheme will launch later this year and will facilitate opportunities for construction professionals to share their expertise in FE settings. This work will inform expansion into other priority sectors.
In addition, through our Taking Teaching Further programme, the department is supporting industry specialists across a range of technical sectors who are interested in teaching in FE. This programme provides funding to FE colleges and independent training providers for initial teacher education courses and early career support for technical experts moving into teaching. We are also working with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation as they pilot a new training offer for industry professionals coming into teaching in the FE sector. This will help industry professionals to receive a solid grounding in the skills and knowledge they need to be effective as teachers of technical and vocational students.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the cost of a standard class annual rail season ticket from Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street in (a) 2010 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold information on the cost of these Annual Season tickets directly. Transport for West Midlands should be able to provide this.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of creating a national fostering strategy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Foster care is one of my top priorities as Minister. The department is already investing £25 million of transformation funding for foster care, which is additional to the £15 million announced at the Autumn Budget covering the 2025/26 financial year. We are already working with over 60% of local authorities in England to transform the way they recruit and retain foster carers.
However, we know we need to go further and faster with recruiting and retaining more carers to create a system which provides the best possible home for children in care.
The department will be setting out a comprehensive package of measures to improve recruitment and retention, increase the number of foster carers, and expand the types of foster care available to meet children's needs. These changes will bring meaningful benefits to thousands of fostered children. We will set out more detail on our planned investments and reforms for fostering in due course.