Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to ensure the availability of rehabilitation treatment for people with (a) drug and (b) alcohol dependencies in (i) Slough constituency and (ii) Berkshire.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Drug and alcohol treatment is funded through the Public Health Grant. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced very shortly. The Department will write directly to each local authority to set out indicative allocations for 2025/26, which will be subject to departmental and HM Treasury approvals, so final allocations could vary. We understand the importance of funding certainty for informing local system’s operational decision making and future planning, and we are engaging with commissioners and providers on this.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in the first half of 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.

The Department is focused on supporting local areas to deliver high quality drug and alcohol treatment services, including in the Slough constituency and Berkshire. This includes additional investment in 2024/25 in the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems of £950,455 in Slough, and £1,860,131 in the wider Berkshire area, through a range of specific grants. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has also produced a Commissioning Quality Standard which provides guidance in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services, and a range of wider guidance and data that will support the delivery of high-quality treatment and recovery services. Further information on the Commissioning Quality Standard is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps this Department is taking to reduce (a) drug- and (b) alcohol-related deaths.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Drug-related deaths are tragically at record highs, especially in deprived areas. We are committed to tackling this problem through working across health, policing, and wider public services. For example, we recently took legislative action to expand access to naloxone, meaning more services and professionals are able to supply this life-saving opioid overdose antidote medication.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced very shortly.

Alcohol-specific deaths are also at the highest rates on record, having increased dramatically during the pandemic. Through our mission-driven Government, we will prioritise actions targeted at reversing this trend. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, over £30 million of national funding has been invested between 2019 and 2025, on an ambitious programme to establish new, or optimise existing, Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in the 25% hospitals with the highest need, which is 47 out of 188 eligible sites in England. ACTs identify people in hospital whose ill health is related to alcohol use, commence treatment for alcohol dependence, and refer to community alcohol treatment on discharge.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has an action plan to reduce drug and alcohol-related deaths. In light of the recent data, this plan will be reviewed to ensure that it is grounded in the latest understanding of the drivers of drug and alcohol related deaths, and is responding to these. In addition, earlier this year the Department published guidance for local authorities and their partnerships on how to review adult drug and alcohol-related deaths and near-fatal overdoses to prevent future deaths. This is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-drug-and-alcohol-deaths-partnership-review-process

Through our Health Mission, the Government has committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across Government to understand how best to reduce alcohol-related harms. The OHID, with the support of partners from the devolved administrations, has developed the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment, which are expected to be published in the coming months. The aim of the guidelines is to promote and support good practice and improve quality of service provision, resulting in better outcomes.

Education on drug use is an essential part of harm reduction and prevention and is a statutory component of relationship, sex, and health education in England. Lesson plans and other resources to support teachers are being updated, and there will be increased emphasis on the risks of synthetic drugs. The Department has worked with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association to develop the lesson plans on alcohol and drugs, and has commissioned an update of the resources to be published later this year. The Government also has an alcohol and drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce alcohol and drug use and its harms by providing information and increasing awareness for young people, parents, and concerned others. Further information on Talk to FRANK is available at the following link:

https://www.talktofrank.com/

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 raise awareness of the harms of (a) drug and (b) alcohol misuse.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Drug-related deaths are tragically at record highs, especially in deprived areas. We are committed to tackling this problem through working across health, policing, and wider public services. For example, we recently took legislative action to expand access to naloxone, meaning more services and professionals are able to supply this life-saving opioid overdose antidote medication.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced very shortly.

Alcohol-specific deaths are also at the highest rates on record, having increased dramatically during the pandemic. Through our mission-driven Government, we will prioritise actions targeted at reversing this trend. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, over £30 million of national funding has been invested between 2019 and 2025, on an ambitious programme to establish new, or optimise existing, Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in the 25% hospitals with the highest need, which is 47 out of 188 eligible sites in England. ACTs identify people in hospital whose ill health is related to alcohol use, commence treatment for alcohol dependence, and refer to community alcohol treatment on discharge.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has an action plan to reduce drug and alcohol-related deaths. In light of the recent data, this plan will be reviewed to ensure that it is grounded in the latest understanding of the drivers of drug and alcohol related deaths, and is responding to these. In addition, earlier this year the Department published guidance for local authorities and their partnerships on how to review adult drug and alcohol-related deaths and near-fatal overdoses to prevent future deaths. This is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-drug-and-alcohol-deaths-partnership-review-process

Through our Health Mission, the Government has committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across Government to understand how best to reduce alcohol-related harms. The OHID, with the support of partners from the devolved administrations, has developed the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment, which are expected to be published in the coming months. The aim of the guidelines is to promote and support good practice and improve quality of service provision, resulting in better outcomes.

Education on drug use is an essential part of harm reduction and prevention and is a statutory component of relationship, sex, and health education in England. Lesson plans and other resources to support teachers are being updated, and there will be increased emphasis on the risks of synthetic drugs. The Department has worked with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association to develop the lesson plans on alcohol and drugs, and has commissioned an update of the resources to be published later this year. The Government also has an alcohol and drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce alcohol and drug use and its harms by providing information and increasing awareness for young people, parents, and concerned others. Further information on Talk to FRANK is available at the following link:

https://www.talktofrank.com/

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to tackle money laundering through cryptocurrencies, in the context of the National Crime Agency's Operation Destabilise investigations.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

Cryptoassets can be used illicitly or to launder the proceeds of crime. In April 2024, new powers came into force to search, seize and detain cryptoassets from criminal conduct or terrorist activity or cryptoassets that will be used in criminal conduct or terrorist activity.

Directed by the Economic Crime Plan 2 (and supported by an Economic Crime Levy funding) law enforcement are investing in improving both their capacity and capability in relation to the investigation of the criminal use of cryptoassets. This includes:

· Investing in specialist capability in the NCA and partner agencies, including the recruitment of an additional 475 Financial Crime investigators (280 currently in post) and developing improved crypto track and trace capability which will go live in December 2025.

· Funding public-private crypto collaboration teams in police forces and ROCUs through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme

· New training and upskilling that has been rolled out to improve law enforcement officers' understanding of cryptoassets, supported by the provision of specialist tooling (i.e. blockchain analytics tools).

· Building a new crypto-specific public/ private partnership within the existing Joint Money Laundering Taskforce structure in order to understand the threat and enable various joint initiatives (including around data sharing). Developing a multi-agency operational crypto cell to ensure that knowledge and abilities in investigating cryptoassets are pooled together, and that all available tools and powers are exploited efficiently.

Designing a system-wide strategy, with an accompanying roadmap of activities required to prevent and disrupt digital asset-enabled crime impacting the UK. The focus is on ensuring system co-ordination and collaboration, keeping the public / consumers safe, effectively disrupting criminals through robust enforcement and building global cooperation to effectively share information and improve consistency in regulatory standards.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support policing in Anguilla.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Working in partnership with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the Home Office continues to provide a range of support to the Royal Anguilla Police Force (RAPF) and this has included development of Anguilla’s crime scene investigation capabilities. Additional training on strengthening Anguilla’s international ports of entry has also been provided to RAPF, Anguilla’s Immigration Department and Customs Department.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve recycling rates.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The collection and packaging reforms as a whole will increase recycling and reduce our reliance on imported and virgin materials. These reforms are estimated to increase the municipal recycling rate in England from around 44% in 2024 to over 55% in 2035, mostly driven by Simpler Recycling.

Simpler Recycling in England will reform the recycling system. Across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school, putting an end to the confusion over what can and cannot be recycled in different parts of the country.

Under pEPR, producers who pay fees to cover household packaging disposal costs will have their fees modulated (varied) from the second year of pEPR (2026/27). Producers who use unrecyclable packaging (such as polystyrene or black plastic), will have their fees increased, thereby incentivising them to use packaging that can be recycled easily.

The Deposit Return Scheme will complement the other collection and packaging reforms to help drive recycling levels, reduce littering, and promote a circular economy.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is she taking increase school attendance among children who are living in poverty.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Today, 4.3 million children are living in poverty in this country. Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper.

To support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils, pupil premium funding in the 2024/25 financial year has increased to over £2.9 billion. Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) or have been recorded as eligible in the past six years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM), as well as children who are looked after by the local authority or have been adopted from or left care. In line with the pupil premium Menu of Approaches, schools can spend their pupil premium on evidence-based strategies to support attendance.

This government will ensure school is the best place to be for every child, with free breakfast clubs in primary schools so that every child is on time and ready to learn, better mental health support through access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, and inclusion for children with special educational needs and disabilities within mainstream settings right across the age range.

Backed by £15 million, the department is also expanding its investment into attendance mentoring to reach 10,000 more children and cover an additional ten areas. These attendance mentors will provide one-to-one targeted support for persistently and severely absent pupils.

There is an absence epidemic in this country, with one in five children persistently absent. The department’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ statutory guidance sets a clear expectations that where pupils face additional barriers which affect their attendance, schools should work with these families and put support in place to help them to attend. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf. Where the barriers are outside of the school’s control, all local partners should work together to support pupils and parents to access support to ensure regular attendance.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children living in relative poverty are not eligible for free school meals.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The new government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.

The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty and widening attainment gaps between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies in assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty.

A formal assessment has not been made of the number of children living in relative poverty who are eligible to receive FSM. As with all policies, the government keeps the approach to FSM under review.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2024 to Question 15113 on Veterans: LGBT+ People, which recommendations have not been implemented.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

To date, the Government has implemented 38 of Lord Etherton’s 49 recommendations. Of those that remain, six are for Defence: recommendation 3 – the restoration of rank lost due to the Ban; recommendation 17 – a memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum; recommendation 26 – the qualification of administrative discharge; recommendations 28 and 29 – financial recognition, and recommendation 44 – improving women veterans’ access to support, welfare and other Services. The remaining five recommendations are for the National Health Service England: recommendations 31, 35, 36, 38 and 42.

The Government has accepted the intent behind all of Lord Etherton’s recommendations and remains committed to implementing them in a timely manner. This Government will also provide full Parliamentary scrutiny on the Government’s response to the Review.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to make recycling (a) easier and (b) cheaper for local authorities.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Simpler Recycling in England will reform the recycling system. Across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school, putting an end to the confusion over what can and cannot be recycled in different parts of the country.

We recognise that local circumstances differ across the country, and so we are making sure that councils and other waste collectors have flexibility where appropriate to make the best local choices. On 29 November we confirmed that local authorities and other waste collectors will not be required to collect waste in seven separate streams and will be able to co-collect some streams by default.

Local authorities currently fund the collection and management of household packaging waste through locally raised revenues and funding from central government. Under packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR), the efficient costs of managing and recycling packaging waste will transfer to businesses who make and use packaging.

We have already provided £258 million of capital funding and will also be covering transitional resource costs and ongoing service costs.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2024 to Question 14865 on British Council: Finance, what the planned expenditure of the British Council is for 2024/25.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The British Council's Corporate Plan for 2024/25 sets out its projected expenditure as £1,069.5 million and projected total income as £1,047.5 million.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the APPG report entitled Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance Report 2019: Why families in the UK deserve better and what can be done, whether his Department has taken steps to implement the recommendations of that report.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) engaged with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance following the publication of its report on 2 November 2019. The report's recommendations were taken into consideration in the development of the 2022 Consular Strategy. FCDO consular staff are available to offer appropriate and tailored support to British nationals and their families, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. The support we can provide is set out on GOV.UK in Support for British nationals abroad. The FCDO seeks continuously to improve our processes and services by acting on feedback and reviewing what we do.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his Department's procedures are for informing relatives when a British national dies abroad in (a) non-suspicious and (b) suspicious circumstances.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

When the FCDO Consular Directorate is first notified of the death of a British national abroad, consular staff will, wherever possible, arrange for the relevant police force to notify UK-based relatives as soon as possible.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that imported products containing banned ingredients are not sold in shops in the UK.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

UK product safety regulations require that only safe consumer products be placed on the market. Importers must ensure their products comply with these regulations, including any requirements covering chemicals or banned substances. Distributors have a duty of care to not sell products they know, or should know, are unsafe.

National and local regulators enforce these regulations, including using data and intelligence to target checks on dangerous and non-compliant products entering the UK at the border and sold online.

The Government's Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, introduced to Parliament in September, provides powers to further strengthen the UK's product safety framework.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterpart in India on the detention of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We remain absolutely committed to pushing the Government of India for faster progress to resolve Jagtar Singh Johal's case. The Foreign Secretary has raised Mr Johal's case with his Indian counterpart on several occasions, most recently on 25 November. This is in addition to other UK Government Ministers raising the case with Indian counterparts, including the Prime Minister, who raised Mr Johal's case with Prime Minister Modi on 18 November. I raised Mr Johal's case on 19 November with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the influence of foreign funding in democratic processes.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections and, as stated in our manifesto, we intend to strengthen the rules around donations to political parties to protect our democracy.

We are developing proposals to give effect to these commitments and will make them public in due course. Furthermore, the Government’s Defending Democracy Taskforce brings together all work on defending democracy to allow a whole of government approach in tackling threats to those processes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of reported incidents of shoplifting result in a (a) suspect being arrested and (b) prosecution being authorised by the CPS.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of shoplifting and bicycle theft offences, and their investigative outcomes, recorded by the police in England and Wales. This includes a breakdown of those where a suspect has been charged. However, the data held centrally does not provide a breakdown on whether the police have made a charging decision themselves or had it authorised by the CPS.

The data is published every quarter as official statistics and the latest can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of people arrested for shoplifting or bicycle theft.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of arrests made by police in England and Wales, broken down by offence group, on an annual basis. The latest data, covering the period to March 2024, is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/stop-and-search-arrests-and-mental-health-detentions-march-2024

However, the data is collected by broader offence group only, such as ‘theft offences’, and further details are not provided.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of reported bicycle thefts result in a (a) suspect being arrested and (b) prosecution being authorised by the CPS.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of shoplifting and bicycle theft offences, and their investigative outcomes, recorded by the police in England and Wales. This includes a breakdown of those where a suspect has been charged. However, the data held centrally does not provide a breakdown on whether the police have made a charging decision themselves or had it authorised by the CPS.

The data is published every quarter as official statistics and the latest can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of people arrested for shoplifting or bicycle theft.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of arrests made by police in England and Wales, broken down by offence group, on an annual basis. The latest data, covering the period to March 2024, is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/stop-and-search-arrests-and-mental-health-detentions-march-2024

However, the data is collected by broader offence group only, such as ‘theft offences’, and further details are not provided.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a National Flood Resilience Centre for the purposes of (a) flood research and (b) training emergency services across the UK to respond to flood events.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to reducing the impact of flooding on vulnerable communities and has established a Floods Resilience Taskforce to help achieve this. The Government is aware of the University of Hull and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service proposal for a National Flood Resilience Centre. The Government recognises the importance of both research and training and will consider the proposal for a National Flood Resilience Centre through the work of the Taskforce.

Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) are actively engaged in partnership working with local resilience partners, including the emergency services, local authorities, specialist military units and other supporting organisations to provide resilience flooding in England. Defra and the EA carry out joint exercising and share learning to with partner organisations through the resilience forums, whilst also attending joint emergency service training for the response to all types of environmental emergencies, not just flooding.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the measures in the Employments Rights Bill on working rights for private hire drivers.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Employment Rights Bill Impact Assessments show that by boosting protections and the quality of work for the lowest paid in the labour market, who are concentrated in more deprived areas of the UK, the package will help to raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all.

Private hire drivers’ entitlements to employment rights depend, as with other working individuals, on their employment status. The Employment Rights Bill does provide important new rights for many limb (b) workers – in particular the measures relating to zero hours contracts.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, when the Director of Parliamentary Digital Services plans to provide a substantive reply to the correspondence of 27 November 2024 from the hon. Member for Slough.

Answered by Nick Smith

The Managing Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service replied on 6 January 2025.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps the Government is taking to help ensure NATO member states meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

At the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in December, the Foreign Secretary and I called on all Allies to boost their defence spending. This is a strategic imperative and it is why the UK is committed to setting out a pathway to 2.5% of GDP at a future fiscal event. The Government welcomes that as of 2024 two-thirds of NATO are spending at least 2% of GDP on defence. We will continue to make the case with our Allies on the need to invest more in our collective defence.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17203 on Flood Control, what the potential cost to the public purse is of the University of Hull and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service’s proposal to establish a National Flood Resilience Centre; what percentage of his Department's forecast spending on flood resilience over the next decade that cost represents; and what proportion of his Department's spending on flood resilience goes on (a) training and (b) flood research.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Departmental budgets are set through the Spending Review Process. We therefore do not know budget allocations for the next decade. Budgets are then allocated to Departmental activities.

To protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.

The Government is aware of the University of Hull and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service proposal for a National Flood Resilience Centre, but there are no current plans to fund this from Defra. Defra understands the funding model has not been finalised.

Training on flood resilience undertaken by different teams and composes many different activities. It is not possible to disaggregate the proportion of the Department’s spending on flood resilience that goes on training.

Flood research and development is funded through separate finance streams to Flood Resilience. It is therefore not appropriate to consider part of the Flood Resilience budget as being allocated to research.

Defra funding for Research and Development projects is declared publicly on Science Search: Science Search.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients admitted to hospital this year with (a) Covid, (b) flu (c) RSV and (d) norovirus; and what those figures were for the same period in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2022.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The data is not available in the format requested for flu, the respiratory syncytial virus, or norovirus. The following table shows the number admissions with COVID-19, in each of the last three years:

Source: data is from NHS England, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/
Note: data is only available for 2024 from 1 January to 30 November.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to increase awareness of bowel cancer symptoms among people under 50.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging ‘body awareness’ to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of bowel cancer.

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including bowel cancer. This information is available on the NHS.UK website.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of (a) work, (b) education and (c) training in Slough.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey (LFS) for young people aged 16 to 24. The statistics are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief.

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds estimated as NEET in England at the end of 2023 is estimated to be 709,600 (11.9% of the population). However, these estimates are only published at national level due to limitations with sample sizes for lower-level geographies. Therefore, NEET rates for young people aged 16 to 24 in Slough cannot be provided.

However, local authorities are required to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training and return management information for young people aged 16 and 17. This data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neet-and-participation-local-authority-figures. The data shows that of the 4,435 young people aged 16 and 17 years old who were known to Slough local authority at the end of 2022 (average of December 2022, January 2023 and February 2023), 217 were NEET or their activity was not known (117 known to be NEET and 100 young people for whom the local authority could not confirm their activity). These statistics are published as transparency data so some caution should be taken if using these figures.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on future earnings.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Every child should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are, where they are from, or how much their parents earn. Too often opportunity for children and young people is defined by their background.

That is why this government is committed to breaking the link between a child’s background and their future success. The Opportunity Mission will set every child up for the best start in life, help every child to achieve and thrive at school, build skills for opportunity and growth, and build family security, tackling the underlying barriers to opportunity that hold too many children and young people back. The Plan for Change sets out more details on our priorities for the Opportunity Mission: https://www.gov.uk/missions.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper.

On 23 October 2024 the government published ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’, which sets out how the government will develop the Strategy, which will harness all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this parliament as part of an ambitious ten year strategy. The report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support, especially in the early years.

This government will also, at last, commence the socio-economic duty in Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. We will be updating Parliament on this in due course.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were subject to a marginal tax rate (a) at and (b) above 100% in the last financial year.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

For individuals with income between £100,000-£125,140, the income tax Personal Allowance is tapered by £1 for every £2 earned above this limit, until it has been completely withdrawn at £125,140. Taxpayers with incomes within the taper band face a higher effective marginal tax rate of 60%, compared to 40% below £100,000 and 45% above £125, 140. Income tax rates and thresholds are devolved in Scotland, so marginal rates within the taper band will vary based on the registered address of the taxpayer.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the highest possible marginal tax rate is.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

For individuals with income between £100,000-£125,140, the income tax Personal Allowance is tapered by £1 for every £2 earned above this limit, until it has been completely withdrawn at £125,140. Taxpayers with incomes within the taper band face a higher effective marginal tax rate of 60%, compared to 40% below £100,000 and 45% above £125, 140. Income tax rates and thresholds are devolved in Scotland, so marginal rates within the taper band will vary based on the registered address of the taxpayer.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time equivalent employees are employed by (a) his Department and (b) non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department; and what estimate he has made of the number of such employees who will be employed in 12 months.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

We are working to ensure our workforce remains affordable and targeted at delivering the Department’s priorities and are committed to achieving a more efficient and effective civil service.

The number of civilian personnel employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) as at 1 October 2024 was 56,800 (Full Time Equivalent (FTE), rounded). This includes civilians within MOD Main Top Level Budgets, Executive Agencies and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, but excludes Locally Engaged Civilians.

The latest forecast is that the MOD will employ 55,430 (FTE, rounded) civilian personnel on 1 April 2025 (using the above inclusions and exclusion). The forecast is informed by assumptions based on historic outflow and current recruitment plans. This is an indicative number used for planning purposes, and not a target. This figure represents only one part of MOD's workforce, and the actual figure may be impacted by changes to the size and shape of other workforce types including military staff, reservists and contractors.

For those Non-Departmental Public Bodies that employ public servants, responsibility for their staffing levels and human resources policies is delegated to the organisation and information is not held centrally.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle persistent absence in schools in Slough constituency.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons.

The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to tackle absence, including those in the Slough constituency. Central to this approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, encouraging schools, trusts and local authorities to work with families in addressing attendance barriers.

Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.

The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why the department has set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, who have offered support to 2000 schools and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance.

In addition to this work, the department also aims to improve the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.

From early 2025, new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice across areas, including attendance, and empowering schools to feel they can better access support and learn from one another. For schools requiring more intensive support, RISE teams and supporting organisations will work collaboratively with their responsible body to agree bespoke packages of targeted support, based on a school’s particular circumstances.

School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs, across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn. The department will also initiate new annual Ofsted reviews focusing on safeguarding, attendance and off-rolling.

We are working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

Data published in May this year showed that, in Slough local authority, 42% of schools and colleges worked with a Mental Health Support Team in March 2024 compared to 34% nationally, and 78% of schools and colleges had signed up for a senior mental health lead training grant, compared to 74% nationally.

Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.

Found: WHITEHALL LONDON, SW1A 2HB Telephone: 020 7218 9000 E-mail: defencesecretary-groupmod.gov.uk Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Found: Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the Business and Trade Committee Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP, Chair of the

Found: Bradley; Liam Byrne; Ruth Cadbury; Mr Alistair Carmichael; Sir Geoffrey Clifton- Brown; Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Chair); Mr Calvin Bailey; Alex Baker;

Found: Current membership Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour; Slough) (Chair) Mr Calvin Bailey (Labour; Leyton

Found: Defence Committee member present: Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Chair.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Chair); Mr Calvin Bailey; Alex Baker;

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Chair); Mr Calvin Bailey; Alex Baker;

Found: Mozambique: Armed Conflict 12 Mar 2024 | 16974 Asked by: Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi To ask

This inquiry will examine the Armed Forces Covenant, the UK’s commitment to ensuring that members of the Armed Forces community are supported and treated fairly. The inquiry will explore whether the Covenant is working, examine areas where serving or former personnel and their families continue to face difficulties, and consider how the Covenant might be updated or expanded in scope. The Government has indicated that changes to the Covenant could be brought in during the next Parliamentary session as part of the next Armed Forces Bill; the recommendations of this inquiry will be able to inform that legislation.