Tom Gordon

Our Plan to Make Work Pay represents the biggest upgrade of workers' rights in a generation.

The Government does not condone the exploitation of workers in any form and we are committed to strengthening protections for workers. Individuals' entitlement to employment rights is determined by their employment status. Delivery drivers can fall under any one of the three statuses: employee, limb (b) worker, or self-employed.

This Government recognises the complexity of the current employment status framework and we remain committed to reviewing it.

This Government believes that hard work deserves fair pay and is determined to deliver a genuine living wage for all that takes account the impact on business, competitiveness, the labour market, the wider economy and the cost of living.

Our Ministers value feedback received from businesses across the country, details of the meetings held by Ministers of the Department for Business and Trade and its predecessor the Department for International trade are available on transparency pages of gov.uk and are released as part of the Government's transparency agenda.

The Government will implement Fuel Finder, a statutory open data scheme for fuel prices, to increase price transparency and help drivers make more informed decisions on where to buy petrol and diesel. This will increase pressure on retailers to compete strongly to attract consumers by lowering prices. Subject to legislation and Parliamentary time, we aim to launch Fuel Finder by the end of 2025.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) received statutory information gathering powers on 1 January 2025 through the Digital Markets, Competition & Consumer Act 2024 so it can monitor and scrutinise fuel prices. Once launched, Fuel Finder will provide the CMA with the appropriate data to adequately consider issues such as regional pricing variations.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) addressed variation in regional road fuel pricing as part of their Road Fuel Market Study which was published in July 2023. The CMA published its latest report on 31 March 2025 and plans to release a more comprehensive report in the future, which will focus extensively on regional pricing differences.

The Government will implement Fuel Finder, a statutory open data scheme for fuel prices, to increase price transparency and help drivers make more informed decisions on where to buy petrol and diesel. This will increase pressure on retailers to compete strongly to attract consumers by lowering prices. Subject to legislation and Parliamentary time, we aim to launch Fuel Finder by the end of 2025.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) received statutory information gathering powers on 1 January 2025 through the Digital Markets, Competition & Consumer Act 2024 so it can monitor and scrutinise fuel prices. Once launched, Fuel Finder will provide the CMA with the appropriate data to adequately consider issues such as regional pricing variations.

The Department has worked with the insulation industry and lending community to address concerns relating to spray foam. Protocols were published in March 2023 to support surveyors to assess spray foam, provide reassurance to lenders, and inform consumers.

While the Department cannot comment on the decisions made by individual lenders, the presence of spray foam should not automatically prevent lending. Decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis following a survey. Recent indications are that most mortgage lenders no longer have blanket policies on spray foam insulation.

Any borrower seeking to take out a mortgage may find it useful to shop around and speak to a mortgage broker to find the best possible product for them.

The department does not hold the Trustmark complaint data regarding the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme.

We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all stakeholders in order to support the sector and ensure there are robust protections in place to protect those at risk. We will provide further updates to the House soon.

The Gambling Commission is responsible for the implementation of a number of the regulatory reforms set out in the white paper, such as introducing new regulations to make online games safer and financial vulnerability checks aimed at reducing cases of unaffordable losses. It has consulted on and implemented the majority of these reforms.

The decision to set the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) fair access limit at £3,000 for 2025/26 was taken as part of departmental business planning decisions in the spring, following the announcement to Parliament on 1 April that the ASGSF would be continuing into 2025/26.

​The government recognises that the misuse of reasonable force and restrictive interventions can have a significant and long-lasting effect on pupils, staff members and parents.

The department is currently consulting on revisions to the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, published in 2013. The consultation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/use-of-reasonable-force-and-other-restrictive-interventions-guidance-proposed-amendments. The revised guidance will provide advice for schools on creating environments that minimise the use of reasonable force and restrictive interventions, and, where necessary, support staff to use reasonable force and restrictive interventions safely, appropriately and within the law.

The revised draft guidance defines reasonable force and other restrictive interventions, and outlines the general risks associated with their use. This approach ensures that the guidance can be applied regardless of specific terminology that a school may use and allows school staff to confidently apply the advice in order to minimise the use of restrictive practices.

The department recognises the importance of recording and reporting the use of force. This is why we will be enacting Section 93a of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, making recording and reporting incidents of reasonable force to parents a legal duty. This will be enacted to coincide with the publication of the updated ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, to ensure that schools have adequate advice on how they should be recording and reporting any incidents where reasonable force, including restrictive interventions, is used.

​The government recognises that the misuse of reasonable force and restrictive interventions can have a significant and long-lasting effect on pupils, staff members and parents.

The department is currently consulting on revisions to the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, published in 2013. The consultation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/use-of-reasonable-force-and-other-restrictive-interventions-guidance-proposed-amendments. The revised guidance will provide advice for schools on creating environments that minimise the use of reasonable force and restrictive interventions, and, where necessary, support staff to use reasonable force and restrictive interventions safely, appropriately and within the law.

The revised draft guidance defines reasonable force and other restrictive interventions, and outlines the general risks associated with their use. This approach ensures that the guidance can be applied regardless of specific terminology that a school may use and allows school staff to confidently apply the advice in order to minimise the use of restrictive practices.

The department recognises the importance of recording and reporting the use of force. This is why we will be enacting Section 93a of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, making recording and reporting incidents of reasonable force to parents a legal duty. This will be enacted to coincide with the publication of the updated ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, to ensure that schools have adequate advice on how they should be recording and reporting any incidents where reasonable force, including restrictive interventions, is used.

The department does not collect information centrally on families that have experienced adoptions that break down.

The department publishes information on whether children starting to be looked after in any given year were known to have been previously adopted. The latest information available relates to the year ending 31 March 2024 and is in the table ‘CLA starting during the year by characteristics – National’ of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92f77d0d-7e95-45a1-f1db-08dd5cc661f7. This includes information on any known previous permanence arrangement for a child starting to be looked after.

Information for the year ending 31 March 2025 will be published in autumn 2025.

​As part of my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement and building on the £15 million investment in the Autumn Budget 2024, the department will provide an additional £25 million over two years, beginning in the 2026/27 and 2027/28 financial years, for foster care as part of Children’s Social Care Reform. We expect this funding to help recruit an additional 400 fostering families, provide better peer to peer support for foster carers, and ensure more children in care have stability through ensuring a foster care placement is available to them when needed.

​Currently, there are ten fostering regional programmes active across England, collaborating with 64% of all local authorities to recruit, retain and support foster carers. The department plans to move towards full national roll-out in the next financial year. This supports retention and support for carers through the recruitment of short break foster carers, who provide high quality care for children while their usual foster carers take a break.

This programme also includes an expansion of ‘The Mockingbird Family Model’, an innovative evidence-based approach involving six to ten families grouped into a constellation around a hub home carer. Mockingbird includes peer support, respite and training. It was found to substantially improve retention by an independent evaluation, which showed that participating households were 82% less likely to deregister than households who did not participate.

The department also funds Fosterline, a free independent source of advice and support to current and prospective carers.

To improve retention, the department is also acting on areas that matter to foster carers. The allegations process is a key contributor to high levels of foster carer deregistration, and the department is committed to improving practice and guidance in this area. The department has also begun conversations with the sector about proposed changes to delegated authority, ensuring that all foster carers have delegated authority by default in relation to day-to-day parenting of the child in their care.

Financial support plays a role in retaining and supporting foster carers. The National Minimum Allowance (NMA) was introduced by the Labour government in 2007 and has kept pace with inflation over time. Current levels of the NMA have been uplifted by 3.55% for the 2025/2026 financial year and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/support-for-foster-parents/help-with-the-cost-of-fostering.

Finally, we encourage fostering services to adopt the Fostering Network’s ‘Foster Carer Charter’, which sets out clear principles of what support should be available to foster carers.

Regarding ‘unsuccessful’ placements, the department publishes statistics for children looked after in England only, not Wales. Statistics for other countries in the UK are the responsibility of the devolved administrations.

The department does not collect information on whether placements for children looked after were successful or not. These placements can end for a wide range of reasons and there is no specific category recorded as an ‘unsuccessful placement’.

The latest information on the main reason for placement changes during the 2023/24 reporting year is published in the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c3ae926d-83e8-4ec9-3213-08dd6b9d125f.

The Vector-Borne RADAR programme includes a project run by UKHSA’s Medical Entomology and Zoonoses Ecology team undertaking country-wide surveillance for mosquitos in 2025. Pools of any female mosquitos collected will be tested for several potential mosquito-vectored viruses. The sites being surveilled are suitable mosquito breeding sites. In 2024, mosquito traps were successfully deployed in almost all 50 km² grids across England, collecting nearly 1,000 individuals across 71 sites.

Defra funds, with UKRI, a large research consortium looking at the effects of climate change on mosquito-borne diseases in the UK. This programme includes the Vector-Borne disease RADAR programme, but there are other equally important vector borne diseases we also accept will be impacted by changes in our climate.

Risk assessments undertaken by the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group, for mosquito-borne diseases consider the likely changes with climate change.

The Government inherited flood assets in their worst condition on record following years of underinvestment by the previous Government – 92.1% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high consequence assets are currently at required condition

Lead Local Flood Authorities undertake formal investigations after significant floods and produce Section 19 reports, which include the number of properties affected. Not all floods require a Section 19 investigation. Criteria for investigation include the number of properties internally flooded, nature of flooding, frequency of flooding, and critical infrastructure affected.

Over the last year, there have been three periods when areas of North Yorkshire have experienced significant or prolonged flooding, including one in Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency. North Yorkshire Council has 125 recorded reports of flooding since January 2024, over 50 of those in Knaresborough. Knaresborough experienced significant surface water flooding in May 2024, with over 50 homes and businesses affected.

Last winter, York and parts of North Yorkshire were affected by continued high river levels following prolonged wet weather and storms. Although widespread flooding was largely avoided, lower lying areas and communities were impacted. Storm Darragh recently affected communities in Derwent and Rye catchments in North Yorkshire, with 30-40 properties flooded. Villages such as Kirkby Mills, Kirkbymoorside and Marton were affected.

The Department has worked extensively with Network Rail and stakeholders on development and design of a scheme to deliver a third line between York North Throat and Skelton Junction. As the broader strategic benefits of the project would only be realised as part of a wider package of investment on the East Coast Main Line, the decision was taken at the Spending Review to pause the project until a long-term strategy for the route can be developed further. The scheme will remain under review to ensure it can be delivered in the most effective way as part of a holistic strategy of investment.

On 1 January, the government introduced a £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London until 31 December 2025. As part of the Spending Review, the government announced further funding to extend the £3 cap to March 2027. This will ensure millions of people can continue to access affordable bus fares and better opportunities all over the country.

The current terms and conditions for the £3 cap already require operators to demonstrate that they have not raised fares any higher than inflation.

The government is investing over £150 million to deliver the new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help keep bus fares affordable, and as part of the Spending Review, we announced further funding to extend the £3 cap to March 2027.

Under the plans of the previous administration, the £2 cap on bus fares had been due to expire on 31 December 2024, and prior to the Budget, there was no further funding available to maintain a cap on bus fares beyond this point.

The final monitoring and evaluation report into the impact of the £2 bus fare cap was published on 12 February. An evaluation of the £3 fare cap is due to be commissioned shortly.

The Department for Transport conducted a review of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme which considered expanding statutory travel times for all passholders. We are currently considering next steps.

The introduction of companion passes for disabled passholders under the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme would be an additional concession, introduced at the discretion of local authorities depending on their needs and circumstances. The Department for Transport therefore has no plans to produce an estimate of implementing this at a national level.

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing and can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by an initial £240 million investment in 25/26, will deliver the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation to help more people into work and to progress.

Children living in households where no adults work are around 4 times more likely to be in relative poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work. We are therefore considering how we can improve our support to help parents into work as part of our upcoming Child Poverty Strategy. We are listening carefully to the voices of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND) and their families. We have also engaged with charities and organisations like Contact, ALLFIE, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation to discuss the experience of disabled children living in poverty.

Carers on low incomes can claim Universal Credit at a higher rate through the carer element. An unpaid carer receiving UC who meets the eligibility threshold for receiving Carers Element is not required to undertake work-related activity but can access employment support on a voluntary basis. Support offered can include access to skills provision, referral to an employment support programme, for example the Restart programme, careers advice, job search support, volunteering opportunities and access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry.

Support is also available through Carer’s Allowance (CA) which provides a measure of financial support and recognition for unpaid carers who are unable to work full time as a result of their caring responsibilities.

Unpaid carers play a vital role in supporting elderly or disabled relatives or friends. Sometimes unpaid carers will need to turn to the benefit system for financial support, so it is right that we keep Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meeting its objectives, and giving unpaid carers the help and support they need and deserve.

In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week.

The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by Up-rating it each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is responsible for setting clinical guidelines. For diabetes in pregnancy, including testing for gestational diabetes, the relevant clinical guideline is NG3 - Diabetes in pregnancy: management from preconception to the postnatal period, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng3/chapter/Recommendations#gestational-diabetes

The Department provides funding to the National Institute for Health and Care Research for research to help improve procedures around gestational diabetes, such as the DOMINO study, with further information available at the following link:

https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR134628

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) and its secretariat have adopted several robust strategies that support responsiveness to innovation in screening.

The committee uses the expertise of its research and methodology group to help researchers focus the design of screening research to ensure it addresses questions in a way that is useful for screening policy. Where screening research trials are ongoing, the secretariat maintains close contact with researchers to ensure that we are proactive in response to the results coming out of the trial.

Where there are evidence gaps in screening research, in-service evaluations provide an innovative solution to generating high quality evidence for the UK NSC in live National Health Services. The UK NSC secretariat works closely with NHS England on upcoming work so that the NHS can optimise their preparations in their readiness for the implementation of recommendations agreed by ministers.

Networking across the healthcare landscape both nationally and internationally helps to ensure that the UK NSC keeps abreast of developments in screening and identifies viable innovations in tests and treatments that are suitable in the context of the United Kingdom. Collaboration between organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and professional bodies such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists supports joined up working with partners and avoids unnecessary duplication.

The Department and NHS England are taking a number of steps to support the National Health Service to deliver cost-effective prehabilitation and rehabilitation services.

NHS England has highlighted the positive impact of efficient prehabilitation and rehabilitation on cancer outcomes and the potential to lead to cost savings. The ‘PRosPer’ cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation learning programme, launched as a partnership between NHS England and Macmillan Cancer Support, aims to support allied health professionals and the wider healthcare workforce in developing their skills in providing prehabilitation and rehabilitation as essential elements of cancer treatment.

The National Cancer Plan, to be published later this year, will look at how to improve patient outcomes across the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, including prehabilitation and rehabilitation services where appropriate.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for determining whether its guidelines should be reviewed or updated in light of new evidence. NICE takes a proactive approach to surveillance, monitoring for changes in the evidence base that may impact on its recommendations. Topics for new or updated guidance are considered through the NICE prioritisation process. Decisions as to whether NICE will create new, or update existing, guidance are overseen by a prioritisation board, chaired by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer.

NICE intends to carry out focussed updates to all diabetes guidance to take account of changes in insulin availability, but has no current plans for further updates to its guidelines on type 1 diabetes or eating disorders.

The National Health Service will build on its recent successes, including roll-out of the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme, to diagnose cancer earlier and boost survival rates. Funding for national lung screening is set by NHS England and the timescale for full implementation of the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme will be specified in due course.

The NHS is currently rolling out the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme to people with a history of smoking. The public health functions agreement between NHS England and the Department sets out that the Lung Cancer Screening Programme has a target to invite 50% of the eligible population by the end of March 2026.