Vikki Slade

Requiring certain companies to provide a one-time full shareholder list will allow Companies House to present shareholder information that is already displayed on the register in a more user-friendly way.

The Government aims to strike the right balance between transparency and privacy. New measures will enable those whose details appear on the register (including people at increased risk of harm such as domestic abuse survivors) to apply to have more personal information protected from public disclosure than currently possible. Any fees payable will adhere to HM Treasury’s cost recovery principles.

The government is committed to 1.5 million homes being built across this Parliament while spreading opportunities and economic growth supported by a strong skills system.

The department is working closely with industry and across Whitehall on this ambition, including with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Work and Pensions to understand skill needs and how to address them.

The department has made early progress on expanding the skills offer with the announcement of Construction and Industry Training Board and National Housebuilding Council funding worth £140 million, to deliver up to 32 Homebuilding Skills Hubs and to make 5,000 more construction apprenticeships available, making use of existing flexibilities in our apprenticeships system to help businesses get the skilled workers they need more quickly.

There are 96 high quality apprenticeship standards in the construction and the built environment sector approved for delivery across levels 2 to 6 to support employers and apprentices to develop the skills they need, with three apprenticeship standards in the sector approved for delivery at level 7.

This government had a dire fiscal inheritance with a £22 billion blackhole in the nation’s finances. We are taking difficult decisions to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise government spending where it can be most impactful, including in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.

The department is taking advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers and sector-representative organisations, including in construction, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships shortly. Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion and employers will continue to be able to offer these apprenticeships where they choose to do so.

The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance, which sets out the specific topics pupils should be taught, makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences and understand when and how these may be affecting their pupils. This will help teachers to tailor their lessons accordingly, taking decisions on appropriate resources and support to enable them to teach the curriculum effectively. Teachers are free to draw on the support and expertise of subject associations and other providers of curriculum support. The RSHE statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.

The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence. As part of this process, the department will explore whether additional content is required, including on grief education and bereavement.

This government will build a modern childcare system that supports families from the end of parental leave, right through to the end of primary school.

Childcare needs do not stop when children start school. To support parents the government will deliver free, universal breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. Free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools from April 2025 as part of a ‘test and learn’ phase in advance of a national roll out.

The government is additionally delivering the national wraparound childcare programme which has provided local authorities with more than £160 million to deliver the expansion of new before and after school places for primary school-aged children. The government’s ambition is that, by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term-time childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm.

The programme is designed to support local authorities to deliver their statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient wraparound childcare places and remove the additional challenges faced in local areas with shortages. Where local wraparound provision is not available, parents can request that the school their child attends considers establishing wraparound or holiday childcare through the long-standing ‘right to request’ process.

The Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy, which will support economic growth, deliver green jobs, promote efficient and productive use of resources, minimise negative environmental impacts and help us accelerate to Net Zero. There will however still be a need for the safe and sanitary management of residual waste. In accordance with the Waste Hierarchy, sending residual waste that cannot currently be prevented, prepared for reuse, or recycled to Energy from Waste plants is preferable to disposal in landfill. We are clear however that we do not support incineration overcapacity.

Before the end of this year, the Government will publish an analysis of residual waste treatment capacity, including waste incineration, in England setting out our future capacity needs to inform future policy directions.

This is a devolved matter with regard to Scotland and Northern Ireland; hunting with dogs is a reserved matter with respect to Wales and therefore, the information provided relates to England and Wales only.

The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. This includes Fox Hunting.

In addition, the Government made a manifesto commitment to ban Trail Hunting as part of a set of measures to improve animal welfare. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing. Further announcements will be made in due course.

The Animal Welfare Committee’s updated Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing was published last year. A GB-wide farmed trout joint Government and industry working group is now examining the issues raised in the report to explore the potential options for more detailed welfare at killing requirements. The Scottish Government are also working closely with the salmon industry.

The Department has no record of meetings on this matter during the last Parliament.

All customer-facing DWP colleagues are undertaking mandatory mental health awareness training to better support claimants who may present with mental health issues. All colleagues also have access to a wide range of guidance and signposting to help support customers. Where further specialist help is required, DWP has a national network of Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders who can provide additional advice and support through the local networks they have built with external partners and organisations.

Additionally, through the national DWP Visiting Service, the department provides additional face-to-face support across all service lines to customers who cannot access DWP services in any other way. A visit can be arranged for a customer if they need extra help to claim benefits, for example because they have complex needs, are disabled, are a vulnerable young person making a claim for the first time, have nobody else to support them or cannot claim benefits in any other way.

Self-employed pregnant women who have paid the required Class 2 National Insurance contributions are entitled to Maternity Allowance.

As a general rule, maternity pay is primarily a health and safety provision relating specifically to pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. As there is no associated period of pregnancy for adopters, they are unable to make a claim for maternity pay regardless of their employment status.

The Government very much values self-employed people who come forward to take on the challenging but rewarding role of being an adoptive parent, that is why there is provision for Local Authorities to make discretionary payments, equivalent to Maternity Allowance, to self-employed adopters who do not qualify for Statutory Adoption Pay and where they satisfy the relevant criteria. This payment is means-tested and ensures that resources are targeted at those adopters who need it most, as part of a package of post-adoption support.

Prospective adopters and the child or children that they intend to adopt are also entitled to an assessment of their family’s needs. This includes a whole host of support including discretionary means-tested financial support, advice, information and counselling, and support services.

Depending on individual circumstances, additional financial support, for example, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and the Sure Start Maternity Grant (a lump sum payment of £500) may also be available to new parents.

The Government has committed to a review of parental leave to ensure that it best supports working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.

This Government is committed to pensioners – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.

The State Pension is the foundation of income in retirement and will remain so protecting 12 million pensioners through the triple lock. Based on current forecasts, the full rate of the new state pension is set to increase by around £1,700 over the course of this Parliament.

We are also providing support for pensioners through our Warm Homes Plan which will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run. We will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation, low carbon heating and other home improvements to cut bills. We have also announced a new Warm Homes: Local Grant to help low-income homeowners and private tenants with energy performance upgrades and cleaner heating.

The Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate on their electricity bill. This winter, we expect over three million households, including over one million pensioners, to benefit under the scheme.

The Household Support Fund is also being extended for a further six months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.

For those with long-term illnesses, the “extra costs” disability benefits, namely Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA), provide a tax free, non-income-related contribution towards the extra costs people with a long-term health condition can face, such as additional heating costs. They are paid monthly throughout the year. AA can be worth up to £5,600 a year and recipients are free to use their benefit according to their own priorities.

Receipt of AA can provide a passport to additional amounts in means-tested benefits (notably Pension Credit and Housing Benefit) for those on low incomes providing they meet the other eligibility criteria.

In 2024, the Department carried out a consultation on introducing legislation that would give the General Dental Council (GDC) powers to provisionally register overseas-qualified dentists who have not yet met the GDC’s requirements for full registration. Dentists that meet our high standards should be able to enter the workforce efficiently.

Further information on the consultation is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/provisional-registration-for-overseas-qualified-dentists

We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions and we are considering whether to proceed with the proposal to introduce provisional registration. Our position on this proposal will be set out in due course.

Contractors are already paid monthly. The full payment timetable for community pharmacy contractors is detailed in Clause 5C Part I of the Drug Tariff, and on the Schedule of Payments that contractors receive each month.

In 2021, in recognition of the improved automation of the claims process, the timing of the advanced payment was brought forward by 20 days to improve cash flow.

Contractors receive an advance payment early in the month. This covers an estimate of the full income from claims submitted for the previous month. A reconciliation payment follows two months later, when all the claims have been fully processed.

NHS England is testing how improving digital connectivity between primary care optometry and secondary care will allow optometrists to share diagnostic images and receive advice and guidance from specialists. This will enable more patients to be managed in the community, reducing the need for patients to be referred, and for those needing a referral to the hospital eye service, this could reduce the need for repeat diagnostics.

This approach aims to free up secondary eye care capacity and improve clinic efficiency, so specialists can prioritise patients needing specialist input on ophthalmology waiting lists.

A previous consultation on pharmacy supervision was published earlier this year. The Government and devolved administrations will set out plans for the policy when it responds to that consultation, in due course.

There are currently no plans to review the list of items that formed part of the NHS England review into medicines that cannot be routinely supplied. Prescribers are free to make their own decisions on which medicines to prescribe, unless they are banned or restricted, and are held accountable for their prescribing decisions by their employer, and professional regulator. A range of prescription charge exemptions are already in place to help people on low incomes and those aged 60 years old and over.

The Government is completely committed to ratification of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement, also known as the Global Oceans Treaty or the High Seas Treaty), which is in line with our determination to reinvigorate the UK's wider international leadership on climate and nature. Work is in hand on the measures needed to implement the detailed and complex provisions of the Agreement before the UK can ratify.

The standard minimum income guarantee for a single person and couples in Pension Credit rises in line with average earnings to ensure that it maintains its relative value over time to ensure that Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit) will continue to provide a safety net for those who find themselves without an adequate income in retirement.

The government wants to ensure that individuals receive the support that they are eligible for, and we have already seen a greater than 152% increase in Pension Credit claims since the July Statement.

The previous government announced the Personal Allowance (PA) would be maintained at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. The PA —the amount of income someone can earn before paying income tax—is currently set high enough to ensure that those pensioners whose sole income is the new State Pension or basic State Pension, and who have not deferred and do not receive protected payments, do not have to pay any income tax.

The Terrorism Protection of Premises Bill does not include a specific requirement relating to the provision of medical treatment and associated equipment.

Wider work is ongoing to strengthen Healthcare Standards. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is working with partners to put in place updated guidance for health care at events.

DHSC has also undertaken work with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) and health sector partners to help improve and standardise the contents of Public Access Trauma (PAcT) kits.

The police are able to pursue off road bikes and electric scooters when they are used anti-socially or dangerously. Any decision on whether to undertake a pursuit is an operational one for the police and should take account of the risk factors and proportionality in each situation.

The Home Office works closely with the NPCC to understand how the safety of police pursuits can be improved.

There are no plans currently to make all wildlife crimes notifiable and consequentially to include in the national crime statistics. Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.

This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit to help tackle these crimes.

The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity. The NWCU uses this information to produce strategic and tactical assessments of wildlife crime across the UK.

The War Pension Scheme (WPS) compensates for any injury, illness or death which was caused by service before 6 April 2005. There are two main types of WPS awards depending on the level of disablement:

1. A gratuity is a tax free lump sum payment for disablement less than 20%
2. A war disablement pension is an ongoing tax free payment paid weekly or monthly for disablement more than 20%

Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/war-pension-scheme-wps

The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) is not a government-funded grant scheme but an obligation on larger energy suppliers to support eligible households in the least energy-efficient homes by installing insulation measures. Support is offered to households in Council Tax bands A-D in England and A-E in Scotland and Wales, based on property values from 1991 in England and Scotland, and 2003 in Wales. These Council Tax bands capture a similar proportion of homes in each nation and serve as a proxy for income, ensuring the scheme proportionately captures low- to mid-income households. GBIS will be reviewed as part of the Warm Homes Plan and lessons from GBIS will inform future schemes, with decisions communicated to industry and the public.

The question in the House was taken in relation to the current applications to join the Devolution Priority Programme. As stated in the House this allows for areas to put forward locally led proposals on both devolution and local government reorganisation. We are very pleased with the level of interest and can confirm again that no area was required to submit proposals by government.

Beyond the Devolution Priority Programme the English Devolution White Paper sets out our priorities in reorganisation where we believe there are clear efficiencies which can redirect resources to frontline services, and this will need to align to the reforms to local government funding. We will expect all two tier areas and smaller or failing unitaries to develop proposals for reorganisation.

We will take a phased approach to delivery, taking into account where reorganisation can unlock devolution, where areas are keen to proceed at pace or where it can help address wider failings. However, we are clear that reorganisation should not slow down devolution, and plans for both should be complementary. We will deliver this process as quickly as possible including through legislation where it becomes necessary to ensure progress.

A number of councils have responded to my letter of 16 December, making requests involving postponement of their May 2025 elections. A list of those councils can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-reorganisation-letter-to-two-tier-areas.

In my letter I set out that requests will only be considered where it is clear that postponement will help the area to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. A decision will be made in due course, recognising the need to give confirmation as soon as practically possible.

The English Devolution White Paper sets out the overall case for local government reorganisation, including referencing the 2020 PwC report, “Evaluating the importance of scale in proposals for local government reorganisation”, for the County Councils Network, which estimated that reorganisation of the then 25 two-tier areas to a single unitary structure would have a one-off cost of £400 million, with the potential to realise £2.9 billion over 5 years, with an annual post-implementation net recurring saving of £700 million.

A decision on the requests made by councils to postpone local elections will be made in due course, recognising the need to give confirmation as soon as practically possible. As set out in my letter of 16 December, these requests will only be considered where it is clear that postponement will help the area to deliver reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.