Wendy Chamberlain

The inaugural Council of the Nations and Regions met on 11 October in Edinburgh to discuss growth and investment. On 17 October the UK Government published the Terms of Reference for the Council and a communique summarising the discussion. A communique will be published following each meeting of the Council, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-of-the-nations-and-regions-inaugural-meeting.

The department is dedicated to making education fairer for all. Funding is provided to educational institutions to administer discretionary 16-19 bursaries for vulnerable students, including those who may have caring responsibilities.

Additionally, young carers under 18 and their families have the right to request a holistic assessment of their support needs, ensuring the whole family receive coordinated support from their local authority wherever necessary.

The department continues to encourage schools and local authorities to work closely with young carers and families to identify their needs and provide tailored support for them, ensuring they do not miss out on vital educational opportunities.

The department believes it is very important to make sure young carers can participate in education and get the support they need. This support will vary depending on family circumstances.

The ‘defined vulnerable groups’ face specific issues that mean they are not getting financial support from their families. This will be true of some young carers but not all.

The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in further education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment and trips,as well as support for childcare and residential costs where required.

Young carers can discuss their individual needs with their school or college which can provide appropriate support, including from the institution’s discretionary Bursary Fund.

It is for each local authority to decide the best way of delivering effective and cost-effective weed control in its operations without harming people or the environment. We are working with stakeholders in the sector to increase awareness and uptake of Integrated Pest Management to reduce reliance on chemical pesticides.

Defra’s post-implementation review of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 considers whether the Regulations have met their original objectives, their impact and effectiveness, including in relation to the protections provided to cats. The review will be published in due course.

Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the Regulations), anyone in the business of breeding and selling cats as pets needs to have a valid licence issued by their local authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse, vary or revoke licences.

Defra has been working on a post-implementation review of the Regulations. This review considers whether the Regulations have met their objectives, and where there could be scope to further improve the protections they provide.

The consultation on Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper ran for 12 weeks and closed on Monday 22 July.

There were over 16,000 responses to the consultation, which demonstrates the depth of feeling about the previous Government’s proposals. I can confirm that responses to the set of proposals on the reform of Personal Independence Payment were mixed and for some proposals consistently negative.

We do not intend to publish a response to the previous Government’s consultation. We will be considering our own plans for social security in due course and will fulfil our continued commitment to work with disabled people so that their views and voices are at the heart of all that we do.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of State Pensions and benefits. Her review for this year will be based on CPI in the year to September 2024, and on earnings growth in the year to May-July 2024.

The Office for National Statistics will publish the average weekly earnings figure for May to July on 15 October and the CPI figure will be published on 16 October. The outcome of the review will be announced in the Autumn – and until the review has been concluded, it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome. The new rates will take effect from April 2024.

The Government remains committed to supporting pensioners, and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Through our commitment to protect the Triple Lock, over 12 million pensioners will benefit, with many expected to see their State Pension increase by over a thousand pounds over the next five years; the full new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,700 this Parliament.

The Government recognises the challenges unpaid carers are facing and is determined to provide them with the help and support they need and deserve. It is looking closely at how the benefit system currently does this.

The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the level of the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit will be considered as a part of this review.

No impact assessment has been made on changes to the Universal Credit assessment periods or payment structures. However, the Government is committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty.

This Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by all unpaid carers.

It is a general principle that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, rather than the social security benefit system. That is why full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits, including Carer’s Allowance. Part-time students may be able to claim Carer’s Allowance though. This reflects long-standing principles of the benefit system, and we have no plans to change these rules.

Department for Work and Pensions officials work very closely with their Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care counterparts to ensure that young carers get the help and support they need.

Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service is clear that a fresh approach to supporting and involving unpaid carers is required to improve outcomes for carers, people needing care and the NHS. We will carefully consider these findings as part of our 10-year plan for reforming and modernising the NHS and as we develop plans to reform adult social care, including through the National Care Service.

This Government recognises the scale of the reforms needed in social care. That is why we will engage widely with a range of stakeholders, including unpaid carers, to ensure their voices are heard as we develop plans to create a National Care Service. The Government are also committed to reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave. We will also keep Carer’s Allowance under review to ensure it meets its objectives.

The Government is committed to cleaning up our air and protecting the public from the harms of pollution and plans to introduce a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will include a series of interventions to reduce emissions, and in turn everyone’s exposure to air pollution.

There are currently no plans to undertake a general assessment of the potential impact on human health given that it is already well established that even low concentrations of air quality pollutants are likely to be associated with adverse effects on health. Therefore, continued reductions, even where concentrations are below the air quality guidelines, are likely to be beneficial to health.

There are a number of initiatives in place to help support National Health Service staff who are balancing their jobs with caring responsibilities. Sections 33 and 34 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service (Agenda for Change) Handbook sets out the provisions required to support staff who have caring responsibilities for children and adults. These provisions were negotiated and agreed with trade unions. Further information on the handbook is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/tchandbook

This includes the requirement for employers to have a local policy in place which emphasises the benefits of balancing work and personal life, staff rights to request flexible working arrangements, and for employers to reasonably consider any such requests.

NHS England provides policy and guidance to support unpaid workers and includes the National Flexible Working People Policy Framework that sets out the right for everyone to request flexible working from day one of employment. This framework is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/national-flexible-working-people-policy-framework/#:~:text=What%20is%20flexible%20working.%20In%20the%20NHS%20everyone%20has%20the

Additional support for unpaid carers also includes special leave policies which enable staff to take emergency leave for caregiving responsibilities at short notice. NHS staff are able to access the Carer Passport Scheme which helps identify staff as carers to ensure support and reasonable adjustments are put in place. Further information on the scheme is available at the following link:

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/guides-and-tools/what-is-the-carer-passport-scheme/#:~:text=A%20Carer%20Passport%20is%20a%20record%20that%20identifies

There are also flexible retirement options in place to allow carers to reduce their hours or take phased retirement. NHS England also committed to and promoted the five days of unpaid carers' leave allowance stipulated in the Carer’s Leave Act 2023, which came into force on 6 April 2024.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1.5 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23. The NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group, reflecting its high priority. We are committed to furthering our investment and support for high-quality brain tumour research.

In the five years between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the NIHR directly invested £11.3 million in research projects and programmes focused on brain tumours across 15 awards. In addition, our wider investments in NIHR research infrastructure, including facilities, services, and the research workforce, are estimated to be £31.5 million, between 2018/19 and 2022/23, and have enabled 227 brain cancer research studies to take place in the same period. In total NIHR investments have enabled 8,500 people to participate in potentially life-changing research in the National Health Service over this time.

In September 2024, the NIHR launched new funding opportunities for a Brain Cancer Research Consortium and a major new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation.

The UK is a strong advocate for enhancing debt transparency including for private sector debt. As part of this, we supported the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and OECD Debt Transparency Initiative, set up in 2021, and the IIF’s Voluntary Principles for Debt Transparency, which underpinned it. The UK has taken a lead in ensuring its own lending is transparent and meets G20 best practice, publishing details of all new direct lending quarterly and the stock of debt owed to the UK annually.

The UK continues to engage closely with the private sector and other relevant stakeholders through international fora, such as the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, to promote the importance of transparency, and to explore ways to build on and improve existing efforts.

The GLAA has conducted, at minimum, the following number of inspections on farms in Scotland over the last 5 years:

• 2019 – 5
• 2020 – 10
• 2021 – 22
• 2022 – 7
• 2023 – 7

These figures include compliance and enforcement inspections, as well as joint inspections with other enforcement bodies, such as UKVI.

In England and Wales, the GLAA has responsibilities to investigate reports of Modern Slavery. In Scotland, the primacy for this lies with Police Scotland but the GLAA support this activity to target, dismantle and disrupt serious and organised crime.

As the Hon Member will be aware the Migration Advisory Committee published a Review of the Seasonal Worker Visa on 16 July.

The Government will carefully consider the MAC’s recommendations and will provide a detailed response in due course.

Announcements were made on Round 3 Window 1 of the Community Ownership Fund on 25 September 2023, Window 2 on 22 December 2023 and Window 3 on 23 March 2024. A full list of successful bidders can be found here.