Wendy Chamberlain

Details of changes to Parliamentary Private Secretary post holders since the September 2024 list was published will be included in the next list when it is published on gov.uk.

A list of Parliamentary Private Secretaries was published by the Cabinet Office in September 2024 on gov.uk and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-parliamentary-private-secretaries-pps-september-2024. It will be updated periodically.

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.

ECO4 insulation measures must be installed by TrustMark registered businesses, who are required to adhere to relevant industry standards. Installations of low carbon measures must be carried out in accordance with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) requirements.

Improvements to consumer protection are underway and we will set out plans for root and branch reform as part of the Warm Homes Plan.

Ofgem is the scheme administrator and audits progress on the ECO4 scheme. It publishes regular updates on its website https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/energy-company-obligation-eco/contacts-guidance-and-resources/eco-public-reports-and-data.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is the lead department for recommendation 27. The Government will draw on the National Infrastructure Commission’s analysis for the forthcoming 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, which HMT is due to publish in June. My officials are working with DSIT, Ofcom, and Ofgem to support the identification of the future telecommunications requirements of the energy sector.

The impact of caring on education has been hidden for too long. The school census data is already shining a light on this issue despite the underreporting. It has given the department hard evidence on young carer’s attendance, suspensions and exclusions, and we are aiming to publish data on their educational progress and attainment at both key stage 2 and key stage 4 this autumn.

The department expects this data to continue to improve over time as the collection becomes better established, but we are looking at the ways the data is entered to see if there are technical changes that can be made to support more accurate reporting without overly burdening schools.

I refer the hon. Member for North East Fife to the answer of 30 May 2025 to Question HL7427.

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.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently investigating the companion animal veterinary sector. Defra will consider any recommendations from the CMA once their work has concluded.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Ministerial colleagues on a wide range of issues related to fisheries, including ensuring that vessels operating in UK waters do so legally and in a sustainable manner.

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.

On the 23 April, the Secretary of State (SoS) for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.

Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.

The measures announced by SoS to make additional driving tests available each month were implemented on 1 June. It is too early to evaluate those measures, or their impact at a national or regional level.

When a driving licence is revoked, the law requires that the notice of revocation must be served in writing to the licence holder. The letter notifying the individual of the revocation is sent by first class post and the licence is revoked two working days from the date the letter is posted.

The Royal Mail aims to deliver over 90 per cent of first-class post by the next working day, including Saturdays. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency already makes allowances for Bank Holidays and non-working days.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) uses several methods of communicating with licence holders to ensure they are kept informed.

The DVLA sends out important documents, reminders, notifications by traditional mail and encrypted email where a licence holder consents to correspond in this way. The DVLA also provides a suite of online driver services, where customers can renew their driving licence or notify a medical condition.

Licence holders can access their information and manage their driving licence, vehicle registration and other services if they have a customer account. Digital tax reminders are already available within the customer account and this is being extended to include digital driving licence reminders. Customers can track the progress of their driving licence application and communicate with the DVLA using this service.

The DVLA also provides customer service via telephone, which allows licence holders to ask questions or resolve issues directly. In addition to these services, the DVLA uses social media platforms to share information and updates with the public about its services.

The DVLA has a dedicated team responsible for the improvement of its driver licensing services and communications.

The table below provides the number of drivers who have been revoked in each month since January 2024.

Group 1 and 2 revocations should not be added together as there will be an element of double accounting. The medical standards for Group 2 driving are higher than Group1 and Group 2 drivers may lose just their Group 2 entitlement or may lose both Group 1 and 2 entitlement.

The government is committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and meeting our climate change obligations, as set out in the Climate Change Act. Delivering greener transport to help make Britain a clean energy superpower is a Department for Transport priority.

We have been clear that any airport expansion proposals will need to demonstrate they contribute to economic growth and can be delivered in line with the UK’s legally binding climate change commitment.

DfT analysis shows that we can achieve aviation net zero 2050 under a range of assumptions about future technology development without the Government needing to intervene directly to limit airport expansion.

No such assessment has been made.

The Government is reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. Procedures are in place to support customers having difficulty in managing their housing payments. Payment of housing costs and rent arrears can be made direct to landlords. Direct payment requests are considered on a case-by-case basis and can be considered at the start or at any point during the UC claim to support the tenancy for the home the customer currently lives in. The need may be identified in the Service Centre, Jobcentre or requested by the claimant, their appointee, caseworker, or landlord advising of a vulnerability, rent arrears or risk of eviction.

All Work Coaches new to DWP receive mandatory learning to support vulnerable customers and complex needs as part of their induction and onboarding, this includes helping customer who need additional support.

DWP Work Coaches also receive comprehensive training to support individuals with additional needs. This learning begins with the core Work Coach learning journey, and is reinforced through ongoing, point-of-need learning throughout their role. Key topics include:

• The claimant commitment – which focuses on tailoring commitments to each claimant’s circumstances and abilities.
• The vulnerable customer learning journey - which includes a dedicated module on learning difficulties and helping work coaches identify the appropriate support required.

Carer’s Allowance application Average Actual Clearance Times are measured weekly. For the Carer’s Allowance figures shown here, Average Actual Clearance Time (AACT) is calculated as the average length of time (working days) from the receipt of a claim to the date the first payment was issued. Please see attached annex for details of weekly Carer’s Allowance application Average Actual Clearance Times from week commencing 2 January 2023 to week commencing 2 June 2025.

Special Notes:

The Average Actual Clearance Time figures are unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.

The number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared in each month, starting November 2023, is shown below in Table 1 below. This is based upon weekly data, starting week commencing 30^th October 2023 (see ‘Notes to Table 1’ for more information).

For all other questions, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Table 1: Number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared, by month, November 2023 to April 2025.

Source: DWP Management Information

Notes to Table 1:

• data is not seasonally adjusted
• numbers in thousands have been rounded to the nearest 100
• the monthly data shown is based on the summing of weekly management information data. Where a week falls across two calendar months, the week is attributed to the month in which the most number of working days falls. As a result, the number of weeks contributing to each month’s total volume cleared may vary across months.

The number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared in each month, starting November 2023, is shown below in Table 1 below. This is based upon weekly data, starting week commencing 30^th October 2023 (see ‘Notes to Table 1’ for more information).

For all other questions, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Table 1: Number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared, by month, November 2023 to April 2025.

Source: DWP Management Information

Notes to Table 1:

• data is not seasonally adjusted
• numbers in thousands have been rounded to the nearest 100
• the monthly data shown is based on the summing of weekly management information data. Where a week falls across two calendar months, the week is attributed to the month in which the most number of working days falls. As a result, the number of weeks contributing to each month’s total volume cleared may vary across months.

Supporting unpaid carers is a cross-Government issue which requires cross-Government support. I recently met with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets in the Department for Business and Trade and the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability in the Department for Work and Pensions to look at how we can work together more closely to support unpaid carers.

The Government has already taken steps to support unpaid carers. From April 2025, we are increasing the Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 a week to £196. This means carers can earn up to £10,000 a year whilst still retaining Carer's Allowance; this is approximately an additional £2,000 a year.

The Government recognises the challenges facing the adult social care system. That is why the Government is launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.

The commission will start a national conversation about what working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support.

The Government is also committed to reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave.

The final delivery plan for myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, will cover the population of England only.

However, due to the United Kingdom-wide nature of this issue, we have maintained engagement with the devolved administrations during the analysis of the consultation responses on the interim delivery plan, as well as on the ongoing development of the final plan.

We will continue to work closely with those devolved administrations to ensure that policy development and learning across the UK’s nations is shared.

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.

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.

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.