Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of when mainstream schools will have the baseline staffing levels required to deliver the universal inclusion expectations set out in the Schools White Paper.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining expert teachers is at the heart of the government’s Plan for Change, with good progress already being made: the teaching workforce has grown by 2,346 FTE between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools; the schools where they are needed most.
We are investing £200 million in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) training to upskill staff in every school, college and nursery over the course of this Parliament. This training will cover children with SEND in their earliest years, through to age 25.
We are providing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), to work together to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, which will give schools direct access to support, advice, training and specialist expertise from professionals such as speech and language therapists (SaLTs), educational psychologists (EPs) and specialist teachers.
We are investing £15 million to establish new speech and language therapist advanced practitioners in every ICB geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings.
In addition, we will continue to train at least 200 EPs per year in 2026 and 2027, backed by £26m.
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Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, what steps they plan to take to mitigate the impact on carers as individuals specifically in relation to the loss of pensions, career damage and loss of family light.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme compensates for the cost of care incurred by someone’s infection in two ways.
A Care award is paid to the infected person as part of their overall compensation claim. A living infected person receiving this compensation can take a decision on whether all or some of this award should be passed to an affected person. An executor of a deceased infected person's estate will be responsible for administering the estate as per the wishes of the infected person.
If someone provided care to an infected person, and is not otherwise eligible for compensation in relation to that person (for example, as their sibling or parent), they may be eligible for compensation as an affected carer. They will need to show that they provided an infected person with care, without reward or remuneration, where the provision of care averaged at least 16.5 hours of care per week over a time period of at least 6 months, after the infection. They will be eligible to receive an injury award and a social impact award.
Whether someone receives part or all of an infected person’s care award, as per the wishes of the infected person, does not affect whether they can apply for the award as a carer, or as any other affected person. The two are not linked, and have no bearing on each other.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how SEND costs in England will be funded over this Parliament.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Overall, core schools funding (including funding for mainstream schools and high needs funding for young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)) is increasing by £1.7 billion in the 2026/27 financial year, and will total £67.0 billion, compared to £65.3 billion in 2025/26. High needs funding will be over £12 billion in England in the 2026/27 financial year, following a £1 billion increase in 2025/26. The additional funding announced at the 2025 Spending Review will deliver an above-real-terms per-pupil increase up to the 2028/29 financial year and enable us to transform the SEND system. Moreover, departmental budgets will increase above previously planned funding at Autumn Budget 2025 by £3.5 billion in 2028/29 to support investment in the SEND system.
In our recent publication ’SEND reform: putting children and young people first’, we announced a £4 billion investment over the three years of the spending period to make every school inclusive and transform outcomes for children with SEND. This investment includes over £1.6 billion for the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, £1.8 billion for Experts at Hand, £200 million for Best Start Family Hubs and over £200 million for a national training package. More details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on carers, particularly women, of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme paying awards for past care directly to the estate of the deceased, in particular in relation to Articles 4, 5, 6, 8 and 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Care award is provided to people making a claim as an infected person or as their estate representative. A living infected person receiving compensation can take a decision on whether all or some of this award should be passed to an affected person. Care awards paid to infected people can therefore be paid directly to affected people on the request of an infected person.
An executor of a deceased infected person's estate will be responsible for administering the estate as per the wishes of the infected person.
The Cabinet Office has carried out analysis under the Public Sector Equality Duty for all regulations made to establish the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The most recent analysis was published in October and can be viewed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2025/9780348276077/pdfs/ukdsipes_9780348276077_en_001.pdf.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation they have undertaken with private companies on investment into nature as part of the Nature Investment Standards Programme.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra sponsors the British Standards Institution’s (BSI) Nature Investment Standards Programme to work with industry to develop a suite of standards to ensure that as they develop, UK nature markets secure positive outcomes for the environment. These standards have been developed using a market-led process with input from market experts, including private companies, and feedback from public consultations.
The standards are designed to drive consistency and integrity across UK nature markets, and Government is putting in place a range of other interventions to stimulate more private investment into nature recovery. At this stage, it has not been possible to attribute specific levels of investment to the standards, so no such assessment has been made. In line with the Magenta book, Defra is evaluating the impact of the standards, including on levels of investment.
On 24 March 2026, following consultations on earlier draft versions, BSI published standards for the Supply of Biodiversity Benefits and the Supply of Nutrient Benefits. These are available, along with all other published standards and those in development, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/nature-investment-standards/the-bsi-nature-investment-standards (see attached). A draft standard for the Supply of Nature-based Carbon Benefits was published for consultation in summer 2025 and a subsequent version will be published in due course.
Also, in March this year we published a Land Use Framework for England which set a vision for multifunctional land use. To achieve that vision, we recognise that in some circumstances, it may make sense for multiple revenue streams to be combined on the same area of land. We are considering how best to support this vision while maintaining environmental integrity and intend to set out our position later this year as part of the forthcoming response to the recent consultation on Voluntary Carbon and Nature Markets.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Defibrillators that all emergency service vehicles, including newly acquired emergency vehicles, be legally required to carry defibrillators.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no national standard for defibrillator provision in all emergency vehicles, and the Government has not considered centralised procurement arrangements. There are no current plans to make legislative changes to mandate the provision of defibrillators in all emergency vehicles. For National Health Service ambulance services, all NHS ambulances carry defibrillators.
The Home Office has advised that Fire Services and police forces are operationally independent from the Government, and therefore decisions on the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) would be an operational matter for them.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has confirmed there are already local models of joint working between emergency services, for example where firefighters are trained to respond alongside ambulance services, including basic life support and AED use. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government supports effective collaboration that strengthens public safety.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given, if any, to centralised procurement arrangements to equip emergency vehicle fleets with defibrillators at scale.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no national standard for defibrillator provision in all emergency vehicles, and the Government has not considered centralised procurement arrangements. There are no current plans to make legislative changes to mandate the provision of defibrillators in all emergency vehicles. For National Health Service ambulance services, all NHS ambulances carry defibrillators.
The Home Office has advised that Fire Services and police forces are operationally independent from the Government, and therefore decisions on the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) would be an operational matter for them.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has confirmed there are already local models of joint working between emergency services, for example where firefighters are trained to respond alongside ambulance services, including basic life support and AED use. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government supports effective collaboration that strengthens public safety.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a national standard or equivalent for defibrillator provision in emergency vehicles; and if so, whether they will publish that standard.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no national standard for defibrillator provision in all emergency vehicles, and the Government has not considered centralised procurement arrangements. There are no current plans to make legislative changes to mandate the provision of defibrillators in all emergency vehicles. For National Health Service ambulance services, all NHS ambulances carry defibrillators.
The Home Office has advised that Fire Services and police forces are operationally independent from the Government, and therefore decisions on the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) would be an operational matter for them.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has confirmed there are already local models of joint working between emergency services, for example where firefighters are trained to respond alongside ambulance services, including basic life support and AED use. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government supports effective collaboration that strengthens public safety.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 88 of the policy paper entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan, published on 14 July 2025, how many meetings have been attended by civil servants within their Department in relation to the Home Defence Programme; which directorate in the Department owns the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme; and what the job title is of the civil servant leading and cohering the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Resilience Action Plan sets out the government’s strategic approach to how we will strengthen our domestic resilience and invest to protect the nation. Officials from the department regularly attend meetings to discuss the implementation of the Resilience Action Plan as well as matters of national security and defence.
The department is actively supporting this work. Officials in the department are in regular discussions with the Ministry of Defence and other government departments about the critical role children and young people play.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the use of animal testing in sepsis research.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 11th November 2025 the government published “Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods” which outlines the steps we will take to achieve this. (Replacing animals in science strategy - GOV.UK)
Sepsis is a complex and multifaceted condition, and its study presents significant scientific challenges. We will consider sepsis during the development of our areas of research interest list to determine the best path forward for new model development that drives scientific innovation, supports improved therapy development, and reduces reliance on animals.