Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of how her Department's proposed funding reforms will impact coastal communities with high proportions of (a) small businesses, (b) seasonal tourism employment, and (c) non-standard housing such as holiday chalets.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 14 October 2025, following consultation, the Government announced major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy. The reforms will make it quicker and easier to deliver flood defences by simplifying our funding rules, and optimising funding between building new flood projects and maintaining existing defences.
Under the new rules, projects will be prioritised by their benefit-to-cost ratios to drive value for money. Projects are developed in line with HM Treasury Green Book guidance and FCERM Appraisal Guidance and capture a wide range of benefits including those related to private properties (including holiday chalets with a fixed address), businesses, heritage, environment, recreation, and tourism. All schemes must achieve a benefit cost ratio of greater than one to receive Defra grant in aid.
The new rules give equal weighting to different types of benefits, which will help coastal areas where under the old rules, benefits such as those from recreation attracted lower weightings.
The list of projects to receive Government funding will be agreed in the usual way, on an annual basis, through the Environment Agency’s annual refresh process, with local representation.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of regional variations in the level of public transport provision on (a) the number of people who rely on cars and (b) levels of rural poverty.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government knows how important reliable public transport services are in enabling people to stay connected and access education, work and vital services across the country. We also know that local bus services can be a lifeline in rural areas and can be the only means for communities to stay connected.
The Government is taking ambitious steps to improve local bus services across the country, including introducing the Bus Services Act 2025 which puts passenger needs, reliable services and local accountability at the heart of local bus services by putting the power back in the hands of local leaders right across England.
We also recently confirmed long-term investment of over £3 billion from 2026/27 to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services for millions of passengers. This includes multi-year allocations for local authorities under the Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) totalling nearly £700 million per year, ending the short-term approach to bus funding and giving councils the certainty they need to plan ahead to improve services for local communities. LABG allocations have been calculated using a fair and transparent approach that considers population size, levels of deprivation, the extent of existing bus services, and rurality.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority will be allocated £133.5 million under the LABG from 2026/27 to 2028/29. This is in addition to the £46.8 million they are already receiving under the LABG this financial year.
The Department for Transport has developed and published a Connectivity Tool to measure people’s ability to get where they want and need to go, using walking, cycling and public transport to reach jobs, shops, schools, healthcare and other essential services in any location in England and Wales. The Connectivity Tool combines transport and land use data to generate a national measure of connectivity and provides new insights to those developing new transport schemes or planning for growth to more easily understand how new transport infrastructure can impact an area’s connectivity.
As announced in the Child Poverty Strategy, published on 5 December 2025, the Government will also develop a transport poverty tool, which will aim to capture where poor transport connectivity and affordability limits people’s access to employment and essential services.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to use AI and digital technology to improve the efficacy of job and employment services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are adopting AI in DWP to help colleagues deliver better outcomes for customers and to improve productivity and efficiency.
We will develop the Jobs and Careers Service to better support jobseekers and employers. As part of the design of the service, we will explore and test the most appropriate use of technology (including AI) to support job seekers with their work search.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many settlements for (a) bullying, (b) harassment, (c) discrimination, (d) physical and sexual abuse and (e) assault did his Department make in 2024-2025.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This answer covers employment tribunal settlements and common law compensation claim settlements.
For employment tribunal settlements, in some cases, it has been necessary to categorise harassment and discrimination together, where the claimant has alleged complaints of both within the same claim form.
Bullying: nil
Harassment and discrimination: seven settlements
Discrimination: six settlements
Physical and sexual abuse: nil
Assault: nil
For claims, the answer reflects settlement of common law compensation claims against the Ministry of Defence where bullying, harassment or discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual abuse and physical abuse or assault are the main causes of action. Settlements have been defined as claims where both compensation and claimant legal costs have settled. Given the way such claims are categorised and recorded, it is not possible to separate between bullying, harassment and discrimination. Sexual harassment and sexual abuse are categorised together, as are physical abuse and assault.
Bullying, harassment and discrimination: Eight settlements
Sexual harassment and sexual abuse: 12 settlements
Physical abuse and assault: Fewer than five settlements
This answer does not include any settlement of damages in 2024-2025 where legal costs have not been finalised. Numbers fewer than five are not provided in order to reduce the possible inadvertent disclosure of claimant identities.
Both the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and War Pensions Scheme (WPS) are no-fault schemes to pay compensation for injuries, illness or death caused or made worse by service. Awards are granted for injuries/illnesses/deaths and not specific events within their service. Identifying if the claimant has stated their injuries/illnesses/deaths were suffered as a result of clinical negligence would exceed the appropriate cost limit as it would require a manual file search of every claim file.
The Raising Our Standards Programme, launched in September 2024, is driving vital cultural change through improved education, training, reporting systems, and trust in leadership. We are strengthening reporting pathways to ensure employees feel safe to report and challenge behaviours. For non-criminal complaints, the MyComplaints App enables Service and Civil Servant personnel to raise issues outside their chain of command. The forthcoming Tri-service Complaints Unit will handle the most serious cases of bullying, harassment and discrimination.
Together, these initiatives create a culture where victim-survivors are supported through every route they choose, empowering them with autonomy and confidence. This commitment underpins a safer, more respectful environment for all personnel.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the availability of specialist disability employment advisers within Jobcentres.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Every Jobcentre has access to a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA). We have over 700 FTE DEAs across our Jobcentre network.
We regularly monitor the number of staff allocated to this role.
DEAs are trained as Work Coaches, followed by additional role specific learning designed to support their role. This learning enables DEAs to treat each claimant as an individual, understand the impact of different disabilities and health conditions, and provide tailored support to help overcome barriers to employment. Our other Jobcentre staff will make referrals to our DEAs for this specialist support where appropriate.
We have a range of specialist support to help individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. DEAs work with the local community to advocate for customers, collaborate with local partners such as employers, voluntary organisations, the NHS and local government services to facilitate support that meets local needs and promote other programmes such as Disability Confident and Work Well.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with cabinet colleagues to support young disabled people with complex needs into work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is taking action to help young disabled people and young people with complex health needs move towards work. This is a diverse group, so it is key that the individual gets access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, for them.
The Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will guarantee specialist support for young people with long-term health conditions and disabled young people.
We have announced an £820 million funding package for the Youth Guarantee to overhaul support and give a generation of young people a brighter future. Over the next three years:
Through Pathways to Work we are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. This will be the biggest investment in support for disabled people and those with health conditions in at least a generation. We anticipate that, once fully rolled out, the Pathways to Work Guarantee will offer a comprehensive range of support including: a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.
Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will build on the range of support available to disabled people and people with health conditions, regardless of their benefit status or Work Group. For example, Connect to Work a supported employment programme that joins up work skills and health support, and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, which combine the expertise of therapists and employment advisers to give those with mental health conditions the support they need to find work tailored to them. Additionally, disabled people and people with health conditions might be able to access WorkWell, which is our new way to deliver integrated work and health support through local partnerships.
Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn will lead on an investigation of the rise in youth inactivity with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability. Reporting in Summer 2026.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support young disabled people who cannot work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For a small minority of young people, work is not a realistic goal. However, for most disabled young people and young people with a health condition, given the right support, working at some point in the near future is a credible ambition. We know amongst people on health-related benefits those under 25 are significantly more likely to think they could work now if the right job and support was available.
We are delivering the biggest employment support package for disabled people and people with health conditions in more than a generation. Backed by £1 billion a year of new, and additional funding by 2030, we will build towards a guarantee of personalised work, health and skills support to improve returns to work and prevent economic inactivity, as part of rebalancing spending towards work over welfare.
This includes an extra £300 million on top of that announced at the Spring Statement, enabling us to go further and faster on our new planned investment in work, health and skills support offers, building on and learning from successes such as the Connect to Work programme, which is being rolled out over 2025 to provide disabled people and people with health conditions with one-to-one support at the point when they feel ready to work.
Support is also available through the Access to Work scheme - a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant which supports the recruitment and retention of disabled people in employment.
A young disabled person may also be eligible for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which provides a contribution towards the extra costs that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition. PIP is non-contributory, non-means-tested, available regardless of whether the recipient is in work or not and can be worth up to £9,747.40 a year, tax free. PIP can also be paid in addition to any other financial or practical support someone may be entitled to such as Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, NHS services, free prescriptions, and help with travel costs to appointments.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of locally delivered mentoring schemes in improving youth employment outcomes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is working to strengthen how young people at risk of becoming NEET are identified and supported. Local authorities, Strategic Authorities, schools and further education providers will be enabled to share and use data more effectively, supported by new ‘Risk of NEET’ indicator tools and guidance. We have published guidance to support local authorities to identify at-risk young people, support participation and post-16 transition, and prevent NEET.
Alongside this, the Youth Guarantee ensures all 18- to 21-year-olds have support to access training, an apprenticeship or work, backed by careers advice, work experience and a targeted job backstop.
Our statutory careers guidance sets clear expectations for schools and colleges to provide inclusive, high quality careers programmes to encourage schools to make links with providers and employers offering mentoring opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged young people and those at risk of becoming NEET.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support local authorities to scale up effective mentoring and employability schemes for young people.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is working to strengthen how young people at risk of becoming NEET are identified and supported. Local authorities, Strategic Authorities, schools and further education providers will be enabled to share and use data more effectively, supported by new ‘Risk of NEET’ indicator tools and guidance. We have published guidance to support local authorities to identify at-risk young people, support participation and post-16 transition, and prevent NEET.
Alongside this, the Youth Guarantee ensures all 18- to 21-year-olds have support to access training, an apprenticeship or work, backed by careers advice, work experience and a targeted job backstop.
Our statutory careers guidance sets clear expectations for schools and colleges to provide inclusive, high quality careers programmes to encourage schools to make links with providers and employers offering mentoring opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged young people and those at risk of becoming NEET.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on the level of (a) employment and (b) training support provided to job seekers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper, published in November 2024, outlined plans to deliver fundamental reform of our health, employment and skills system to help support people across all areas of England to get into work. Government’s English Devolution White Paper sets the direction of travel to continue to empower local areas to deliver our Plan for Change. It will give new and deeper levers to local areas, including some skills and employment support.
Ministers and officials meet regularly with local areas to engage with them on issues each local area is facing. These meetings provide opportunities to share intelligence on employment, employment support and skills.
On 2nd December 2025, the Minister for Employment met with councillors who sit on the Local Government Association's Inclusive Growth Committee as part of a standing series of meetings with Local Authorities. The Minister met with the Mayors Council on the 4th of December in Liverpool and also meets quarterly with Mayors to discuss local employment and skills challenges. DWP officials also engage regularly with both Mayoral Strategic Authorities and other local government.