Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help support people with endometriosis in the workplace in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including women with endometriosis, with their employment journey.
We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. WorkWell is part of Pathways to Work and will be rolled out across all of England backed by up to £259 million investment over three years. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
In November 2025, Sir Charlie Mayfield reported his Keep Britain Working Review, setting out recommendations to support employers to create healthier and more inclusive workplaces and radically reshape the way Government works with employers to improve outcomes. Following publication we have entered the Vanguard phase and, as part of this, we are partnering with Vanguard employers to test how we can better support good health in work, with a focus on women's health as part of this. Women’s health directly impacts economic participation, with health issues being the leading cause of lost working time for women. We have been inputting into the Women’s Health Strategy renewal to ensure women being in work is a positive health outcome. This includes a commitment to adopting a women’s health across the life course lens as part of the partnership with Vanguard employers in the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Individuals unable to work due to endometriosis may be eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay from their employer which, from April becomes payable from the first full day of sickness absence.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 the contribution of British Wool's (a) sheep shearing training and (b) exchange with shearers and sheep farmers in Australia and New Zealand to farming in the UK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
With a national flock of around 30m sheep, British Wool provides a unique and valuable service, for around 30,000 registered wool producers across the UK, to collect, grade, promote, and sell their fleece wool to the global textile industry.
British Wool is also the main provider and promoter of training for sheep shearers in the UK. In each of the last five years (2021-2025) British Wool has provided shearing training for between 798 and 898 people at skill levels ranging from beginners through to highly proficient commercial shearers. British Wool’s investment in this training includes subsidised courses for between 100- 200 young farmers a year.
Defra is aware of the role that shearers and sheep farmers from countries such as Australia and New Zealand have provided in sharing skills and expertise with UK sheep farmers and in supporting the health and welfare of the UK flock.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training and guidance Ministers and civil servants receive to ensure that answers to written questions comply with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, particularly the requirement for answers to be "full and timely" under paragraph 9.8.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Parliamentary Questions training is the responsibility of individual Departments. There is a published Guide to Parliamentary Work for civil servants available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work) which sets out expectations in managing Parliamentary Questions.
The Parliamentary Capability Team within Government Skills also offers training on Parliamentary Questions to civil servants of all departments, grades and roles.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that parents have the skills they need to support children's safe use of AI.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Protecting children from harm online is a top priority for this government.
This year, the government will be supporting a NSPCC summit at Wilton Park on the impact of AI on childhood. This will bring together experts, technology companies, civil society and young people to explore how AI can benefit children without exposing them to harm
Media literacy is also a key part of our approach, helping children and adults develop critical thinking skills to navigate the growing presence of AI-generated content. DSIT has developed with DfE an online safety parent hub providing guidance on media literacy and online safety.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, what plans his Department has to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the funding competition to increase student places on strategically-relevant defence courses.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On 5 February the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced that, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy skills package, it is directly investing £80 million into the Higher Education sector to increase the capacity on key defence-related courses and invest in new facilities and cutting-edge technology to ensure we have the skilled workforce the sector requires in the future.
This funding will be distributed by the Office for Students (OfS) as part of a Strategic Priorities Grant competition which all eligible Higher Education institutions in England will be able to apply for. We have worked with the OfS to help shape the competition criteria to ensure that institutions receiving this funding will be networked into the defence industry and wider sector and are able to support students to consider a career in the defence industry.
The OfS will monitor the institutions and the specific projects that receive this funding and we are working with them to ensure that this monitoring aligns with the MOD’s strategic aims for this funding.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, whether any of the £80 million investment will be allocated to colleges and universities in Essex.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On 5 February the Ministry of Defence announced that, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy skills package, it is directly investing £80 million into the Higher Education sector to increase the capacity on key defence-related courses and invest in new facilities and cutting-edge technology to ensure we have the skilled workforce the sector requires in the future.
This funding will be distributed by the Office for Students (OfS) as part of a Strategic Priorities Grant competition which all eligible Higher Education institutions in England will be able to apply for. OfS are an independent body running a fair and transparent competition. The competition opened on the 12 February with competition guidance published on their website. We welcome applications from colleges and universities across England including in Essex.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, what are the key performance indicators that his Department will use to measure the success of the Defence Universities Alliance.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Universities Alliance was announced as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy in September 2025 to create a strategic network of UK universities who are publicly committed to partnering with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the defence industrial sector.
It aims to advance high quality defence research, encourage more skilled graduates to consider careers within the defence sector and strengthen and promote the partnership between the MOD, academia and defence industry. We are in the process of establishing the Alliance and will work with its founding members to establish a baseline and measure its success. Further details will be announced in due course.
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 to improve levels of employment for people with disabilities.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity. The Northern Ireland Executive received consequential funding in the usual way.
Disabled people and people with health conditions can face a wide range of unique, yet intersecting barriers, relating to not just their health, but their employment and circumstance (Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers: Final findings report - GOV.UK). We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, and has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
We set out our plan for the Pathways to Work Guarantee in our Pathways to Work Green Paper and we are building towards our guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. The guarantee is backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by the end of the decade. We anticipate the guarantee, once fully rolled out, will include: 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.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
In Northern Ireland, health, skills, careers and employment support are transferred matters. My officials work closely with those in the Northern Ireland Executive, sharing best practice on providing employment support to disabled people.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how the commitments to workforce training in the Hamburg Declaration will be implemented to ensure a skilled workforce for Scotland's offshore renewables sector.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the Hamburg Declaration, the North Sea countries have committed to deepen collaboration on enhanced availability of skilled workers, knowledge and expertise transfer, and upskilling.
Although skills is devolved to the Scottish Government, the UK Government is investing in programmes to support those workers transitioning from oil and gas into renewables.
As set out in the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, up to £20m in joint UK and Scottish Government funding is being provided to the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund, supporting North Sea workers to retrain into renewable roles. This builds on the successful pilot launched in July 2025 in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
The Government is also supporting the expansion of the industry-led Energy Skills Passport and introducing a North Sea Jobs Service.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to encourage (a) provision and (b) take up of seafarer apprenticeships in the North West.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
An industry round-table, chaired by the then Maritime Minister, was held in Blackpool in May 2025. The round-table brought key stakeholders from across the maritime industry together to discuss the promotion of maritime careers in the North West. The Department is engaging with Skills England and the Department for Work and Pensions on the provision of maritime apprenticeships and will continue to advocate for growing maritime careers and apprenticeships with employers in the North West.