Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, in view of the judgment in Lindsey Smith, R (on the application of) v The Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, they intend to review the rules that allow civil servants to display political symbols.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government notes the judgment in Lindsey Smith, R (on the application of) v The Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, and is considering any wider implications for the Civil Service.
Civil servants are expected to carry out their roles serving the government of the day in accordance with the core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality and the standards of behaviour set out in the Civil Service Code.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 28 June (HL8464), which data areas King's College London was asked to review by NHS England or the Department of Health and Social Care in the unpublished LeDeR report, and the reasons for each request.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England works with Kings College London, the academic partner for LeDeR, to produce the LeDeR annual report. Since they submitted their draft report, NHS England has collaborated with them on further iterations with the aim to finalise as soon as possible.
The Department has provided feedback on later iterations of the report on practical data issues with the aim to ensure findings were accurately presented and could be clearly interpreted by the public. Feedback related to definition of technical language, additional context for demographic statistics, and apparent inconsistencies. A final version of the report addressing feedback was shared with the Department on 25 June 2025.
We are committed to publishing the latest report soon after Parliament returns alongside a Written Ministerial Statement.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54826 on Senior Civil Servants: Training, whether external venues have been booked for away days since 6 April 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
On 4 April, guidance was issued on restrictions to booking external venues. Departments were asked to put appropriate approval mechanisms in place. The guidance was clear that external venues for awaydays and events should only be used when space in government buildings is unavailable. When it is absolutely necessary to use an external venue, they should be procured through established procurement routes where available.
The Cabinet Office issued instructions on its intranet on 30 April 2025 that prior to booking any external venues approval must be obtained from the relevant Budget Holder and Finance Business Partner. Prior to this period, bookings may have been made which would have proved more costly to cancel, therefore some pre-booked events may still take place. However, this guidance is now live across the Department and is being implemented accordingly.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing specific (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish options for a person’s ethnic group in data collection conducted by his Department.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Public bodies usually collect ethnicity data in line with the ethnicity harmonised standard, which is developed by the independent Office for National Statistics. The Cabinet Office also uses these standards to collect diversity data.
The current harmonised standard is based on the 2011 Census questions used across the UK; those questions were updated for the 2021 and 2022 Censuses. The current standard does not include specific “Sikh” and “Jewish” categories for a person’s ethnic group. The ONS is reviewing the harmonised standard to ensure this remains appropriate and meets the needs of both data users and respondents. This will include a public consultation later this year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 1.24 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries publication Forty-seventh annual report on senior salaries published in May 2025, what steps the Government is taking to reduce excessive (a) bureaucracy and (b) process in the Civil Service.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to creating a productive and agile state. This includes reducing bureaucracy and simplifying processes through adoption of digital technology and AI tools, improving Ministerial oversight and accountability in arms-length bodies, streamlining approval processes, creating a cost-conscious culture that relentlessly roots out waste, drives efficiency, and protects taxpayers’ money, and establishing a more productive, higher-skilled civil service with stronger accountability for performance.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the pricing and reimbursement of multi-indication medicines does not deter future investment in UK-based research and development or the launches of new medicines.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In January 2025, following public consultation, NHS England published an updated NHS Commercial Framework for New Medicines. This framework includes the approach for assessing the eligibility for medicines that may treat multiple indications to qualify for indication-specific pricing, and the terms for doing so. Following consultation, NHS England adopted the following criteria for the use of indication-specific pricing:
- the medicine for the indication under consideration meets an unmet clinical need;
- the company can demonstrate with a high degree of confidence that uniform pricing would reduce the total revenue for a medicine across all indications;
- sufficient data is available within existing National Health Service systems to make such arrangements operationally feasible; and
- the cost-effective price is highly differentiated for all indications under consideration.
NHS England’s approach to indication-specific pricing has supported patient access to medicines for many new indications which would otherwise have been unavailable if the only alternative was a uniform price for all indications. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is able to recommend the vast majority of medicines for use in the NHS, including medicines licensed for multiple indications. The latest European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Association’s Patients Waiting to Access Innovative Therapies Indicator report 2024, published in May 2025, reports that the 37% of medicines licensed between 2020 and 2023 were fully available to NHS patients in England, compared with an European Union average of 29%.
As agreed under the terms of the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth, and subsequently set out in the NHS England consultation response, indication-specific pricing agreements will continue to be reserved for medicines that are normally expected to have value propositions at or below the lower end of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s cost-effectiveness range.
The Life Sciences Sector Plan committed to faster patient access to medicines and reduced industry costs, while ensuring good value for the NHS. A new, proportionate approach to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisals and indication-specific pricing will streamline access for multi-indication medicines with strong outcomes and low affordability risk. This will create a more agile, predictable commercial environment that supports investment into the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which five integrated care systems have had deficit support funding withheld; and how much funding has been withheld from each.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £2.2 billion of deficit support funding this year is being provided quarterly, and only to systems that deliver their plans. The five systems that have had deficit support funding withheld for quarter 2 are as follows: Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care System (ICS); North East London ICS; Cheshire and Merseyside ICS; Coventry and Warwickshire ICS; and South Yorkshire ICS. Deficit support funding will be released to these systems once progress has been made and there is confidence in the delivery of their plans, with progress and funding released reported in individual board reports throughout the year.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to provide (a) funding and (b) other support to help non-accredited aesthetic training academies to gain OFQUAL recognised status.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has no role in funding or supporting aesthetic training academies to gain Ofqual recognised status. Instead, this is a matter for training academies and awarding organisations. Ofqual, which is the independent regulator of qualifications in England, publishes guidance on how awarding organisations can apply for recognition for their qualifications, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-have-your-qualifications-regulated.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing annual statistics on the number of children who miss education due to long term illness; and if she will publish statistics on the child's (a) region, (b) age, (c) ethnicity, (d) gender and (e) type of illness.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department collects data on children missing education from local authorities. The latest data, including breakdowns by geography, characteristic and length of time missing education, is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education/2024-25-autumn-term. This includes data by region, age, ethnicity and gender.
The department does not yet publish data on physical health or mental health as a primary reason for children missing education. However, these fields have been added to the aggregate termly local authority data collection for the first time beginning autumn 2025 and will be included in the next official statistics release.
Data on pupil absence is collected via the school census and the latest publication is here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2023-24. Reasons for absence are included in the publication, including the illness rate.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support rural childcare providers to recruit qualified staff.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The early years workforce is at the heart of our mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change.
The latest early years census data reports a 7.2% increase in the number of workers between 2024/25, to 272,500 staff. This represents an increase of 18,200 workers, which is the biggest increase we’ve seen since the data became available in 2018.
We are supporting recruitment through our national ‘Do something BIG’ campaign, with a dedicated website setting out information on qualifications and linking to job vacancies, alongside financial incentives to attract and retain educators in areas of most need, including some rural areas. In addition, we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to promote and raise awareness of early years careers through the Jobcentre Plus network. We are working with local authorities and mayoral strategic authorities to create new routes into the workforce through skills bootcamps and funding early years initial teacher training, while our delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, is supporting local authorities and providers with one-to-one targeted support, including in rural areas.