Written questions by Kearns.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposals within the English Devolution White Paper on the (a) borders and (b) status of ceremonial counties.

The proposals within the English Devolution White Paper will not directly impact the borders or status of ceremonial counties which do not exist for the purposes of local government administration. Where areas develop proposals for local government reorganisation, we will work with councils to consider any implications for the ceremonial counties.

How much funding her Department plans to provide for T-Level qualifications in each of the next three financial years.

This government is committed to driving economic growth and supporting opportunity for all. To help achieve these missions, we announced an additional £300 million of funding in the 2025/26 financial year for further education at the Autumn Budget 2024.T Level study programmes are funded as part of the wider funding for 16 to 19 education. The department is preparing the operational detail of the 16 to 19 funding rates and formula and the allocations timeline for the 2025/26 academic year. We aim to publish more information as soon as we can and will provide a further update in due course.Future budgets are subject to the outcomes of the multi-year spending review which will take place later this year.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21677 on Offences Against Children, whether her Department plans to reform the collection of data on grooming gangs.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January 2025, in which she announced the appointment of Baroness Louise Casey to lead a rapid three-month audit into these issues. The audit will examine all the currently available data and evidence to help us to better understand the nature, scale and profile of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation being dealt with by police forces in the UK today, including ethnicity; to identify gaps in existing knowledge; and to make recommendations that can then be applied at local level.

Whether all immediate choice officer pensions will be remedied by 1 April 2025.

While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the police pension regulations, the police pension scheme is locally administered by individual police forces.It is for each Chief Constable, in their role as scheme manager for their force, to determine their administrative timetable, including when remedy payments will be distributed.The Home Office is actively collaborating with policing to support the effective implementation of the McCloud remedy for all affected individuals.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 22092 on Local Government: Reform, whether local council mergers will be required under the English Devolution White Paper.

On 16 December, I wrote to all councils in two-tier areas and to neighbouring small unitaries alongside the English Devolution White Paper, to set out our plans. I intend to formally invite unitary proposals in January 2025 from all these councils and I will ask for interim plans in March. I am open to hearing from other councils who consider reorganisation will put them on a more sustainable footing. As set out in the White Paper, I will take a phased approach to delivery, taking into account where reorganisation can unlock devolution, where areas are keen to move quickly or where it can help address wider failings.

When her Department will publish the ethnicity data on grooming gangs collected by the police.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January 2025, in which she announced the appointment of Baroness Louise Casey to lead a rapid three-month audit into these issues. The audit will examine all the currently available data and evidence to help us to better understand the nature, scale and profile of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation being dealt with by police forces in the UK today, including ethnicity; to identify gaps in existing knowledge; and to make recommendations that can then be applied at local level.

Whether any offenders who were convicted of child sexual abuse have been released early from prison since 5 July 2024.

Sex offences were automatically excluded from both the End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme which ceased on 9 September 2024 and from the current SDS40 scheme.

Whether her Department considers the Muslim Association of Britain an extremist entity.

The Government does not routinely comment on individual groups or cases and Home Office officials continually seek to build and refresh their knowledge of the threat from extremism, as the landscape is constantly evolving. This includes disrupting the activities of those who seek to radicalise others but operate – often intentionally – below legal thresholds.While the Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations in the UK under review, we do not routinely comment on whether or not an organisation is under consideration for proscription.

Whether any offenders convicted of gang rape have been released early from prison in the last six months.

There is no single offence for gang rape defined in legislation.All sex offences are automatically excluded from the SDS40 scheme.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the United Arab Emirates proscribing (a) Cambridge Education and Training Centre Ltd, (b) IMA6INE Ltd, (c) Wembley Tree Ltd, (d) Waslaforall, (e) Future Graduates Ltd, (f) Yas for Investment and Real Estate, (g) Holdco UK Properties Limited and (h) Nafel Capital as terror groups.

The Government does not routinely comment on individual groups or cases and Home Office officials continually seek to build and refresh their knowledge of the threat from extremism, as the landscape is constantly evolving. This includes disrupting the activities of those who seek to radicalise others but operate – often intentionally – below legal thresholds.While the Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations in the UK under review, we do not routinely comment on whether or not an organisation is under consideration for proscription.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) protect the livestock sector from the confirmed outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Germany and (b) prevent the disease entering the UK.

The UK is currently free from foot and mouth disease (FMD) and has a robust contingency plan in place to manage risk as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain. Controls include strict prohibitions on the imports of animals and products of animal origin from countries in which FMD is present; a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect new and emerging disease threats; and active follow up and veterinary investigation of any suspect reports of notifiable disease. Following confirmation of FMD in Germany, Defra has taken rapid action to protect the UK. This includes, suspending the commercial import of susceptible animals from Germany and restricting personal imports of animal products from across the European Union. The need for further controls is being kept under review as further information on the situation in Germany becomes available. FMD guidance is available on GOV.UK and livestock farmers are urged to be extra vigilant and report any suspect disease immediately​.

Whether her Department considers the Muslim Brotherhood and its international offshoots to be extremist entities.

The Government does not routinely comment on individual groups or cases and Home Office officials continually seek to build and refresh their knowledge of the threat from extremism, as the landscape is constantly evolving. This includes disrupting the activities of those who seek to radicalise others but operate – often intentionally – below legal thresholds.While the Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations in the UK under review, we do not routinely comment on whether or not an organisation is under consideration for proscription.

What steps her Department is taking to prevent neglect of monkeys used for medical research.

The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) provides protections for animals in the UK used in scientific procedures. All establishments licensed to breed or supply animals, or to carry out regulated procedures on animals, in Great Britain under ASPA must comply with the Code of Practice which sets out standards for the appropriate care and accommodation of animals, including for non-human primates (monkeys). The Regulator conducts regular on-site audits to assess compliance. Non-human primates are afforded ‘specially protected species’ status in the law, which necessitates greater oversight by the Regulator.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on developing an improved plant health alert system; and whether the new system will include real time updates on border holds.

For goods that are detained at the border, there are already measures in place to inform the persons responsible for the loads that corrective action may be required or that in the event of a pest finding, certain processes need to be followed. Any non-compliance that results in statutory action is also formally notified to the exporting country, with publication of the non-compliances also published on the Plant Health Portal. Following recent feedback from individual cases, the Animal and Plant Health Agency has reviewed and updated its processes to ensure individuals are aware of any action being taken.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve border infrastructure for importing (a) large plants and (b) trees.

Defra continues to work with port operators to ensure that there are effective import inspections of large plants and trees to maintain the UK’s high biosecurity standards, including ensuring equipment is available to handle goods. Defra has laid legislation which will implement an exemption to enable certain large commodities to be unloaded and inspected in outside areas at these facilities, subject to certain requirements. This will come into force on 30 January 2025.

When the new Neffy treatment for severe allergic reactions will be available on the NHS.

It is critical that medicines used in the United Kingdom are safe and effective. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) assesses all medicines before they can be used in the UK. Neffy (epinephrine nasal spray) has not been licenced by the MHRA. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider the benefit-risk of the product accordingly in regards to its quality, safety and effectiveness. It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation. Local National Health Service organisations are expected to make decisions on the availability of medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence and taking into account any relevant national guidance.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the new Neffy treatment for severe allergic reactions to schools when available on the NHS.

Needle-free epinephrine nasal spray is not currently licensed for use in the United Kingdom. Consideration as to whether this could be used in schools would have to be taken once the medicine receives a marketing authorisation. Since October 2017, the Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017 have allowed all schools to buy adrenaline auto-injector devices without a prescription for emergency use. The Department of Health and Social Care has published non-statutory guidance to accompany this legislative change, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-emergency-adrenaline-auto-injectors-in-schools.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to provide more data to horticulture businesses on (a) sanitary and phytosanitary border movements and (b) inspection rates generated from the Import of products, animals, food and feed system.

Our checks are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk. To protect the integrity of this approach, we cannot share granular data on movements and inspections. Traders should continue to follow the published guidance which sets out Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) inspection rates. Regarding communication with horticulture businesses, there is regular official level engagement with the Horticultural Trade Association (HTA) concerning the border and there has been throughout the development of the BTOM; including the recent November 21st roundtable on plants, cut flowers, and the border.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to support areas at risk of flooding; and when he plans to announce these.

To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences. The list of projects to receive Government funding in 2025/26 will be agreed by the Environment Agency over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, whether unitary local authorities will be required to merge with neighbouring councils to meet the 500,000 target.

On 16 December, I wrote to all councils in two-tier areas and to neighbouring small unitaries alongside the White Paper, to set out our plans. I intend to formally invite unitary proposals in January 2025 from all these councils. I will ask for interim plans in March and I am open to hearing from other councils who consider reorganisation will put them on a more sustainable footing. I will take a phased approach to delivery, taking into account where reorganisation can unlock devolution, where areas are keen to move quickly or where it can help address wider failings.New unitary councils must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. For most areas this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more, but there may be exceptions to ensure new structures make sense for an area, including for devolution, and decisions will be on a case-by-case basis.