Written questions by Martin.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve biodiversity in coastal areas impacted by algae overgrowth.

In the most ambitious target on water pollution in history, we will halve sewage pollution by 2030. We are restoring our waterways to good health so communities can once again take pride in their rivers, lakes and seas. We are abolishing Ofwat and establishing a new, single, powerful regulator. We are ending the era of water companies marking their own homework by ending operator self-monitoring. And we are ensuring greater local involvement in planning decisions around water.

Whether claimants with disabilities who are in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment and legacy work-related benefits will be treated as new claimants for the purposes of the proposed changes to the health element of Universal Credit when they are migrated onto Universal Credit through managed migration; and whether such claimants will see a reduction in their income as a result of these proposed changes.

The Department plans to complete migration of ESA claimants to UC by March 2026. As part of this ESA claimants will be migrated to the UC Health Element. To protect any claimants who have not migrated by April 2026 we intend to mirror as closely as possible the changes made in UC in the ESA rates. Changes to the “support component” and the two disability premia (severe and enhanced disability premium rates) will reflect changes to UC LCWRA rates for existing claimants.  Including these commensurate measures aims to give fair treatment for all customers moving onto UC from income related ESA, regardless of their point of migration.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure distinct recognition for children from service families in education policy; and whether she will adopt a whole person, whole journey approach for such children.

The Armed Forces Covenant aims to ensure that service people and their families are not disadvantaged by their service to our country. The government is dedicated to recognising and supporting the education of children and young people from military families within the state-funded education system, ensuring they have the opportunity to achieve and thrive.Schools are allocated additional funding through the Service Pupil Premium to help them better support the specific needs of children from service families. For the 2025/26 financial year, over £26 million has been allocated to state-funded schools in England through the Service Pupil Premium, at a rate of £350 per pupil.The government remains open to new evidence regarding the specific needs of service children and is committed to finding the best ways to support them throughout all educational phases.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that projects supported by the Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure fund in (a) Aberdeen (b) Portsmouth and (c) the UK are able to proceed with vessel plug-in demonstrations; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (i) uncertainty on the UK Emission Trading Scheme's applicability to domestic maritime, (ii) the VAT rating of shore power and (iii) the level of ports' (A) transmission and (B) standing charges on the viability of such projects.

The Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure (ZEVI) fund provided £80 million of funding to ten projects, including over £25 million for cold ironing projects in Portsmouth, Aberdeen and Falmouth. Our UK SHORE programme delivery partner Innovate UK, monitors, scrutinises and works with projects to ensure they are on track for delivery and to assist with overcoming barriers which may impact upon delivery. While we have not specifically assessed the impact of the points raised on the viability of ZEVI projects, the wider policy environment will of course enable the long-term viability of these projects. The recently published Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy sets out our intended policy package for the UK domestic maritime sector, including expanding the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to domestic maritime from 2026. This will be a key policy in enabling the conditions for zero and near-zero emission vessels to be commercially viable, by applying a price to emissions, and incentivising the uptake of emissions reduction technologies.In the coming months we will publish our response to the consultation on the technical details of including domestic maritime in the ETS, which will provide more certainty on the applicability of the scheme. Further to this, we recently concluded a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. It focused on port decarbonisation and zero emissions at berth, including questions on the barriers and opportunities of reducing emissions at berth and standing and transmission charges at ports. Our response to this call for evidence will follow in due course. We will continue to engage with Ofgem and other departments regarding the provision and use of electricity by ports and their users.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing funding for support for education professionals working with armed forces children; and what steps he is taking to ensure that funding in this area is (a) informed by research, (b) supported by evaluation and (c) aligned with improving outcomes for armed forces families.

Understanding that education is a devolved matter, the Secretary of State for Defence does not issue core funding to educational settings for Service children.However, the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Armed Forces Families Fund provides additional funding opportunities for schools and local authorities across the UK. Since 2023, £4.5 million has supported the Service Pupil Support Programme (SPSP) in schools and local authorities across the UK. The sub themes of the SPSP align with the aims of the Armed Forces Families Strategy and include elements focusing upon the educational outcomes of Service children and supporting Service children with additional learning needs. The SPSP is evaluated externally and is also presently funding three university research projects in areas of specific interest. In England the Department for Education continues to allocate additional funding in the form of the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) to state funded schools with Service children among their pupils. Service Pupil Premium funding helps schools to provide pastoral and academic support to current and former Service children. Schools are allocated SPP funding for each pupil aged 5 to 16 who is currently recorded as a Service child in the autumn school census or who has held this status in the last six years via ‘Ever 6’, or who receives a child pension from the MOD. The SPP is now worth £350 per eligible pupil annually. For example, more than £26 million has been paid to schools in the financial year 2023 to 2024, benefiting more than 78,000 pupils.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the VAT treatment of (a) shore power supplied to ships and (b) the services provided by contractors who connect or disconnect that supply; and if she will make it her policy to amend the Extra-Statutory Concessions for electricity to be a zero-rated marine fuel for VAT purposes.

VAT charged on electricity generated through shore power and supplied to ships can be recovered by businesses operating these ships subject to the normal rules of the tax. Extra-Statutory Concessions (ESCs) are remissions of revenue that allow relief in specific sets of circumstances and are authorised when strict application of the law would create a disadvantage or the effect would not be the one intended. This does not apply to the rules that relate to the supply of electricity. ESC 9.2 allows zero-rating of marine fuel as ships stores. It is limited to a specific set of rebated duty fuels (fuel oil, gas oil and kerosene) that qualified for zero-rating before July 1990. The Government has no plans to review or amend the scope of ESC 9.2.

What steps he is planning to take to improve the (a) quality and (b) availability of data on the educational (i) outcomes and (ii) experiences of armed forces children; and if he will make it his policy to develop a national dataset to help inform evidence-based (A) policy and (B) practice in this area.

We are committed with counterparts in Government to maintaining robust data around the educational outcomes of all children to inform future strategic and policy development. It is important to remember that education is a devolved matter, and caution should be applied in considering the feasibility of a UK-wide dataset, where very different education systems would be compared. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the importance of the devolved administrations maintaining their own datasets to inform where their resources should be targeted. The Department for Education (DfE) continues to provide the MOD updated datasets on how Service children perform in state schools in England across key measures of academic attainment; this information is published in the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report. The DfE and the MOD have also recently published joint guidance to schools and local authorities on how best to support Service children in education. In Scotland, the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Act places duties on education authorities, who retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education in Scotland. These duties require Scottish authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of pupils. This includes Service children and young people, who may require extra support, short or long term and for whatever the reason. Delivery of ASL is a joint endeavour between the Scottish Government and Scottish Local Authorities. The Welsh Government are currently exploring the potential to broaden the definition of Service children in Wales to ensure the maximum number of children can benefit from the support available. Linked to this they are considering how they collect data on Service children in Welsh schools to ensure that policy and support is based on robust evidence.

With reference to his Department's document entitled Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, published on 25 March 2025, when he will announce the outcome of the consultation on the application of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to shipping operating in UK waters.

A second, technical consultation on the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to include the maritime sector closed in January 2025. The UK ETS Authority is currently analysing responses and finalising policy design for implementation. The consultation outlined that the scheme would apply to domestic voyages between UK ports, including voyages that begin and end in the same UK port. The Authority also proposed to include emissions at berth in UK ports (irrespective of whether a ship is undertaking a domestic or international voyage). We will publish the Authority Response to this consultation in due course.

How much the Legal Aid Agency paid in fees to (a) Kingsley Napley LLP, (b) Leigh Day LLP, (c) Wilson Solicitors LLP, (d) Bindmans LLP and (e) Duncan Lewis LLP in (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23, (iii) 2023-24 and (iv) 2024-25.

The requested information for financial years 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-24 can be found in the table below: 2021-222022-232023-24Bindmans LLP£2,889,044.98£3,567,543.29£3,434,244.42Duncan Lewis Solicitor LTD£29,281,007.13£26,328,354.77£33,111,592.51Kingsley Napley LLP£1,103.00£19,784.00£25,553.00Leigh Day£1,033,994.11£761,937.35£525,154.12Wilson Solicitors LLP£3,713,641.93£2,616,516.78£3,859,081.76 Information relating to closed case expenditure in legal aid funded cases is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s Official Statistics. Data relating to financial year 24-25 is due for publication on June 2026.Information broken down by financial year, legal aid provider, and type of legal aid can be viewed on the Provider explorer dashboard of the Legal aid provider completions and starts statistics data visualisation tool.Please note that Kingsley Napley LLP no longer hold a legal aid contract. The firm withdrew from its criminal legal aid contract on 15 September 2023 and its civil legal aid contract on 31 August 2024. Expenditure in subsequent years represents bills paid relating to work carried out whilst the contract was live.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing student loans for apprentices.

Apprenticeships are jobs with training, allowing apprentices to earn a wage whilst getting hands-on industry experience. Apprenticeships training is funded by the government and by employers, meaning that apprentices do not have to pay towards the cost of their training. For this reason, apprentices are not eligible for student finance, but we remain committed to ensuring that apprentice wages support the attraction of talented individuals into apprenticeships.On 1 April 2025, the Apprentice National Minimum Wage (ANMW) increased by 18% to £7.55 per hour, from £6.40, which will help to encourage more young people to upskill via apprenticeships. Apprentices under 19, or aged 19 and above and in the first year of their apprenticeship, are entitled to the ANMW. In all other cases, apprentices must receive at least the correct national minimum wage for their age, although many employers choose to pay more than the minimum.This government also wants to ensure that more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds can undertake apprenticeships. We continue to pay a bursary of £3,000 to apprentices under the age of 25 who have been, or are, in local authority care. The bursary is paid in instalments over the first year of the apprenticeship, supporting care leavers as they transition into employment.

What steps he is taking to utilise private sector capacity to (a) reduce backlogs and (b) improve services in the NHS; and if he will ensure that the NHS remains free at the point of use.

Independent sector providers have a role to play in supporting the National Health Service as trusted partners to recover elective services by using additional capacity to tackle the backlog, whilst delivering value for money. The independent sector plays a vital role in supporting hospitals to get on top of the backlog, so we can deliver more than 100,000 elective appointments and procedures every week for NHS patients.In January 2025, the NHS and the independent sector established a partnership agreement, the first of its kind for 25 years, setting out how we will work together to reduce the elective care waiting list. This will see more NHS patients able to choose to be treated in a private hospital where there is capacity, at no cost to patients. As a balanced agreement, the independent sector will support broader work to grow the overall elective workforce, provide training opportunities, and continue to meet the same high standards expected of all providers. It will also see the independent sector play a greater role in supporting the most challenged specialities, such as ear, nose, and throat and gynaecology, while helping to give patients in more deprived areas a greater choice of where and when they receive treatment.The Government is steadfast in its commitment to the guiding principles of the NHS. The NHS will always be free at the point of use and will never be for sale to the private sector.

What steps she is taking to (a) develop and (b) implement in-classroom screening tools for dyslexia; and if she will include those tools in the (i) training and (ii) resources provided to teachers.

The statutory guidance ‘SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ is clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs (SEN) does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, the department expects teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed. The full guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with specific learning difficulties. As part of this, the department is considering both international evidence and best practice in its policymaking on SEN, with a focus on strengthening the evidence base on what works to identify and support needs in mainstream settings, including for specific learning difficulties.The department has also commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (age 0 to 25) with different types of needs.In November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg from Birmingham University, to provide an expert view and make recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings. The group brings together experts including clinicians, scientists and academics, education professionals, and charities representing specific types of neurodivergence. We have been clear that in developing their advice, we expect the group to draw on a wide range of inputs, including other sector experts and stakeholders, to ensure appropriate coverage of other types of neurodivergence. The group will also listen to the voices of neurodivergent children and young people, their parents, and others who care for them.The initial teacher training and early career framework, which replaces the core content framework and early career framework from September 2025 and underpins what all new teachers should learn, contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND. The adaptive teaching content includes, for example, developing an understanding of different pupil needs, and learning how to provide opportunities for success for all pupils.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve (a) patient access to, (b) staff retention in and (c) recruitment to NHS dentistry in Portsmouth North constituency.

We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Portsmouth North constituency, this is the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB.ICBs have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. As of 10 April 2025, in England, there are 53 dentists in post, with a further 44 dentists who have been recruited but are yet to start in post. Another 256 posts are currently advertised.To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

Communities and Local Government, what the evidential basis is that (a) growing and (b) reorganising Portsmouth City Council will increase it's financial stability.

The government was elected on a manifesto that pledged to fix the foundations of local government alongside a transfer of power and funding out of Westminster through devolution. Local government reorganisation is central to this pledge, and we have set out the rationale for reorganisation in the English Devolution White Paper. The local government reorganisation programme invites all councils in two tier areas and their neighbouring small unitary authorities to put forward reorganisations proposals. Accordingly, Portsmouth City Council, together with the twelve two tier councils in Hampshire, Isle of Wight Council and Southampton City Council, were invited to submit proposals for unitary local government. Existing district areas should be considered the building blocks for proposals, but where there is a strong justification more complex boundary changes will be considered. Ultimately it is for councils to develop robust and sustainable proposals that are in the best interests of their whole area.

What steps he is taking to help tackle the sale of illegal vapes in Portsmouth.

The Government is investing £10 million of new funding into Trading Standards for 2025/26, to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales in England, and the implementation of the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.The Trading Standards South East region, which includes Portsmouth, has been allocated funding for new apprentices to boost workforce capacity, alongside further funding for the storage and recycling of seized illicit vapes. The new funding will also support other activity, including additional work to identify and seize illicit vapes consignments at ports, and training for Trading Standards officers on the new single use vapes ban.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) devolution and (b) local government reorganisation.

The overall case for devolution and local government reorganisation is set out the English Devolution White Paper. The White Paper sets an ambitious new framework for English devolution, moving power out of Westminster and back to those who know their areas best. The government is committed to expanding devolution across England, devolving further powers to local leaders, those with local knowledge to drive economic growth and empower communities. Devolution must be built upon strong foundations. That means creating clearer, more sustainable local government structures to unlock crucial efficiency savings, with more resources directed to the frontline. This reform will mean more accountable structures, making it much clearer for residents who they should look to on local issues, with fewer, but more empowered local political leaders, who can focus on delivering for residents. This government will not waste this opportunity to achieve stability for local government across England and increase value for money for council taxpayers, so they are no longer paying an inefficient two-tier premium.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to set material-specific collection targets for local authorities under the Simpler Recycling reforms.

This Government is committed to reducing waste by transitioning to a circular economy. To support the Government in achieving this goal, a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts has been established from across government, industry, academia, and civil society to help us develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England. The taskforce will consider the evidence for sector-specific interventions from right across the economy and will be exploring a wide range of levers to drive circularity, including targets.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Portsmouth City Council on their voluntary position on the Devolution Priority Programme.

Portsmouth City Council joined the Devolution Priority Programme alongside Southampton Council, Hampshire County Council and the Isle of Wight Council earlier this year. I met with local leaders across the region, including Portsmouth City Council, on 4 February to discuss their application to the programme and on 1 April as part of a visit to the area. Baroness Taylor of Stevenage also met with local leaders on 17 December. Throughout these past months, I have also been in regular communication with local leaders through correspondence and my officials meet with officers across the region regularly to support them in delivering devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.

What discussions she has had with Skills England on the decision to exclude level 7 apprenticeships from the Apprenticeship Levy; and whether she is exploring alternative support for firms to provide these qualifications.

The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth supported by a strong skills system.This government has an extremely challenging fiscal inheritance. There are tough choices that need to be taken on how funding should be prioritised in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers, and the department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.The department has received a wide range of representations on level 7 apprenticeships which it is currently considering. These have been received directly and via Skills England, which has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders on this matter and has shared its findings with the department.The department recognises the importance of providing clarity as soon as possible on future funding for level 7 apprenticeships and will communicate next steps in due course.

Communities and Local Government, whether Portsmouth City Council applied to participate in the High Street Rental Auctions scheme.

High Street Rental Auctions (HSRAs) can be used by any local authority in England to auction the lease of persistently vacant commercial properties. 11 local authorities are Early Adopters of High Street Rental Auctions. These will be amongst the first to deliver and champion these powers, working closely with the department and helping to shape future guidance. Portsmouth City Council did not apply to become an Early Adopter but is still able to use these powers. A fund of over £1 million is available to all English local authorities to support the delivery of HSRAs.