Written questions by Snowden.

What steps are being taken to ensure that families of babies identified as deaf through the newborn hearing screening programme receive timely and appropriate support from birth.

Newborn babies whose hearing screening suggests they may have deafness and hearing impairment are referred for an audiological assessment within four weeks.A family centred approach underpins all recall processes to prioritise clear communication and support for families, ensuring transparency and minimizing harm. Working with the National Deaf Children’s Society, a range of communications have been developed with families to help support families of babies and children who are deaf or have hearing loss.My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, commissioned the recently published, independent Kingdon review that includes a number of recommendations on how children’s hearing services need to be improved.

How many enforcement actions relating to breaches of animal welfare regulations at slaughterhouses were taken by the Food Standards Agency in each of the last five years; and how many of those related to non-stun slaughter.

Between April 2020 and March 2025, 1,935 animal welfare breaches posing potential or imminent animal welfare risk were recorded in slaughterhouses in England and Wales, requiring 2,320 enforcement actions. Some breaches required multiple actions, such as verbal advice followed by written advice.The Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not routinely collect data on slaughter methods. Approved slaughterhouses may use any compliant method and are not legally required to inform the FSA of the stunning method. Many establishments alternate between stunned and non-stunned slaughter to meet demand. Breaches of animal welfare regulations can occur at any stage after arrival, so it is not possible to confirm whether the method involved was stunned or non-stunned.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has considered the potential merits of introducing mandatory labelling of meat products to indicate the method of slaughter.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 17 December 2025 to PQ UIN 99375.

How many families (i) in Fylde and (ii) across Lancashire are expected to receive the additional £736.06 per child in childcare support as a result of changes to universal credit rules.

The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would be at disproportionate cost. The monthly statistics for the number of Children in households on Universal Credit in Great Britain by Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore(opens in a new tab). Universal Credit statistics are available from August 2015 to August 2025 in the Households on Universal Credit(opens in a new tab) dataset. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance(opens in a new tab) on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide(opens in a new tab)

Media and Sport, what guidance the Government provides to membership-based charities to ensure compliance with charity law where benefits are restricted to members.

All charities in England and Wales must have wholly charitable purposes that are for the public benefit, in order to enjoy the advantages of charitable status. Unless the purpose is for the relief (and in some cases the prevention) of poverty, a charitable purpose cannot exist for the benefit of an organisation’s members only. The exception to this is if a sufficient section of the public can access those benefits by becoming members and the membership is a suitable way of carrying out the charity’s purpose for the public benefit.The Charity Commission has published guidance which explains the public benefit requirement.The honourable member may be aware that Membership-based Charity Organisations was debated on Wednesday 17th December in Westminster Hall.

What discussions her Department has had with Ofqual regarding the risk management processes used by awarding organisations when introducing new qualifications.

Ofqual, the independent regulator of examinations and assessments in England, expects awarding organisations to manage risk in line with its General Conditions of Recognition, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ofqual-handbook.The matters raised are for Ofqual to answer. I have, therefore, asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member for Fylde directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

With reference to the press notice of 15 December 2025 entitled Ofqual fines Pearson £2 million for rule breaches affecting thousands of students, how many students were affected by each of the three cases for which Ofqual fined Pearson, broken down by qualification and year.

This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member for Fylde directly, and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

What steps are being taken to ensure that modern foreign language qualifications are set and marked in line with Ofqual requirements and do not unfairly disadvantage particular groups of students.

Ofqual, the independent regulator of examinations and assessments in England, expects awarding organisations to manage risk in line with its General Conditions of Recognition, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ofqual-handbook.The matters raised are for Ofqual to answer. I have, therefore, asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member for Fylde directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

How many children (i) in Fylde and (ii) across Lancashire are expected to benefit from the increased Early Years Pupil Premium.

On the 15 December we announced the local authority funding rates for 2026/2027. From April 2026, the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) will be increased by an additional 15% to £1.15 an hour, equivalent to up to £655 a year. Statistics at a parliamentary constituency level are not readily available, but in January 2025 there were 3,149 children in Lancashire who received EYPP. Figures for children in receipt of the early years pupil premium in Lancashire from 2018 to 2025 can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/dd3e2106-cef2-4e89-49e4-08de398c3998.

How the expansion of school-based nurseries will contribute to increasing access to funded childcare, particularly in areas with limited provision.

High quality early years is central to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school led provision and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers and childminders operating from school sites. Phase 1 is already delivering results, with £37 million successfully awarded to 300 primary phase schools creating up to 6,000 new childcare places. Schools reported that over 5,000 of these places were available from September 2025, helping thousands of families across the country. The programme secured almost £370 million for future phases. Phase 2, which closed on 11 December, has an increased focus on supporting families from disadvantaged areas which have less access to childcare, and will deliver at least 300 new or expanded nurseries through a £45 million fund. Successful schools will be announced in due course.Phase 3 is due to launch in early 2026, focussing on local authorities’ long-term strategic needs for their local communities.

What action her Department will take where local authorities are found to be retaining more than the permitted 3% of early years funding.

The passthrough requirement ensures that the great majority of government funding for the early years entitlements reaches providers so that they can deliver the entitlement offers. The passthrough rate is a statutory requirement set out in the Schools and Early Years Finance Regulations. The minimum passthrough requirement is 96% for financial year 2025/2026 and will increase to 97% in 2026/2027. The department monitors local authority compliance to the minimum pass-through requirement via section 251 budget returns each financial year and will query any returns that suggest a lower rate than required. In circumstances where an authority has failed to meet the minimum pass-through requirement, through retaining too much funding centrally or for any other reason, the department holds the right to claw back funding from local authorities.

What safeguards are now in place to prevent malpractice in English language proficiency tests used for university entrance, following the issues identified by Ofqual with Pearson’s PTE Academic Online test.

Universities are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and responsible for their own admissions decisions. Where English is not an applicant's first language, it is right that a provider assures themselves that the applicant has a reasonable likelihood of successfully meeting the academic requirements of the course. Universities are free to decide their entry criteria, including which language proficiency tests they require applicants to sit, with many higher education providers able to self-assess the English ability of their students. Additionally, the UK’s student visa arrangements specify the level of English required by those coming here to study. This standard is rigorously enforced by the Home Office. The online version of this test was introduced by Pearson in response to both the significant disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to international students and has since been discontinued.

What estimate she has made of the potential impact of increasing the bus travel fare cap from £2 in July 2024 to £3 on the accessibility of services in Fylde constituency.

The Department is currently undertaking an evaluation of the £3 bus fare cap and its impacts. This will include analysis of bus usage. The evaluation will focus on understanding the national impacts of the scheme. The final monitoring and evaluation report into the impact of the £2 bus fare cap, including analysis on bus usage, was published on 12 February. Trends in bus usage will continue to be monitored and reported through the Department’s national statistics which are published annually. The Department also publishes statistics on daily bus passenger journeys across local authorities in England outside London. This can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/developing-faster-indicators-of-transport-activity.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of Resident Doctor strikes on the delivery of healthcare services in Lancashire.

The Department has not made a formal assessment of the potential impact of resident doctor strikes on the delivery of healthcare services in Lancashire specifically.The National Health Service makes every effort through rigorous contingency planning to minimise disruption as a result of industrial action and to mitigate its impact on patients and the public. During the industrial action by resident doctors from 14 to 19 November 2025, data published by NHS England showed that the NHS met its ambitious goal to maintain 95% of planned care, surpassing the 93% protected during action in July, while still maintaining critical services, including maternity services and urgent cancer care. All hospitals are asked to do a pre-assessment ahead of strike action.To minimise the potential impact of the next round of resident doctor strike action, planned for 17 to 22 December, NHS England wrote to all trusts on 15 December asking them to prepare for planned industrial action. This includes conducting risk assessments and collecting data to estimate the impact on elective care. This letter is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/letter-industrial-action-by-bma-resident-doctors-17-22-december-2025/

What recent assessment she has made of the performance of free schools compared with maintained schools and academies in terms of educational outcomes.

Many free schools, run by strong trusts, have contributed to raising standards and achieved strong outcomes for their pupils. However, too many children and young people are still being left behind due to their educational needs or their background. The department is proceeding with mainstream projects that meet the needs of communities, respond to demographic and housing demand, and raise standards without undermining the viability of existing local schools and colleges. We are backing new schools that offer something unique for students who would otherwise not have access to it. For example, we will open two new maths schools, to give talented students in the North and the Midlands a fairer chance to pursue advanced mathematics.The department has also announced that we are investing at least £3 billion to create 50,000 new specialist places. To support this investment, we are not proceeding with some mainstream free school projects.

Whether the Department has assessed the potential benefits of enabling GPs to issue automatic repeat prescriptions for patients on stable, long-term medication.

Responsibility for prescribing, including the issue of repeat prescribing and the duration of prescriptions, rests with the prescriber who has clinical responsibility for that particular aspect of a patient’s care.Electronic repeat dispensing is already implemented in the National Health Service and allows prescribers to authorise and issue a batch of repeat prescriptions for up to 12 months with just one digital signature. Since April 2019, the GP Contract has stated that electronic repeat dispensing should be used for all patients for whom it is clinically appropriate.Prescriptions for longer periods of time may be more appropriate and more convenient for some patients with stable long-term conditions. However, for some patients, issuing shorter prescriptions may be appropriate to give the prescriber the opportunity to review the patient’s medicines, which is important for some treatment courses that require greater scrutiny or monitoring to be managed appropriately.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that consumers are provided with sufficient information to make informed choices regarding the method of slaughter used in producing meat sold in UK supermarkets.

The Government expects industry to provide consumers with information on which to make an informed choice about their food. Any information provided on the method of slaughter must be accurate and not misleading to the consumer.

What estimate he has made of the number of hospital admissions due to acute influenza across Lancashire; and how this compares to the same period last year.

Data on hospital admissions due to flu at a county level is not published. Between 25 November and 7 December 2025, there was a daily average of 346 adult general and acute beds occupied by flu patients in acute trusts in the North West. This was higher than over the same period last year when there was a daily average of 142 adult general and acute beds occupied by flu patients. NHS England began publication of Winter Situation Reports, which includes flu-specific bed occupancy at a regional level, from 24 November 2025 and from 25 November in 2024. These figures are published in the NHS England Winter Situation Reports, which are available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/uec-sitrep/urgent-and-emergency-care-daily-situation-reports-2025-26/

What measures will be put in place to prevent any widening of attainment gaps between students with differing levels of access to digital technology when on-screen assessments are introduced.

Ofqual is consulting on a controlled approach to any further adoption of on-screen assessment that protects standards, fairness and teachers’ ability to prepare students effectively. Under its proposals, most GCSEs, AS and A levels will continue to be assessed with pen and paper. Each exam board would be limited to introducing a maximum of two new on-screen specifications, but not in the most popular subjects.It will be entirely optional for schools and colleges to offer on-screen assessments if they are confident in their ability to deliver them fairly. To support fairness, Ofqual is proposing that exam boards must offer separate specifications for paper-based and on-screen qualifications and maintain standards to ensure that it is no easier or harder to achieve a given grade, regardless of which specification is taken.Students will not be permitted to use their own laptops for exams to prevent unfairness arising from differences in device quality or access. Ofqual has published an equality impact assessment alongside the consultation and will refine it following analysis of consultation responses.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what engagement her Department has had with counterparts in Sri Lanka regarding Storm Ditwah.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 18 December in response to Question 99464.