Written questions by Ribeiro-Addy.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a judicial-review mechanism to hold the Government accountable for meeting statutory poverty reduction targets.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty, including deep poverty across the UK. The Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach to delivering lasting change, as reflected in the proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper. We have also commenced reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and announcing the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing cyclical target-setting for poverty reduction.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty, including deep poverty across the UK. The Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach to delivering lasting change, as reflected in the proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper. We have also commenced reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and announcing the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report by The Big Issue entitled Poverty Zero, published in June 2025.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty, including deep poverty across the UK. The Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach to delivering lasting change, as reflected in the proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper. We have also commenced reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and announcing the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

What steps her Department is taking to help reduce levels of severe poverty.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty, including deep poverty across the UK. The Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach to delivering lasting change, as reflected in the proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper. We have also commenced reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and announcing the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

Whether she plans to introduce legally-binding national targets to help reduce levels of child poverty.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty, including deep poverty across the UK. The Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach to delivering lasting change, as reflected in the proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper. We have also commenced reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and announcing the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Government’s immigration policies on trends in the level of recruitment of internationally educated nurses into (a) the NHS and (b) social care roles; and whether he has prepared contingency plans for a reduction in the level of recruitment.

The immediate changes to the skills thresholds outlined in the Immigration White Paper relate to roles below Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 6. Nurses meet the new skill threshold of RQF level 6 and in turn remain eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa. The Government is committed to developing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join our National Health Service. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will outline strategies for improving retention, productivity, training, and reducing attrition, thereby enhancing conditions for all staff while gradually reducing reliance on international recruitment, without diminishing the value of their contributions. We acknowledge that the adult social care sector faces significant challenges in the recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce and we recognise the need for a strong emphasis on retaining nurses within adult social care, by supporting and valuing the workforce. The Department continues to monitor adult social care workforce capacity, bringing together national data sets from Skills for Care’s monthly tracking data, the Capacity Tracker tool, and intelligence from key sector partners.

What lessons she has learnt from international trials on Universal Basic Income on (a) employment rates and (b) poverty levels.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 2 July to PQ 62240.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of routinely publishing data on (a) blood donations and (b) donation deferrals.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England.NHSBT does not routinely publish data on blood donation or donation deferrals, however it agrees that there is merit in publishing this data routinely and is considering doing so on an annual basis.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63048 on Blood: Donors, if he will publish the ethnic and gender breakdown of the 4,493 donors deferred due to travel as a proportion of (a) total deferrals and (b) total deferrals per ethnic group.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need. From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 4,493 donors deferred due to travel. The table attached shows the ethnic and gender breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of total deferrals and the total deferrals per ethnic group.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Ofcom's decision to allow Royal Mail to cut Saturday deliveries and move to an alternating weekday model for second class letters on the delivery of letters from the NHS and Department for Work and Pensions.

A reliable and affordable universal postal service is crucial to the UK, and we are clear it must work for customers, workers and businesses that help drive growth across the country.Ofcom has reviewed the future of the universal postal service so that it better reflects the changing needs of its users. The regulator concluded that reform is needed for the universal service to put it on a more sustainable footing, to prevent people from paying higher prices than necessary and to push Royal Mail to improve reliability.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of applying the Decent Homes Standard to affordable housing.

The Decent Homes Standard already applies to affordable housing managed by registered providers of social housing.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63048 on Blood: Donors, if he will publish the combined ethnic and gender breakdown of the 173,574 donors deferred due to Haemoglobin as a proportion of (a) total deferrals and (b) total deferrals per ethnic group.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need. From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 173,574 donors were deferred due to low haemoglobin. The table attached shows the combined ethnic and gender breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of total deferrals, and the total deferrals per ethnic group.

Whether the Crisis and Resilience Fund will include funding for furniture.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 16 July to PQ 65851.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63048 on Blood: Donors, if she will provide the ethnic breakdown of the 173,574 donors deferred due to Haemoglobin as a proportion of (a) total deferrals and (b) total deferrals per ethnic group.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need. From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 173,574 donors were deferred due to low haemoglobin. The following table shows the ethnic breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of total deferrals, and the total deferrals per ethnic group:EthnicityTotal deferralsLow haemoglobin deferralsPercentage of total deferralsPercentage of total deferrals per ethnicityAny other Asian background3,4481,7370.6%50.4%Any other Black/African/Caribbean background7244600.2%63.5%Any other ethnic group1,4096680.2%47.4%Any other mixed/multiple ethnic background2,1141,1910.4%56.3%Any other White background17,3439,5583.3%55.1%Arab1,0054290.1%42.7%Asian Bangladeshi8174440.2%54.3%Asian Indian7,1764,3671.5%60.9%Asian Pakistani2,1261,0730.4%50.5%Black- African6,5624,1951.4%63.9%Black- Caribbean3,6632,4720.8%67.5%Chinese1,7099210.3%53.9%English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British231,879139,70148.0%60.2%Mixed White and Asian2,0711,0800.4%52.1%Mixed White and Black African8425000.2%59.4%Mixed White and Black Caribbean2,0931,3190.5%63.0%Not disclosed1,5168690.3%57.3%Unknown8804300.1%48.9%White Irish3,6342,1600.7%59.4%Total291,011173,57459.6%59.6%Source: data is taken from NHSBT’s centrally held administrative systems, extracted 27 June 2025Note: ‘Any other ethnic group’ includes Gypsy or Irish Traveller and Roma to comply with small number suppression.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential for AI-driven productivity gains to support reduced working hours without loss of pay.

The Government is working to harness the benefits that AI can bring in terms of economic growth, productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing; while mitigating the risks. The Government is planning for a range of plausible outcomes and closely monitoring the data that will help us track and prepare for these. We will continue to work closely with other government departments through the AI Opportunities Action Plan to ensure we shape AI to deliver economic prosperity for the UK.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a working time council to explore the wider implementation of a four-day working across the economy.

A four-day week is an example of a flexible working arrangement. All employees have the right to request flexible working, and we are changing legislation through the Employment Rights Bill to make it more likely that feasible requests are accepted.The government continues to monitor the impacts of flexible working. As the full results of the latest four-day week trial have not yet been published, it has not been possible to determine any implications for business productivity or government policy.Employers considering changes in working practices can draw on flexible working guidance on gov.uk and the Help to Grow website, as well as the new Business Growth Service which will launch shortly.As we have no plans to mandate a four-day week, government is not planning to establish a working time council or business forum focussed on this topic. Our priority is to consult with and support businesses and employees with the planned changes to the flexible working measures as part of the wider Plan to Make Work Pay.

Whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the four-day week pilot facilitated by the 4 Day Week Foundation.

A four-day week is an example of a flexible working arrangement. All employees have the right to request flexible working, and we are changing legislation through the Employment Rights Bill to make it more likely that feasible requests are accepted.The government continues to monitor the impacts of flexible working. As the full results of the latest four-day week trial have not yet been published, it has not been possible to determine any implications for business productivity or government policy.Employers considering changes in working practices can draw on flexible working guidance on gov.uk and the Help to Grow website, as well as the new Business Growth Service which will launch shortly.As we have no plans to mandate a four-day week, government is not planning to establish a working time council or business forum focussed on this topic. Our priority is to consult with and support businesses and employees with the planned changes to the flexible working measures as part of the wider Plan to Make Work Pay.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63048 on Blood: Donors, whether he will provide a breakdown of the top 10 countries travelled to by the 4,493 donors deferred due to travel.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England. NHSBT has confirmed that they do not hold the requested data.

Whether his Department plans to support a structured forum for businesses to share learning on reduced-hour models.

A four-day week is an example of a flexible working arrangement. All employees have the right to request flexible working, and we are changing legislation through the Employment Rights Bill to make it more likely that feasible requests are accepted.The government continues to monitor the impacts of flexible working. As the full results of the latest four-day week trial have not yet been published, it has not been possible to determine any implications for business productivity or government policy.Employers considering changes in working practices can draw on flexible working guidance on gov.uk and the Help to Grow website, as well as the new Business Growth Service which will launch shortly.As we have no plans to mandate a four-day week, government is not planning to establish a working time council or business forum focussed on this topic. Our priority is to consult with and support businesses and employees with the planned changes to the flexible working measures as part of the wider Plan to Make Work Pay.

What assessment he has made of the productivity outcomes of the latest four-day week pilot facilitated by the 4 Day Week Foundation.

A four-day week is an example of a flexible working arrangement. All employees have the right to request flexible working, and we are changing legislation through the Employment Rights Bill to make it more likely that feasible requests are accepted.The government continues to monitor the impacts of flexible working. As the full results of the latest four-day week trial have not yet been published, it has not been possible to determine any implications for business productivity or government policy.Employers considering changes in working practices can draw on flexible working guidance on gov.uk and the Help to Grow website, as well as the new Business Growth Service which will launch shortly.As we have no plans to mandate a four-day week, government is not planning to establish a working time council or business forum focussed on this topic. Our priority is to consult with and support businesses and employees with the planned changes to the flexible working measures as part of the wider Plan to Make Work Pay.