Every parliamentary written question tabled by Bell Ribeiro-Addy this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
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What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, on (a) attracting and (b) retaining healthcare workers.
The proposals set out in the Immigration White Paper were discussed with all government departments in the normal way.
What steps his Department is taking to support internationally educated nurses in financial hardship who are ineligible for public funds.
National advice and guidance on financial wellbeing is available for National Health Service employers and staff, including those experiencing financial hardship. The NHS Employers’ financial wellbeing webpage helps employers to develop a robust approach to support their staff, including those from overseas, with financial wellbeing in the workplace. The financial wellbeing webpage is available at the following link:https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/financial-education-and-wellbeingNHS England also provides resources and signposting to support NHS workers with financial wellbeing, with further information available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/supporting-our-nhs-people/support-now/financial-support/
If he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Royal College of Nursing entitled Unreciprocated Care: why internationally educated nursing staff are leaving the UK, published on 15 May 2025.
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience and expertise. We are committed to providing high-quality support to internationally educated nursing staff to help their integration into the National Health Service workforce and to creating a compassionate and inclusive work culture that has a focus on staff health and wellbeing.No assessment has been made of the potential impact of the White Paper, Restoring Control over the Immigration System, on levels of retention of internationally educated nursing staff in the NHS. This government remains committed to developing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join our NHS. The Immigration White Paper set out reforms to legal migration, so that we can restore order, control and fairness to the system, bring down net migration and promote economic growth. The changes set out include a complete overhaul of the relationship between the immigration system, training and the labour market to support sustainable growth as well as a sustainable immigration system.The report by the Royal College of Nursing, Unreciprocated Care: why internationally educated nursing staff are leaving the UK, touches on some important issues, including on support and retention of internationally educated nursing staff. The Department will reflect further on the report and its recommendations, as we strive to continuously improve on the measures we already have in place, set out below, to support internationally recruited healthcare staff.On specific measures, the NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan includes a High Impact Action that addresses the importance of ensuring that internationally recruited healthcare staff feel welcomed and valued at the start of their career.Successful induction processes and ongoing pastoral and professional support is of the utmost importance to retain newly recruited international staff so that they receive clear communication, guidance and support around their conditions of employment. The NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award scheme was set up to recognise a commitment to supporting internationally educated nurses and midwives at every stage of recruitment and beyond. As well as helping to standardise the quality and delivery of pastoral care, this award is an opportunity for trusts to have their work recognised and to demonstrate their commitment to supporting internationally educated nurses and midwives.NHS Employers has also published the International Retention Toolkit which outlines the actions employers can take to ensure internationally recruited staff will want to stay, thrive and build lasting careers in the NHS. The toolkit is available at the following link:https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/international-retention-toolkit
How Serco performed against key performance indicators at the most recent performance review of their Restart Scheme contract.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her previous Question UIN 50919.Cabinet Office Statistics publish some of the Serco Key Performance Indicators on a regular basis. The latest publication is available here.Ongoing performance reviews have identified a need for performance improvement in the two Contract Package Areas (CPA) CPA1a and CPA6 that Serco delivers in. Therefore, the department has implemented intensified support and heightened monitoring as part of our established performance management intervention regime.This activity incorporates more frequent and more senior scrutiny and includes requiring Serco to implement comprehensive action plans to address concerns, with the intensity of support and challenge increasing at higher intervention levels.
How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their Asylum Accommodation Services contract.
I refer the Hon Member to the Answer she received on the 16 May 2025 to UIN 50918.
Pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2025 to Question 30270 on British Nationality: Fees and Charges; for what reason she does not collate information on the reasons for rejecting fee waivers.
The reasons for rejecting a fee waiver are recorded on each case, but collating this data for the purposes of answering the relevant parliamentary question would have required a manual review of each case.
What steps she is taking to ensure that schools in Clapham and Brixton Hill constituency receive adequate resources to meet the needs of (a) all pupils and (b) those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Core school funding is distributed via the dedicated schools grant (DSG) to local authorities. Local authorities (Lambeth for Clapham and Brixton Hill constituency) then set their own local formulae which determine individual school allocations.Through the DSG, Lambeth Council is receiving £241 million for mainstream schools in financial year 2025/26. This represents an increase of 1.9% per pupil compared to 2024/25 (excluding growth and falling rolls funding).Mainstream schools in Lambeth attract £8,138 per pupil on average (excluding growth and falling rolls funding) in financial year 2025/26. From their budgets, schools are expected to meet the costs of additional support for their pupils with special educational needs, up to £6,000 per pupil per annum. Most pupils will require support costing less than that. For costs greater than that threshold, schools can access funding from the local authority’s high needs budget.Through the DSG, Lambeth Council is receiving a high needs funding allocation of £71 million in the 2025/26 financial year. This national funding formula (NFF) allocation is a 7% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.Funding for the 2026/27 financial year and beyond has not yet been determined and is subject to the multi-year spending review.
What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the cost of citizenship applications for children on (a) parents, (b) carers and (c) children.
Where changes to fee legislation are made, Impact Assessments are produced which identify potential impacts resulting from the changes. Although fees for child citizenship applicants were not increased as part of the recent fee changes that came into effect on 09 April 2025, the published Equalities Impact Assessment includes discussion of the impacts of nationality fees on child applicants and can be found at the following link: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/363/pdfs/uksiod_20250363_en_001.pdf.
If her Department will provide additional support to schools in areas with reductions in per pupil funding.
The national funding formula is used to allocate core schools funding to each local authority through the dedicated schools grant (DSG). Local authorities then create their own local funding formulae to distribute that funding among the schools in their respective areas.Through the DSG, Lambeth local authority is receiving £241.1 million for mainstream schools in the 2025/26 financial year. This represents an increase of 1.9% per pupil compared to 2024/25 (excluding growth and falling rolls funding).No local authority has seen a reduction in per pupil funding through the schools block of the DSG from the 2024/25 to 2025/26 financial years.Overall core schools funding is increasing to £65.3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, up from £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This includes additional funding announced on 22 May alongside the teacher pay award.
How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their HMP & YOI Fosse Way (Leicester) contract.
HM Prison & Probation Service’s Annual Prison Performance Ratings are based on a range of indicators. The latest ratings cover the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. As a newly opened prison (June 2023), HMP Fosse Way did not form part of the latest ratings but will be included in future publications. HMP Ashfield was rated at level 3 (‘Good performance’).
How Serco performed against key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on the HMP Ashfield (South Gloucestershire) contract.
HM Prison & Probation Service’s Annual Prison Performance Ratings are based on a range of indicators. The latest ratings cover the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. As a newly opened prison (June 2023), HMP Fosse Way did not form part of the latest ratings but will be included in future publications. HMP Ashfield was rated at level 3 (‘Good performance’).
Pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2025 to Question 49785 on Electronic Tagging: Standards; which of the key performance indicators Serco failed to meet; and how Serco performed against the remaining key performance indicators.
Serco failed to meet the expected requirement for the following key performance indicators: KPIs 1-7, 9-11 and KPI 14. KPI 8 is N/AFor KPIs 12 and 13, Serco performed at 100%.
How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their RAF Brize Norton Support Services contract.
At their most recent performance review, Serco had achieved the target for all Key Performance Indicators for this contract. The Contract Management Plan for the RAF Brize Norton Support Service contract can be found along with quarterly performance reports at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-performance-indicators-kpis-for-governments-most-important-contracts
How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their Royal Navy Helicopter Support contract.
The contract between the Royal Navy and Serco for the provision of Air Engineering Support and Airfield services is subject to routine performance reviews. The most recent of which was held on 30 April 2025 when the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) relating to safety, service quality, aircraft engineering services, off-aircraft engineering services, airfield services and contract governance were reviewed. No significant shortfalls in Serco’s delivery against agreed key performance indicators were identified at that review. Quarterly KPI information is published four times a year for transparency and can be found at Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts - GOV.UK
Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a strategy to help reduce the economic impact of sleep deprivation in the workforce.
We have set out our immediate priorities for reforming employment law in the Plan to Make Work Pay. While the Plan does not include specific measures on implementing a strategy on sleep deprivation, it aims to improve wellbeing by supporting people to better balance work with their personal circumstances.Furthermore, the Working Time Regulations establishes a legal framework which provides minimum standards for working hours and rest periods. This ensure that workers are provided with basic minimum rights on a maximum working week, rest breaks and annual leave.
How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their UK Air Defence Radars contract.
Serco provide Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) to Remote Radar Heads (RRH) in the UK and UK Overseas Territories. CLS performance is monitored and reported on the following two contracts: Contract number ADEWS/137 (Sanson Two) – This CLS support and maintenance contract is for one RRH and commenced on 1 May 2025. As a result, no Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting information exists. Contract number ADEWS/099 (KARKINOS) – This CLS support and maintenance contract is for five RRH’s. There is an operational availability KPI for the Radar Systems in the contract. Serco have met this contracted KPI for each calendar month in the last report period March 2024 to February 2025.
How Serco performed against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their Future Defence Infrastructure Services contract.
Serco do not hold a Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) contract. Serco and Equans are the parent companies of VIVO. VIVO hold two Built Estate FDIS contracts in the South-West and Central Regions, as well as FDIS Accommodation contracts. The FDIS contracts are held with VIVO and therefore we do not score Serco independently when reviewing performance.
With reference to the Office for National Statistics' data entitled The night-time economy, UK: 2022, published on 24 January 2023, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the health and safety of the 76,300 workers in Lambeth identified as working at night.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 all employers have a duty, so far as it is reasonably practicable, to protect the health, safety, and welfare at work of all their employees. Specifically, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess health and safety risks to employees and to put in place arrangements to control those risks. This applies to all employers in Great Britain. Having considered the impact of shift work on health and safety, Health and Safety Executive has published guidance for employers to support them in managing the risk (Managing shift work [HSG 256]). Therefore, if an employer assesses shift work as a risk they should introduce control measures including those outlined in the guidance. The Government recognises that night working can increase stress levels and can have an impact on both physical and mental health. In Great Britain, working hours, including working at night, are governed by the Working Time Regulations (WTR). These provide protections to night time workers including by establishing the maximum working hours and minimum rest breaks that workers are entitled to. Before someone starts working at night, they must be offered a free health assessment to see if they are fit to work nights before they become a night worker and on a regular basis after that. The frequency of the health assessment should be guided by an assessment of the specific risks to each individual worker. A record of the health assessments and the dates when assessments were offered must be kept by the employer. If a worker suffers from health problems that are caused or made worse by night work, employers must offer suitable other work where possible.
How Serco performed against key performance indicators at the most recent performance review of the Forth Valley Royal Hospital contract.
Health is a devolved matter in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are responsible for the National Health Service in Scotland, including legislation, funding, and overall management.
What assessment her Department has made of the (a) affordability and (b) long-term sustainability of the student loans repayment system for (i) low and (ii) middle-income graduates.
It is important that we have a sustainable higher education (HE) funding system that provides opportunities for all, supports students, and maintains the world-leading status of our universities. This government keeps the student finance system under continuous review to ensure that it delivers good value for both students and taxpayers. We are determined that the HE funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students, and the government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university. We will set out this government’s longer term plan for HE reform by summer 2025.Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers. Regular repayments are based on a fixed percentage of earnings above the applicable student loan repayment threshold, not on amount borrowed or the rate of interest. If a borrower’s income drops, so does the amount they repay. If income is below the relevant student loan repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, repayments stop.Any outstanding debt, including interest built up, is written off after the loan term ends at no detriment to the borrower. This protects lower and lower-middle earners in particular. This government subsidy of student loans is a deliberate investment in our young people and the economy.A detailed impact assessment for the current student loan system is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.To consider both students and taxpayers, and ensure the real value of the loans over the repayment term, interest rates on student loans are linked to inflation by being set in reference to the Retail Price Index (RPI), from the previous March, and applied annually on 1 September until 31 August. The next annual update will be based on the RPI from March 2025 and will apply from 1 September 2025.As an additional borrower protection, interest rates on post-2012 loans are automatically capped by the prevailing market rate for comparable unsecured personal loans.