Written questions by Coleman.

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department’s policies of the document by Trussell entitled Cost of Hunger and Hardship - final report, published on 30 April 2025.

Hunger and poor nutrition are devastating for society - especially children. We are determined to raise the healthiest ever generation, which is why the Government is expanding free school meals, rolling out breakfast clubs and supporting those in need through the Healthy Start scheme. Our Child Poverty Strategy will tackle root causes, to give children the best start in life.

Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of the 1.5 million homes expected to be built in this Parliament will be designated as social housing; and what criteria her Department uses to designate new housing as affordable.

The government has not set an affordable housing target to date, but we are committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.Affordable housing is defined in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to increase funding for local authorities to help reduce the number of (a) people and (b) families living in temporary accommodation; and if she will make more funding available to help local authorities tackle housing waiting lists.

The Government has increased funding for homelessness services by £233 million this year, taking total investment to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of people and families in temporary accommodation. Future funding for homelessness services is subject to the outcome of phase 2 of the Spending Review. The Government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation at Spring Statement. This investment follows £800 million of new in-year funding made available for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, supporting the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being for Social Rent. In the multi-year Spending Review later this year, the Government will set out the full details of a new grant programme to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to provide additional funding to local authorities to support repairs in social housing; and what steps she is taking with local authorities to ensure the adequacy of the condition of social housing.

The government is committed to working with social housing providers to ensure that homes are safe, decent, warm, and free from damp and mould.The Deputy Prime Minister made a Written Ministerial Statement on 6 February 2025 (HCWS423) confirming that the government will be bringing Awaab's Law into force for damp and mould in October 2025.The government is also committed to consulting on a new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards this year.We will set out plans at the next fiscal event to give councils and housing associations the rent stability they need to be able to borrow and invest in both new and existing homes, while also ensuring that there are appropriate protections for both existing and future social housing tenants.

What discussions he has had with the Care Quality Commission on reducing the waiting time for the re-inspection of healthcare providers rated as requiring improvement.

Departmental officials meet fortnightly with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to discuss measures CQC have put in place to address among other issues, delays in the production of inspection reports and initial inspection and reinspection.As part of this process, the CQC provides fortnightly updates to senior Departmental officials on the work it is doing to improve and ensure it has robust systems in place to support the changes it is making to deliver its assessment activity of the providers it regulates. This increased reporting to, and oversight from, the Department also allows the level of risk across the CQC’s delivery to be monitored at a senior level.Delays to the CQC’s inspection activities are partially due to failures of its IT systems. The CQC has accepted recommendations of the independent review into the CQC’s technology which was published in March 2025 and is available at the following link:https://www.cqc.org.uk/news/independent-review-cqc-technology-publishedThe CQC is currently working to review options for alternative methods of inspection report publication while work is carried out to make necessary changes to its IT systems.The introduction of a ‘hybrid’ approach which launched on 2 December 2024 aims to streamline the existing process by discontinuing scoring at the evidence category level and instead reporting at the quality statement level. This change is intended to improve efficiency for CQC staff. In addition, efforts are underway to address the backlog of ‘stuck’ assessments within the system. As of 24 April 2025, the current number of ‘stuck’ assessments is 52, a reduction of 448.Work continues to further lower this number and to strengthen the monitoring and management of assessment delays.

Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to restrict the online (a) advertising and (b) selling of (i) image and performance enhancing drugs and (ii) anabolic steroids to children and young people.

It is not permitted to advertise prescription-only medicines such as anabolic steroids. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating and investigating advertising in the UK, including online.Additionally, the Online Safety Act requires all services in scope to take proactive steps to stop their services facilitating illegal sales of drugs. Beyond illegal sale of drugs, platforms also need to protect children from harmful content that encourages ingestion, inhalation or exposure to harmful substances.Where substances are controlled drugs then the offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 would apply, including offences of supply and possession where relevant.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has plans to encourage the freeholders of multiple occupancy leasehold buildings to install solar panels when the lease does not permit the Right To Manage Company or individual leaseholders to install panels on the common roof area.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 38264 on 21 March 2025. The government remains committed to meeting its net zero emissions target by 2050 and recognises the important contribution that making buildings more energy efficient will play in doing so.

Whether his Department plans to implement the Digital Redbook nationally.

We remain committed to transforming the way we deliver healthcare for parents and children and supporting the best start in life; digitisation of records is a key enabler of this.The Department is working closely with officials in NHS England to ensure that plans for digitising the red book align with wider, ambitious plans for digitisation of patient records across the National Health Service. This will mean we deliver the benefits of a seamless experience for families as they access and manage their own health records and those of their children through the NHS App. Further information will be available in due course on the measures we are taking to deliver digital records for children.

What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Digital Redbook pilot in London.

The eRedbook product was commissioned by NHS England (London) for several years. A comprehensive evaluation was not undertaken, although registration volumes were reported. This has informed our ambition of a digital service to help parents and professionals access information and services to give children the best start in life. The NHS App will be central to delivering this ambition.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to encourage freeholders of buildings occupied by multiple leaseholders to install solar panels.

The government has commenced the Right to Manage measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. They came into effect on 3 March 2025.These changes implement the Law Commission recommendation to increase the non-residential floorspace limit from 25 to 50 per cent for Right to Manage claims. This means that more leaseholders in mixed-use buildings will qualify for the right to manage, gaining control over the management of their building. Further changes mean that leaseholders making right to manage claims will no longer have to pay their freeholder’s process costs for that claim.Taken together, these changes will give more leaseholders the opportunity to take greater control over the buildings they live in, enabling them to more easily progress the installation of rooftop solar where the lease in question permits this.

Pursuant to the Answer of the 3 February 2025 to Question 26386 on Children: Hearing Impairment, whether the expected apprenticeship in Sensory Impairment will be funded via the Apprenticeship Levy; and when course providers will be told the final decision on funding for the course so that they can start to accept applications for the planned September 2025 start.

The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of 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. The government will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves. The department is taking advice from Skills England, who engaged with employers over the autumn, and the department expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships, including the pending level 7 apprenticeship in sensory impairment, shortly.

If she will take steps to ensure that Universal Credit advisers are aware that payments should be backdated when a change of circumstances relates to the award of a disability benefit.

All DWP new entrant work coaches and case managers receive job role specific technical learning, which covers backdating. As changes of circumstances are notified, the Universal Credit system calculates many payments due automatically. Case Managers are supported by coaching and quality assurance.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that (a) deaf children and (b) their families receive support from specialist teachers of the deaf in (i) education and (ii) early years settings.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has developed a Sensory Impairment apprenticeship. The apprenticeship is expected to be available from September 2025 and will open up a paid, work-based route into teaching children and young people with sensory impairments. This will improve the supply of those qualified to teach this important cohort and further help to improve their outcomes.It is also important that early years practitioners are able to identify and support children with SEND, including children with hearing impairment and deafness. The department wants deaf children to be able to thrive in their early years, which might sometimes mean that settings access specialist teachers for the deaf.The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life, including those with SEND. It stipulates that providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND. Maintained schools, maintained nursery schools and all providers who are funded by the local authority to deliver early education places must have regard for the SEND Code of Practice.In November, the department published the updated early years foundation stage profile handbook, which includes a change to allow a child’s established or preferred mode of communication (including British Sign Language) to be used for all of the early learning goals, including speaking. The handbook can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-handbook.

What plans his Department has to increase access to affordable fresh fruit and vegetables in deprived communities.

The Government is committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever, as set out in our Child Health Action Plan. The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) delivers the scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA is committed to increasing uptake of the Healthy Start scheme to ensure as many children as possible have a healthy start in life. The NHSBSA promotes the Healthy Start scheme through its digital channels and has created free tools to help stakeholders promote the scheme locally. The NHSBSA has also reached out to stakeholders to see how it can support them in promoting the scheme. In December 2024, the Healthy Start scheme supported over 354,000 people.

Food and Rural Affairs, which Departments are working on the development of a food strategy; which Department is leading this work; what the strategy's aims are; and what his planned timetable is for the completion of the strategy.

Addressing the issues the food sector faces requires a whole-of-government effort, so while Defra is leading the strategy we will be working in very close collaboration with several government departments. Our ambitious food strategy will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes that create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system. We will provide details of how the process will operate, how industry can engage, and what the milestones will be in the coming months.

What discussions she has had with disabled children’s charities, in the context of the development of a child poverty strategy.

The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which the Department of Education Secretary of State is Co-Chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND) who live in poverty, as well as the charities and organisations that represent them. Examples of the engagement we’ve undertaken are events with: Contact, a charity for families with disabled children; ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education; and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation that aims to improve the life opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.​The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the Strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.

What estimate her Department has made of the additional costs to families for raising a disabled child.

The DWP pays close attention to the evidence base on the extra costs faced by disabled children, including external academic research but does not endorse a particular external study. For example, Scope’s Disability Price Tag (2023) uses a sensitive economic modelling methodology called the standard of living approach. They state that a family with a disabled child would have to pay £581 a month to have the same standard of living as a family with a non-disabled child. For 1 in 5 families, these costs can exceed £1000 per month. The existing evidence base that uses similar methodologies produce a wide range of estimates of this cost, ranging from £600 to £1,500 per month, reflecting a high degree of uncertainty around the true additional costs faced by families raising a disabled child.

What discussions she has had with disabled young people, in the context of the development of a child poverty strategy.

The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which the Department of Education Secretary of State is Co-Chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND) who live in poverty, as well as the charities and organisations that represent them. Examples of the engagement we’ve undertaken are events with: Contact, a charity for families with disabled children; ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education; and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation that aims to improve the life opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.​The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the Strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.

What the nature is of her Department's consultation with (a) charities representing disabled children and (b) disabled young people on the development of the Child Poverty Strategy.

The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is co-chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children and families living in poverty, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Examples of the engagement we have undertaken are events with Contact, a charity for families with disabled children, ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which aims to improve opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with SEND.

With which charities representing disabled children her Department has consulted on the development of the Child Poverty Strategy.

The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is co-chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children and families living in poverty, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Examples of the engagement we have undertaken are events with Contact, a charity for families with disabled children, ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which aims to improve opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with SEND.