Written questions by Nichols.

If she will meet with (a) Adoption UK and (b) other representative organisations to discuss the adoption and special guardianship support fund.

In my role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, I have recently met with Adoption UK and other representative organisations to discuss the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) and other issues during the adoption sector roundtable on 21 May 2025.I also met with adopters at the Adoption Reference Group meeting on 6 May 2025, which again discussed the ASGSF, as well as other adoption support issues.The department is intending further engagement with sector bodies on the approach to managing the ASGSF in future years.

What the average price quoted was for court transcripts for victims in each of the last five years.

Management information held about transcript requests is limited, and the information requested is not held centrally.Victims usually request the judge’s sentencing remarks, which summarise the case against the defendant made at trial, the impact on victims and families and outline how the judge has come to a conclusion about the sentence handed down. This typically costs around £45 to £50.However, bereaved families of victims of murder, manslaughter and fatal road offences can request a free transcript of the judge’s sentencing remarks. On 22 May we announced that, following the conclusion of a one-year pilot at the end of May, we are continuing the scheme that enables victims of rape and other sexual offences to apply for a free copy of the judge’s sentencing remarks.

What progress her Department is making on reducing the (a) cost and (b) time to taken to produce court transcripts for victims who request them.

Bereaved families of victims of murder, manslaughter and fatal road offences can request a free transcript of the judge’s sentencing remarks. On 22 May we announced that, following the conclusion of a one-year pilot at the end of May, we are continuing the scheme that enables victims of rape and other sexual offences to apply for a free copy of the judge’s sentencing remarks.More widely, we are actively considering how to make court transcripts more accessible, and we continue to explore the potential for using AI to produce transcripts more quickly and cost effectively.

How much income her Department has received from the sale of court transcripts to victims in each of the last five years.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service receives no income from the sale of court transcripts to victims. The service is provided under contract and suppliers provide court transcripts for a fee.

If she will make it her policy to require the introduction of traceable labels on nitrous oxide canisters to track the point of sale.

I refer the Hon Member to the updated response issued to PQ 49048.

If she will make it her policy to introduce traceable labels on nitrous oxide canisters to allow the authorities to know the point of sale.

With apologies for the previous answer, nitrous oxide is controlled as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and it is an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess, possess with intent to supply, import and export nitrous oxide, where the intention is for it to be used for its psychoactive effects. The Home Office is not responsible for labelling or tracking nitrous oxide in the many contexts in which its use is legitimate. This would fall to government departments and regulators for the relevant sectors.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to encourage (a) the private sector and (b) other donors to increase funding for global HIV prevention and treatment.

As the co-host with South Africa of the 8th replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the UK is actively engaging with both international counterparts and private sector partners to advocate for maintaining or increasing funding for global health, including HIV prevention and treatment. The Minister for the Indo-Pacific attended an event in parliament on 2 April celebrating the contribution of the private sector where the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) made a landmark $150 million pledge to the 8th replenishment. The Minister welcomed this significant contribution from a British partner which demonstrates the key role of the private sector in the fight against HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria, and global health more broadly.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Lancet entitled Impact of an international HIV funding crisis on HIV infections and mortality in low income and middle income countries, a modelling study, published on 26 March 2025.

The UK takes note of the current context for international HIV funding. We remain committed to our long-standing support to global health organisations at the core of the response to HIV and AIDS, and we continue to support efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. We are excited to be co-hosting the 8th replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria together with South Africa. In countries where the Global Fund invests, AIDS-related deaths have declined by 73 per cent since 2002.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support the scale up of the provision of long-acting HIV prevention medicines now entering the market.

The UK remains committed to sustainable development goal 3.3 in ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030. Long-acting technologies have the potential to be game-changers in the global response to HIV, but only if they reach the countries and communities that need them most. The UK supports key partners to improve access to long-acting technologies, including Unitaid who recently committed £17 million in market-shaping grants with the Wits Institute in South Africa and Fiotec in Brazil to accelerate affordable access to Lenacapavir.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to help tackle the potential impact of aid cuts on (a) South Africa, (b) Kenya, (c) Nigeria and (d) other countries of strategic importance to the UK.

The Government remains fully committed to the UK playing a globally significant role on development; it is both in our national interest and in the interest of our partners.The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security, and official development assistance. Detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review on the basis of various factors including the likely impact on the UK's international partnerships with developing nations.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to take steps with (a) G7 and (b) European donors to return to previous levels of Official Development Assistance.

The Government remains committed to returning Official Development Assistance to 0.7 per cent of gross national income when the fiscal circumstances allow. Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals requires collective action, and the UK will continue to work through international partnerships towards that vision. Other donors' decisions on overseas development funding are a matter for their governments.

Whether he plans to build any more gigawatt nuclear plants after Sizewell C.

This Government is committed to nuclear power, which, as set out in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, will play an important role in delivering clean power by 2030, and crucially in the period beyond that, providing clean, stable and reliable power. No decision has yet been taken on whether to pursue a future large-scale project beyond Sizewell C.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the levelised cost of energy for communicating the true cost of energy production to consumers.

The Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) provides a simple, high-level metric to compare the cost of building and operating different generation technologies. While valuable for comparing the relative cost of technologies to each other, LCOE does not include wider system impacts such as flexibility, integration, or transmission costs which occur within an operational system. To fully capture these factors and assess the true cost to consumers, the Department and the independent National Energy System Operator (NESO) use detailed power sector modelling.

How many successful applicants there will be to the Great British Nuclear small modular reactor selection process.

Great British Nuclear is driving forward its SMR competition for UK deployment and, following conclusion of detailed negotiations, has invited the four shortlisted companies to submit final tenders. GBN will evaluate these, with final decisions on technology selection to be taken in the Spring. Further updates will follow in due course.

If she will consider transferring responsibility for the misuse of drugs to the Department of Health and Social Care.

Responsibility for drug policy is shared across a number of departments and both the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care have important roles to play in setting policy to tackle drug use and to reduce drug-related crime and drug health harms. The Home Office is the lead department for the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and associated drug legislation, working with other departments as appropriate where changes in the law are required.Illicit drug use affects the whole of society, and this Government is taking a collective response which will help our key missions to deliver safer streets, improve health outcomes and contribute to opportunities and growth through reducing crime and saving lives.

What steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of access to dental services for children with SEND.

The Government recognises that certain groups of patients such as people with disabilities may find it difficult to access dental care. We are committed to ensuring National Health Service dental services are available to all who need them.Community dental services (CDS) are available to people whose additional needs may mean they are not able to be treated at high street dental practices. CDS provide specialised dental services to ensure that everyone can have access to the dental care they need. This may include treatments delivered in hospitals, specialist health centres and mobile clinics, as well as home visits or visits in nursing and care homes.Integrated care boards are responsible for identifying areas of local need and determining the priorities for investment, including the commissioning of community dental services.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he taking to increase the recycling rates of soft plastics not normally collected at the kerbside.

Recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging is to be collected for recycling from both households and businesses across the UK by 31 March 2027. Waste is a devolved policy area. This will be implemented as part of Simpler Recycling in England, and the devolved administrations will have similar arrangements. In the lead up to this requirement, existing kerbside, front of store and postal take back collections of plastic films for recycling will continue and are expected to increase in response to certainty over the timing of the introduction of this new collection requirement. Investment in new UK plastic reprocessing facilities is also expected. To support our ambitious goals to recycle plastic film, Defra alongside the Flexible Plastic Fund, UK Research and Innovation and Zero Waste Scotland, is funding a multi-million-pound pilot project on flexible plastic kerbside collections.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT for all school uniform sold to primary school-aged children irrespective of whether it is labelled for children under 14.

No VAT is charged on the sale of children’s clothing and footwear designed for children who are less than 14 years of age. This means that school uniform for primary-school aged children is already free from VAT, provided it falls within the tabled measurements of children up to the eve of their 14th birthday, as this is when body dimensions begin to merge with those of the general adult population. The UK is one of only two countries among the 37 OECD member countries to maintain a VAT relief for children’s clothing.

What steps her Department plans to take to ensure wraparound childcare is sufficiently funded in areas with high SEND staffing requirements.

The department knows that parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) need childcare provision that meets their and their children’s needs. This government is determined to help these parents and has funded the national wraparound programme to support working families and improve the availability of before and after school childcare, to ensure that parents have the flexibility they need to care for their children.Wraparound programme funding includes resource for additional staffing to support inclusive provision, including for pupils with particular needs. Local authority allocations are varied to take account of regional differences in the number of pupils with SEND.The Childcare Act 2006 places a legal duty on local authorities to ensure there are enough childcare places within its locality for working parents or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 to 14, or up to age 18 for disabled children. All local authorities should be able to demonstrate how they have discharged this duty and should include specific reference to how they are ensuring there is sufficient childcare to meet the needs of children with SEND, as per the statutory guidance. This should be available from the local authority.The wraparound programme is helping local authorities discharge this duty, by distributing funding to ensure that local areas can increase the supply of wraparound places. Local authorities across England can decide how best to use the funding to set up or expand wraparound childcare in their area to meet the needs of their local community, including children with SEND.​The government is also committed to making quick progress to deliver on our commitment to offer breakfast clubs in every primary school. Departmental officials are working closely with schools and sector experts to develop a programme that meets the needs of all children, including those with SEND.In order to test and learn about how best to support schools in implementing new free universal breakfast clubs, we have selected 750 early adopter schools to deliver from April 2025, ahead of the national roll out to all schools with primary aged children. This includes 50 special schools and alternative provision settings. These settings will receive a higher funding rate, in addition to the fixed termly payments and set up cost funding, in recognition of the need for higher staff to pupil ratios.

What role Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships will play in the government's plans to tackle violence against women and girls.

The Government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene earlier to ensure vulnerable and at-risk children and young people are identified and offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities, through the provision of mental health and careers support.The new Young Futures Hubs will bring together the support services that tackle the underlying needs of vulnerable children and young people and make them more accessible to those that need them. In doing so, the hubs will promote children and young people’s development, improve their mental health and wellbeing, and prevent them from being drawn into crime. Prevention Partnerships will drive local multi-agency partnership working, improve evidence-based commissioning via existing and innovative mapping exercises and ensure the right support is available to children at-risk of knife crime, ASB and violence against women and girls.