Written questions by Nichols.

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.

Whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on the potential merits of expanding the Online Safety Act 2023 to tackle violence against women ans girls.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer I gave on 10 February to Question UN 27910.

What assessment she has made of the contribution of youth services in preventing and tackling violence against women and girls.

As referenced in my response to the answer I gave to question UIN 28128, the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will set out our strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver our ambition to halve VAWG in the next decade.We are considering a range of policy options across government to prevent these crimes including education for young people around healthy relationships and consent, community interventions and tackling online VAWG. That includes looking at how we can work most effectively with youth services and through the Young Future Hub programme to deliver this ambition.

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.

If his Department will conduct a review of surgical menopause care.

The Government will prioritise women’s health as we reform the National Health Service, ensuring that all women experiencing the menopause can access the care that they need. We have taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home, and the piloting of gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding. Women’s health hubs also have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and improving the care women receive. Menopause assessment and treatment is a core service that all hubs are expected to provide. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) reported to NHS England that they had at least one operational women’s health hub. We continue to engage with and encourage ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hubs pilots to improve local delivery of services to women. At present there are no plans to conduct a review of surgical menopause care.

When the Understanding Menopause guidance by Menopause Support UK will be published.

Menopause Support UK is an independent organisation, and the Department cannot advise on when this guidance will be published. NHS England routinely considers how they signpost to other sources of healthcare guidance. For example, the National Health Service’s website page on menopause signposts users to further sources of information.

Whether he plans to launch a public health information campaign for menopause.

We know that more needs to be done to support women experiencing the menopause. The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we reform the National Health Service and women’s equality will be at the heart of our missions.It is important that all women experiencing the menopause have access to information and options to enable them to choose the best care to suit them.NHS England has created a menopause self-care factsheet to help women understand and manage symptoms and know how to seek help. There is also a women’s health area on the NHS website which contains over 100 health topics, and provides information for women on a range of health issues including periods, gynaecological conditions, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy medicines.In recent months the NHS has also used its Instagram channel to provide users with information on a range of reproductive health issues, including menopause.

What steps he is taking to ensure that GPs have the necessary (a) equipment and (b) training to (i) support people experiencing the menopause and (ii) signpost the appropriate support for each patient.

A range of training, guidance, and resources are available to help primary care professionals to support women experiencing menopause symptoms.The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has a holistic curriculum of training that all general practitioners (GPs) must cover before they are able to pass the examination to become a member of the RCGP and work independently as a GP. There is a specific section on women’s health, including menopause. To support practicing GPs, the RCGP has developed a Women’s Health Library drawing together educational resources and guidelines on women’s health so primary healthcare professionals have the most up-to-date information. This includes a specific section on menopause. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published their updated guideline in November 2024, which recommends more treatment choices for menopause symptoms. There are also a range of resources and support that GPs can signpost patients to, for example the National Health Service’s website and the NHS menopause factsheet.

What steps he has taken to increase capacity in appointments for NHS dental treatment for pregnant and postpartum women who are entitled to free NHS dental care.

We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, and we want to make sure that everyone who needs a National Health Service dentist can get one, including pregnant women and new mothers. The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Warrington North constituency, this is the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.

Whether she plans to increase funding for wraparound care.

Any future decisions on departmental spending are subject to the spending review process.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) increase recycling rates and (b) reduce littering of containers not included in the Deposit Return Scheme.

The Simpler Recycling reforms will make recycling easier and ensure there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England, so that all households and workplaces can recycle plastic, metal, glass, paper & card and food waste, with garden waste for households upon request. Simpler Recycling is estimated to increase the municipal recycling rate from around 42% to around 56% between 2024 and 2035. This project is one of the three core pillars of the Government’s ambitious Collection and Packaging Reforms, alongside the forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme and the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for packaging. Littering is a crime that blights communities and the environment. Local authorities are generally best placed to respond to issues such as littering and this Government is considering what further steps are needed to help local authorities reduce litter and keep their streets clean.

Whether teaching staff at colleges providing 16-19 education will be awarded the same pay increase as staff at (a) schools and (b) academies providing 16-19 education.

This government is committed to ensuring there is a thriving further education (FE) sector, which is vital to our missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and boost economic growth.FE colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay within colleges. Colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for school teachers, but are free to implement their own pay arrangements in line with their own local circumstances. FE colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gave them autonomy over the pay and contractual terms and conditions of their staff.At the Autumn Budget 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out an additional £300 million of revenue funding for FE in the 2025/26 financial year to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department has recently announced that we are making approximately £50 million of that available to sixth-form colleges and FE Colleges for April to July 2025. This one-off grant will enable colleges to respond to current priorities and challenges, including workforce recruitment and retention. It is up to colleges how they use this funding to best meet priorities.This builds on our investment to extend targeted retention incentive payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department is also delivering funding to support those young people who do not pass mathematics and English GCSE at 16 who are predominantly studying in FE.The department will continue to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas. For the 2024/25 academic year, FE training bursaries are worth up to £30,000 each, tax free. Additionally, we are supporting industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through our ‘Taking Teaching Further’ programme.In making their recommendations for 2025/26 school teacher pay, the School Teachers' Review Body's (STRB) have been asked to consider the impact of their recommendations on the FE teaching workforce in England. This does not change how pay is set in FE, but as the FE and school workforces are closely related, it’s important that the STRB consider the totality of the workforce when they look at the evidence.