Written questions by Beales.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the review of Part IX of the Drug Tariff does not adversely impact investment by the medtech sector.

The Department is working closely with industry through the Drug Tariff Committee to finalise the detail of the update to the product categorisation and listing process of Part IX of the Drug Tariff. The Department remains committed to ensuring that the reforms represent a positive change for patients, the National Health Service, and the medical technology sector. For example, to support innovation and inward investment, a new two-year temporary listing mechanism will be introduced so that innovative products can be made available for patients more quickly.

Pursuant to the Answer of 28 February to Question 31745 on Universities: Industry, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of adults who are likely to take up the opportunity for Life Long Learning across (a) the UK, (b) Greater London and c) West London.

The department is due to announce outstanding policy details related to the Lifelong Learning Entitlement later this year. These details will inform our demand projections for this specific programme, and we will share further information about this in due course.This government recognises the importance and value of investing and creating a culture of lifelong learning in our country to support our industrial strategy and economic growth. This starts with activity already underway, such as the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, establishing Skills England, utilising local skills improvement plans, further supporting skills bootcamps and apprenticeships and devolving the adult skills fund to support learning and development in all stages of life.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on (a) drivers employed by app companies, (b) couriers employed by app companies and (c) gig economy workers.

The impact of the Employment Rights Bill on those individuals will depend largely on their employment status. Individuals in the platform economy can be any status: employee, limb (b) worker, or self-employed, depending on the reality of the relationship between them and their employer.The Employment Rights Bill, once implemented, will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation. It will raise the minimum floor of employment rights, raise living standards across the country and level the playing field for those businesses who are engaged in good practices.

What progress the Motor Insurance Taskforce has made.

The cross-Government Motor Insurance Taskforce met for the first time on 16 October 2024 and the Secretary of State is keen to reconvene again soon. The Taskforce has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums, while maintaining appropriate levels of cover. It will look at the increased insurance costs on consumers and the insurance industry, including how this impacts different demographics, geographies, and communities. We will provide updates on the Taskforce in due course.

What steps she is taking to prevent the export of stolen vehicles by organised criminal groups.

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are working with the automotive industry and police – taking a national approach – to ensure our response is as strong as it can be, including working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime.This Government is committed to working domestically, applying the full range of disruption tactics, and with partners internationally to disrupt organised crime groups upstream.We provided £250,000 funding in the financial year 2024-25 to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad. This included additional staff and specialist equipment.Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced measures to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying them.Via the recently established National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, we are focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of and from vehicles; this includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the international trading of stolen vehicles.

Vehicle theft is a serious crime that has a deeply damaging impact on vehicle owners, manufacturers and the insurance industry.A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information and are better able to respond. The Crime and Policing Bill will ban the electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, and supplying them.Stolen vehicles often end up being sent overseas so we have provided £250,000 this financial year to provide additional staff and specialist equipment to help enforcement at ports and prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad. We are also engaging international partners to explore what more can be done to disrupt the international marketplace for stolen vehicles.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the (a) cultural, (b) economic and (c) community value of free-to-air coverage of the Six Nations Championship.

The Government believes that the current list of events works well and that it strikes an appropriate balance between access to sporting events and allowing sports to maximise broadcasting revenue. Therefore, the Government has no plans to review the list at this time.It is right that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Six Nations Rugby take a considered and balanced approach: recognising the need to achieve reach with existing and new fans, the importance that the Six Nations has for the cultural pride of each of the Home Nations, all the while maximising broadcast revenue.

Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of changing the status of the Six Nations Championship from Category B to Category A in the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events.

The Government believes that the current list of events works well and that it strikes an appropriate balance between access to sporting events and allowing sports to maximise broadcasting revenue. Therefore, the Government has no plans to review the list at this time.It is right that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Six Nations Rugby take a considered and balanced approach: recognising the need to achieve reach with existing and new fans, the importance that the Six Nations has for the cultural pride of each of the Home Nations, all the while maximising broadcast revenue.

What steps he is taking to reduce inequalities in (a) still-birth rates and (b) maternal mortality related to (i) class and (ii) ethnicity.

It is unacceptable that there are such stark inequalities for women and babies. It is a priority for the Government to make sure that all women and babies receive the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of their background, location, or ethnicity.We are supporting NHS England as it delivers its three-year plan to make maternity and neonatal care more personalised, safe, compassionate, and equitable for women and babies. As part of this, all Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems are implementing their equity and equality actions plans, which include targeted interventions to tackle inequalities for women and babies from ethnic minorities and those living in the most deprived areas. All trusts are implementing version three of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with guidance and interventions to reduce stillbirths, brain injuries, neonatal deaths, preterm births, and inequalities. We are working closely with NHS England, and the wider sector, to identify further interventions to address inequalities for women and babies. Some of these will require time to implement, but we also need to ensure that there are immediate actions that can begin to drive forward improvements now. This includes the targets needed to drive change, in line with the Government’s commitment to setting an explicit target to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gaps.

What steps he is taking to increase staffing levels in maternity services.

The Government is committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the National Health Service. Bringing in the staff we need will take time, but this is a priority for the Government.NHS England is leading a range of initiatives to boost retention of existing staff and ensure that the NHS remains an attractive career choice for new recruits. This includes building a compassionate and inclusive culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities. As a part of this, there are interventions in place specific to the maternity and neonatal workforce, such as creating a midwifery and nursing retention self-assessment tool, mentoring schemes, support on pensions, investing in unit-based midwife retention leads. We are also boosting the midwifery workforce through undergraduate training, apprenticeships, postgraduate conversion, and return to midwifery programmes.

What steps she is taking to support economically inactive people back into work in (a) West London and (b) other parts of London.

The Get Britain Working White Paper published in November set out plans to deliver fundamental reform of our health, employment and skills system, that will help support economically inactive people in all areas in England get back into work. We committed to: Delivering a new jobs and careers service to support people to get into and on at work, available to everyone regardless of whether they are in receipt of benefits.Asking local areas across England, including the Greater London Authority, to develop local Get Britain Working plans which are intended to join up new support and enable local areas to develop a system wide approach to tackling economic inactivity.Funding Trailblazers to help accelerate a more locally led and joined up approach to tackling economic inactivity and the rising number of young people who are not participating in education, employment or training.Delivering a Youth Guarantee for 18-21 year olds in England so that young people benefit from support to access education, training opportunities or help to find work.Launching Connect to Work, a forthcoming voluntary, locally led, Supported Employment programme that will help, primarily economically inactive, disabled people, people with health conditions and other complex barriers to employment to get into and stay in work. The Greater London area will host several Trailblazers, covering both inactivity and youth. This will involve working closely with a range of local partners, including those based in West London. Additional funding will also be given to the Greater London Authority to support the development of their local Get Britain Working plan, to cover the four sub-regional London partnership areas delivering Connect to Work.

What his planned timeline is for negotiations on reform of the NHS dental contract.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.We continue to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending school-based counselling on reducing child and adolescent mental health service waiting lists.

The Government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through expanding Mental Health Support Teams, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.

What steps she is taking to improve mental health support in schools.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.The government will deliver on this commitment through providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.As of April 2024, NHS-funded Mental Health Support Teams covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England, and are expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.The department will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resources hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.On top of this, schools are also able to arrange their own mental health interventions that are best suited to their pupils using the core revenue and pupil premium funding they receive from the department.The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed an additional £2.3 billion for the core schools budget for 2025/26 compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core schools funding will reach over £63.9 billion in 2025/26.

What steps she is taking to support young people with SEND needs into employment.

The Department for Work and Pensions are supporting many young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to find employment.The government will be launching a Youth Guarantee for all 18-21 year olds in England, to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. This will start with eight trailblazers, which are launching this spring, and testing localised approaches to supporting young people, which could include those with SEND.

What steps she is taking to make it easier for people over the age of 25 to access skills training and employment support.

The government is taking several steps to make it easier for adults to access training. The Adult Skills Fund (ASF) fully or co-funds education and skills training for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.Currently, approximately 60% of the ASF is devolved to nine Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for deciding what provision and support to offer their residents, allowing them the flexibility to respond to local needs.The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships to give more people a foot in the door of work, whilst supporting the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth. Skills Bootcamps also continue to be funded and are available across England, giving adults the chance to build sector-specific skills, including in digital, construction and green industries, with an offer of a job interview on completion.Lastly, in the 2026/2027 academic year, the department is also introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). The LLE will transform the post-18 student finance system by allowing people to develop new skills and gain new qualifications at a time that is right for them. From September 2026, learners will be able to apply for LLE funding for the first time for courses and modules starting from January 2027 onwards. From its launch, the LLE loan will be available for full courses at level 4 to 6, such as a degrees, technical qualifications, designated distance-learning and online courses, and modules of high value technical courses at level 4 to 5.Under the LLE, eligible learners will be able to access a tuition fee loan, with new learners able to access up to the full entitlement of £38,140, equal to four years of study based on the 2025/ 2026 academic year fee rates, and a maintenance loan to cover living costs, for courses with in-person attendance. Ultimately, this will enable individuals to learn, upskill, and retrain across their entire lives.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of starting a national roll out of Housing First.

The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant is a consolidated rough sleeping fund aimed at tackling rough sleeping and is providing a total of £185.6 million to local authorities across England in 2025-26. Local authorities have the flexibility to choose to continue provision of their Housing First or Housing Led services through the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant allocations. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to develop a strategy to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This work includes taking into account what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.

Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to promote universities as centres for industrial innovation; and if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of including them in the Industrial Strategy.

Government has committed to developing an ambitious Industrial Strategy in partnership with business, devolved governments, regions and other stakeholders. This includes universities, who play a key role in driving local and national economic growth – in 2023, UK university spinouts raised £1.66 billion in equity funding, 9.5% of all equity funding raised by UK companies.

What the level of vaccine uptake is by (a) ethnicity, (b) region and (c) socio-economic group.

This information is not held in the format requested. The total number of mpox vaccinations administered in England in 2023/24 financial year was 21,225. The total number of mpox vaccinations administered in 2024/25 financial year to date currently stands at 15,649. The latest vaccine coverage statistics are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptakeInfluenza and COVID-19 coverage data can also be viewed in the weekly flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports, which are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2024-to-2025-seasonChildhood vaccination coverage statistics in England are available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics

How many mPox vaccines were given in England in the 2023-24 financial year; and how many have been given to date in the 2024-25 financial year.

The total number of Mpox vaccinations administered in England in the 2023/24 financial year totalled to 21,225. The total number of Mpox vaccinations administered in the 2024/25 financial year to date currently stands at 15,649.The data was extracted on 5 February 2025 based on aggregate data submissions from sexual health or genitourinary medicine clinics. The data covers a period of 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, and 1 April 2024 to 31 January 2025.