Written questions by Baines.

What proportion of Personal Independence Payment recipients are in work in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) St Helens Local Authority, (c) the Liverpool City Region and (d) nationally.

The proportion of working age Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants who are in work can be found in the table below. Table 1: Working age Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants who are in work Percentage in workSt Helens North Parliamentary Constituency20%St Helens Local Authority20%Liverpool City Region19%England and Wales20% Notes:Data only includes claimants living in regions under DWP policy ownership (England, Wales and Abroad).Data includes normal rules and special rules for end of life (SREL) claims.Data is for March 2024 which is the latest year for which employment data is available.Data covers claimants who are working age, this is between 16 and state pension age.‘Work’ refers to claimants who are in paid employment, either as self-employed or employee.The Liverpool City Region contains the following Local Authorities: Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral and St Helens.Percentages have been rounded to nearest whole number.

What steps his Department is taking to (a) increase capacity on children's heart units and (b) ensure that children requiring treatment receive it in a timely manner.

Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need, including children awaiting specialist cardiac input.As set out in the Plan for Change, we will return to the National Health Service’s constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This includes for children awaiting elective care at children’s heart units.Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts that will get us back to this standard. Through empowering patients; reforming delivery; and aligning funding, performance oversight, and delivery standards; we will ensure that all patients, including children with heart conditions, are seen as quickly as possible, in line with the RTT standard.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) providing funding for speech and language interventions earlier than reception age and (b) help ensure that Family Hubs can support families within the home learning environment before the age of three.

Early language is a part of the best start in life pillar of the Opportunity Mission, where we have set an ambitious milestone of a record number of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment by 2028. This measure includes an assessment of children’s early communication and language development.As part of the support offer in the early years, Stronger Practice Hubs have enabled early years settings to access funded places on evidence-based professional development programmes. This has included over 20 programmes focused on speech, language and communication for under 4s.The department also works in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinders, which utilises pre-qualification therapy support assistants to improve early identification and support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs within early years and primary school settings.Through the Family Hubs programme for children aged 0 to 19-years-old, or 25-years-old with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the government is investing in parent-facing interventions that seek to give children the best start in life. Research shows that what happens at home can make the biggest difference to long term impacts on a child’s life chances. Therefore, we are supporting families of 3 to 4-year-olds to create rich home-learning environments that foster a love of learning in their children. Family Hubs and voluntary and community sector partners play a pivotal role in supporting these efforts, providing local communities with the tools and support they need to succeed.This work is complemented by our national campaign, ‘Little Moments Together’, which uses paid-for social media, out-of-home advertising, online videos and free resources to raise parents’ awareness, motivation and capability in the home-environment. We will continue to monitor the Family Hubs networks to ensure we consistently adopt the best approach to support families of young children, including exploring the effectiveness of expanding the age range targeted, as the programme evolves.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear in her commitment to early years as her number one priority and we will take the steps needed to improve children’s early learning and development, giving every child the best start in life.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) financial incentives and (b) other support for (i) farmers and (ii) the wider agricultural sector for investment in (A) machinery and (B) infrastructure.

We are committed to supporting all farming sectors to increase levels of productivity whilst increasing their sustainability and resilience. We are looking carefully at how to position further investment and support to enable the delivery of this Government's objectives, including a range of existing and new fiscal and non-fiscal support. We will confirm plans for the rollout of schemes and our wider approach as soon as possible, and the farming budget beyond this year will be part of the government’s spending review.

What steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help support the growth of small businesses.

Small businesses are the beating heart of our high streets, our communities, and essential to our economic success. The Government will boost small business growth and productivity by delivering upon the commitments within Labour's nine-point Plan for Small Business published prior to the election.As a first step, we announced on 19th September 2024 new measures to help small businesses and the self-employed tackle the scourge of late payments and long payment terms.We are also creating opportunities for small businesses to access the finance they need to scale up and to break into new markets through exporting.

What steps she is taking to reform the national curriculum.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.The review will seek to refresh the curriculum to ensure it is cutting edge, fit for purpose and meeting the needs of children and young people to support their future life and work.The government’s ambition is for a curriculum that delivers excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, and ensures every young person gets the opportunity to develop creative, digital, and speaking and listening skills particularly prized by employers.The review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve – in particular those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disabilities.The views of the sector will be pivotal to the review and there will be extensive engagement throughout. A call for evidence will be launched in the coming weeks and the review will also undertake a national roadshow, meeting and taking input from staff on the frontline.