Written questions by Williams.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the current Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund fair access limit on the mental health outcomes of (a) adopted children and (b) children living with a special guardianship.

The department always considers the impact of decisions on vulnerable children. The level of funding per child in 2025/26 will still allow adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support. Where needed, local authorities and regional adoption agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.

What evidence base was used to inform the new per-child funding allocation of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

Changes to the Fair Access Limit have been made to ensure that the maximum number of children can benefit from the fund, on the basis of forecast demand. The level of funding per child in 2025/26 will still allow adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support. Where needed, and as before, local authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the need for the National Youth Strategy to register the importance of long-term sustainable revenue funding in providing youth services.

The Government will publish the National Youth Strategy this summer. The detail and scale of the funding commitments included in the strategy will be shaped by engagement with young people and the youth sector and will be dependent on Spending Review decisions.In 2025/6, DCMS funding for Youth will include over £85 million of capital funding to create fit-for-purpose spaces in places where it is most needed. This includes the £26 million Better Youth Spaces Fund for youth clubs to buy new equipment and do renovations, the Local Youth Transformation Fund to start the journey of building back lost capability in local areas and completion of Youth Investment Fund projects underway.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure youth voice is integrated into the new national youth strategy.

The National Youth Strategy will be co-produced in partnership with young people and the youth sector. DCMS has already conducted Ministerial roundtables with young people and over the next couple of months will conduct a number of different engagement activities with young people, including focus groups. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a wide-reaching survey, and a series of youth engagement activities across the country to ask young people about their issues and priorities. We have also set up a Youth Advisory Group and an Expert Advisory Group to work alongside us throughout the development of the strategy.

When she expects the timelines for the delivery of Young Future Hubs to be clarified.

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. Too many children and young people do not have access to the same enrichment opportunities as their peers, suffer from poor mental health and, in some cases, end up being drawn into crime rather than going on to achieve and thrive. Young Futures Hubs are just one part of addressing this, as part of a much wider youth landscape which will be brought together in the forthcoming youth strategy.To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building upon the successes of existing infrastructure and provision, the department will first establish early adopter hubs. These early adopters, and work with local areas, will inform the longer term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs. We will set out more details on timelines in due course.

Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reallocating the funding for National Citizen Service to the youth sector from April 2025.

We appreciate the disappointment many will be feeling following the decision to wind down the NCS programme from March 2025 and close the NCS Trust when parliamentary time allows.This Government acknowledges the great work NCS have done over the years providing thousands of young people from all backgrounds with opportunities to become ‘work-ready and world-ready’.We also acknowledge the challenges facing the sector and the changing needs of the young people it supports. That is why this government has launched the co-production of an ambitious new National Youth Strategy, which will be developed together with young people and the youth sector.Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of restoring the hourly electric train service between Crewe and Birmingham.

The previous change in the December 2022 timetable was designed so West Midlands Trains could optimise the connections for passengers travelling to and from Stone and deliver high levels of operational performance. Officials continue to discuss possible ways of restoring such a service with West Midlands Trains.

Whether (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent settings will be able to access (i) Early Years and (ii) workforce funding.

In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department expects to provide over £8 billion for early years entitlements, an increase of over 30% compared to 2024/25, as the department rolls out the expansion of the entitlements.This funding is distributed to local authorities as hourly funding rates, determined using the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF). The hourly rate includes funding to support providers with the cost of delivering the entitlements, including workforce costs, to deliver essential local early years services and ensure children with special educational needs and disabilities can access the funded childcare offer. The EYNFF, and local formulae which local authorities use to distribute that funding to individual providers, cover private, voluntary and independent settings, as well as public sector providers.Alongside hourly funding rates, eligible children, in any setting, can also attract additional funding through the early years pupil premium (EYPP). Early education gives all children, and especially disadvantaged children, the best start in life. This government is therefore delivering the largest ever uplift to the EYPP, increasing the EYPP rate by over 45% from 68p per hour in the 2024/25 financial year to £1 per hour in the 2025/26 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.On top of over £8 billion through the core funding rates, we are also providing an additional £75 million grant for the 2025/26 financial year to support the sector in this pivotal year to grow the places and the workforce needed to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025.In addition, pilot funding is being given to 20 local authorities to pass onto providers to recruit eligible early years staff, who spend at least 70% of their time working directly with children. Eligible joiners and returners will receive a payment of up to £1,000 after tax and National Insurance shortly after they take up post. The pilot runs from April to December 2024.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the potential impact of workforce shortages in the early years sector on pre-school children’s language and communication development.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in their early years and later in life, including in all aspects of their later attainment in school. To support early language skills, the department is investing over £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme. NELI is an evidence-based programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, increasing to seven months additional progress for those eligible for free school meals. In July 2024 the department announced funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the NELI programme, two thirds of English state primaries, for the 2024/25 academic year.To further support early language skills, the department is also delivering the early years education recovery programme. This includes providing funding for settings to undertake evidence-based continuous professional development programmes, including those focussed on speech, language and communication, via a national network of early years stronger practice hubs. The department is also supporting training through the professional development programme and the online early years child development training, both of which include a specific module focused on early language.  Additionally, training for up to 7,000 special educational needs coordinators will help children with speech, language and communication needs and support earlier identification of those needs.The department is working in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders for 2 to 11-years olds and is working with partners to deliver an early language local innovation and excellence programme which includes implementation of published speech and language communication pathway guidance and an early language identification measure.The department is publishing early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment guidance and resources, including practical advice, tools, and downloadable resources. These will help educators assess children with SEND, capture their voice and set learning targets, featuring a dedicated tool for communication and interaction.This government sees the early years sector as more than just childcare, it is central to our Opportunity Mission to give every child the best start in life. We are determined to create a sea change in the approach to early years, focusing on high-quality early education, celebrating and supporting early years careers, and embedding the sector into the wider education system. We are supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders by creating conditions for improved recruitment, alongside programmes to better utilise the skills of the existing workforce and make early years careers as accessible and rewarding as possible.Our key interventions include a national recruitment campaign urging the public to ‘Do something BIG’ and start a career working with small children, testing whether financial incentives and a childminder start-up grant in early years boost recruitment, and Skills Bootcamps for the early years which lead to an accelerated apprenticeship.These interventions are in addition to a package of changes to the early years statutory framework and new childminder flexibilities which give providers more choice over how they operate, as well as uplifting funding rates to support providers in dealing with the costs they face, including staffing costs.

What steps her Department is taking to support (a) language and (b) communication skills of children under three.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in the early years and later in life.The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life and is prepared for school. The three prime areas of learning and development within the EYFS are particularly important for building a strong foundation, with communication and language being one of these prime areas.Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. The assessment requirements in the EYFS includes the progress check at age two and the EYFS profile, both of which involve reviewing a child’s development in communication and language.To support early language skills, the department is providing funding for settings to undertake evidence-based continuous professional development programmes, including those focused on speech, language and communication, via a national network of Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs. Additionally, we are providing training through the Professional Development Programme and the online early years child development training, both of which include a specific module focused on early language. Furthermore, we are providing training for up to 7,000 special educational needs coordinators that will help children with speech, language and communication needs and support earlier identification of needs.In partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), we have also developed the early language identification measure, which supports local area health and early years partnerships to work in a more integrated way, helping to identify speech, language and communication needs as early as possible. We are also enabling Family Hubs to train practitioners to support families with the home learning environment and to help parents learn new skills, including providing effective support for children’s speech and communication.Furthermore, we are developing programmes to support early language development, such as the department’s joint home learning campaign with the DHSC, Little Moments Together, which encourages parents to chat, play and read with their children, and provides helpful tips on activities on learning to talk. The campaign can be accessed here: https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/better-health-start-for-life/better-health-start-for-life-home-learning-environment-2024/.We are also working in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders for 2-11 year-olds, working with partners to deliver an Early Language Local Innovation and Excellence programme which includes implementation of published speech and language communication pathway guidance and an early language identification measure. We are also publishing early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment guidance and resources, which includes practical advice, tools and downloadable resources. These will help educators assess children with SEND, capture their voice, and set learning targets. It includes a dedicated tool for communication and interaction.

What steps her Department is taking through the Youth Guarantee to support care leavers at risk of dropping out of (a) education and (b) training.

​​The department’s vision for a Youth Guarantee is to ensure all young people aged 18 to 21 have access to training or employment support to prevent them from becoming economically inactive before their careers have even begun. This includes young people leaving care.From spring 2025, the department will launch trailblazers in eight mayoral authorities to design and test the Youth Guarantee. As the new framework for supporting young people into further learning and onto fulfilling work, it will guarantee tailored support to 18 to 21 year olds who need it, to ensure they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or employment support. The department will ensure that trailblazers test how the Youth Guarantee can best support groups that face additional barriers, including care leavers.The Youth Guarantee offers will sit alongside other support available to care leavers who are particularly vulnerable to not being in education, employment or training. For example, care leavers are a priority group for a 16-19 bursary if they are studying in further education and up to £1,200 a year can be paid by their college.In addition, care leavers who enter higher education are eligible for a statutory bursary of £2,000 from their local authority and care leavers who take up an apprenticeship are eligible for a £3,000 bursary.

What steps her Department is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention in the further education sector.

Good quality teaching is the main determinant of quality outcomes for learners. The population of 16 to 19 year olds in further education (FE) is set to grow in the coming years, which is why we need more great FE teachers in critical subject areas.To boost recruitment and retention of teachers, the targeted retention incentive will give eligible early career teachers in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and technical shortage subjects, who work in disadvantaged schools and in all colleges, up to £6,000 after tax annually, on top of their normal pay.The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and support for industry professionals to enter the FE teaching workforce through its ‘Taking Teaching Further’ programme.The national FE teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share Your Skills’ targets those with industry skills to think about a career in FE teaching. The campaign raises awareness and increases consideration by encouraging industry professionals to think about using their skills to teach in FE.FE colleges are being supported by an additional £300 million funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 to deliver the best opportunities for learners.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle land banking.

The government wants to see homes built faster and we recognise the frustrations that stalled or delayed sites can cause to communities.Once housebuilders have been granted permission for residential development, meeting local housing needs and preferences, we expect to see them built out as quickly as possible.Local planning authorities already have powers to issue a completion notice to require a developer to complete their development if it is stalled. If they fail to do so, the planning permission for the development will lapse.The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December includes policies designed to support increased build out rates, including the promotion of mixed tenure development.In addition, our New Homes Accelerator aims to unblock and accelerate the delivery of housing developments that have for various reasons become delayed, or which are not progressing as quickly as they could be.To enhance transparency and accountability in respect of build out rates, the government intend to take steps to implement build out reporting following technical consultation.We also intend to provide local planning authorities with powers to decline to determine planning applications submitted by developers who have failed to implement previous permissions.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce dropout rates of students studying T-Levels.

This government wants all young people to have access to high-quality education options that enable them to learn the skills they need to progress in life and build successful careers. T Levels are an excellent post-16 option for students, and we want to extend the opportunities they provide to as many young people as possible. The department has listened to feedback about barriers to delivery and taken action as a result. For example, we have announced updated approaches to industry placements, including allowing up to 20% of the placement to be remote, with up to 50% for T Levels in Digital. These changes which will unlock more opportunities for students and employers, while maintaining quality. T Levels are still early in their implementation, and the retention rate is now improving. To support this, the department is raising awareness of T Levels with schools and careers advisers, backed up by case studies of students’ experiences and access to face to face support to ensure they understand the requirements of T Levels and can advise students effectively. The department has addressed issues specific to the Health and Science T Levels, which may have affected the second cohort of students. In September 2023, a new T Level in Health Qualification Specification was published, with changes to the core content, alongside a suite of support from the awarding organisation to help providers deliver the T Level effectively. The department expects retention rates to continue rising as providers become more familiar with delivering the courses, and we continue to support providers to deliver T Levels effectively.

What steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour on the high street in (a) Tunstall, (b) Stoke-on-Trent North and (c) Kidsgrove.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.The Government recently announced Respect Orders, which will be introduced in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill. Respect Orders can be applied for by police and local councils and are issued by the courts. They will enable courts to place wide-ranging restrictions on the behaviour of the most persistent and disruptive ASB offenders. They will include a power of arrest for any suspected breach, meaning officers can take action quickly to disrupt ongoing ASB. Breach will be a criminal offence, which is heard in the criminal courts with a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.We will also put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities, so residents know who to turn to when things go wrong.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times for accommodation for (a) victims of domestic violence and (b) their families in (i) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (ii) Kidsgrove.

Local authorities, in areas such as Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, are responsible for designing and managing their own housing allocations policies to meet local need. As part of this, they have the freedom to manage their own waiting lists but must give priority to people who are homeless or who need to move for medical or welfare reasons. This includes victims and their families who have escaped abuse. Allocations guidance also encourages local authorities to give additional preference to people who are homeless and require urgent rehousing as a result of domestic abuse.Further to my answer to Question UIN 2150 on 9 September 2024, the department will bring forward changes to social housing allocations regulations to exempt all victims of domestic abuse from local connection and residency tests to improve their access to social rented housing.Furthermore, the government has committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, and I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.By law, local authorities in England are also required to ensure victims of domestic abuse and their children can access the support they need within safe accommodation if they have to flee their homes. This includes refuges, sanctuary schemes, and dispersed accommodation. The Government will be providing £160 million in funding to local authorities to support them to fulfil their duties in 2025/26.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to invest in heritage buildings in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is committed to investing in heritage buildings, ensuring these buildings serve the needs of local communities. Historic England, the government’s statutory advisors, have taken several steps to do this through;Supporting the Stoke-on-Trent North Council to find sustainable new uses for historic buildings in Burslem and the surrounding area.Funding emergency safeguarding repairs at the Wedgwood Institute, providing conservation architectural and surveyor expertise at no cost at The Leopard, Price & Kensington, the Wedgwood Institute and Burslem Market.Provided funding to support Re-Form Heritage, whose office is based in the constituency, in employing staff dedicated to delivering heritage projects. The National Lottery Heritage Fund has identified Stoke-on-Trent as one of twenty Heritage Places across the UK. Heritage Places is a UK-wide initiative to help places thrive by unlocking the potential of their heritage. Stoke-on-Trent council has been awarded £250,000 for collaboration and development of plans for preserving the city’s heritage. The Architectural Heritage Fund has also chosen Re-Form Heritage in Stoke-on-Trent to be part of its Heritage Development Trust programme.Specifically in Kidsgrove, The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £9,700 to Engage Communities CIC for a project to explore the heritage of games and sports traditionally played by South Asian people engaging local young people in the project.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage more people to (a) enter the youth sector workforce and (b) become youth workers.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and the vital role that youth workers play in delivering those services and building trusted relationships.This government has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to look afresh at the training, recruitment and retention of youth workers. As part of the Strategy, we will be consulting closely with young people and the youth sector over the coming months to fully understand their needs and the issues they consider to be most crucial in addressing.The Strategy will be published next year.

What steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to ensure that young people's home to school transport needs are met.

The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem or because the route is unsafe. There are extended rights to free home to school travel for children from low-income families aimed at helping them exercise school choice. The department knows that local authorities’ spending on home to school travel has increased sharply in recent years, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities. This is largely due to increases in the number of children with education, health and care plans and the number of those children who have to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. This will reduce home-to-school travel costs for local authorities over time. Most central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the local government finance settlement administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The government recognises the challenges local authorities are facing. The government has listened to voices across the sector and prioritised local government in the budget. The government announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in the 2025/26 financial year for local government to deliver core services. Together with local income from council tax and business rates, this will provide a real-terms increase in core spending power of around 3.2%.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support social housing providers to meet their duties under section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 in relation to (a) damp and (b) mould.

The government are committed to introducing Awaab’s Law to the social rented sector, setting new time limits for social landlords to fix dangerous hazards which can have a serious impact on the health of residents, including damp and mould. We are working with social housing providers and other stakeholders to determine how we best implement Awaab’s Law. We will develop new guidance for landlords and residents on the new duties under the forthcoming regulations.