Written questions by Snell.

Media and Sport, whether she plans to continue funding for research into shared impact measurements for youth services.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential.We are also committed to improving the evidence base for the youth sector and making impactful improvements. Confirmation of decisions regarding any funding for improvements on shared measures will be shared in due course.In November this government launched the ambitious new National Youth Strategy, which will be co-produced together with young people and the youth sector. This Strategy will allow us to put young people back in charge of their own destiny and provide them with meaningful choices and chances.We are commissioning research that will inform the development and direction of the National Youth Strategy by exploring young people's challenges and experiences, and their proposed solutions. The research will consist of an evidence review as well as youth engagement.The Strategy will be published next year.

Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to provide ring-fenced revenue funding for universal and open-access youth services for all young people all year round.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential.Next financial year, in 2025/26, we are increasing the total funding for other DCMS youth programmes. We will also be funding new work in partnership with local authorities to start the journey of building back lost capacity in local areas and of ensuring young people’s voices are heard in their local services.We are also allocating over £85m of funding in 2025/26 to create fit-for-purpose, welcoming spaces for young people, including launching the new Better Youth Spaces fund, which will allocate at least £26m for youth clubs to buy new equipment and do renovations. This will also include completing the Youth Investment Fund projects.In addition, this government has committed to the co-production of an ambitious new National Youth Strategy, which will allow us to put young people back in charge of their own destiny and provide them with meaningful choices and chances. As part of the Strategy, we will be engaging closely with young people and the youth sector from across the country over the coming months to fully understand their needs and the issues they consider to be most crucial in addressing. This will allow us to better target funding and services where they are most needed.The Strategy will be published next year.

Whether he plans to include core standards for animal welfare within his planned trade strategy.

We are currently developing the trade strategy, closely engaging with stakeholders as we refine its content. The trade strategy will set out how we can achieve long-term sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth through trade. The development of the trade strategy will consider the Government’s commitment to uphold our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards, areas in which the UK is a world leader.

Media and Sport, whether planned funding arrangements for Young Futures Hubs will include provision for long-term funding.

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to success and opportunity. Too many children and young people today 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 achieving their full potential.While services already exist to provide support for this group, many still go unsupported, because they are unable to access the services they need, when and where they need them. Young Futures Hubs will bring together the support services that tackle these underlying needs 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. They will be staffed with professionals including youth workers, mental health support workers and career advisors. The new Young Futures Hubs will support the delivery of the government’s safer streets, health and opportunity missions.The number of hubs, their specific locations, and their reach are still being determined, and long term funding for these will be determined through the Phase 2 of the Spending Review.The department will engage with national and local partners, local communities, and children and young people to work together on design and delivery, including considering relevant reports.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Fairer food labelling, which closed on 7 May 2024, when he plans to respond to that consultation; and whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to mandate method-of-production welfare labelling for (a) pork, (b) chicken and (c) eggs.

A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous Government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling. The consultation also sought views on whether new rules should be introduced on country-of-origin labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing core standards for animal welfare; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade about whether he plans to include such standards in his planned trade strategy.

The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. All agri-food products must comply with our import requirements in order to be placed on the UK market. This includes ensuring imported meat products have been slaughtered to animal welfare standards equivalent to our domestic standards. The trade strategy will set out how we can achieve long-term sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth through trade. It will reflect the Government’s commitment to uphold our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards, areas in which the UK is a world leader. The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.

Media and Sports, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Design and Artists Copyright Society’s report entitled, UK Visual Artists a survey of earnings and contracts, published on 25 November 2024; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of digital copying on artists' and performers' remuneration.

My department has made no recent assessment of the potential impact of digital copying on artists' and performers' remuneration. However, the Government wants to see remuneration arrangements that create the right conditions for sparking and driving innovation and investment, whilst rewarding creators for their work and is proud that it was a Labour Government that introduced the Artists Resale Right which is administered by DACS.We recognise the importance of copyright protection in ensuring creators are protected and rewarded. The Government welcomes the publication of this informative report from the Design and Artists Copyright Society.

What recent discussions her Department has had with the Teachers Pension Scheme on delays in providing Remediable Service Statements to retired teachers.

Delays have been encountered with the approach to calculating the remediable service statement (RSS) values for retired members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme whilst cross-scheme issues were resolved.130,000 retired teachers require a rectification RSS. The scheme administrator estimates that approximately 100,000 will be issued by 31 March 2025.Whilst the delays have been out of the scheme administrator’s control, the department continues to have daily discussions about reducing the timescales for the RSSs that will not have been issued by then, focusing on operations, resources, processes and IT. Progress is also discussed with the administrator, Teachers’ Pensions, at dedicated weekly and monthly meetings.Whilst the department is working to ensure that all RSSs are issued as soon as practically possible, the department would like to reassure that any adjustment to pension that is in payment as a result of the member’s choice will be inclusive of interest.

What proportion of secondary schools have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.

The department does not hold statistics on the proportion of primary schools or secondary schools that have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.School governing boards are responsible for setting their school food policies, including food brought in from home.The school food standards regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. The standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, which includes snacks and confectionary high in fat, sugar and salt. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.

What proportion of primary schools have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.

The department does not hold statistics on the proportion of primary schools or secondary schools that have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.School governing boards are responsible for setting their school food policies, including food brought in from home.The school food standards regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. The standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, which includes snacks and confectionary high in fat, sugar and salt. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.

Whether the Children’s Wellbeing Bill will include provisions to help schools provide up to date allergy awareness education for pupils and staff.

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will ensure our education and children’s social care systems transform life chances for millions of children and young people in England.The precise content of the Bill will be confirmed upon the Bill’s introduction, which will be as soon as parliamentary time allows.Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Policies should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.From September 2020, relationships education became compulsory for all primary school-aged pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for all secondary school-aged pupils, and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools in England. The statutory guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.This guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should be taught the facts and science relating to allergies, immunisation and vaccination.The department is currently reviewing the relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. As such the department will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce regulatory requirements for food exporters trading with the EU.

The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards. The Government has committed to seek to negotiate a veterinary/sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to help boost trade, reduce trade friction and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in the UK and the EU. The Government has been clear that there will be no return to the customs union or single market. The Government is ambitious and wants to move forward at pace, but delivering new agreements will take time. Additionally, Defra has recently posted two new agri-food attachés to the British Embassies in Paris and Madrid, who will help reduce regulatory requirements for food exporters to Europe. Their primary role will be to improve market access for UK producers to Europe. They will work directly with Member States across the EU to reduce trade frictions by identifying and resolving barriers faced by UK exporters.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making an assessment of (a) core food and drink production standards, (b) environmental sustainability and (c) animal welfare standard before commencing negotiations with potential trade partners.

The Government is firmly committed to upholding our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards, areas in which the UK is a world leader. We assess environmental and food production impacts in our published FTA scoping assessments.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to provide regular information to businesses on how revenues raised through the extended producer responsibility scheme are spent by local authorities.

The packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme will be run by the Scheme Administrator. Revenues will only fund efficient and effective local authority services. The Scheme Administrator will regularly publish information relating to its assessment of efficiency and effectiveness across the four nations once the scheme is up and running and offer support to local authorities to ensure their waste management services are efficient and effective.

If he will hold discussions with representatives of the food and drink industry on the impact of their products on public health.

The Department engages with the food and drink industry through policies that are aimed at encouraging them to make their products, or overall product portfolios, healthier, by reducing levels of sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt, reducing portion size, and shifting sales to healthier products. This includes legislation to restrict junk food advertising on television and online, and the locations in supermarkets in which foods and drinks that are high in saturated fat, sugar, or salt can be promoted. In addition, engagement occurs through the voluntary reformulation programme that requires businesses to reduce levels of sugar, calories, and salt in everyday food and drink. The Department will also engage with relevant stakeholders, such as the food industry, in taking forward the ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16-years old.The Department is currently considering what further engagement may be required with the food and drink industry.

Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to announce the (a) fees and (b) invoicing periods for the extended producer responsibility scheme.

Final fees for the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme can only be calculated and issued after the deadline for large organisations to report their packaging data, which is 1 April 2025. Invoicing periods for the scheme each year will cover the period 1 April to 31 March.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of introducing the proposed extended producer responsibility scheme on the cost to consumers of (a) essential food products and (b) other packaged goods.

The Department’s impact assessment published online here has considered the impacts on grocery and non-grocery retail inflation from the introduction of extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR).

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the extended producer responsibility scheme on (a) creating a circular economy for recycled materials and (b) ensuring businesses can acquire the recycled content placed on the market.

The Department’s impact assessment, published here, has considered the impacts on the UK materials reprocessing industry and the associated carbon savings from increased recycling following the introduction of extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR). No formal assessment has been made of pEPR’s impact on the availability of recycled materials on the market.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to align the (a) scope and (b) implementation of the UK Deforestation Regulation (UKDR) with the European Union Deforestation Regulation; and when he plans to publish the (i) scope and (ii) timeline for UKDR compliance.

We recognise the need to take action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation and we will set out our approach to addressing this in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the delay to the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation; and what his planned timetable is for the UK Deforestation Regulation.

We recognise the need to take action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation and we will set out our approach to addressing this in due course.