Written questions by Uppal.

Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) youth and (b) other preventative services on (i) social cohesion and (ii) the economy.

Youth work is estimated to have an indirect economic value of £3.2 billion, including £0.5 billion from decreased crime, £1.7 billion from improved health, and £0.8 billion from increased employment and education. There is also evidence that youth social action has positive impacts on young people’s sense of belonging and active citizenship, as well as inter-generational relationships and communities’ feelings of pride in local areas.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support local authorities to provide statutory services for young people.

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. At the Autumn Budget, we announced £1.3 billion of extra funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for the next financial year.In 2025/26, we will be launching the Local Youth Transformation pilot which will support local authorities to build back capability in the youth space and improve local youth offers.We are developing a new National Youth Strategy co-produced with young people, which will set out a new vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this. We will be publishing an interim report this spring and the Strategy will be published this summer.

If he will make it his policy that decisions on the allocation of funding through the Children Hospices Grant are made by his Department.

We are providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices. It will once again be transacted by integrated care boards on behalf of NHS England. This is in line with National Health Service devolution and promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care.NHS England will set out the details of the 2025/26 funding allocation and dissemination to individual hospices shortly.In February 2025, I met with key palliative and end of life care, including hospice, stakeholders to discuss the long-term sustainability of palliative and end of life care, within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.

Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of consulting with young people on cross-government decision-making processes.

This Government recognises the value of effective youth participation in decision making at all levels. We understand this leads to impactful policy locally, regionally and nationally.Youth consultation opportunities are taking place across government: As announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education have established a Youth Guarantee Advisory Panel to help shape the design and development of the Youth Guarantee.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government recently convened two roundtables with young people to inform work on their long term strategy for communities. Young people have been invited to participate in an online debate run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to help inform the revision of the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan. The DCMS-led new National Youth Strategy will be co-produced with young people. We have already conducted Ministerial roundtables with young people and over the coming months will conduct a number of different youth engagement activities. We have set up a Youth Advisory Group to work alongside us throughout the development of the Strategy, and will shortly launch a national survey to ask young people about their issues and priorities.The Secretary of State has written to all MPs to encourage them to engage with young people in their constituencies in support of the Strategy. This included an engagement toolkit so MPs can run their own workshops and discussions with young people, or encourage organisations in their constituencies who work with young people to do the same.

When his Department plans to announce the allocation of funding to hospices through the (a) adult and children hospices grant and (b) the Children Hospice Grant.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are pleased to confirm that the Government has released the first £25 million tranche of that funding, with Hospice UK allocating and distributing the money to hospices throughout England. An additional £75 million will be available from April 2025.We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. NHS England will set out the details of the 2025/26 funding allocation and dissemination to individual hospices shortly.In early February 2025, I met with key palliative and end of life care, including hospice, stakeholders to discuss the long-term sustainability of palliative and end of life care, within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.

What progress he has made towards achieving the UK’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement.

The UK is a global leader in the fight against climate change, which is why at COP29, the Prime Minister announced the UK’s 1.5°C aligned 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035, compared to 1990 levels. This target is ambitious and is estimated to reduce emissions by more than 60% between 2019 and 2035, aligning with the reductions in the IPCC’s global pathways which limit warming to 1.5°C with low or no overshoot. Last week, this Government took a step further and was amongst the first few countries in the world to formally submit its 2035 NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. By submitting our 2035 early, the UK is championing mitigation ambition and will be leading by example to encourage and support other countries to come forward with their own ambitious target ahead of COP30. The UK is the first major economy to halve its emissions, having cut them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023, while also growing its economy by around 80%. We have also over-achieved against the first, second and third carbon budgets. We will deliver an updated cross-economy plan in due course, to outline the policies needed to deliver carbon budgets 4-6 on our pathway to net zero by 2050.

What discussions he has had with (a) his international counterparts, (b) the United Nations and (c) Cabinet colleagues on attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

The Secretary of State for Defence has regular conversations with international partners and Cabinet colleagues, including on the situation in Lebanon. As expressed in the G7 Defence Ministers joint statement on 17 October 2024, and in the joint statement...