Written questions by Naish.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that there are a sufficient number of local places for students that choose to stay in full-time education beyond the age of 16.

Young people are required to continue in education or training until they turn 18. They can do this through full-time education, a job or volunteering combined with part-time study, or by undertaking an apprenticeship or supported internship.Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Education and Skills Act 2008 to identify and support 16 and 17 year olds who are not in education or training.Furthermore, under the September Guarantee, all 16 and 17 year olds are entitled to an offer of a suitable place in education or training. This aims to ensure that all young people, regardless of what they achieved in school, understand that there are opportunities that will help them to progress, and to ensure that they get the advice and support they need to find a suitable place.Over £7 billion of 16 to 19 programme funding will be invested during the 2024/2025 academic year to pay for education for any 16, 17 or 18 year olds in post-16 education. The bulk of the money is committed through lagged funding allocations, based on student numbers taking part in education at each college, school or other institution in the year before. However, the department recognises that, for those institutions that recruit significantly more students than they are funded for in their lagged funding allocation, there are additional costs and the department provides in year growth funding to help with these.For the 2024/25 academic year, the department took the exceptional step of publishing the policy on in year growth on 21 August 2024, which was before GCSE results day and the start of the academic year, to support providers’ planning decisions. This should support providers to offer places to all young people who want one. This policy is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025.The post-16 capacity fund provides funding to schools and colleges to ensure they have enough capital capacity to accommodate the demographic increases in 16 to 19 learners. It has made available £238 million in capital funding since 2021.

What steps she is taking to ensure that further education providers proactively adjust their admissions (a) criteria and (b) numbers to ensure that local demand is met for students that choose to stay in full-time education beyond the age of 16.

Young people are required to continue in education or training until they turn 18. They can do this through full-time education, a job or volunteering combined with part-time study, or by undertaking an apprenticeship or supported internship.Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Education and Skills Act 2008 to identify and support 16 and 17 year olds who are not in education or training.Furthermore, under the September Guarantee, all 16 and 17 year olds are entitled to an offer of a suitable place in education or training. This aims to ensure that all young people, regardless of what they achieved in school, understand that there are opportunities that will help them to progress, and to ensure that they get the advice and support they need to find a suitable place.Over £7 billion of 16 to 19 programme funding will be invested during the 2024/2025 academic year to pay for education for any 16, 17 or 18 year olds in post-16 education. The bulk of the money is committed through lagged funding allocations, based on student numbers taking part in education at each college, school or other institution in the year before. However, the department recognises that, for those institutions that recruit significantly more students than they are funded for in their lagged funding allocation, there are additional costs and the department provides in year growth funding to help with these.For the 2024/25 academic year, the department took the exceptional step of publishing the policy on in year growth on 21 August 2024, which was before GCSE results day and the start of the academic year, to support providers’ planning decisions. This should support providers to offer places to all young people who want one. This policy is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025.The post-16 capacity fund provides funding to schools and colleges to ensure they have enough capital capacity to accommodate the demographic increases in 16 to 19 learners. It has made available £238 million in capital funding since 2021.

What steps he is taking to address regional disparities in cancer treatment.

Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer treatment is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities.To improve diagnosis and outcomes, NHS England is delivering a range of interventions including implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who have symptoms, such as unexplained weight-loss and fatigue, that do not align to a single tumour type, as is often the case with pancreatic cancer. 115 pathways are now in place across the country, providing almost full population coverage.We are also rolling out the Targeted Lung Health Checks Programme, which aims to improve early detection of lunch cancer. People living in deprived areas are four times more likely to smoke, and smoking causes 72% of lung cancers. Therefore, introducing this programme will disproportionately benefit those in deprived areas.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, last updated on 2 August 2024, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of applying golden rule b to non-Green Belt land.

The Green Belt serves a number of specific national planning purposes, including checking the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas, preventing neighbouring towns merging into one another, and assisting in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment.It is precisely because the Government recognises the public value provided by the Green Belt that we believe any major development on land release from it should be subject to golden rules, including providing necessary improvements to local or national infrastructure, to ensure public benefit.Local development plans should address needs and opportunities in relation to infrastructure and identify what infrastructure is required and how it can be funded and brought forward. This will remain the case irrespective of whether any proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework or wider national planning policy are taken forward.When preparing a Local Plan, Planning Practice Guidance recommends that local planning authorities use available evidence of infrastructure requirements to prepare an Infrastructure Funding Statement. Such Statements can be used to demonstrate the delivery of infrastructure throughout the plan-period.Additionally, the Government provides financial support through the £1.5 billion Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund which will boost local areas by transforming disused sites and investing in vital infrastructure to help create vibrant communities for people to live and work, while also protecting green spaces.