Written questions by Shannon.

Whether she has had discussions with her counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on funding for breakfast clubs for children of people on the lowest income.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education met with Minister Givan on two occasions, most recently, at the UK Education Minister Council in Northern Ireland on 20 November 2024, but she has not had substantive discussions with him about breakfast clubs. I have also met with Minister Givan twice. As education is a devolved issue, whether to require breakfast clubs in Northern Ireland is matters for the executive. We will be happy to share our learnings from the Early Adopters programme following its launch in April 2025.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help protect religious minorities.

This government is clear that no one should be disadvantaged because of their religion or belief. The Equality Act 2010 provides protection from discrimination to anyone with a religious or philosophical belief, as well as to those who lack a religion or belief.The Minister for Women and Equalities will continue to work with the Minister for Faith in MHCLG to ensure that people of faith are not discriminated against, in line with the Act.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of avian flu across the UK in the last 12 months.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) lead Government action on animal disease control in Great Britain and Northern Ireland respectively. This includes carrying out routine surveillance of disease risks in the UK and globally. As part of this work, assessments of risk from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to both wild birds and poultry and how those risks are changing seasonally are made and published on gov.uk and daera-ni.gov.uk. To support these assessments, the International and National Reference Laboratory for avian influenza at APHA Weybridge work closely with international colleagues to monitor for any changes in the strains circulating or changes in viral sequences indicative of adaptation. In the last 12 months, two strains of HPAI (H5N5 and H5N1) have been confirmed in commercial poultry in the UK. This was not unexpected and follows recent detections of both strains in continental Europe and detections in wild birds in Great Britain through the wild bird surveillance scheme. However, the number of findings of HPAI in wild birds and the number of cases confirmed in kept birds remain far lower than in previous years.

What steps his Department is taking to help (a) raise awareness of the symptoms and (b) reduce the number of misdiagnoses of pancreatic cancer.

NHS England is already taking steps to deliver a range of interventions to improve awareness of pancreatic cancer symptoms. NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, including symptoms of pancreatic cancer, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an early point.NHS England is also working with Pancreatic Cancer UK to develop a public-facing Family History Checker, which enables people, and their families, affected by pancreatic cancer to self-assess if they have inherited risk. People identified of being at risk are referred directly to the European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatic Diseases research trail, which aims to understand inherited conditions of the pancreas. Referrals to the trail can be made by any healthcare professional across all health sectors, or by individuals via self-referral.Improving early diagnosis and reducing misdiagnosis of cancer is a priority for NHS England. The Department is committed to improving waiting times for cancer treatment across England. We will start by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment. To help increase cancer diagnosis rates, we are continuing with the roll out of Community Diagnostic Centres to ensure that patients can access the diagnostic tests they need as quickly as possible. The National Health Service is improving pathways to get people diagnosed faster once they are referred, and is looking into alternative routes into the system, including non-specific symptom pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single urgent cancer referral pathway, but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer. This will help support faster pancreatic cancer diagnosis and seek to prevent misdiagnosis.

What discussions he has had with the Department for Economy on Northern Ireland growth deals.

The UK Government is investing £617m through the four City and Growth Deals which cover the whole of Northern Ireland.My officials meet regularly with their counterparts from the Northern Ireland Departments of Economy and Finance to discuss delivery of the four Northern Ireland growth deals and to maximise the use of this funding for the long-term economic growth of Northern Ireland.I have met with a range of stakeholders and delivery partners, including the First Minister, deputy First Minister and Minister of Finance to discuss the City and Growth Deals. I was delighted to recently sign the Mid South West Growth Deal’s Heads of Terms Document in Cookstown. The signing was a fantastic culmination of the collective efforts of the local councils involved and a demonstration of what can be achieved when we work together.

If he will hold further discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on tackling violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland.

This Government is committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade, through a joined up approach across the UK. We have discussed this issue with the First and deputy First Minister, and with a range of civil society organisations working to tackle violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland. We will continue to work collaboratively with the Executive, as they implement the new Northern Ireland Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Women and Girls.

How many people aged under 21 have opened lifetime ISAs in the last 12 months.

Information on Lifetime ISAs can be found in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics, available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/annual-savings-statistics

Media and Sport, if she will take steps to widen the eligibility criteria for a (a) free and (b) discounted TV licence.

As part of the next Charter Review, the government will engage with the BBC and others to consider how to ensure the BBC thrives well into the next decade and beyond. This will include discussions on a range of important issues, including how we ensure that there is a sustainable funding model that is fair for those who pay for it.In the meantime, the Government will be legislating to expand the Simple Payment Plan, to enable more households in financial hardship to pay their TV licence in flexible fortnightly or monthly installments.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of job security in rural areas.

Rural policy is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The UK Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas. To achieve this, we are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of policymaking including in the government’s economic growth agenda. Defra has a team dedicated to developing the evidence base on rural areas. It publishes the Statistical Digest for Rural England to provide up-to-date analysis across a wide range of subjects including information on employment and redundancy rates in rural areas. In Q2 2024, the percentage of working-age people (16-64) in employment was 79.1% in Rural areas and 73.9% in Urban areas. Redundancy rates in England have fluctuated over time, although both Rural and Urban areas have shown an overall decrease in redundancies over the period 2007 to 2024 (falls of 2.5 and 2.3 redundancies per 1,000 employees respectively). In Q2 2024 redundancy rates were lower in Rural areas than in Urban areas, at 3.8 and 4.0 redundancies per 1,000 employees respectively.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of service charges by housing associations.

The government recognise the considerable financial strain that rising services charges are placing on leaseholders and tenants of housing associations.The level of service charge that leaseholders pay depends on many factors, including the terms of a lease and the age and condition of a building.By law, variable service charges must be reasonable. Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes measures designed to drive up the transparency of service charges to make them more easily challengeable if leaseholders consider them to be unreasonable.The government is committed to acting quickly to implement the provisions of the Act. Further detail can be found in the written ministerial statement published on Thursday 21 November (HCWS244).

If he will take steps to ensure that pharmacies are accessible.

Local Authorities’ Health and Wellbeing boards have statutory responsibility to assess if the local provision of pharmaceutical services meets the populations needs, publishes these assessments (PNAs) every three years, and keeps these assessments up to date. The PNAs inform integrated care board commissioning decisions.

What recent discussions she has had with mortgage providers on the availability of low deposit mortgages for first time buyers.

The Government is regularly in contact with mortgage lenders on all aspects of their business, including the provision of finance to first time buyers. This Government will turn the dream of owning a home into a reality by fixing the planning system and building 1.5 million more homes, as well as helping buyers who are struggling to save for a large deposit by introducing a permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. As set out in the Chancellor’s recent Budget, we will announce further details of the scheme in Phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Whether he has had recent discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on its decision to not proceed with the approval of Durvalumab for recovering cancer patients.

The Department has regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including access to cancer treatments for National Health Service patients.The NICE currently has a number of appraisals related to durvalumab in development or awaiting development, and has made no decision not to proceed with an appraisal of durvalumab related to recovering cancer patients.Earlier this year, the NICE combined its appraisals of durvalumab for hepatocellular carcinoma at high risk of recurrence into a single appraisal. The NICE’s guidance for this topic is currently awaiting development, and information regarding the timelines for this appraisal will be available at the earliest opportunity, on the NICE’s website, at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/awaiting-development/gid-ta11222

How many women are on long term sick leave due to menopausal symptoms.

Although the government does not collect this data, we have proposed a wide-ranging set of generational reforms to boost protections for workers, including women experiencing menopause symptoms at work. The Government has also committed to publishing guidance, including for small employers, on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause-related leave and absence. Alongside this the Government has appointed a Menopause Employment Ambassador who will work with employers to improve the support for women experiencing menopause symptoms at work.

What steps she is taking to increase the safety of teachers.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.Teachers should not be subjected to any form of abuse simply for doing their jobs. Any form of violence in school is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated.All school employers, including trusts, have a duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their employees.By law, schools must have a behaviour policy. It is for school leaders to develop and implement behaviour policies that work for their own schools and school community. Any policy must be lawful, proportionate and reasonable, and comply with the school’s duties under the Equality Act 2010, Education and Inspections Act 2006, and Human Rights Act 1998.While the department expects schools to take immediate and robust action if incidents of violence occur, any decision on how to sanction the pupil involved is a matter for the school. In the most serious cases, suspensions and permanent exclusion may be necessary to ensure that teachers and pupils are protected from disruption and to maintain safe, calm environments. Should the incident constitute a criminal offence, the school should report it to the police.

Whether she is taking to steps to support the National Crime Agency to implement a recruitment strategy for meeting operational challenges presented by small-boat crossings in the English Channel.

We work closely with the National Crime Agency to ensure it has the resources it needs to investigate organised immigration crime leading to small boat crossings. Since July, we have funded an extra 100 specialist NCA intelligence and investigative officers focusing on this threat. The NCA and the new Border Security Command, backed by £150 million of funding, are together stepping up our efforts to smash the criminal gangs threatening our borders.As announced alongside the National Crime Agency pay award on 29 July 2024, measures are underway to develop a set of comprehensive proposals for reform of the existing pay structure at the Agency. Once finalised, the government will seek to implement these proposals in a timely fashion, which in turn will support the Agency’s recruitment and retention efforts.

Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on tackling homelessness.

MHCLG Ministers and officials engage regularly with their counterparts in the devolved administrations to discuss a range of issues, including tackling homelessness.

What estimate the Government has made of the number of green jobs created by the (a) production and (b) uptake of renewable liquid gases.

Established within DESNZ , The Office for Clean Energy Jobs will focus on developing a skilled workforce in core energy and net zero sectors, critical to meeting our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. Our Mission to make the UK a Clean Energy Superpower will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and opportunities across the UK.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of aid provided by his Department's Freedom of Religion or Belief programme in financial year 2024-25.

The UK remains strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. It is our firm opinion that no one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. We are championing the right to FoRB and promoting tolerance and mutual respect through our engagement in multilateral fora, our bilateral work, and our programme funding. The FCDO John Bunyan Fund, the designated programme for FoRB-focused overseas projects, has a budget allocation of £460,720 in FY24/25. More broadly, the FCDO works to ensure that Official Development Assistance (ODA) is allocated to those who are most vulnerable and most in need of this assistance irrespective of race, religion, or ethnicity. This includes minority religious or belief communities, who are assessed by our partners when determining those most in need of protection and assistance.

What information his Department holds on the number of (a) gas boilers, (b) oil boilers, (c) heat pumps and (d) biofuel boilers there were in 2023; and if he will make an estimate of the number of each there will be in 2030.

The department only collects data on installations under Government Energy Efficiency schemes and does not hold data on privately installed heating systems. The latest heat pump deployment figures can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/heat-pump-deployment-statistics-september-2024.Measures installed under the ECO scheme, the Home Upgrade Grant and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-energy-efficiency-statistics-headline-release-november-2024.www.gov.uk/government/statistics/green-homes-grant-local-authority-delivery-lad-and-home-upgrade-grant-hug-release-november-2024/summary-of-the-green-homes-grant-local-authority-delivery-lad-and-home-upgrade-grant-hug-statistics-november-2024.https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-statistics-september-2024/summary-of-the-social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-statistics-september-2024. Gas boilers will continue to play a role for at least the next decade as we transition to low carbon heating technologies, where departmental analysis shows that heat pumps and heat networks will have a major role to play. Where heat pumps may not be feasible in some off-grid properties we have commissioned a package of research to collect data on the costs of different approaches to decarbonising the most complex housing archetypes, including the use of alternative low carbon heating solutions with results expected in 2025.