Written questions by Platt.

Innovation and Technology, what plans he has to work with regional upper tier authorities to coordinate public-private initiatives for development in the sustainable biomanufacturing sector; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of trialling support hub initiatives for sustainable biotechnology in the North West.

DSIT is considering how Engineering Biology could play a role in driving sustainable growth through the Industrial Strategy, which will be published in Spring 2025 by HMT and DBT. Regional growth is a key objective of the Industrial Strategy, and DSIT will engage with a range of local authorities through that process to consider opportunities across the UK.

What plans he has for the future of Long Covid clinics.

Commissioning of post-COVID-19 services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards.At a national level, NHS England is currently undertaking a stocktake, commissioned in September 2024 and due to complete at the end of this month, that will provide a more accurate, in-depth overview of the position of post-COVID-19 services throughout England.The stocktake will inform NHS England’s strategic recommendations, with clear responsibilities and accountability across the organisation, supporting matrix working to ensure these challenges are met with improvements.

Whether his Department is taking steps to regulate the advertising of vapes in local vape shops on high streets so that they do not appeal to children.

We know that vapes and other nicotine products are being deliberately branded and advertised to appeal to children. This must be stopped to protect future generations from being hooked on nicotine. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has been introduced to Parliament, and bans vapes and nicotine products from being deliberately promoted and advertised to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine. The bill will ban all forms of advertising of vaping and other nicotine products, including in local vape shops, as well as sponsorship agreements which promote them.We must also reduce the visibility and accessibility of vapes to protect children and non-smokers from getting hooked on nicotine. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will provide powers to introduce future regulations on where and how vapes and other nicotine products can be displayed, including in the windows and inside local vape shops.

What plans her Department has to mandate local authorities to collect information on special educational needs disaggregated by primary need.

Information on the primary and secondary need of pupils in school with both an education, health and care (EHC) plan and who have special educational needs (SEN) support is collected via the school census. The school census is a statutory return and collects information on school characteristics and pupil records three times a year. This includes information on the pupil’s SEN provision, whether they have an EHC plan or SEN support without an EHC plan and also what their primary and secondary need is. This information is published each year as part of the statistical release ‘Special education needs in England’, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2023-24. Information is also collected from local authorities for all EHC plans maintained by the local authority, including those educated other than at school. SEN2 is also a statutory return and includes information on: requests for assessment for an EHC plan made to each local authority and the outcome of that request, the assessments for an EHC plan made by each local authority, and the outcome of that assessment as well as information on the EHC plans maintained by the authority. This includes information on the primary and secondary SEN need for each child and young person with an EHC plan. This individual level SEN2 collection was introduced in 2022 and the department is currently developing the publication to include primary needs in 2025.

What (a) statutory requirements and (b) guidance exist for (i) local authorities and (ii) schools to prevent children with special education needs becoming Children Missing Education.

The department recognises that barriers to attendance are wide and complex, and this is particularly true for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Addressing these requires a support-first approach and strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services.The department has published the ’Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which is statutory for both schools and local authorities. The guidance promotes a 'support-first' approach and sets out attendance expectations for schools, local authorities and parents. The guidance also provides detail on additional support for pupils with SEND. Where a pupil is not attending due to unmet or additional needs, it requires schools, local authorities and wider services to work together to access and provide the right support to improve attendance.For pupils registered at a special school, the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 outline that schools must not delete the names of children from the school roll unless they receive approval from the local authority who made the initial arrangements for their education.The department has also published statutory guidance for local authorities on children missing education (CME). This guidance sets out key principles to enable local authorities in England to implement their legal duty to identify CME, as far as it is possible to do so, and get them back into education. The guidance outlines that local authorities should consider the reasons why children go missing from education, and the circumstances that can lead to this happening, when developing policies and procedures. Moreover, the guidance highlights that schools do have a safeguarding duty in respect of their pupils, and as part of this, should investigate any unexplained absences.

Whether her Department plans to expand the statutory definition of Children Missing Education to include children with special educational needs not receiving adequate education.

The department conducted a call for evidence from 18 May to 20 July 2023 on ‘Improving support for children missing education’, to understand the sector’s current approach to identifying and supporting children missing education (CME). The department’s response was published in December 2024 and noted inconsistency in the application of the existing definition. We are cautious about adding further complication or making changes that would confuse clear obligations towards CME and children with SEND. The department therefore has no current plans to expand the definition of CME to include children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) not receiving adequate education.The department recognises that barriers to attendance are wide and complex, and this is particularly true for pupils with SEND. Addressing these barriers requires a support-first approach and strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services.This is why the department has published the ’Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which became statutory in August 2024. The guidance promotes a 'support-first' approach and provides detail on additional support for pupils with SEND. Where a pupil is not attending due to unmet or additional needs, this guidance sets out clear expectations on how schools, local authorities and wider services work together to access and provide the right support to improve attendance.The department is working closely with schools and local authorities to ensure that education settings are able to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND including announcing £1 billion investment in high needs at the Autumn Budget 2024, to help ensure all children can access the high quality education that should be their right.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Digital Markets Unit can make effective market interventions.

On 1 January the pro-competition regime for digital markets entered into force. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will operate the regime, as the UK’s principal independent competition regulator. The Government has designed and implemented the regime, which provides the CMA with powers to make effective interventions. These include powers to investigate and to impose remedies that are specifically designed for the markets and firms involved, as well as requirements to carry out in-depth investigations and consult relevant stakeholders before intervening. This tailored, participative and evidence-based approach will ensure that interventions are proportionate and effective.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the enforcement practices of the Information Commissioner's Office cohere with the regulatory duties of that Office.

Although DSIT acts as the ICO’s sponsor within government, it is an independent regulator and accountable to Parliament. It is not appropriate for Government to comment on how it exercises its regulatory duties.The ICO publishes details of its enforcement activity and an annual report across its operations on its website.The Data (Use and Access) Bill introduces a new governance structure for the ICO – including a new statutory board - to bring it into line with regulatory best practice. The Bill also introduces new reporting requirements on the ICO, including annual metrics on its investigations, their outcomes and use of its powers. This will bring greater transparency and accountability.

Innovation and Technology, how the Data (Use and Access) Bill will ensure that publishers can access data effectively when ensuring regulatory compliance.

When processing personal data organisations, including publishers, must comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. If publishers are providing online services, then they may also be required to comply with requirements of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR). The Data (Use and Access) Bill introduces a new exception to PECR that would permit online publishers to use cookies and similar technologies to collect statistical data to enable them to improve their online services, subject to certain safeguards being met.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made implications for his policies of the risks to companion animals in England posed by the use of snare traps.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits the setting of snares in England where they are likely to catch non-target species such as companion animals. Anyone using snares also has a responsibility under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to ensure that th...

What steps she is taking to monitor the success of the Household Support Fund in reaching (a) unpaid carers and (b) other financially vulnerable households.

Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for the fund. This is because they have the ties and the knowledge...

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the rise in employer National Insurance Contributions on (a) local carer support organisations and (b) their ability to provide support to unp

To enable local authorities to support key services such as adult social care, the Government will make up to £3.7 billion of additional funding available for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care G...

What steps he plans to take to implement the fresh approach to supporting unpaid carers recommended by the Darzi Review.

The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own health and wellbeing.We have already taken action to support unpai...

What steps she is taking to assess levels of poverty among unpaid carers; and what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of unpaid carers who live in poverty.

Unpaid carers play a vital role in supporting elderly or disabled relatives or friends. Sometimes unpaid carers will need to turn to the benefit system for financial support, so it is right that we keep Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meet...

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of local medical committees advising GPs to withdraw from ADHD shared care agreements; and what steps his Department plans

Shared care arrangements between a specialist service and the patient’s general practice (GP) cover a number of clinical areas. Guidance is in place to help GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities, with further information available at t...

What steps her Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) reduce the average call waiting time for the Child Maintenance Service helpline.

The Child Maintenance Service is committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload. We continuously monitor telephony performance and through this we fully recognise that call waiting times are, at times, longe...

What steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of care for people with ME.

No assessment has been made on the adequacy of the implementation of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance NG206 on myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). NICE guidelines are not mandatory, ...

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of implementation of NICE guideline NG206 on myalgic encephalomyelitis.

No assessment has been made on the adequacy of the implementation of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance NG206 on myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). NICE guidelines are not mandatory, ...

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to tackle online risks faced by children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The government is focused on implementing the Online Safety Act as quickly as possible, so children benefit from its wide-ranging protections. The Act will ensure that companies take steps to protect their child users from harm on their platforms, includi...

What progress her Department has made on recruiting 6,500 teachers.

The government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. The within-school and college factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s education is high-quality teaching, but this gove...