Written questions by White.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing temporary blue badges to people recovering from operations.

The Blue Badge scheme is primarily about helping people with a long-term disability, that affects their capacity to access the goods and services they need to use. Anyone may be entitled to a badge if they meet the eligibility criteria. The Department has issued local authorities with advice on how they could use existing powers to provide locally determined parking concessions within their areas. For example, some local authorities grant parking concessions to assist their elderly residents. The same powers could be used to help those with temporary disabilities.

With reference to paragraph 3.71 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, what support will be provided for fusion energy research in financial year 2025-26.

On 16th January 2025, the Government announced £410 million investment to accelerate development of fusion energy and kickstart economic growth as part of its Plan for Change. The funding will support the rapid development of the UK fusion energy sector over 2025 to 2026 with investment in the skills needed for scientists, engineers, welders and programme managers to enter the cutting-edge industry. Fusion already supports thousands of jobs in the UK, with thousands more to follow as the technology advances.

What progress she has made on introducing tooth brushing lessons in primary schools.

The department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care to help promote and deliver supervised toothbrushing programmes for 3 to 5-year-olds in the most deprived communities.The department recognises that prevention is better than cure. For this reason, we will be targeting the areas of highest need to have the greatest impact on young children’s oral health.Further information on the implementation timetable will be confirmed in due course.Currently all state-funded schools in England are required to teach about good oral hygiene as part of the statutory health education set out within relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance. Independent schools are required to cover health education as part of their responsibility to provide personal, social, health and economic education.

What steps the Government is taking to help tackle misogyny on social media platforms.

The Online Safety Act requires services to protect all users from illegal misogynistic content, and children from harmful misogynistic content including content which is violent, hateful or abusive.The largest services (category 1) will also need to remove misogynistic content prohibited in their terms of service and have effective, accessible mechanisms to report abuse.

How many employers who (a) pay and (b) do not pay the apprenticeship levy started new learners on apprenticeship programmes in the 2023-24 financial year.

The below table shows the number of apprenticeship service employers accounts with apprenticeship starts in the 2023/24 academic year.Employer Type2023/24Levy13,157Non-levy57,017Total70,174 The figures are for the number of employer accounts instead of employers. An employer may have more than one apprenticeship service employer account.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage the public to buy British produce.

This Government will always back British farmers who produce some of the highest quality food in the world, contribute billions to our economy, and are the custodians of our countryside. We want more people to be able to access nutritious, and locally sourced food. Our ambition, set out in our election manifesto, is for half of all food supplied into the public sector to be from local British producers, or certified to higher environmental standards whilst being in line with World Trade Organisation and domestic procurement obligations. The department strongly supports retailer efforts to promote British food. Defra officials regularly engage with major supermarkets to understand their work to promote British produce. In addition, the Government currently protects 93 British food and drink product names through its Geographical Indications schemes and welcomes further applications from British producers. Consumers can find these products with unique links to Britain’s gastronomic heritage by looking out for the black and gold ‘Protected Designation of Origin’, ‘Protected Geographical Origin,’ and ‘Traditional Specialty Guaranteed’ logos.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance her Department provides on the potential sanctions available to local authorities in instances when councillors are found to have breached an authority's code of conduct; and whether she plans to re-establish the Standards Board for England with sanction powers in including (a) suspension and (b) disqualification from office for serious breaches.

The Government considers that the current local government standards regime is broadly ineffectual, inconsistently applied, and lacking in adequate powers to effectively sanction members found in serious breach of their codes of conduct.We are actively considering options to strengthen the standards regime for local government and provide councils with more effective means to address serious misconduct by elected members, including a proposal to allow for the suspension of members who violate codes of conduct. We will be consulting with local authorities, sector representative bodies, and other key stakeholders in due course to ensure a wide range of views are heard.

How many people are in receipt of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme in each constituency.

Every constituency in the country has at least one person in receipt of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme. The number of scheme members in each constituency is listed in the table below. This information is from the scheme trustees and correct as at 30 October 2024. Some of these scheme members will not yet be in receipt of their pension, but we do not have a breakdown of that information at constituency level.

Which integrated care boards have reimbursed dental practices for up to 110% of General Dental Services contracts.

In the 2023/24 financial year, 37 integrated care boards (ICBs) reimbursed at least one dental practice for over 100%, and up to 110%, of their General Dental Services contract value. These ICBs are as follows:Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB;South Yorkshire ICB;Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB;Mid and South Essex ICB;Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB;Birmingham and Sihull ICB;Northeast and North Cumbria ICB;Derby and Derbyshire ICB;Suffolk and Northeast Essex ICB;Devon ICB;Lincolnshire ICB;Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB;Southeast London ICB;Kent And Medway ICB;Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB;Northeast London ICB;North Central London ICB;Norfolk and Waveney ICB;Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB;Frimley ICB;Sussex ICB;Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB;Greater Manchester ICB;Humber and North Yorkshire ICB;Bath and Northeast Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB;Northamptonshire ICB;Gloucestershire ICB;Hampshire and Isle Of Wight ICB;Northwest London ICB;Somerset ICB;Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB;Cornwall and the Isles Of Scilly ICB;Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB;Black Country ICB;Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB;Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB;Dorset ICB;Southwest London ICB;West Yorkshire ICB;Coventry and Warwickshire ICB;Surrey Heartlands ICB; andCheshire and Merseyside ICB.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure all schools teach financial literacy.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Basstettlaw to the answer of 14 October 2024 to question 7255.

What the total underspends for the non-devolved adult education budget were in England in each year since 2018-19.

The budget and the actual spending of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) element of the Adult Education Budget from 2018/19 to 2023/24 financial year is set out in the table below. Funding to providers is allocated on an academic year and underspends are based on a financial year basis; therefore, underspends in a financial year predominantly reflect provider delivery in the preceding academic year (i.e. 2018/19 academic year is reflected in 2019/20 financial year).The ESFA allocates grant funding to providers. Providers who underdeliver on their allocations by more than 3% will have their funding recovered through a reconciliation process (allowing providers who can over deliver to grow their allocation by up to 10%). BudgetUnderspend2018/2019£1,347,300,000£3,125,005 2019/2020£904,829,000-£2,710,548 2020/2021£742,706,000£56,090,670 2021/2022£701,527,000£115,118,943 2022/2023£633,659,000£80,083,526 2023/2024£572,004,000£43,192,844

Whether her Department plans to review payments of benefits to people serving full life terms in secure psychiatric units.

Where a court has decided that someone has committed a criminal offence but that they should say be sent to hospital rather than receiving a custodial sentence in prison, the length of their stay is determined by their recovery and the extent to which they are no longer a risk to themselves or others. Psychiatrist, and in some cases a Mental Health Tribunal or the Secretary of State for Justice, determine when they will be released. All patients in hospital are entitled to benefits. DWP keeps all benefits under review.

What steps her Department is taking to identify children who are educated outside school.

The department is committed to giving every child the best start in life, regardless of where and how they are educated. We cannot ignore the rising numbers of home-educated children and official data which shows that growing numbers of children have been moved into home education due to mental health concerns or lack of provision for special educational needs in their local schools.Local authorities have legal duties to be satisfied that all children are receiving a suitable education. However, this duty is undermined by the fact that parents have no obligation to inform their local authority of their decision to home educate. This means that local authorities are unable to fulfil their duties. There is a risk that children are going under the radar and missing out on the education they deserve that will enable them to access the best opportunities in life.For this reason, the government will use the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to require English local authorities to maintain registers of children not in school. Parents and certain out-of-school education providers will be required to provide information for those registers. This will help local authorities piece together a fuller and more accurate picture of those children who are receiving education otherwise than at school and target resources to locating and supporting those who are missing out on education. Local authorities will also have a duty to provide support to those home-educators who request it, which will act as an incentive for families to register.The registers will contain information on those children who are registered on a school roll and are receiving education otherwise than at school. It will not include children who are on a school roll but failing to attend. The department is taking separate action on that important issue of persistent absence.In terms of this new system of registration, parents can be assured that the registers will not be used to criminalise any parent who does not send their child to school. Parents who do not provide information for the registers will result in their local authority being unable to be satisfied that a child is not receiving a suitable education and so the local authority will need to proceed to a formal request for evidence about that education. If that evidence is not forthcoming, or is insufficient, this will usually lead to the local authority needing to issue a School Attendance Order. This is the same mechanism that exists in the current law; no change will be made.The government takes the matter of data protection very seriously, including any threats to privacy and personal data. Local authorities will be legally restricted as to whom they may share register information with and for what purposes. The usual provisions of the UK-GDPR will apply to all data processing activities.The department continues to work with local authorities on existing non-statutory registers and to collect data from those registers.