Written questions by Moran.

What steps her Department is taking to protect the wellbeing of children in schools during heatwaves.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment her Department has made of the number of schools that stop offering hot meals to children during heatwaves.

Awaiting answer.

Whether her Department holds data on the number of schools with air conditioning installed in each local authority.

Awaiting answer.

What steps her Department is taking to support schools to install air conditioning systems.

Awaiting answer.

What steps he is taking to ensure consultations on disability benefits reforms are accessible for disabled people.

Awaiting answer.

What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's policies on helping disabled people into appropriate employment.

Awaiting answer.

With reference to the answer of 27 April 2026 to UIN 127833, what progress she has made on train modification, train testing and driver training to achieve the December timetable for passenger services between

Chiltern is continuing to work closely with its partners and the Department to conclude the remaining train, infrastructure and staff arrangements and a start date for the first East West Rail services. This includes the recruitment and training of 44 tra...

What recent estimate he has made of the population in Gaza, in the context of military reconnaissance flights.

The Ministry of Defence does not collect information on the population of Gaza.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether existing legislation prevents the Government from nationalising a water company.

The Water Act 1989 and the Water (Target Investment Limit) Order 1990 limit Government shareholdings in water companies to around 3% (exact figure differs by company). Nationalisation would need new primary legislation to require changes to water company ...

What functions set out in the May 2025 Model ICB document are being transferred out of ICBs in 2026-27; and if he will publish the updated NHS England document entitled Model ICB functions.

Under the Health and Care Act 2022, integrated care boards (ICBs) have flexibility to delegate their statutory functions, their duties and powers, to other statutory bodies, subject to secondary legislation and NHS England’s guidance. While ICBs can delegate responsibility for discharge of the statutory function, accountability remains with them. Currently, the focus of ICBs is realising the administrative efficiencies required of them, rather than delegating their statutory functions. No changes have been made to the existing statutory responsibilities which ICBs must continue to meet. There is a consultation underway on restructuring the NHS England regional teams which will confirm those additional activities previously undertaken by some ICBs. This includes, for example, oversight of National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts against the national oversight framework. We have no current plans to publish additional guidance on this currently.

What support is being provided to regional innovation clusters, to i) support UK Research & Development in clean tech ii) promote the export of high-value research and development.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is supporting regional innovation clusters by working with priority city regions to connect universities, Catapult centres and innovative firms, aligning place-based R&D with the UK’s Industrial Strategy and net zero objectives alongside partners such as UK Research and Innovation, ensuring clean tech research is developed, commercialised and scaled across the country.DBT provides targeted export support, trade missions, clean tech showcases and investor engagement. We help high value, research-intensive firms reach global markets, boosting productivity, attracting knowledge intensive investment that complements local R&D ecosystems and creating skilled jobs in every region of the UK.

With reference to the answer of 18 September 2025 to Question UIN 76304, what progress has been made since that date towards to help enable the commencement of passenger services on each phase of East West Rail; what delivery milestones and indicative dates is her Department is working to; and when she expects to be in a position to publish a final timetable for the project.

The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern and other partners to confirm a start date for the first stage of services. For passenger services to commence, trains will need to have been modified and fully tested, and driver training will need to have been completed. East West Rail Company published its consultation on the remaining stages of the scheme on 14th April 2026 as part of preparations for its application for a development consent order in 2027. The consultation sets out timelines for delivery of services along the route.

What support is available for UK-based research and development companies in the solar industry.

The Government supports UK solar research and development companies in various ways. There is funding available for innovation companies looking to grow, including through UK Research and Innovation. Moreover, the Solar Roadmap included several actions to support R&D companies in the UK, including working with the National Physical Laboratory to explore the establishment of a PV innovation and infrastructure platform. We recently worked with Solar Energy UK to produce a practical guide for companies in the solar supply chain, including R&D firms. It is available here: https://solarenergyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Growing-the-UK-Solar-Supply-Chain-A-practical-guide-for-businesses.pdf.

What assessment her Department has made of the pay gap between Further Education lecturers and school teachers; and whether she is taking steps support FE colleges in recruiting and retaining skilled teachers to deliver technical education.

The statutory requirements for maintained schoolteachers' pay are set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. In 2023/24, the median FTE salary for teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.Further education (FE) colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff. Colleges should have the freedom to meet local technical skills needs within their own local circumstances, and the government does not set college teacher pay. In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teachers on permanent or fixed term contracts in FE colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.FE teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million broadly equivalent to the pay award in schools for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to help them address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.

What steps she is taking to meet that the commitment set out in the Post 16 Skills White Paper to maintain 16–18 funding per student in real terms.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

How much was spent by NHS England on (a) each Section 7A service, (b) immunisation programmes within Section 7A services, (c) childhood immunisations within Section 7A services and (d) school-age immunisations within Section 7A services under the National Health Service Act 2006 in each financial year since 2019-20.

Funding for public health functions delegated by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to NHS England, known as section 7A services, is allocated as part of NHS England’s mandate funding total. The following table shows the spend for section 7A services by NHS England for the financial years 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24:Section 7A service area/programme2019/20 (£, million)2020/21 (£, million)2021/22 (£, million)2022/23 (£, million)2023/24 (£, million)Childhood immunisations125.494.462.984.295.6School age immunisations41.141.136.542.655.4Flu vaccination260.2345.8388.6448.1403.9Other immunisations32.222.18.025.129.2COVID-19 immunisation0.0554.61,080.2386.2268.4National immunisation programmes total458.91,058.01,576.2986.2852.5National population screening programmes total644.6668.5675.8647.4701.2Child health information services total46.531.425.252.253.4Public health services in secure and detained settings total95.584.590.882.082.1Sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) total33.239.042.348.152.8Grand total1,278.71,881.42,410.31,815.81,742.0Source: NHS England.Notes:the above section 7A expenditure is as reported by NHS England regions from 2019/20 to 2023/24. These figures relate to deployment costs for commissioning individual services to patients;in 2020/21 and 2021/22, some capacity normally dedicated to public health programmes was redeployed to support the response to the pandemic. As a result, funding for section 7A services was not ring-fenced, and has not since been ring-fenced, and the costs of delivering section 7A services could not be quantified accurately;from 2020/21, COVID-19 immunisation expenditure represents a material amount of the immunisations total and the section 7A expenditure total. Section 7A expenditure on vaccinations increased in 2022/23, driven by post-pandemic catch up activity;flu vaccination expenditure figures include drugs and activity reimbursement;all figures for public health in secure and detained settings and sexual assault referral centres are based on data collection done in arrears;2019/20 expenditure for public health in secure and detained settings are an estimate. The first data collection was in 2020/21; andthe costs listed for sexual assault referral centres includes minor costs from the wider sexual assault and abuse services pathway, for instance services related to supporting victims of sexual assault and abuse that sit outside of a SARC.Expenditure for 2024/25 and 2025/26 is not yet published.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to the Government of Pakistan on reports of a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul.

The UK is concerned by the recent escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the resulting impact on civilians. We continue to urge dialogue and de-escalation, building on the Eid ceasefire and the recent talks in Urumqi, China.

How much further education colleges paid in VAT for non-business activities in each of the last five financial years.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold readily available data on the amount of VAT paid by further education colleges in relation to non-business activities for each of the last five financial years. Further education colleges may undertake a mix of business and non-business activities. While VAT may be incurred on costs associated with these activities, the extent to which it is recoverable depends on the specific circumstances and the application of VAT apportionment methods by individual educational institutions.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to VAT and Insurance Premium Tax to the Motability scheme on the finances of to disabled people.

An Equality Impact Assessment including consideration of the impact on affected individuals was undertaken and published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent 16–18 funding decisions on the Government’s stated ambition to develop a high‑skill workforce; and whether she plans to review the funding framework to ensure Further Education colleges can deliver the expected level of technical and vocational training.

The department has made significant increases to the average funding per student since the 2024/25 academic year, an expected per student increase of 10.5%. We expect that the average per student funding in 2026/27 will stand at £6,874, compared to £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year.In the 2026/27 academic year, we are also introducing a high value courses premium (HVCP) for construction. This is additional funding to encourage and support an increase in skilled construction workers. We will continue to fund the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds, providing significant investment to ensure there are valuable and high-quality post-16 places for every student that wants one, supporting our economy and enabling young people to be able to progress and thrive.