Written questions by Jarvis.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increases in employers' National Insurance contributions on trends in levels of fees for care homes.

The Government took the cost pressures facing adult social care, including changes to employer National Insurance contributions and increases to the National Living Wage, into account as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the 2024 Autumn Budget process.To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government has made available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26.In addition, the 2025 Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.We recognise the importance of fee rates, which meet the costs of delivering care and which enable providers to recruit and retain staff, which is why we have also provided the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund to local authorities since 2023/24, with one of the three target areas local authorities can spend their allocations on being to improve fee rates to providers.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing business rates relief for independent nurseries.

For early years (including maintained nursery schools), the Government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula (EYNFF) for the 3- and 4-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the 2-year-old entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. Business rates are a broad-based tax on the value of non-domestic properties, including nurseries. To protect small businesses, the Government has frozen the small business multiplier for 2025-26. Taken together with Small Business Rates Relief, this intervention ensures that over a million properties will be protected from inflationary increases.

What steps his Department is taking to generate public recognition of the (a) contribution and (b) value of workers in the care sector.

Every day our 1.6 million-strong adult social care workforce provides vital care and support to people of all ages. The 2025/26 Adult Social Care recruitment campaign, Make Care Your Career, launched on 6 October 2025, and advertising is appearing on television, social media, radio, and online highlighting the amazing work that staff across the adult social care sector do, helping to ensure that it is regarded by all as a profession, and that the people who work in care are respected as professionals. These adverts will also improve understanding of careers in care, from the variety of roles to the training and progression opportunities available, while shedding light on the everyday empowering moments between real care workers and care users. The Government recognises the scale of reforms needed to make the adult social care sector attractive, to support sustainable workforce growth, and to improve the retention of the workforce. This is why we are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) to the adult social care sector so that care professionals are recognised and rewarded for the important work that they do. Backed by £500m funding, which will be given to Local Authorities to support providers to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce, this represents the most significant investment in improving pay and conditions for adult social care staff to date. In addition, promoting opportunities to develop skills and knowledge is essential to raising the status of adult social care as a career. That is why we are implementing the Care Workforce Pathway, the first ever universal career structure for the adult social care workforce which sets out the knowledge, skills, and training needed to develop a career in adult social care. The Government is also committed to funding eligible care staff to complete courses and qualifications, including the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme, with £12 million of funding this financial year.

If he will take legislative steps to remove the consideration of Armed Forces compensation from means testing for the Disabled Facilities Grant.

In England, we continue to fund the locally administered Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) which helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to adapt their homes. We have provided an additional £172 million across this and the last financial year to uplift the DFG, which could provide approximately 15,600 home adaptations to give older and disabled people more independence in their homes. This brings the total funding for the DFG to £711 million in 2024/25 and 2025/26.To ensure the DFG is as effective as possible, we will continue to keep different aspects of the grant, including the means test, under consideration.The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is independently reviewed every five years to ensure it remains fit for purpose, providing appropriate financial support to those members of the Armed Forces who are injured, become ill, or die as a result of service, and identifying opportunities for policy improvement.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Armed Forces Covenant Duty across his Departmental responsibilities.

The Government’s election manifesto committed to placing the Armed Forces Covenant fully into law. During Armed Forces week in June, the Prime Minister announced that Military personnel, veterans, their families and the bereaved are to have their unique circumstances legally protected by central and devolved governments for the first time under new plans to extend the Covenant Legal Duty to more policy areas and across the UK. The Covenant Legal Duty will now be extended from three policy areas to encompass 14 policy areas in a much broader scope. The policy areas are healthcare, education, housing, social care, childcare, employment and service in the Armed Forces, personal taxation, welfare benefits, criminal justice, immigration, citizenship, pensions, service-related compensation and transport. The Government aims to make the changes in the next Armed Forces Bill, anticipated in 2026.

What his planned timetable is for the introduction of the Armed Forces Covenant into law.

The Government’s election manifesto committed to placing the Armed Forces Covenant fully into law. During Armed Forces week in June, the Prime Minister announced that Military personnel, Veterans, their families and the bereaved are to have their unique circumstances legally protected by central and devolved Governments for the first time under new plans to extend the Covenant Legal Duty to more policy areas and across the UK. It is our ambition to include these statutory changes in the next Armed Forces Bill, which is required every five years to continue to have an Armed Forces.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77729 on Horizon IT System: Compensation, whether his Department has a timeline for when this process will be available to claimants.

The Government is committed to ensuring that postmasters receive full and fair financial redress as quickly as possible. While we are not yet able to confirm a specific timeline due to the complexity of these cases where there is no evidence of shortfalls, work is progressing at pace. Work is underway to resolve claims where postmasters are awaiting Fixed Sum Offers under the Horizon Shortfall Scheme due to a lack of available data to verify that shortfalls occurred.

What plans his Department has to update the NHS Car Parking Guidance 2022 for NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts.

The Department currently has no plans to review National Health Service car parking guidance. Free hospital car parking is available to the groups that are most in-need, including disabled people, frequent outpatient attenders, the parents of sick children staying overnight, and staff working night shifts.

Whether her Department is monitoring the (a) importation and (b) online sale of imitation firearms; and whether she plans to make an assessment of whether the online sale of imitation firearms contravene (i) product safety and (ii) trading standards legislation.

The Government works closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to address any potential risks to public safety posed by the sale and possession of imitation firearms. The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 makes it an offence to manufacture, import or sell a realistic imitation firearm. It is also a requirement that imitation firearms are safe for their intended and foreseeable use before they are placed on the market.The Government, the National Crime Agency and the NPCC, together with Border Force, have taken, and continue to take, action to prevent the import and sale, including online sales, of certain types of blank firing firearms, which are viewed as readily convertible, to prevent these getting into the hands of criminals. Such imitation firearms are contrary to existing legislation, and to remove these particular types of imitation firearms from circulation, a four-week amnesty was run by the NPCC in February this year saw around 3,000 such firearms being handed in to police forces, and further action is being planned to remove further makes of blank firing imitation firearms from circulation as they have been found to be readily convertible.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the online sale of imitation firearms.

The Government works closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to address any potential risks to public safety posed by the sale and possession of imitation firearms. The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 makes it an offence to manufacture, import or sell a realistic imitation firearm. It is also a requirement that imitation firearms are safe for their intended and foreseeable use before they are placed on the market.The Government, the National Crime Agency and the NPCC, together with Border Force, have taken, and continue to take, action to prevent the import and sale, including online sales, of certain types of blank firing firearms, which are viewed as readily convertible, to prevent these getting into the hands of criminals. Such imitation firearms are contrary to existing legislation, and to remove these particular types of imitation firearms from circulation, a four-week amnesty was run by the NPCC in February this year saw around 3,000 such firearms being handed in to police forces, and further action is being planned to remove further makes of blank firing imitation firearms from circulation as they have been found to be readily convertible.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a national fire and rescue service statutory advisory body to oversee national standards on (a) fire cover, (b) training, (c) equalities and (d) health and safety.

The government has accepted, in principle, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s recommendation to establish a national college of fire and rescue. The Inquiry report suggested a range of potential functions for a college to fulfil, including the development of policies and procedures to ensure both the effectiveness of fire and rescue services and the safety of firefighters and the public. The government response to the Inquiry’s report notes that a necessary first step in the process will be to consult on the functions a college should have, what these functions should look like and how the college could best be structured and delivered. We expect to launch this consultation in the coming months. Any future college function relating to national standards would build on the work already undertaken by the Fire Standards Board (FSB), which currently develops and maintains a suite of professional standards for fire and rescue services in England. The 19 standards currently published by the FSB cover a range of topics relating to operational management, leadership and ethics.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS England’s processes for (a) identifying and (b) responding to concerns about the (i) quality and (ii) accuracy of children’s hearing test services; and what steps his Department is taking to improve the (A) consistency and (B) reliability of children’s hearing tests.

In December 2021, a report was published into service issues in children’s hearing services in NHS Lothian. The report focused on whether children’s hearing tests were being conducted properly and were effectively followed up. Further problems with the diagnosis of hearing issues in newborns and children were identified in other Scottish NHS trusts in 2023.Subsequent assessment of NHS hearing services in children’s departments across England in 2023 and 2024 identified similar problems. In 2023, NHS England established the Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme to address the issues and oversee remedial action.In April 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, appointed Dr Camilla Kingdon to chair an independent review into children’s hearing services. The review has considered:NHS England’s response to the service failures in children’s hearing services;how the relevant governance arrangements between the Department and NHS England could be improved, and identify lessons learned; andhow NHS England’s handling of any future service failures in similar services could be improved, and identify lessons learned.The Department is currently considering next steps and how to ensure lessons learned can be acted upon promptly, including whether steps need to be taken to improve both the consistency and reliability of children’s hearing tests.NHS England is supporting provider organisations and integrated care boards who are the commissioners of audiology services to improve performance and reduce waiting lists for appointments and assessments for hearing services. This includes capital investment to upgrade audiology facilities in NHS trusts, expanding audiology testing capacity via community diagnostic centres, and directing support through a national audiology improvement collaborative.

Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with international sporting bodies on the use of dynamic pricing for major sporting events.

As a Government we are aware that the UK has a global reputation for excellence in staging major sporting events. These major cultural and sporting events are an important part of our national life.This Government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of live events, which is why we launched a call for evidence on pricing practices in the live events sector, alongside a consultation on ticket resales. The call for evidence looked at how practices like dynamic pricing are impacting consumers and businesses. We are reviewing responses and will publish the government's response shortly.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the financial performance of the Royal Mint in the last financial year.

The Royal Mint faced a challenging year in 2024-25, but took necessary steps to place the business on a sustainable footing. Over 60% of The Royal Mint’s reported losses were due to exceptional costs, including ending overseas coin production and a right-sizing initiative. Despite these challenges, the organisation continued to advance its transformation plan, adopting new technologies and refining its cost base. Notably, it launched the Precious Metals Recovery (PMR) plant, which uses pioneering technology to extract gold from electronic waste.

Whether he plans to (a) expand the role of post offices as one-stop-shops for a range of needs and (b) enhance their role in government service delivery.

Government published a Green Paper on 14 July, seeking views on the future of the Post Office, from the services it provides, how we modernise and strengthen the network, through to changing the culture and the way in which the Post Office is managed.The consultation closed on 6 October and we thank all individuals and organisations for their detailed responses to our Green Paper which included proposals on expanding the role of post offices and on the provision of Government services. Government is carefully considering all responses to the Green Paper and aims to respond in early 2026.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of ambulance response times in Eastleigh constituency.

The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards that patients should expect.We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. We are also tackling unacceptable ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, supporting ambulances to be released more quickly and get back on the road to treat patients.We have already seen improvements in ambulance response times for the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS), which serves Eastleigh. The latest NHS performance figures for SCAS show that Category 2 incidents were responded to in 30 minutes 44 seconds on average, over eight minutes faster than the same period last year.

If he will publish statistics for the time for blood cancer to be diagnosed.

NHS England has recently started publishing information on Faster Diagnosis Standard Activity and Performance by End Reason and Suspected Tumour. This data includes suspected haematological malignancies excluding acute leukaemia. A table showing the percentage of suspected haematological malignancies excluding acute leukaemia that are either diagnosed or that have cancer ruled out within the standard diagnosis time is attached.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing routine (a) blood glucose and (b) ketone testing for children presenting with symptoms consistent with Type 1 diabetes; and what steps he is taking to help improve early diagnosis and prevent deaths from diabetic ketoacidosis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for providing guidance and quality standards on the treatment and care of diabetes in England. NICE NG18 guideline for type 1 and 2 diabetes provides clinical guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and care of children and young people. Children with suspected type 1 diabetes should receive a blood test that checks blood glucose (sugar) levels. NG18 recommends that children and young people with suspected type 1 diabetes are referred immediately (on the same day) to a multidisciplinary paediatric diabetes team with the competencies needed to confirm diagnosis and provide immediate care. Where diabetic ketoacidosis is suspected, NG18 recommends that children and young people should be immediately transferred to a hospital with acute paediatric facilities.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of housing costs on the ability of people over 65 to retire.

The Department has made no such assessment. The Pensions Commission will consider the outcomes and risks for future cohorts of pensioners, taking into consideration the role housing plays amongst other factors.

Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring into force the legislative provisions of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.

We continue to engage with stakeholders including the tourism industry and animal welfare groups to explore both legislative and non-legislative options to stop the advertising of low-welfare animal activities abroad.