Written questions by Wheeler.

If she will make an estimate of the number of children that were not accessing their entitlement to free childcare in Worsley and Eccles constituency in the 2024-25 academic year.

It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.The latest January 2025 statistics relating to funded early education and childcare were published on 11 July 2025. These are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/funded-early-education-and-childcare/2025.Statistics at constituency level are not readily available. Figures on the number of children registered for the families receiving additional support, universal and working parent entitlement in Salford can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/26af6f8f-ac9d-4ccb-94e3-08de11382822.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging social landlords to provide furnished tenancies to those (a) leaving homelessness and (b) fleeing domestic abuse.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84054 on 3 November 2025.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the levels of furniture poverty in Worsley and Eccles constituency.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84054 on 3 November 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage all social landlords to adopt the Best Practice Guide included in the Decent Homes Standard.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84054 on 3 November 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage social landlords to adopt the furniture provision element of the Best Practice Guide included within the Decent Homes Standard.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84054 on 3 November 2025.

Whether the forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy will include targets on child poverty reduction.

This government is committed to tackling child poverty, with our ambitious Child Poverty Strategy due to be published in the autumn.The publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy from this year and in future years, including understanding how this varies across the UK and for different groups.

Whether the forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy will include specific measures to support children in deepest poverty.

This government is committed to tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Strategy will be published in the autumn. The publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy from this year and in future years, including understanding how this varies across the UK and for different groups. This publication will also set out how we will measure the experience of children in the most severe and acute forms of poverty.The government has already taken action to support children in deepest poverty, for example a new £1 billion package to reform crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time.

If her Department will ensure that Parliament is able to adequately scrutinise the delivery of the Child Poverty Strategy.

This government is committed to tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy which will be published in the autumn.The Strategy publication will set out how we intend to monitor and evaluate delivery of the Strategy from this year and in future years.

Whether she has had discussions with the Scottish Government on the effectiveness of the (a) Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 and (b) Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the Disclosure and Barring Service check regime.

The disclosure and barring regime in Scotland is devolved and the UK Government engages regularly with the Scottish Government to ensure that the regimes work effectively together to keep the public safe.We keep the disclosure and barring regime in England and Wales under constant review to ensure that it continues to strike an appropriate balance between keeping the public safe and enabling ex-offenders to move on with their lives.On 9 April 2025, the Government published an update on its work to tackle child sexual abuse, available on GOV.UK: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse.By the end of 2025, we will introduce secondary legislation to create the ability for self-employed individuals, working in sensitive roles with children and vulnerable adults, to access higher-level Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.We have introduced primary legislation to remove the supervision exemption in the Crime and Policing Bill.By 2026, working with ACRO Criminal Record Office & DBS, we will enable those making decisions overseas to have access to DBS barred list data.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a minimum recommendation of 80 hours of enrichment per academic year.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Worsley and Eccles to the answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62871.

What steps her Department is taking to support social housing tenants affected by the transition from Employment and Support Allowance to Universal Credit.

We work collaboratively with a broad range of representatives from the Social Rented Sector, with two-way communications to ensure that the customers they represent get the support they need to move safely to Universal Credit. Help to Claim support, provided by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland, provides support to anyone making a new Universal Credit claim, whether that is a new customer or someone moving to Universal Credit from legacy benefits. This includes helping social housing tenants to access adaptations such as direct payments to landlords, as well as navigating the claim process until the first payment is made.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring organisations to provide information on (a) staff turnover and (b) workforce changes in corporate reporting.

The Government is currently reviewing the UK’s corporate reporting framework. The aim of the review is to simplify and streamline reporting requirements to ensure reporting is focussed on providing decision-useful information to investors and creditors. The Government has no plans to introduce new reporting in relation to workforce planning and staff turnover. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is conducting research on the merits of an international corporate reporting standard on human capital-related issues. This research will inform the ISSB’s plan to develop future standards and the Government will consider any standard the ISSB develops in due course.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the UK Space Agency becoming part of his Department on that agency’s partnership with the Scouts.

The UK Space Agency‘s merger with DSIT’s Space Directorate from 1 April 2026 will not affect any changes to grants, contracts, or partnerships, including to the sponsorship of Scouting Space badges which help promote awareness of the UK’s space programme and develop STEM knowledge and skills among young people.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies on animal testing of the ability of (a) organ-on-chip, (b) artificial intelligence and (c) advanced use of human cells and tissues to provide human-relevant data on the effects of potential new medicines in whole biological systems.

The Government is committed to non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research, and provide human-relevant translatable data, including organ-on-chip, cell-based assays and AI. The impact of individual technical advancements are however a matter for individual regulators to consider, and the Government strategy will help facilitate the inclusion and adoption of alternative methods in these regulatory contexts.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Performance assessment and economic analysis of a human Liver-Chip for predictive toxicology study published in 2022 in Nature Communications Medicine.

The Government is committed to non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research, including human Liver-Chip models. The economic impact of individual technical advancements are to be defined as these technologies are utilised more widely by industry stakeholders in drug discovery and development. The Government strategy will help facilitate the inclusion, review and adoption of these types of validated alternative methods by regulators.

Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent developments in organ-on-chip technology on the generation of data on how organs react to potential new medicines.

The Government is committed to non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research, including organ-on-chip technologies. Data from alternative methods can support medicine development as part of clinical trial applications. The impact of individual technical advancements are however a matter for individual regulators to consider, and the Government strategy will help facilitate the inclusion and adoption of alternative methods in these regulatory contexts.

What steps the Animals in Science Regulation Unit is taking to (a) help ensure the maintenance of animal welfare standards at licensed facilities during periods of extreme heat, (b) monitor compliance and (c) respond to any identified concerns.

Licensed establishments are responsible for the welfare of animals in their care at all times, including during extreme weather. Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), all such establishments must comply with legal requirements and standards set out in the Home Office’s published Operational Guidance and Code of Practice.These documents require establishments to have contingency plans for temperature extremes to ensure animal welfare. Establishment licence holders must ensure sufficient trained staff are in place to maintain high standards of care and facility management.Daily checks by competent personnel are mandated under Standard Condition 4 to monitor animal welfare and environmental conditions, with prompt action required to address any issues. Standard Condition 18 requires that any breaches or potential breaches of licence conditions be reported to the Secretary of State.The Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) monitors compliance through regular audits, including both announced and unannounced visits, to assess animal welfare and adherence to ASPA.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the planned changes to funding for Level 7 apprenticeships for Specialist Community Public Health Nurses after January 2026; and what steps his Department is taking to support skills development within the NHS workforce.

While the Department for Education has announced that the funding arrangements for Level 7 apprenticeships are changing, we are working closely with partners to ensure that health and social care has access to the skilled workforce patients need, including specialist community public health nurses.We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.

What plans his Department has to increase the recruitment and retention of school nurses; how much funding was allocated for school nursing services in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years; and what steps his Department is taking to help to ensure the effectiveness of school nursing services in supporting (i) early intervention, (ii) mental health, (iii) immunisation programmes and (iv) wider public health objectives.

The child health workforce, including school nurses, is central to how we support families to give their children the best start in life. We will ensure we have the staff we need so that children and their families are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. This will take time, but we are committed to building a health service fit for the future with the workforce it needs. School nursing is part of the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) and is commissioned by local authorities with funding from the Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2023/24, local authorities spent £305 million on services for children aged five to 19 years old. Data on local authorities’ PHG spending for the financial years following 2023/24 is not yet available. The HCP includes delivery of public health promotions such as the school nurses’ championship of early intervention, mental health awareness, the uptake of immunisation offers, and engagement with wider public health objectives. We are currently refreshing the HCP guidance to strengthen service quality and reduce unwarranted regional variation in service delivery.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to include a commitment within his Department’s upcoming food strategy to establish a Food Partnership in every local authority area with opportunities for young people by 2030.

The food strategy will articulate the outcomes we want from the food system enabling the Government, civil society, and the food industry work to shared goals and priorities. Local and place-based approaches will have a key role to play in delivery of these outcomes. We will continue to work with partners across the food system as we develop our approach.