Written questions by Wilson.

How many times the Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security has met the Climate Change Committee since July 2024.

The Minister attended the Jet Zero Taskforce Plenary in December 2024, which was attended by the CCC’s CEO, Emma Pinchbeck, and where the government’s approach to aviation decarbonisation was discussed. The minutes from that meeting can be found here: Jet Zero Taskforce – 2024 Annual Plenary 4:00pm – 5:30pm, Wednesday 4 December 2024. The Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security has not had a bilateral meeting with the Climate Change Committee (CCC) since July 2024.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2025 to Question 39290 on Coronavirus: Drugs, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the potential use of PEMGARDA to help protect clinically vulnerable people against covid-19 in emergency situations.

Ministers and Department officials have regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on a range of issues, including topics for new or updated guidance. Pemivibart, also known under the brand name Pemgarda, for use in the prophylaxis of COVID-19, does not have a marketing authorisation in the United Kingdom issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for the relevant marketing authorisation. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider the product for its benefits and risks in relation to quality, safety, and efficacy. In England, NICE evaluates all newly licenced medicines to determine whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If the manufacturer of Pemgarda seeks a licence from the MHRA, then NICE may consider it through its technology appraisal programme.

Whether his Department is taking steps to (a) help tackle high rates of Group B Strep infection and (b) improve access to (i) screening, (ii) diagnosis and (iii) treatment for Group B Strep infections in (A) Black and (B) Asian (1) women and (2) babies.

Practitioners are expected to take a risk-based approach to the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of group B streptococcus (GBS). Under current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, pregnant women who are known to carry GBS, or who have risk factors such as a previous baby with GBS infection or fever during labour, should be offered antibiotics during labour to help prevent early-onset infection in their baby. People from certain ethnic groups may be predisposed to health conditions which may affect their maternity outcomes, and a study led by the UK Health Security Agency did conclude that the rate of GBS was higher in those of black or Asian ethnicity. To improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of GBS infection, the Department is supporting a trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It aims to determine whether routine testing for GBS for all women, either in late pregnancy or on admission for labour with point of care testing, reduces early-onset neonatal sepsis compared to the current approach of risk-based screening.Findings from the trial will be submitted to the Department and reviewed by the UK National Screening Committee to inform future decisions on national screening policy.

If she will take steps to help support parents with the costs of the Family Court system.

The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those on low incomes or in receipt of certain benefits. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangement orders. Legal aid is available in some private family matters, including for individuals experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse; for individuals (for example, parents) where the child who is the subject of the order is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse; people under the age of 18; in certain cases of international or domestic abduction; for family mediation where there is a family dispute and for certain urgent protection applications – for example, non-molestation orders. To be eligible for legal aid means and merits tests and evidence requirements also usually need to be met. Legal aid is also available for parents, those with parental responsibility, children and third parties (such as grandparents) in certain public family proceedings, subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests. Beyond legal aid, the Ministry of Justice is providing funding to support the delivery of wider legal support services, which provide advice and support to individuals facing social welfare legal problems, including family matters. In 2025-26 the Ministry of Justice will provide over £6 million of grant funding to 60 frontline organisations to improve access to free legal support and information, both in-person and online, and to help people resolve their problems as early as possible. This includes funding for organisations including some local Citizens Advice and Law Centres, as well as AdviceNow, which provides online support on their website across a range of civil, family and tribunal issues. The Government recognises the importance of supporting separating families to, where appropriate, resolve their issues without the need to come to court. The Mediation Voucher Scheme provides up to £500 towards the cost of mediation to help families resolve their child arrangement disputes outside of court, where this is safe and appropriate. The voucher is non-means tested and is available to anyone with a private law dispute relating to children. The scheme will be in place until at least March 2026 and has helped over 44,000 families to date.

What comparative assessment she has made of the performance of the Family Court system in (a) London and (b) the rest of the country.

This Government is committed to improving performance, which is assessed against system wide targets for 2025/26, agreed by the Family Justice Board. The latest published data shows encouraging signs nationally, including a reduction in the public law open caseload. Official statistics on family courts are available here: Family Court Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2025 - GOV.UK. Performance varies across regions, and London continues to experience significant challenges which result in high outstanding caseloads and high average case durations. System partners are working collaboratively to understand and address the drivers of delay and the region is showing positive signs of improvement.

Food and Rural Affairs, what the deadline is for Thames Water to submit its annual review of its Water Resources Management Plan under section 37A of the Water Industry Act 1991.

Thames Water submitted its latest annual review of its Water Resources Management Plan on 30 June 2025. This review covers the period April 2024 to March 2025. The Environment Agency and Ofwat are currently scrutinising this report.

What plans her Department has to increase funding for (a) road maintenance and (b) pothole repairs in Twickenham.

The Government has already provided an additional £500 million increase for local highway maintenance this financial year. As a result of this increase, Richmond upon Thames will receive up to £664,000 in additional funding. Building on this, at the spending review the Chancellor announced that the Government will be providing £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads across the country. This funding increase will allow National Highways and local authorities to invest in significantly improving the long-term condition of England’s road network, delivering faster, safer and more reliable journeys.

What steps his Department is taking to address consumer protection concerns in the locksmith sector.

The UK’s framework for occupational regulation upholds public protection, while ensuring regulatory burdens on industry are proportionate. Although the locksmithing profession is not subject to statutory regulation, several self-regulating trade associations and accreditation schemes exist within the industry and provide training, conduct criminal record checks, and inspect their members.The Government encourages consumers to use providers that operate under a regulated trusted trader scheme, such as the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA), which has a Police Crime Prevention-approved licensing scheme in place to ensure approved locksmiths are appropriately vetted, inspected and qualified.

What assessment his Department has made of the current regulatory framework for the locksmith industry.

The UK’s framework for occupational regulation upholds public protection, while ensuring regulatory burdens on industry are proportionate. Although the locksmithing profession is not subject to statutory regulation, several self-regulating trade associations and accreditation schemes exist within the industry and provide training, conduct criminal record checks, and inspect their members.The government keeps the occupational regulation regime under review and continues to monitor any concerns raised by the public or the industry, including those related to locksmithing.

How many (a) Universal Credit and (b) Universal Credit health element claimants are (i) current and (ii) previous members of the UK Armed Forces.

Data is not held on the total number of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past. Data is held on those who have identified themselves so far. Therefore, data on Armed Forces status has only been recorded for a proportion of the UC claimants. Data coverage continues to improve over time and by September 2024 data was held on the armed forces status of approximately 77% of the GB UC caseload, as shown in the table below: UC caseload monthProportion of caseload with a recorded statusCurrently servingServed in the pastNot servedPrefer not to sayNo recorded statusSeptember 202477%4,70068,0005,400,00037,0001,700,000 The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021. At first only new claimants were asked about their Armed Forces status. From June 2021 onwards, other UC claimants reporting changes in their work and earnings have also been able to report their status. From July 2021 onwards, UC agents have also been able to record claimants’ Armed Forces status if they are told about this via other means such as journal messages, face-to-face meetings or by telephone. It should be noted that Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”.

If he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the New Economic Foundation's publication entitled Flying Fair: Modernising the air transport tax system, published in June 2025.

Aviation taxation is a matter for the Treasury. The Chancellor announced changes to Aviation Passenger Duty (APD) in the October 2024 Budget to ensure the aviation industry continues to contribute its fair share to public finances. The Treasury also recently consulted on their proposal to extend the scope of the higher rate of APD to all private jets. The rates of APD are the highest in Europe for a tax of its kind, and the revenue raised funds government priorities, including tackling climate change. More widely, the aviation sector is important for the whole of the UK economy in terms of connectivity, direct economic activity, trade, investment and jobs.

What assessment has she made of the adequacy of (a) telephone and (b) online Work Capability Assessments in ensuring the needs of disabled people are (i) met and (ii) understood.

All Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) including paper-based, telephone, video and face-to-face are conducted by fully qualified, clinical professionals who have undergone a comprehensive training programme designed and approved by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The quality of their advice is continually assured internally by the assessment suppliers and externally by the department's independent audit function. DWP conducted a Health Assessment Channels Trial (HACT) to evaluate how well telephone and video assessments are working compared to face-to-face assessments. The Health Assessment Channels Research report, published on 7 October 2024, presents findings from mixed-method research conducted by Ipsos to understand the impact of the introduction of remote channels on claimant experiences. The HACT found that over three quarters of Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance claimants that participated in the trial felt that the channel was suitable after having attended their assessment. This was consistent across telephone, video and face-to face assessments. Moreover, when asked about their channel preference for future assessments, channel preference was closely correlated to the channel through which their most recent assessment had been conducted. We remain committed to enabling a multi-channel assessment approach ensuring the needs of all our customers, including those that are disabled, are met.

How many matter starts there have been for (a) legal help public law level one, (b) family help public law lower level two, (c) legal help private law level one and (d) family help private law lower level two in the last five years for which data is available.

The requested information can be found in the below tables:Public Family Law Financial Year Fee Level 1 Fee Level 2 2020-211,54212,3712021-221,35113,3252022-231,11013,3632023-241,23814,6382024-251,26615,623 Private Family Law Financial Year Level 1 Level 1 and 2 Level 2 2020-215,056655422021-225,541875402022-235,151776302023-245,425910552024-255,5961,00392 Data is derived from the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Official Statistics, which can be found at: Legal aid statistics data files - GOV.UK. The LAA also publishes a more user-friendly tool to analyse this data which can be accessed here.Please note that as Public Law and Private Law Family cases are delivered as Controlled Work, legal aid providers are permitted to self-grant legal aid under delegated functions. This means there is no application to the LAA. Data is therefore derived from claim submissions sent to the LAA at the end of the case. It is possible therefore that a small number of cases reported in the table above were opened in the previous financial year.

If she will take steps to ensure that care leavers are not disproportionately impacted by the proposed changes in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.

On 18 June, the Government introduced the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill to Parliament, marking the next legislative step in delivering some of the reforms set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper. The changes in this Bill will put more money into the pockets of some of the poorest families, alongside more support for people to work. These reforms protect the most vulnerable in our society, ensure the future of our welfare state, and give disabled people equal choices and chances to work. We will consider the wider impacts of reforms including for care leavers as part of our wider considerations of responses to the Pathways to Work consultation as we develop our detailed proposals for change.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on care-leavers.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on care leavers. However, we recognise the challenges that care leavers may face in transitioning to independent living and navigating the welfare system, and remain committed to supporting them as with all vulnerable groups. Our care leaver offer provides additional support such as access to the higher one-bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate up to the age of 25, as well as tailored support through Jobcentre Plus. We review this regularly. The Department continues to engage with stakeholders and welcomes views on how best to ensure that care leavers are supported through future reforms to UC and PIP. As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, we are also inviting views on proposals to raise the age at which individuals can access the UC health element to 22. There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.Protecting those most in need is at the heart of our reforms. Our Green Paper outlines why we think removing the WCA and moving to using the PIP assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, is the correct decision for the reformed system.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on the maintenance of assets in Twickenham.

We inherited flood defences in their worst state on record. We’re investing a record £2.65 billion over two years (2024/25 - 2025/26) to maintain, repair and build flood defences, and we have reprioritised £108 million of this funding into asset maintenance. As part of this investment, we will refurbish Teddington Launch Lock and maintain Barge Lock whilst this refurbishment takes place. Twickenham is within the London Excluded Area. Under the Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1879, private owners of the flood defences in this area are responsible for their maintenance.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the Environment Agency's budget for the maintenance of assets in Twickenham.

We inherited flood defences in their worst state on record. We’re investing a record £2.65 billion over two years (2024/25 - 2025/26) to maintain, repair and build flood defences, and we have reprioritised £108 million of this funding into asset maintenance. As part of this investment, we will refurbish Teddington Launch Lock and maintain Barge Lock whilst this refurbishment takes place. Twickenham is within the London Excluded Area. Under the Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1879, private owners of the flood defences in this area are responsible for their maintenance.

How much of the increase to the core schools budget for 2025-26 and 2026-27 is expected to be spent by schools in covering part of the (a) recent teacher pay rise and (b) National Insurance contribution increase.

The department is providing £1.4 billion to support schools with their increases to employer National Insurance contributions and staff pay awards in the 2025/26 financial year. Following the spring Spending Review, this level of funding will continue, and we announced additional funding that will take core school budgets to £65.9 billion by the 2028/29 financial year. Schools have autonomy over how they use their core funding to best meet their priorities, including any decisions on staffing.More information on core funding allocations for 2026/27 will be announced in the autumn, as part of the usual national funding formulae process. Costs such as pay for future years are currently uncertain and subject to the outcomes of separate pay processes.

How much of the funding announced in the Spending Review 2025 for reform of the SEND system will be invested in improving early identification of SEND.

At the 2025 Spending Review, the department announced that funding for schools will increase by £4.7 billion per year by 2028/29 compared to the 2025/26 core schools budget, which was published in the Spring Statement 2025.This additional funding will enable us to transform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system to make mainstream education more inclusive and improve outcomes for children with SEND.Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform, including how we will ensure children get the support they need earlier, will be set out in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.We do not expect local authorities to use their future high needs funding allocations to pay down their historic deficits.

Whether any of the funding announced in the Spending Review for reform of the SEND system will be used to cover existing SEND related deficits at local authority level.

At the 2025 Spending Review, the department announced that funding for schools will increase by £4.7 billion per year by 2028/29 compared to the 2025/26 core schools budget, which was published in the Spring Statement 2025.This additional funding will enable us to transform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system to make mainstream education more inclusive and improve outcomes for children with SEND.Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform, including how we will ensure children get the support they need earlier, will be set out in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.We do not expect local authorities to use their future high needs funding allocations to pay down their historic deficits.