Written questions by Wilson.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the transition from hospital to community care for stroke survivors.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are committed to improving services for patients locally by increasing the provision of services outside of a hospital setting that are delivered closer to home in the community. The National Stroke Quality Improvement in Rehabilitation programme is helping to transform community-based care by increasing access to specialist stroke rehabilitation at home. Recent data shows that the percentage of patients discharged from hospital to community stroke services has now risen to 65.7%.

If she make it her policy to consult the Climate Change Committee on proposals to expand Heathrow Airport.

In January, the Chancellor announced the government’s support for a third runway at Heathrow. In that announcement, the government committed to engaging the Climate Change Committee (CCC) as part of the review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), on how aviation expansion can be made consistent with our net zero framework. Over summer, the Department for Transport has been assessing proposals for a third runway at Heathrow from potential scheme promoters. The government is considering the proposals to inform the ANPS review. Further details on the assessment of scheme proposals, ANPS review and how the CCC will be engaged as part of the review will be announced shortly.

How many physics teachers are teaching in (a) secondary schools and (b) sixth-form colleges as of October 2025.

Information on the school workforce, including the number of subject teachers in state-funded secondary schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication.As of November 2024, the latest date for which data is available, there were 5,649 (headcount) physics teachers employed in state-funded secondary schools in England: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/eb317beb-0226-4d5e-2d32-08ddcdee7988. This has been available since 5 June 2025.School workforce statistics as of November 2025 will be published in summer 2026.Information on the further education workforce, including the number of subject teachers in sixth-form colleges, is published in the 'Further education workforce' statistical publication. This has been available since 29 May 2025.As of the 2023/24 academic year, the latest date for which data is available, there were 101 (headcount) physics teachers employed in sixth-form colleges in England: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9a8eb9b8-83f4-4737-0b18-08de07233b94.Further education workforce statistics for the 2024/25 academic year will be published in spring 2026.

Whether he plans to increase funding for children's hospices.

Children and young people’s hospices do incredible work to support seriously ill children and their families and loved ones when they need it most, and we recognise the incredibly tough pressures they are facing.We are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which, until recently, was known as the Children’s Hospice Grant.I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next spending review period, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children’s and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.This revenue funding is intended to be spent by hospices to provide high-quality care and support for the children and the families they care for, either in the hospice or in the community, including in children's homes. They can, for example, use this funding for providing respite care for children who have high health needs, by providing physiotherapy or occupational therapy, or by providing 24/7 nursing support for a child at the end of their life.We are also supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

How many students with qualified teacher status (a) have and (b) have not secured an early career teaching post after completing training in the last 12 months.

​​In the 2023/24 academic year, 25,845 trainees achieved qualified teacher status. The department provisionally estimates that 18,910 of these were teaching in a state-funded school in England within 16 months of the end of the 2023/24 academic year and 6,935 trainees were not. These numbers include both postgraduate and undergraduate trainees. Some trainees will also have entered the education sector through a different type of academic institution, such as an independent school or further education college.​This information is available in the initial teacher training performance profiles publication, which is available here: ​https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-performance-profiles-2023-to-2024.​This publication provides information about the outcomes for teacher trainees in England in the 2023/24 academic year. Outcomes for teacher trainees for the 2024/25 academic year will be published in July 2026.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of existing stroke treatments.

The National Health Service is continuing to improve stroke services, but we recognise there is more to do.The National Stroke Service Model and the National service model for an integrated community stroke service set out an evidence-based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey.The NHS is committed to delivering thrombolysis to twice as many patients through the Thrombolysis in Acute Stroke Care (TASC) initiative. The TASC initiative unites stroke teams to use quality improvement methods to reduce delays and deliver faster, safer, more patient-centred care.

What assessment she has made of compliance of proposals for the expansion of Heathrow airport with her Department's four tests.

The government supports expansion at Heathrow Airport. In June 2025 the Secretary of State published a letter to potential promoters, inviting proposals by 31 July 2025 and outlining the essential information required in initial plans. The government has received proposals for a third runway which it is now assessing, to support the forthcoming ANPS review against the criteria set out in the Secretary of State’s letter (link). This includes a demonstration that proposals could maximise economic growth opportunities, whilst complying with the UK’s legal, environmental and climate obligations, including in relation to air and noise pollution.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies of the report by the European Environmental Agency Report entitled Environmental noise in Europe 2025, published on 23 June 2025.

Since leaving the EU, UK Governments have continued to undertake the noise mapping functions summarised for EU countries in this report. This is required by the Environmental Noise Regulations individually enacted into law by England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

How many estates are listed on the Bona Vacantia list.

The Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list was temporarily removed from GOV.UK on 7 July 2025. At this time, the number of estates published on the list was 5,770.The future publication of the list is currently under review.Estates administered as bona vacantia continue to be published in The Gazette.

When he plans to respond to the Law Commission’s report entitled Modernising Wills Law, published on 15 May 2025.

The Government is giving careful consideration to the Law Commission’s comprehensive report on the law of wills and will be announcing next steps in the near future.

When the Bona Vacantia list will be made publicly available again on the Government website.

The Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list was temporarily removed from GOV.UK on 7 July 2025. At this time, the number of estates published on the list was 5,770.The future publication of the list is currently under review.Estates administered as bona vacantia continue to be published in The Gazette.

When he plans to implement the recommendations outlined in the Cumberlege Review with respect to the drug Primodos.

Our sympathies remain with those who believe they were harmed by hormone pregnancy tests, such as Primodos.Recommendation 4 of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, also known as the Cumberlege Review, specifically mentions hormone pregnancy tests, recommending that separate redress schemes be set up for each of the interventions examined by the Review, namely hormone pregnancy tests, sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. As a follow up to this recommendation, the Patient Safety Commissioner was asked to investigate and provide advice on options for redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The Government is carefully considering the Patient Safety Commissioner’s recommendations.The Patient Safety Commissioner was not asked to look at Primodos as part of this work, because the available scientific evidence does not support a causal association between the use of hormone pregnancy tests such as Primodos and adverse outcomes in pregnancy. The Government is committed to reviewing any new scientific evidence which may come to light.

When she will review the Airports National Policy Statement.

The Government published a letter to potential promoters inviting proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer. The Government is now assessing the proposals against the criteria set out in the letter. Once this is complete the Government will move quickly to review the Airports National Policy Statement. We will update on the timings for the review as soon as possible. However, when conducting the review, the Secretary of State will comply with the requirements in the Planning Act 2008, including consultation, publicity and parliamentary requirements.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of noise pollution to the economy.

The UK Health Security Agency estimates that in 2018, around 100,000 Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were lost in England due to road traffic noise, across the UK population. DALYs are an internationally recognised metric where one DALY represents the loss of one year of good health. A further 13,000 were lost from railway noise.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 62255 on Legal Aid, how many of the Public Family Law Legal Help Fee Level 1 matter starts were for clients who were children, in each of the five years.

The requested information can be found in the below table:Financial YearPublic law family Level 1 - children2020-21362021-22212022-23182023-24212024-2527 Data is derived from the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Official Statistics: 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 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.

How many of the 13,660 children looked after in kinship foster care on 31 March 2024 were subject to (a) a full care order, (b) an interim care order and (c) a voluntary arrangement under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989.

Information on the number of children looked-after in foster placements with relatives or friends by legal status is shown in the table below. Number of children in England in foster placements with relatives or friends at 31 March 2024 by legal statusInterim care order (C1)3,430Full care order (C2)8,450Single period of accommodation under section 20 (Children Act 1989) (V2)1,720Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.An additional 70 children were in foster placements with relatives or friends in other types of placement. These other placements include short term breaks, placement orders granted, police protection orders, emergency protection orders and child assessment orders.Historical data may differ marginally from data that has been published in previous questions on this theme. This is mainly due to the implementation of minor amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. The latest information on children looked-after in foster placements with relatives or friends under all legal statuses, relating to the year ending 31 March 2024, was published on 14 November 2024 in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’ at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2024.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing draft duty relief for (a) consumers, (b) pubs and (c) breweries in Twickenham constituency.

The Chancellor’s draught rate cut at Autumn Budget 2024 applied to approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This took a penny of duty off a typical strength pint at a cost to the Exchequer of over £85m a year.  Draught beer and cider now pay 13.9% less in duty than their packaged equivalents – an increase of over 50% on the previous draught discount of 9.2%.The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the continued detention of Chloe Fiona Ludden in Israel following the interception of the Freedom Flotilla boat Handala.

Consular staff were in contact with the Israeli authorities and others during the period of detention and were in contact with the family. We understand that Ms Ludden left Israel on 29 July 2025.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of applying VAT to independent school fees on boys who are neurodiverse.

HM Treasury published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) on applying VAT to independent school fees. This is a comprehensive assessment of the VAT policy, including impacts on individuals and families, and equalities impacts. The TIIN is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/applying-vat-to-private-school-fees#who-is-likely-to-be-affected.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on reports that IDF forces opened fire on children at aid distribution points.

It is horrifying that 875 people have been killed at or near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites. We regularly engage with Israeli counterparts to urge them to improve the situation on the ground. Most recently, on 21 July, the Foreign Secretary spoke to Foreign Minister Sa'ar, to once again reiterate his grave concern over civilian casualties while collecting aid in Gaza.On 11 July, I called for an independent investigation into the killing of women and children while collecting aid in central Gaza.We have repeatedly called for an immediate investigation into theses mass casualty incidents, and we expect the perpetrators to be held to account.