Written questions by Whittome.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to raise case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah at the upcoming Universal Periodic Review session for Egypt at the United Nations.

The UK Government remains committed to securing the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah. We continue to raise Mr El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian Government.The FCDO will use the upcoming Universal Periodic Review session on Egypt in January to raise issues relating to human rights.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with international allies on efforts to help secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah in Egypt.

The UK Government remains committed to securing the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah. We continue to raise Mr El-Fattah's case at the highest levels of the Egyptian Government.FCDO officials speak regularly with likeminded partners on how to enhance international cooperation and end the practice of arbitrary arrest, detention or sentencing.The Prime Minister wrote to President Sisi to raise Mr El-Fattah's case on 26 December. The Foreign Secretary also raised the case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty most recently on 20 December 2024. The National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell raised this with the Foreign Minister on 2 January 2025.

If she will embed youth work in A&Es.

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safe Streets mission. We are taking a range of steps to realise this ambition, including creating a new Young Futures Programme to intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into violent crime. It is vital we have a system that can identify and support those young people who need it most.As part of this, the Government’s manifesto committed to offering young people a pathway out of violence by placing youth workers and mentors in A&E units and Alternative Provision Schools (formally called Pupil Referral units).A&E navigator programmes are currently funded in all 20 VRU areas. These programmes place navigators, such as youth workers, in hospital emergency rooms to support children and young people with a violence-related injury and offer a pathway out of violence. The proposed Police Settlement for 2025/26 includes £49.7m for the continuation of the VRU programme. We will continue to build on, and learn from, the work already underway.

What steps he is taking to improve the availability of GP appointments in Nottingham East constituency.

We are committed to improving capacity and access to local services across the country, including in Nottingham East. That is why we have already begun recruiting 1,000 newly qualified general practitioners (GPs) through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, enabling the recruitment of 1,000 newly qualified GPs across England. This will increase the number of appointments delivered in general practice, which will benefit thousands of patients that are struggling to care the care they desperately need. This will also secure the future supply of GPs and take pressure off those currently working in the system. Additionally, we have announced a proposed £889 million uplift to the GP contract, with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to general practice. We are currently consulting on key proposals to improve access, continuity of care and GP recruitment.

What steps she is taking to protect teenagers from violence and abuse in relationships.

This Government is considering a wide range of actions to address teenage relationship violence and abuse, including assessing whether any changes to the law are needed and supporting our education system to teach children about respectful and healthy relationships and consent.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the sale of Royal Mail on its (a) workforce and (b) customers.

The Government has ensured that the potential takeover of Royal Mail has been properly scrutinised and that appropriate guarantees have been put in place to protect the interests of the workforce, customers and the country. These guarantees include the bidder’s agreements with the unions and commitments to the Government to ensure the ongoing provision of services and the protection of the network required to deliver those services. Additionally, the company has an ongoing requirement to fulfil its statutory and regulatory responsibilities, regardless of its ownership.

Whether the increase to employers' National Insurance contributions will be covered in full for schools.

The government has agreed that public sector employers will receive compensation in recognition of the increase in their National Insurance contributions (NICs). That compensation will be additional to the £2.3 billion increase to the core schools budget for the 2025/26 financial year announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. Due to timing constraints, it will be provided as a separate grant, alongside the dedicated schools grant, in 2025/26. Further arrangements for this will be shared with schools as soon as is practicable.

When she expects to resume processing asylum applications from Syrian nationals.

We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review, so we can respond to emerging issues. Following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the Home Office has withdrawn the Country Policy Information Notes and Guidance relating to Syria. Consequently, as the Home Office continues to assess the current situation in Syria, the Home Office has temporarily paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims. We will provide a further update to Parliament as soon as possible.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the findings of the 2024 report by the Youth Endowment Fund entitled Children, violence and vulnerability.

The Home Office works closely with the Youth Endowment Fund to ensure that their findings on what works to reduce violence amongst young people are carefully considered to positively influence the development of youth services.We will carefully consider the findings from this report as part of the Government's Plan for Change and the Safer Streets Mission which includes an ambition to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls; and actions to build confidence in policing and the criminal justice system.The Young Futures Programme is a key part of this and will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene earlier to offer support for Young People in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for them in their communities.

What assessment she has made of the (a) impact of the proposed pay rise for teachers on school budgets and (b) potential merits of providing additional funding to cover such a pay rise.

On 10 December 2024, the department published its written evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, to inform their recommendations for school teachers’ pay in the next academic year. This included a proposed pay award of 2.8% for teachers for the 2025/26 academic year. In the context of the challenging national economic picture, a 2.8% award would be appropriate, ensuring teachers’ pay remains competitive and continues to reflect the vital contribution they make to children’s life chances. The whole public sector, including schools, is being expected to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services. Schools will be expected to fund the 2025 pay award from the additional investment provided at the Budget, alongside their existing funds. The department will support schools to use their funding as efficiently as possible with a suite of new productivity initiatives. The department will soon publish a national affordability estimate for schools in the School Cost Technical Note. This estimate will be equivalent to the position of an average school. Final decisions on the teacher’s pay award for 2025/26 will be made following recommendations from the independent pay review body process, which is on-going. The government will consider its response to the Pay Review Body’s recommendations with regard to the overall financial position. The written evidence sets out the department’s expectations about what schools will want to consider in their budget plans.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of supporting the expansion of (a) local authority supply pools and (b) not-for-profit supply provision on (i) supply teachers and (ii) schools.

Supply teachers perform a valuable role and the department is grateful for their important contribution to schools across the country. Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers. Local authority supply pools are one of the approaches to providing supply teachers and local authorities have the autonomy to decide whether to operate these supply teacher pools. Supply teachers employed directly by a state-maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document. The department, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, has established the agency supply deal, which supports schools in obtaining value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. Details of this can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a standalone employment right to disability-related leave.

The Government is invested in protecting and enhancing the rights of vulnerable groups in the workplace. The Equality Act 2010 requires employers to accommodate the needs of disabled em-ployees through reasonable adjustments. This is likely to include provision for disability-related absence. In addition, changes proposed by the Employment Rights Bill include making it easier for employees to negotiate a flexible working arrangement which suits their needs. This will benefit, among others, employees with long-term physical or mental health condi-tions and disabilities.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of time limits to bring discrimination cases under the Equality Act 2010.

The time limit to bring discrimination cases to a tribunal is being extended from 3 to 6 months through the Employment Rights Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament. This measure will allow certain claims to be made that currently are either (a) being made but which require, at the tribunal’s discretion, an extension over the 3-month period or (b) not being made as a result of the length of the time limit.This supports the Government’s commitment to making work pay by strengthening employment rights and providing quicker and more effective resolutions, to the benefit of all parties. The change will align the timelines across different cases, simplifying the process for applicants and employers.

What steps her Department is taking to improve access to Legal Aid for discrimination claims in the Employment Tribunal.

Legal aid is available for legal advice and assistance in relation to discrimination cases which fall under the Equality Act 2010 or previous discrimination legislation, subject to passing the means and merits tests. Legal aid for other employment matters may be available through the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) Scheme, if a failure to provide legal aid would breach, or likely risk a breach of, an individual’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and, having considered the evidence collected, we acknowledge that the sector is facing a number of challenges. We are committed to improving the experience of users and providers and, as an important first step towards this, we intend to consult on uplifts to housing and immigration legal aid fees in January 2025. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, including as part of the second phase of the Government’s Spending Review.The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. There are currently 20 providers who offer legal aid services in relation to the Discrimination category of legal aid operating out of 24 offices across England and Wales. The LAA monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis. Where additional supply is needed it takes action within its operational remit to ensure access to legal aid-funded services.The LAA also maintains the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) Helpline. This is a national telephone helpline that helps members of the public check whether they may be eligible for civil legal aid and triages them to appropriate sources of advice. The CLA Helpline provides specialist remote advice though legal aid in four categories of law, including discrimination, for any individual that is determined to be eligible for these services. The majority of advice and assistance cases in the discrimination category are currently delivered by the CLA service.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing national restrictions on pavement parking on pedestrians with a visual impairment.

In 2020, the Department undertook a public consultation on options for changing the way pavement parking is managed outside London. The consultation asked specific questions about impacts on people with protected characteristics and we will use the information to undertake an equality analysis of the chosen policy option, in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty. Our plan is to publish a formal response to the consultation, summarising the views received and announcing the Government’s next steps for pavement parking policy. The formal consultation response will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of financial support provided to medical students through the NHS bursary.

The NHS Bursary funding arrangements are reviewed annually ahead of the start of each academic year.We have applied an uplift of 2% to all NHS Bursary maintenance grants and allowances for the academic year 2024/25. This is the first time the maintenance grant has been uplifted since 2015.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's regional office closures on (a) staff who are unable to relocate and (b) all staff.

The department is consulting staff and Trade Unions on the decision to close six offices over the next two years. This consultation will consider the impact on the individuals affected with a view to putting in place measures to mitigate that impact and enable all staff affected to continue to perform their roles effectively.

What steps he is taking to ensure that vehicle recycling sites are established across the country; and what steps he is taking to publicise incentives to ensure participation in scrappage schemes.

Under the End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005, vehicle manufacturers and importers have a responsibility to establish free collection systems.The regulations require that by weight, at least 85% of the materials from end-of-life vehicles must be reused or recycled. Additionally, another 10% by weight must be reused, recycled or used for energy recovery, bringing the overall target to 95%.Vehicle manufacturers must ensure that the vehicles they place on the market are recyclable to those levels.Currently, there are some city level scrappage schemes operating in the UK, which are administered and publicised by the relevant local authorities.

If she will publish the terms of reference for the ongoing rapid review into extremism.

The Home Secretary will report on the Government’s plans to tackle extremism in due course, including setting out the scope and findings of the rapid review carried out in this area.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the imprisonment of (a) Yasin Malik and (b) other political prisoners under the Public Safety Act in India.

HM Government has made no specific assessments related to the case of Yasmin Malik or others detained in India under the Public Safety Act. It is not for the UK to comment on an independent judicial process in another country. However, we encourage all states to ensure that their domestic laws adhere to international standards for free and fair trials and that the treatment of detainees respects international obligations.