Written questions by Whittome.

What assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the judgements in the cases of a) Tirkey v Chandhok, b) Kaur v Montana Bakery, c) Meshram v Tata and d) Ramachandran v Bechtel.

No one should suffer prejudice or discrimination on any grounds, including any perception of their caste. The judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Tirkey v. Chandhok shows that someone claiming caste discrimination may rely on existing statutory remedies in the Equality Act 2010 where they can show that their ‘caste’ is related to their ethnic origin, which is itself an aspect of 'race' under the 2010 Act. The government is considering whether these existing remedies offer appropriate legal protection for victims of caste discrimination.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed asylum policy changes on the continuity of education for children in families facing relocation or deportation.

The department will work with the Home Office as they carefully consider the appropriate pathways and wider provision for asylum-seeking families with children. We will continue to focus on ensuring vulnerable children are protected and their welfare safeguarded.

If she plans to put in place measures to safeguard the (a) mental health and wellbeing and (b) ability to enrol in multi-year course programmes of children who be subject to temporary refugee status reviews every 30 months.

The department will work with the Home Office as they carefully consider the appropriate pathways and wider provision for asylum-seeking families with children. We will continue to focus on ensuring vulnerable children are protected and their welfare safeguarded.

If she will amend the Equality Act 2010 to improve legal protection for victims of caste discrimination.

No one should suffer prejudice or discrimination on any grounds, including any perception of their caste. The judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Tirkey v. Chandhok shows that someone claiming caste discrimination may rely on existing statutory remedies in the Equality Act 2010 where they can show that their ‘caste’ is related to their ethnic origin, which is itself an aspect of 'race' under the 2010 Act. The government is considering whether these existing remedies offer appropriate legal protection for victims of caste discrimination.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed higher business rates multiplier for properties above £500,000 on cultural venues.

The Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, including cultural venues with rateable values below £500,000. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties. These new tax rates must be sustainably funded and so the Government is also introducing a higher rate on properties with rateable values of £500,000 and above. This represents around only 1 per cent of properties.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the UK’s deforestation regulations are fair and workable for smallholder farmers internationally.

The Government recognises that action to prevent UK consumption of forest risk commodities driving deforestation should minimise the impacts on smallholder farmers. The UK works with smallholder farmers to improve sustainable practices and encourage forest-friendly businesses. The UK also funds and co-chairs the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade Dialogue with a specific working group focused on smallholder support, facilitating government to government dialogue to build collaboration to reduce risks of smallholder exclusion from sustainable supply chains. The Government is currently considering its approach to addressing the impact of the use of forest risk commodities in our supply chains and will set out its approach in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve access to homelessness services for people sleeping rough.

The Government has increased funding for homelessness services by £316 million to a total of more than £1 billion in 2025/26. This includes £255.5 million through the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant for local authorities to tackle rough sleeping. We announced £69.9 million top-up funding for the grant in October 2025.

If he will take steps to amend the Civil Procedure Rules to make explicit that litigants-in-person are not to be denied procedural safeguards normally afforded to represented parties, including circulation of draft reserved judgments.

Civil court rules governing judgments and orders are set out in Part 40 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and are supplemented by Practice Directions (PD). PD40E provides additional directions in relation to reserved judgments before they are handed down. Paragraph 2.3 of PD40E states that the court will provide a copy of the draft judgment to the parties’ legal representatives, however, paragraph 2.4 goes on to state that a copy of the draft judgment may be supplied to the parties provided that they: 1) do not disclose it or its substance to anyone else; and 2) do not take any action in relation to the judgment until it is handed down. This, therefore, provides for litigants in person to be given an embargoed/draft judgment and to engage with the steps taken before such a judgment is handed down.It is also important to recognise that Part 1 of the CPR sets out the overriding objective of the rules. These overriding objectives include ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing and can participate fully in proceedings. This is the principal safeguard under pinning how the rules operate in practice.

If he will take steps to require public authority respondents in Judicial Review hearings to confirm compliance with the duty of candour at Permission Stage.

The duty of candour is a well-established principle in judicial review, and its application is clearly set out in the Administrative Court’s Judicial Review Guide.The duty of candour applies at all stages of judicial review proceedings. This duty requires all parties to ensure that relevant information is put before the Court, whether it supports or undermines their case. There is a particular obligation on public authorities to ensure that this duty is fulfilled given they are engaged in a common enterprise with the Court to fulfil the public interest in upholding the rule of law.At the permission stage, public authorities are required to identify any material facts, highlight any matters of factual dispute and provide a summary of the reasoning underlying the measures in question. The Court can take into account a lack of candour in deciding whether to grant permission.

If he will make it a statutory duty for judges to comply with guidance in the Equal Treatment Bench Book.

In line with the principle of judicial independence, it is the senior judiciary and not the Government who have statutory responsibility for judicial guidance and training.It would therefore not be constitutionally appropriate for the Government to seek to prescribe how this responsibility should be discharged.

What steps he is taking to ensure safe, transparent and non-discriminatory judicial use of artificial intelligence.

The judiciary are constitutionally independent and have established their own procedures and policies governing the use of artificial intelligence. Guidance for judicial office holders on the appropriate and responsible use of AI has been issued by the judiciary and is publicly available on the judiciary’s website.Judicial office holders, like civil servants within the Ministry of Justice, have been provided with secure versions of Microsoft Copilot. The deployment of this tool for judicial use has been subject to a data protection impact assessment to ensure compliance with data protection legislation and principles.The judiciary’s approach to AI is designed to ensure that any use of AI by judicial office holders is safe, transparent, and consistent with the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, while preserving judicial independence.

What steps the Government is taking to return all future surplus investment returns in the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to beneficiaries.

The Government and the Trustees have discussed the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees’ proposals for the future of the Scheme. DESNZ will now work with the Treasury to seek to reach an agreement that can be implemented at the next Scheme valuation in September 2026.

Communities and Local Government, if he will require local authorities to consider the needs of young people as a specific group in their local housing needs assessments.

The National Planning Policy Framework already makes clear that local authorities should assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community and plan accordingly. These groups should include, but are not limited to, those who require affordable housing, families with children, looked after children, students, and people who rent their homes.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to implement early identification models in schools to (a) identify and (b) help those at risk of homelessness.

This Government is committed to getting back on track to ending homelessness and is open to innovative solutions to do this. Preventing homelessness is critical to getting back on track to ending homelessness. Our upcoming cross-Government homelessness strategy will put prevention at its core and set a clear vision for tackling homelessness.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of whether the membership of the Food Strategy Advisory Board includes adequate expertise in (a) public health, (b) nutrition, (c) environmental science, (d) climate policy and (e) sustainable farming.

The Food Strategy Advisory Board is a deliberately small group of senior leaders who represent a wealth of experience and important elements within the food system and reflect the diversity of the sector. The Board’s role is to provide independent advice to support the development of the food strategy. Appointments are considered in terms of the collective insight they bring to national food policy. We keep membership under review to ensure representation from throughout the food sector and the necessary expertise.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing ringfenced funding for school counselling services.

School-based counselling services can play an important role in supporting pupil mental wellbeing, and many schools already provide access to counselling support.However, counselling is not suitable for all needs, and many pupils benefit from other in-school support, including from trained pastoral staff, NHS-funded mental health support teams, school nurses, educational psychologists and other professionals. It is important that schools retain the freedom to decide what pastoral support to offer pupils based on their specific needs, making the best use of their funding. School funding increased by £3.7 billion in 2025/26, taking total core school funding to £65.3 billion.​The government has also committed to provide access to mental health support teams (MHSTs) in every school. ​By April 2026, we estimate that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 69086 on Armed Conflict: Children, whether her Department has had discussions with stakeholders on the potentials merits of a children in conflict strategy.

The UK is deeply concerned about the worsening situation for children in conflicts around the world. We continue to call on all parties to armed conflict to immediately end and prevent grave violations against children and adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect children. We will also continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders including civil society, the Untied Nations, international organisations and overseas partners to develop the most effective policy responses to the issues around children in conflict.

If her Department a) has recently made and b) plans to make changes to the eligibility criteria for Disabled Students Allowance.

The department has not recently made changes to the eligibility criteria for Disabled Students’ Allowance and has no current plans to do so.As part of wider reforms set out in the government’s post-16 education and skills white paper, the department is committed to improving access and support for all students in higher education, including those with disabilities.

What steps his department is taking to increase access to specialist wheelchairs for children in Nottingham East constituency.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, and responsibility for providing disabled children’s equipment would typically fall to the National Health Service and local authorities.NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services. Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, with the aim of supporting improvements where required. Further information can be found at the following link:www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/national-wheelchairNHS England is taking steps to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving intervention and equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025 which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB is actively working to ensure equitable access to specialist wheelchair services across the region, including Nottingham City and South Nottinghamshire. This is being pursued through:the procurement of a unified long-term wheelchair service for Mid-Nottinghamshire and Bassetlaw and aligning service specifications and reporting with Nottingham University Hospitals, the provider for South Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City; anda plan to introduce Key Performance Indicators, which will include monthly reporting to monitor access, equipment, and service delivery timescales for children and adults across different localities. This work is planned to start in Nottingham University Hospitals in the third quarter of the 2025/26 financial year.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposal to require charities to spend gifts from wills within a set timeframe in the draft Finance Bill 2025-26 on legacy giving.

Charities rightly enjoy generous tax reliefs. However, a small number of charities are receiving tax relief in ways that were not intended by Parliament. Charity tax rules are being strengthened to improve HMRC’s ability to challenge abusive arrangements in an appropriate and proportionate way. The new charity rules in the Finance Bill 2025-26 for legacy giving will ensure a charity uses tax relieved income for its charitable purposes. They will not require charities to spend gifts from wills within a set timeframe. The new rules will replace the current purpose test with an outcome test. This will better prevent the abuse of tax reliefs through arrangements designed to give financial advantages to donors in return for their donation. Updated guidance will support charities and donors, giving clarity and reassurance around the rules and making it clear that the honest majority of donors and charities will remain unaffected by these reforms.