Written questions by Duncan-Jordan.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report entitled Talking about School Transition, published by the University of Manchester in April 2020.

The primary-secondary school transition is a significant milestone in a child’s life and the government recognises the importance of supporting the emotional wellbeing of children and young people during these transition periods. This is critical to high and rising standards and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in school.In health education, part of mandatory relationships, sex and health education, there is already a strong focus on mental wellbeing. The aim of teaching pupils about mental wellbeing and physical health is to give them the information they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing, recognise issues in themselves and others and, when issues arise, how to seek support.The department also encourages schools to embed an effective whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, which includes considering stages during the academic year that provide opportunities for a specific curricular focus, such as learning skills for coping with transition periods. There are a number of approaches to do this, including those focused on in the Talking about School Transition report.Beyond this, the government will expand Mental Health Support Teams (so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. We will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made recent representations to his US counterpart on removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

The Foreign Secretary had a call with his recently appointed US counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on 27 January. The readout is available on gov.uk.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has plans to expand the Government Buying Standards across the wider public sector.

Defra already encourages the wider public sector to use the Government Buying Standards. Using these standards provides one way of tenders achieving value for money and environmental policy priorities, and this will be further supported later this month by the more flexible approach to assessing public procurement introduced by the new Procurement Act.

If she will update the School Food Standards and introduce compliance monitoring to (a) reflect the latest evidence based dietary guidelines on sugar and fibre (b) remove the requirement to offer meat and a dessert at every meal (c) introduce a requirement for meals to include at least two portions of vegetables and (d) include support for water only in schools.

This government is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever. It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating.The School Food Standards (the Standards) regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. They define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which foods are restricted and those which must not be provided.Compliance with the Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools. Governing boards have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the headteacher and the senior leadership team to ensure the school is meeting its obligations.The department’s aim is to deliver better life chances for all through a system which works for all. As part of this, as with all government programmes, we will keep our approach to the School Food Standards and compliance under continued review.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to invest in the Affordable Homes Programme after 2026.

We will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of professional school librarians on pupils (a) learning and (b) outcomes.

The department has not specifically assessed the impact of professional school librarians on pupils’ learning or outcomes. It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. This school funding can be used to fund librarians, school libraries and book corners.Ministers and officials have regular discussions with His Majesty’s Chief Inspector and his staff on a wide range of matters, including those relating to literacy and ensuring pupils benefit from a knowledge-rich curriculum.

Whether the pension review will consider adequacy.

This government is committed to enabling tomorrow’s pensioners to have security in retirement– which is why we announced the landmark Pensions Review days after coming into office in July.The first phase is focussed on boosting investment and economic growth and we are committed to a second phase that will include retirement adequacy within its considerations. We will provide further detail on the full scope and timetable for the second phase in due course.

What recent discussions she has had with Ofsted on the (a) availability and (b) quality of school library provision.

The department has not specifically assessed the impact of professional school librarians on pupils’ learning or outcomes. It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. This school funding can be used to fund librarians, school libraries and book corners.Ministers and officials have regular discussions with His Majesty’s Chief Inspector and his staff on a wide range of matters, including those relating to literacy and ensuring pupils benefit from a knowledge-rich curriculum.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the Primary-Secondary School Transitions Emotional Wellbeing Scale being developed by the University of Manchester and the University of Dundee.

The government recognises the importance of monitoring and understanding trends in the emotional wellbeing of children and young people, including through means such the Primary-Secondary School Transitions Emotional Wellbeing Scale developed at the University of Manchester and University of Dundee.Schools are encouraged to measure pupil wellbeing to inform their whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing. It is for schools to decide how they do this to identify and meet the specific needs of pupils in their setting.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to key recommendation 3 of the Office for Environmental Protection’s report entitled Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2023 to 2024, published on 16 January 2025, if he will set out a timetable for improving management of Marine Protected Areas.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Brent West on 10 December 2024 and 6 January 2025, PQs 17500 and 20559.

What steps he is taking to prevent housing associations levying commercial rated energy costs onto residents for domestic usage.

Under the maximum resale price direction landlords cannot directly profit from re-selling energy to their tenants. There should therefore be no advantage to landlords for their tenants to have high bills. The previous Government ran a call for evidence on domestic consumers on non-domestic energy contracts. This showed that there is no single solution to address the multiple complex challenges faced by domestic consumers on non-domestic tariffs. The Government will continue to work with the regulator Ofgem and wider stakeholders on this issue.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help protect blue carbon habitats from damaging human activities.

In England, we have established a comprehensive network of 181 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which cover the majority of our saltmarsh and seagrass habitats. While blue carbon habitats may not always be an explicitly designated feature, MPA protection may still yield benefits. Our focus is now on ensuring that these MPAs are effectively protected to allow the designated features to achieve favourable condition. Three Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMAs) designations in English waters came into force in summer 2023. Two of the three designated sites, Allonby Bay and North East of Farnes Deep, contain blue carbon habitats. Defra set up the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership in partnership with DESNZ and the Devolved Administrations to address evidence gaps around these important habitats. We are funding a multi-year research project to increase our understanding of UK seabed sediment carbon storage and sequestration, the impact of human activities and to model potential management interventions. Initial outputs from this work were published in January 2025.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring that a minimum number of (a) local and (b) regional freelance professionals are hired by (i) TV and (ii) film companies when filming is taking place in their area.

The Department has not made any assessment of the potential merits of the particular suggestion of per-production employment quotas. However, our public service broadcasters are already subject to regional production quotas set by the regulator Ofcom. One of the criteria through which public service broadcasters can meet their quotas is by ensuring at least 50% of the off-screen production talent (by cost) working on a given production is based outside of London. This ensures that creative job opportunities continue to be available to freelance professionals building their careers in the nations and regions of the UK.We are also incentivising television and film production in every region through our tax reliefs and support for studios, including the £25 million investment for Crown Works Studios in Sunderland via the North East Combined Mayoral Authority.

When the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles plans to publish guidance on the options for the charging of electric vehicles.

The Government regularly publishes guidance for local authorities, industry and other key stakeholders on different aspects of electric vehicle (EV) charging, including the recent guidance on ‘cross-pavement solutions for charging electric vehicles’ and an online EV infrastructure ‘Knowledge Repository’ containing expert advice on all aspects of chargepoint delivery.

Whether the review of the UK’s national resilience will include the impact of wealth inequality on society.

The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible.While income and wealth are not always directly correlated, distributional analysis shows that Government decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 and Spending Review 2025, Phase 1 are progressive and benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average as a percentage of income in 2025-26. The increases in tax are concentrated on the highest income households. Overall, on average, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from policy decisions in 2025-26.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of recent trends in the level of wealth inequality.

The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible.While income and wealth are not always directly correlated, distributional analysis shows that Government decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 and Spending Review 2025, Phase 1 are progressive and benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average as a percentage of income in 2025-26. The increases in tax are concentrated on the highest income households. Overall, on average, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from policy decisions in 2025-26.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled, Consultation on fairer food labelling, which closed in May 2024, when he will publish the outcomes of that consultation.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, Gareth Snell on 19 December 2024, PQ 20692.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will implement a (a) transparent and (b) meaningful method of production labelling.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, Gareth Snell on 19 December 2024, PQ 20692.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring a at least 25% of all new pension contributions to be invested in social and green infrastructure projects.

Investing in the right assets to deliver good saver returns, support growth and meet our environmental aims is key to the Government’s pensions initiatives. Proposals put forward by the November 2024 Interim Report of the Pensions Investment Review, aim to deliver a major consolidation of the defined contribution workplace market, and require 86 Administering Authorities of the Local Government Pension Scheme (of England and Wales) to delegate management of their investments to pools. Our objective is to enable schemes to invest in a wide range of assets including infrastructure, meeting social and green aims. The Government expects to publish its Final Report in Spring 2025.

What steps his Department is taking to improve (a) conditions and (b) treatments for people with a chronic urinary tract infection.

NHS England published Excellence in Continence Care on 23 July 2018, bringing together evidence-based resources and research for guidance for commissioners, providers, and health and social care staff. This guidance covers both urinary and bowel, also known as faecal, incontinence. Further information on Excellence in Continence Care is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/excellence-in-continence-care/NHS England will consider the next steps for Excellence in Continence Care.