Written questions by Raja.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of SEND transport contracts on local authority spending; and whether she plans to introduce annual cost caps.

We know challenges in the SEND system are creating pressures on home-to-school travel. We will reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. This will mean fewer children need to travel long distances to access education, reducing the burden on local authorities. The reforms will be set out in the Schools White Paper.Local councils decide how to arrange travel for eligible children. They use a mix of in-house services, public transport passes and contracts with private operators. Contracts are a matter for the council and operator. We encourage councils to have robust arrangements. Many are reviewing and improving their procurement practices.We are supporting councils through a new home-to-school travel data collection to support benchmarking, publishing guidance to support joined-up decision-making, and creating a bespoke home-to-school travel funding formula within the local government finance settlement. We have no current plans to introduce a price cap.

Communities and Local Government, a) what progress has been made on streamlining the planning process to reduce delays for compliant housing developments and b) whether his Department plans to introduce further measures to increase certainty for applicants.

Significant progress has been made in respect of streamlining the planning process to reduce delays for compliant housing developments. A revised National Planning Policy Framework was published on the 12 December 2024. The government is currently consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026. The Planning and Infrastructure Act, which contains a number of provisions designed to improve certainty and decision-making in the planning system, received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. On 18 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, closed on 13 January 2026.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the relationship between housing supply and economic growth in a) Leicester b) Leicestershire and c) the East Midlands.

Investment in housing and infrastructure in all parts of the country, including Leicester, Leicestershire and the East Midlands, drives future economic growth and higher living standards.

What role his Department played in the development, approval, or distribution of guidance to NHS midwives which stated that consanguineous marriage had “benefits” and that the prevalence of genetic defects among children born to consanguineous couples was “exaggerated”.

These phrases were not included in any guidance issued by the National Health Service. They were included in training materials which also made clear the genetic risk associated with close relative marriage.The Department had no role in the development, approval, or distribution of the training materials which included these phrases. The training materials were retired in 2025.We fully recognise the genetic risks of consanguineous relationships, and we offer referral to genetics services so individuals understand the risks and can make informed decisions.We are working with the NHS to look into how this training was developed, and to make sure it never happens again.

What steps her Department is taking to a) improve the nutritional quality of school meals and b) increase the use of British produced food and ingredients in schools.

The department aims to revise the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders, including academics and nutrition professionals, to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.Schools are responsible for their school meals service and how and where they choose to buy their produce. We encourage schools to voluntarily follow the Government Buying Standards for food and catering, which includes lots of advice around sustainable sourcing. Additionally, we are working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to support schools to buy more of the fresh, high-quality ingredients produced in the UK when sourcing their meals as part of the government’s Food Strategy.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance is issued to police forces on the investigation of suspicious animal deaths; and what recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of investigative standards in such cases.

Police forces investigate suspicious animal deaths under the statutory powers provided in the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which enables officers to act where there is evidence that an animal has suffered, or is likely to suffer, harm. These powers apply to circumstances involving the unexplained or potentially unlawful death of an animal. Decisions on how such investigations are carried out are matters for individual Chief Constables, who hold operational independence and are responsible for determining the investigative approach taken by their forces. Police forces may also draw on wider investigative frameworks developed by the College of Policing, which support officers in handling cases that may involve criminal harm to animals. Defra has not undertaken any recent formal assessment of investigative standards in relation to suspicious animal deaths.

Communities and Local Government, what (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement action his Department undertakes to ensure that temporary accommodation in Leicester meets minimum health, safety and hygiene standards.

Housing authorities must, as a minimum, ensure that all temporary accommodation is free of Category 1 hazards as identified by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Households may request a review of their accommodation if they feel it is unsuitable. If an applicant is not satisfied with how the council has handled their case, they may complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or take legal action through the courts.

How many and what proportion of asylum seekers who have received a positive asylum decision have been granted access to Universal Credit during the current Parliament.

The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. ‘Table 1’ in the latest Universal Credit immigration status and nationality data tables provides information on the number of people with refugee status on Universal Credit for each month from April 2022 to October 2025.

Whether he plans to bring forward proposals to require publicly funded bodies to ensure defibrillators are accessible to the public on a 24-hour basis.

It is for individual publicly funded bodies to determine appropriate arrangements for the defibrillators they maintain, taking account of relevant factors such as building operating hours and security. More broadly, local communities themselves are best placed to make decisions about location and access to defibrillators. The number has been increasing, with over 110,000 defibrillators now registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent automated external defibrillators database. For these reasons, there are no plans to bring forward such proposals.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve influenza vaccination uptake in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.

The Department works closely with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England to improve vaccination uptake. In Leicester, NHS England has advised that flu vaccination uptake has increased compared with last winter, with notable improvement in school‑age flu vaccination.Across the East Midlands, NHS England has advised that there has been an increase in uptake compared to this time last year for most cohorts, notably within two and three year olds and frontline healthcare worker cohorts, though lower uptake has been seen in over 65 year olds and care home cohorts.This year, NHS England has introduced, for the first time, an expansion to the two to three-year-old flu offer with appointments available via community pharmacy sites to support easier access.NHS England has been working closely with local integrated care boards (ICBs) and wider partners including acute and community hospitals, community pharmacies, and general practices, to take an integrated approach to improving influenza vaccination uptake across all eligible groups.Local ICBs are working together with community leaders and local partners to ensure that information is shared within communities about how, when, and where people can get vaccinated.

What criteria were applied in the Spending Review for assessing proposed rail infrastructure projects.

Rail infrastructure projects are carefully considered to assess their value for money. This includes consideration of strategic, economic, social and environmental factors, the local context and regional distribution of projects, as well as affordability and the government’s wider fiscal position.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department has provided to Leicester City Council to support the provision of temporary accommodation for rough sleepers in each of the last three years.

In each of the last three years the government has allocated councils funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which can be used flexibly according to local need, including for temporary accommodation costs. Over this time the government has also provided specific funding to support people at risk of and experiencing rough sleeping, including through the provision of accommodation. You can find local authority level allocations for homelessness funding through gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on how much local authorities spent on providing temporary accommodation to households containing at least one non-UK national in the last 12 months.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes data on local authority revenue expenditure, including total expenditure on temporary accommodation, which is available here. We also publish data on the nationality of main applicants for households assessed as owed prevention and relief duties. This is available in Table A9 in detailed local authority level files published alongside our annual release here.

What assessment her Department has made of levels of unemployment and underemployment among qualified teachers; and what steps she is taking to help improve increase retention and re-entry levels.

In the government’s Plan for Change, the department committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this Parliament. Delivery is already underway: retaining more skilled teachers is key to delivering our pledge and our ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, provides a range of resources for schools to review and reduce workload, and improve staff wellbeing. We are also providing targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for early career teachers in key subjects. These incentives are available alongside trainee bursaries worth up to £31,000 tax-free to improve recruitment, and a pay rise of nearly 10% over two years. We are already seeing improvement. The workforce has grown by 2,346 Full Time Equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector, and more teachers are returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.

Communities and Local Government, what proportion of households on local authority housing waiting lists include at least one non-UK national.

Information on the nationality of all members of a household currently on local authority social housing waiting lists is not collected centrally. As such, it is not possible to determine the proportion of households on local authority social housing waiting lists containing at least one non-UK national.Limited information on the nationality of lead tenants is collected on a voluntary basis and is presented and contextualised for data quality in Section 6.7 of the Social housing lettings in England, tenants: April 2024 to March 2025 statistical publication, which can be found on gov.uk here.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of diesel operation on the Midland Main Line north of Leicester on emissions and air quality in a) Leicester and b) the East Midlands.

Prior to the decision being made to pause the Midland Main Line Electrification programme as part of Spending Review 2025, the benefits of the scheme were being assessed. The benefits of fully electrifying the Midland Main Line (MML) are predominately those that would deliver greener transport, such as reducing carbon and improving local air quality, particularly at stations, through trains using electric traction rather than diesel. Whilst not as clean as fully electric trains, the new intercity bi-mode trains currently being introduced by East Midland’s Railway are much cleaner and will contribute to improving air quality on the route. Station managers in areas with poor air quality are required to develop and implement Air Quality Improvement Plans (AQIPs) which should outline feasible measures to improve air quality. The AQIPs for Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Sheffield stations on the MML have been developed and must be reviewed and updated annually.

Whether her Department plans to review its policy on access to UK e-gates by foreign nationals; and whether consideration has been given to limiting access to nationals of countries that do not offer equivalent facilities to UK passport holders.

The Government operates the UK border solely in the best interests of the UK, not the principle of reciprocity as this could undermine our security and ability to respond to emerging border pressures or threats. We recommend all eligible nationals make use of eGates where possible, as they provide a safe, secure and efficient method of entering the UK, however, we continue to keep eGate eligibility under review to ensure we are balancing border security and passenger flow In May 2025, we published the Immigration White Paper, which stated we are moving to the next phase of our vision to transform the UK border, by using technology to increase the use of automation and make visible changes to security, flow and the passenger experience.

Whether her Department considers the level of rail infrastructure investment in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands to be proportionate to its population.

Decisions made by the Government on investment in rail infrastructure are taken to ensure that the railways are funded to operate safely and efficiently and in line with our strategic goals.The funding identified for rail infrastructure enhancements as part of Spending Review 2025 was not apportioned regionally. Schemes were prioritised for funding on a value for money basis and we needed to make difficult decisions to reach an affordable and sustainable position.In addition to funding for rail enhancements, the Office of Rail and Roads’ periodic review process determines Network Rail’s funding allocation for the Operation, Support, Maintenance and Renewal (OSMR) of the network. The periodic review process is undertaken on a regional basis. Funding for Network Rail to operate, maintain and renew the railway in the East Midlands during Control Period 7 (from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2029) is included in their £9.6bn settlement for the Eastern region.

What steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of teachers in England.

The latest school workforce census reported that the workforce has grown by 2,346 FTE between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector and more teachers returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.This government agreed a 5.5% pay award for 2024/25 and a 4% pay award for 2025/26, meaning teachers and leaders will see an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years. In 2024/25, we also confirmed targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for teachers in the first five years of teaching in maths, physics, chemistry and computing in the most disadvantaged schools.The government manages Teaching Vacancies, a website where schools can list their teaching, leadership and support vacancies. The service helps schools save money by removing advertising costs for their recruitment activities.

What data her Department holds on the use of UK e-gates by nationals of countries that do not offer reciprocal access to UK passport holders; and what assessment has been made of the potential merits of introducing reciprocity requirements.

The Government operates the UK border solely in the best interests of the UK, not the principle of reciprocity as this could undermine our security and ability to respond to emerging border pressures or threats. We recommend all eligible nationals make use of eGates where possible, as they provide a safe, secure and efficient method of entering the UK, however, we continue to keep eGate eligibility under review to ensure we are balancing border security and passenger flow In May 2025, we published the Immigration White Paper, which stated we are moving to the next phase of our vision to transform the UK border, by using technology to increase the use of automation and make visible changes to security, flow and the passenger experience.