Written questions by Juss.

If she will include (a) solar panels and (b) other net zero solutions on the salary sacrifice list.

This government is committed to improving the quality and sustainability of our housing stock, through improvements such as low carbon heating, insulation, solar panels and batteries. We are funding the Warm Homes Plan with a total of £13.2 billion across the Parliament, including Barnett consequentials and £5 billion of financial transactions. Installations of qualifying energy-saving materials, including solar panels, in residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a charitable purpose benefit from a temporary VAT zero rate until March 2027, after which they will revert to the reduced rate of VAT at five per cent. This support is worth over £1 billion. From April 2017 the tax and employer National Insurance advantages of optional remuneration arrangements (OpRAs) have been removed, with a handful of exemptions. Extending the list of exemptions would have a fiscal cost and would be of greatest benefit to those paying higher rates of tax while low-earning individuals with income below the Personal Allowance or the higher rate threshold would benefit less or not at all.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of her Department taking over the sponsorship of migrant care staff visas from employers.

The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May, announced proposed reforms in a number of areas ,including social care visas and visa sponsorship, further details of which will be set out in due course.

How the cost of redundancies during the NHS restructure will be met.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of the abolition of NHS England, we are clear on the need for a smaller centre, as well as scaling back integrated care board running costs and National Health Service provider corporate costs reductions in order to reduce waste and bureaucracy. Good progress is being made with the Department and NHS England having announced voluntary exit or redundancy schemes.Provision for redundancy costs will be considered alongside the multi-year planning round.

What steps her Department is taking to support disabled people who will never be able to work in Wolverhampton West constituency.

The social security system will always be there for those who can’t work.As part of the recent announcements, we are making changes to the rates in Universal Credit, we will ensure that the incomes of those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work have their incomes protected.We will also guarantee that for both new and existing claims, those in this group will not need to be reassessed in future.

What safeguards exist for (a) vulnerable and (b) elderly people when (i) wills and (ii) codicils are prepared for them.

There are various safeguards in statute (principally the Wills Act 1837) and the common law in relation to the making of wills and codicils. The law requires that a testator must have the necessary testamentary capacity to make a will, and for that will to be valid a testator must also know and approve of the contents of his or her will (or codicil). Where a will is executed as a result of fraud or undue influence, the will is void and therefore has no effect, and where there are concerns on these grounds there is a legal basis for challenging a will’s validity. The Law Commission is currently reviewing the law of wills and one of the issues it has particularly focused on is the protection of vulnerable testators. The Commission will be publishing its final report shortly and the Government will consider its recommendations with care.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2025 to Question 33266 on Members: Correspondence, when he plans to respond to that correspondence.

The Department apologises once more to the hon. Member for the delay in responding. We will endeavour to provide a response to the hon. Member shortly.

What steps her Department is taking to support probation officers.

One of the first actions of the Government was to bring forward planned increases to pay, enabling staff to access higher pay earlier than planned.On 12 February 2025, the Lord Chancellor announced measures to support probation officers by investing in new technology to lessen the administrative burden; focusing their work on high-risk offenders; and recruiting 1,300 more officers.

If she will take steps to assess the fairness of the two-child limit on Universal Credit.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty, including social security reforms, before publishing a strategy that will deliver lasting change.

Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton West of (a) 22 January, (b) 29 January, (c) 5 February and (d) 13 February concerning a constituent's shipment that has been held at Felixstowe.

A reply to the hon. Member is being prepared and will be issued as soon as possible. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.

What his policy is on using tidal and wave energy to achieve his net zero targets.

The UK possesses tremendous tidal resource which could play a role in balancing the intermittency of wind and solar generation as we transition towards a carbon-neutral power sector. Tidal stream is a home-grown industry of considerable promise, and the UK remains the world leader in tidal stream generation technologies. With around half of the world's operational deployment, the UK is on track to have over 130 MW of tidal stream capacity deployed by 2029. Wave energy technologies have promise and the Government is closely monitoring the strides being made by the sector.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a geographical based income threshold for family visas.

We must ensure that the Family Immigration Rules maintain the balance between respecting the right to family life and protecting the economic wellbeing of the UK. Any change must be underpinned by a solid evidence base and form part of a system that is fair, clear and consistent. To achieve this the Home Secretary has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules.The MAC is an independent body and their review will be robust and transparent. It is expected the MAC will issue their report in the Summer. We will carefully consider the MAC's recommendations before making any further changes.His Majesty's Government is not considering a regional visa scheme.

What steps she is taking to improve school staff recruitment and retention.

High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, but we must do more to ensure we have the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country, which is why the government has set out the first step of its opportunity mission, to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.Teachers are supported by a range of staff that help drive high standards and ensure we give children the best possible life chances. We have laid the groundwork for the reinstatement of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, thereby recognising and championing the vital role support staff play in schools across the country. The Body was scrapped in 2010 by the previous government. In the first hundred days, this government has legislated to bring it back.We are committed to resetting the relationship with the education workforce and working alongside them to re-establish teaching as an attractive, expert profession. Work has already begun to recruit 6,500 new teachers with the expansion of our flagship teacher recruitment campaign, and we will focus on getting more teachers into shortage subjects and supporting areas that face the largest recruitment challenges. We are offering retention payments worth up to £6,000 for teachers in years 1 to 5 teaching physics, mathematics, chemistry and computer science in disadvantaged schools.The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why we have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September.Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are an effective way to increase teacher supply, and we are continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, in the first five years of their careers, also receive retention payments if working in disadvantaged schools.The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding, in the financial year 2024/25, to support schools with overall costs. This matches what we have calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in financial year 2024/25, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.

What steps he is taking to improve the defence relationship with European allies.

Resetting our relationship with European allies is a top priority for this Government. We are doing so through the negotiation of ambitious bilateral agreements, and closer working with NATO and JEF partners. Our work on a UK-German defence agreement continues at pace, to deepen co-operation on defence and security.