Written questions by Morton.

What estimate she has made of the number of students on waiting lists for further education construction courses in England; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing capital funding for colleges seeking to expand technical education capacity.

The government is investing £195 million to give colleges the space and facilities to train the next generation of construction workers as part of the Construction Skills Package. A further £375 million will increase capacity in colleges for 16 to 19 year-olds, including technical education. Wave 2 Technical Excellence Colleges are backed by £137 million capital funding, investing in the facilities needed to deliver quality specialist provision across priority sectors.Admissions are a matter for individual providers and the department itself has not made any estimate of waiting lists.

With reference to the 2025-26 16 to 19 funding settlement, what estimate she has made of the real-terms change in per-student funding for further education colleges after inflation and energy cost increases are considered.

The average total programme funding for all 16 to 19-year-olds, including those at further education colleges, school sixth forms and other providers, has increased from £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year to £6,762 in the 2025/26 academic year, an increase of 8.74%. This is much higher than the current GDP deflator measure of inflation for 2025/26, which is 3.24%.

What estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) Personal Independence Payment, (b) Universal Credit health-related and (c) wider working-age welfare expenditure in each financial year to 2030-31; what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in claims relating to lower-level mental health conditions on those projections; and whether he has considered bringing forward legislative proposals to reform eligibility criteria, fit note assessments, benefit cap exemptions and access to welfare support for non-UK nationals.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the cumulative impact of the Employment Rights Act 2025, increases in employer National Insurance contributions and changes to business rates relief for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors on (a) employment levels, (b) youth unemployment, (c) business closures and (d) recruitment activity; and whether he plans to repeal or amend provisions relating to guaranteed hours, unfair dismissal, trade union facility time and statutory flexible working rights.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the impact of further education funding pressures on skills shortages in the West Midlands; and what discussions she has had with mayoral combined authorities and local employers on workforce shortages in construction, engineering and health and social care.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) bring together employers, education providers, and other local partners to identify and address key skills needs in an area. In the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) the LSIP is led by the Coventry Chamber of Commerce. The WMCA sets out sector skills priorities, which inform the LSIP currently being developed for the area. The LSIP is due to be published this summer.The WMCA also has devolved responsibility for the Adult Skills Fund and delivers priority skills in the region for adults in line with its Integrated Settlement Outcomes Framework, published this May.

What mechanisms are in place to ensure that adult education funding allocations reflect provider quality, compliance and learner outcomes; what action is taken when providers receiving public funding are subject to investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency or receive repeated ‘Requires Improvement’ ratings from Ofsted; and whether there is a formal process for reassessing funding allocations in such circumstances.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of policy on new North Sea oil and gas licences on (a) employment in the offshore energy sector, (b) energy security, (c) tax revenues from domestic oil and gas production and (d) levels of imported liquefied natural gas; and whether he plans to review the Energy Profits Levy, decarbonisation requirements for offshore installations and restrictions affecting new exploration and drilling activity.

Awaiting answer.

What recent discussions she has had with retailers on the potential impact of recent trends in the level of retail crime and shoplifting.

The Government recognises the importance of close partnership with the retail sector in tackling retail crime. Home Office Ministers and officials, regularly engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including major nationwide retailers, trade associations, security providers policing partners, and other law enforcement agencies through forums such as the Retail Crime Forum and wider bilateral engagement. The most recent Retail Crime Forum meeting was held on 17 March, chaired by Ministers, it supports this oongoing dialogue and ensures that industry expertise informs our approach and ensures we understand the needs of all retailers to prevent and reduce retail crime.

If he will set out how his Department measures value for money in adult education provision; what weighting is given to learner outcomes, employment and self-employment outcomes, community impact and provider quality when allocating funding; and what assessment he has made of the role specialist local training providers in supporting local economic growth and improving access to employment opportunities.

Awaiting answer.

What estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS and the public sector of industrial action by doctors and other healthcare workers since July 2024; what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that industrial action on the length of waiting lists, and the number of cancelled procedures and the level of patient outcomes; and whether he plans to reintroduce minimum service levels or amend protections relating to industrial action in essential health and social care services.

Since the agreement made with resident doctors in July 2024 there have been four rounds of strikes. The resident doctors have been on strike for five days each in July, November, and December 2025, and for six days in April 2026. These have an estimated total cost of £50 million a day, including direct and indirect costs, so the total estimated cost is £1 billion. There have not been other national strikes of other healthcare worker groups in this time period.NHS England routinely publishes information on postponed inpatient and outpatient appointments during periods of industrial action. This information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/preparedness-for-potential-industrial-action-in-the-nhs/#heading-3NHS England has published further workforce and activity analysis for the most recent strikes, and this is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/supplementary-information/There are no plans to reintroduce minimum service levels or to amend protections relating to industrial action in essential public services. The Government is committed to bringing in a new era of partnership that sees employers, unions, and the Government work together in co-operation to resolve disputes through meaningful negotiations. Additionally, we have robust contingency plans in place to minimise disruption from any potential industrial action. Striking workers are still subject to section 240 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which allows for criminal prosecutions for those who intentionally and maliciously endanger life or cause serious injury to a person by going on strike.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the (i) UK Emissions Trading Scheme, (ii) Carbon Price Support mechanism, (iii) Renewable Obligation, (iv) Zero Emission Vehicle mandate and (v) wider Net Zero regulatory framework on (a) industrial electricity prices, (b) domestic energy bills, (c) manufacturing output and (d) the international competitiveness of UK industry; and whether she has considered (A) repealing and (B) amending those measures.

Awaiting answer.

What proportion of adult education funding in England is allocated to (a) small and medium-sized providers and (b) large national providers; whether her Department collects data on funding allocation by provider type; and what plans she has to improve the clarity of information of the distribution of adult education funding and the criteria used to allocate it.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of barriers to accessing adult education funding opportunities on locally-based training providers; what steps his Department is taking to improve transparency and accountability within funding allocation processes; and what consideration he has given to introducing ring-fenced funding, pilot schemes and other initiatives to support smaller, high-quality providers delivering locally responsive education and training.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of whether current further education funding levels are sufficient to support the Government’s target of training an additional 60,000 construction workers; and what estimate she has made of the number of prospective construction students turned away from further education colleges due to staffing, funding or facilities constraints in the last 12 months.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the impact of the 2025-26 further education funding settlement on colleges’ ability to recruit and retain teaching staff; and what estimate she has made of the current pay gap between further education college staff, school teachers and equivalent industry roles.

Further education (FE) teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. The department announced an additional £190 million for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers for the 2025/26 financial year to help them address immediate pressures, including supporting recruitment and retention of specialist FE staff. We are providing nearly £9 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding for the 2026/27 academic year. This will support colleges in their key priorities, including supporting the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers and non-teaching staff. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment. Maintained schoolteachers' pay is set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. FE colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff.

What estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS and wider public sector of industrial action by doctors and other healthcare workers since July 2024; what assessment he has made of the impact of that industrial action on (a) waiting lists, (b) cancelled procedures and (c) patient outcomes; and whether he plans to reintroduce minimum service levels or amend protections relating to industrial action in essential public services.

Since the agreement made with resident doctors in July 2024 there have been four rounds of strikes. The resident doctors have been on strike for five days each in July, November, and December 2025, and for six days in April 2026. These have an estimated total cost of £50 million a day, including direct and indirect costs, so the total estimated cost is £1 billion. There have not been other national strikes of other healthcare worker groups in this time period.NHS England routinely publishes information on postponed inpatient and outpatient appointments during periods of industrial action. This information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/preparedness-for-potential-industrial-action-in-the-nhs/#heading-3NHS England has published further workforce and activity analysis for the most recent strikes, and this is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/supplementary-information/There are no plans to reintroduce minimum service levels or to amend protections relating to industrial action in essential public services. The Government is committed to bringing in a new era of partnership that sees employers, unions, and the Government work together in co-operation to resolve disputes through meaningful negotiations. Additionally, we have robust contingency plans in place to minimise disruption from any potential industrial action. Striking workers are still subject to section 240 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which allows for criminal prosecutions for those who intentionally and maliciously endanger life or cause serious injury to a person by going on strike.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of social housing allocations made to households where the lead tenant is not a UK national in each of the last five years; what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those allocations on waiting lists for UK citizens; and whether he plans to review eligibility criteria for access to social housing and other publicly funded housing support.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of whether the current adult education funding model provides fair and equitable access to funding opportunities for small and medium-sized training providers; what assessment he has made of the impact of funding concentration among large national providers on competition, learner choice and innovation; and whether he plans to review current procurement and commissioning processes to ensure high-quality local providers are not excluded from accessing public funding opportunities.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer to question 99517 when will her Department be able to update the house of the proposed new approach to dual use packaging as referred to by the Minister.

Defra is working closely with stakeholders to assess all options to amend the household packaging definition (regulation 8) in the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) regulations. This includes both sector-based interim measures, as well as a long-term solution that addresses all affected sectors. We understand that this is a high priority issue for stakeholders and will provide an update as soon as possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to update the classification criteria for household and non-household packaging under Extended Producer Responsibility to better reflect real-world usage and distribution.

Defra is working closely with stakeholders to assess all options to amend the household packaging definition (regulation 8) in the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) regulations. This includes both sector-based interim measures, as well as a long-term solution that addresses all affected sectors. We understand that this is a high priority issue for stakeholders and will provide an update as soon as possible.