Written questions by Eccles.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to facilitate accessibility to the arts for young people outside of the visual media sector.

Improving access to the arts for children and young people is a priority of this Government.To increase children and young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts and culture, alongside sports and wider youth services, the recently announced Dormant Assets Scheme Strategy has allocated £132.5 million in England towards youth. In addition, 79% of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations work with children and young people, such as theatres, opera and dance companies. For example, the Royal Opera House works with schools and community groups across the country to engage people in opera and ballet.Arts Council England funds the National Youth Dance Company and National Youth Music Organisations which play a vital role in increasing young people's access to the arts in the UK by offering high-quality training and performance opportunities, and by conducting outreach to schools and communities with higher proportions of young people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.The Department for Education has also launched an expert-led, independent Curriculum and Assessment Review covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. This includes creative subjects such as art, music and drama.

What steps is she taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce child poverty.

The government is determined to tackle child poverty and will publish an ambitious strategy this autumn that will address its structural and root causes. As a downpayment on that strategy, we are expanding Free School Meals in England to all children with a parent receiving Universal Credit (UC), lifting 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this parliament. The Spending Review also funded the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, committed £13.2 billion for the Warm Homes Plan, and provided £1 billion a year including Barnett impact to enable a new, multi-year Crisis and Resilience Fund. Beyond this, we have increased the National Living Wage by 6.7%, introduced the Fair Repayment Rate so that around 1.2 million families keep more of their UC award each month, expanded the Warm Home Discount to every billpayer on means-tested benefits, and announced an uplift to the UC Standard Allowance, which will rise to 5% above inflation by 2029-30.

With reference to the Budget Statement 2024, the Spring Statement 2025 and the Spending Review 2025, what forecast she has made of levels of child poverty during this Parliament.

The Department publishes the estimated impact of specific policies where appropriate. The Department, for example, recently made public the impact of the expansion of the Free School meal extension announced as part of the Spending Review 2025. The impact assessment can be found here [Free School Meals expansion - Impact on poverty levels - GOV.UK]. The impact demonstrated that Free School Meals will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year [including Barnett impact]Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a priority for this Government. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.As a significant downpayment ahead of Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2 billion including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.Our commitments at the 2025 Spending Review come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.

What proportion of released convicts go on to reoffend within two-years of their release.

The proven reoffending rate and methodology is calculated using a one-year follow up period. Providing this information for a new two-year reoffending measure would be of disproportionate cost.The proven reoffending rate for adult offenders released from custody was 37.5% for the 2022/23 offender cohort (latest year for which reoffending data is available).

Innovation and Technology, if he will take legislative steps to regulate AI.

Most AI systems are regulated at point of use by our existing regulators, and a range of rules already apply to AI systems, like data protection and competition legislation. That’s why, in response to the AI Action Plan, the Government committed to working with regulators to boost their capabilities.However, advanced AI systems pose distinct opportunities and risks. This is why the Government intends to bring forward AI legislation, to deliver on our manifesto commitment and ensure we can safely realise AI’s potential for economic growth and progress. We will launch a consultation on legislative proposals later this year.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of supervised consumption sites for people with drug addictions in order to assist them in rehabilitation.

This government will continue to support preventative public health measures to support people to live longer and healthier lives and we are committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug problem can access the help and support they need.The government has no current plans to facilitate the introduction of drug consumption rooms.

What steps she is taking to help reduce reoffending rates.

We are tackling the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes education, employment, accommodation and substance misuse treatment services.We continue to work with prisons to improve offenders’ access to purposeful activity, such as education, which we know reduces the likelihood of reoffending. We have also recently launched regional Employment Councils, which will bring businesses together with Probation Services and the Department for Work and Pensions to support offenders in prison and the community.Recognising that reoffending is twice as high among those released homeless, compared to those released to accommodation, we are expanding our community accommodation service; and working closely with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Departments on a new cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness and to improve outcomes over this Parliament.We are also reforming sentencing to ensure that we never run out of prison places again. Community sentences have been shown to be more effective than short custodial sentences at reducing reoffending. We are working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to support the increased use of Drug Rehabilitation Requirements and Alcohol Treatment Requirements as robust alternatives to custody, in line with the recommendations of the Independent Sentencing Review.

What estimate he has made of the cost of new technology for cancer screening.

Capital spend for new screening technology is held under the same budget as wider spend on diagnostic equipment for the National Health Service, and therefore we cannot provide the specific information requested.

Whether she plans to replace the provision of upfront childcare costs with Universal Credit with advance payments.

There are currently no plans to change the way upfront childcare costs are paid. Claimants of the Universal Credit childcare element can claim upfront childcare costs through the Flexible Support Fund, to help ease them into the Universal Credit childcare costs payment cycle. There is also help with upfront childcare costs for eligible Universal Credit customers through Budgeting Advances.

If he will publish the agreement signed between the British Armed Forces and the Israeli Defence Forces in December 2020 on strengthening military cooperation.

The UK-Israel military cooperation agreement, which was signed in December 2020, incorporates a range of defence engagement activity, including defence education. I hope that the hon. Member will understand that it is not possible to release this agreement as it is held at a higher classification.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to encourage (a) private car park operators and (b) retailers to ensure that parent and child parking bays are properly (i) monitored and (ii) enforced.

Provision of parking spaces and management of parking facilities on private land is a matter for private landowners and parking operators, where those are employed. Whilst private landowners and parking operators can provide dedicated parking bays for parents with children, any rules about their use will be enforced by the retailers themselves or private parking firms contracted to manage these spaces. Where such bays exist, their misuse can attract a notice of a parking charge of up to £100. However, to issue a notice of parking charge private landowners or parking operators have to be a member of the DVLA accredited parking trade association and adhere to the industry Code of Practice. Among other things, this Code of Practice requires to clearly set out parking terms and conditions on signage within car parks.

What the average cost to her Department was of a Personal Independence Payment mandatory reconsideration in 2024-25; and how much and what proportion of this cost was spent on successful appeals.

PIP Unit Costs2024-25Mandatory Reconsideration£82 Cost figures are rounded to the nearest pound.Data Source: ABM The cost figures quoted are estimated DWP level 1 operating costs, including both direct delivery staff and non-staff costs. Non-staff costs are only those costs incurred in local cost centres, relating to direct delivery staff. They show the average Unit Cost of processing one PIP Mandatory Reconsideration.Please note that the data supplied is from the Departmental Activity Based Models. This data is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internalDepartmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standards. It should therefore be treated with caution. The Departmental Activity Based staffing models are a snapshot of how many people were identified as undertaking specified activities as assigned by line managers. 24/25 model is in a process of sign off therefore the numbers may be a subject to change We do not hold information on the unit cost of successful appeals.

What steps he is taking to improve the waiting times for diagnoses of endometriosis.

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and we are taking action to ensure that individuals with endometriosis receive a timely diagnosis and effective treatment. That is why, alongside committing to return to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029, our Elective Reform Plan, published January 2025, sets out a range of efforts to reduce the time patients wait for gynaecological care. This includes rolling out innovative models of care that offer care closer to home and in the community. We also provided additional investment in the Autumn Budget that has enabled us to exceed our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over three million more appointments across elective services, as a first step to achieving the 18-week RTT standard.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also updated its guidelines on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis, which will help women receive more timely care. This updated version in November 2024 includes updated recommendations that for women with symptoms of endometriosis, initial pharmacological treatment should take place in primary care, and that this can take place in parallel with additional investigations and referral to secondary care if needed. The guideline is available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng73

What retention rates were for educators of T-Level studies in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps she is taking to ensure the quality of these educators meets a minimum standard.

The department does not hold information on retention rates specifically for teachers of T Levels. All teachers can access a free of charge continuing professional development programme, offered by the Education Training Foundation, to help update their knowledge and skills to successfully deliver T Levels. We recently updated this support, with more teacher resources, and shorter, more accessible online courses. More information about this support is available here: https://www.et-foundation.co.uk/professional-development/t-levels/.Ofsted inspects further education and skills providers in England under part 8 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and must state whether education or training inspected is of adequate quality. Inspections will encompass T Level provision where offered.

What assessment he has made of trends in the length of NHS waiting lists in the Black Country since 4 July 2024.

In July 2024, the waiting list at the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) was 192,268. Of these, 110,482, or 57.5% of pathways, were waiting within 18 weeks.The latest data shows that as of March 2025, the waiting list at the Black Country ICB has decreased by over 13,631, to 178,637 since July 2024. Of these, 102,618, 57.4% of pathways were waiting within 18 weeks.We promised change, and we’ve delivered early, with a reduction in the list of over 200,000 pathways. We have also now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over 3.5 million more appointments across the country.This marks a vital First Step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the National Health Service constitutional standard, by March 2029.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact the UK-US trade deal on meat products sold in the UK.

On 8th May, the UK Government announced a landmark economic deal with the United States. We have agreed new reciprocal market access on beef – with UK farmers given a guaranteed quota for 13,000 metric tonnes of beef exports at a very low tariff rate. Imports of hormone treated beef remain illegal. Our approach to this trade deal has ensured that any agricultural imports coming into the UK will meet the highest food standards.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed UK-US trade agreement on the future of the NHS.

On 8th May, the UK government announced a landmark economic deal with the United States. The NHS will never be on the table for any trade agreement and the US trade deal will not lead to privatisation of the NHS. The NHS is not for sale under any circumstances, and this Government is firmly committed to keeping healthcare free at the point of use for everyone. This Government will continue to act in Britain’s national interest – for workers, for business and for families.

What steps he is taking to improve palliative care.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.In recognition of this, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England for 2024/25 and 2025/26, to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.Additionally, children and young people’s hospices will receive £26 million in revenue funding for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant.More widely, As part of the work to develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we will be carefully considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative care and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, including those in the hospice sector.In February, I met with key palliative and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format, with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed reforms in the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the number of appeals that will be made by people who will lose their eligibility for the personal independence payment; and whether she plans to allocate additional funding for the administration of such appeals.

DWP will work with the Ministry of Justice as normal and plan for any impacts.

What steps he is taking to help prevent rogue energy brokers from targeting small businesses.

The Government wants to provide all businesses with better protection from being locked into unfair and expensive energy contracts, and more redress when they have a complaint. Last year, the Government launched a consultation on introducing regulation of Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs), such as energy brokers. This is aimed at enhancing consumer protections, particularly for non-domestic consumers. The consultation has now closed, and a Government response will follow in due course once all feedback has been reviewed.