Written questions by Shannon.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of poverty on access to (a) health and (b) dental care.

Whilst there has been no formal assessment made, it is recognised that people living in the most deprived areas can face challenges accessing health and dental care.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for arranging health services that are accessible and that meet the health needs of their populations, and in doing so must also have regard to the need to reduce inequalities in access to health services.In guidance on the preparation of integrated care strategies, updated in 2024, the Department has also explicitly outlined the need for integrated care partnerships to consider groups which may have the greatest need for services and the greatest difficulty in accessing them, and take steps to remove barriers and improve provision for these populations.Free National Health Service dental care is available to people who meet a certain criterion, such as receiving low-income benefits. Support is also available through the NHS Low Income Scheme for those patients who are not eligible for exemption or full remission of dental charges. In line with the Government’s Health Mission, the Department’s goal is to create a more equitable healthcare system that leaves no person or community behind.

What steps she is taking to allow flexible working patterns for those that suffer with (a) autism, (b) ADHD and (c) other behavioural disorders.

ADHD and Autism are neurodevelopmental conditions which are often disabilities considered under the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 require employers to make reasonable adjustments and to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. If an employee would be substantially disadvantaged without flexible working patterns on grounds of their disability, they would be entitled to reasonable adjustments. Additionally, the Employment Rights Bill contains measures to make flexible working the default for all employees, except where it is not reasonably feasible. As a government, we want to support all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace, and we are looking to build on the findings of the Buckland Review of Autism Employment by gathering expert advice in line with this expanded focus. Our support to employers includes the online Support with Employee Health and Disability service, to support employers managing health and disability in the workplace. This includes questions of disclosure and equipping employers to feel confident having conversations about health and disability. The Disability Confident scheme also signposts employers to expert resources which support the employment of disabled people, including those with autism and ADHD.We recently announced Keep Britain Working, a major independent review of the employer’s role in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of recent increases to TV license fees.

The obligations placed on the BBC, and the public service it provides to the country, show the need for continued, sustainable public funding to support its vital work.The government has committed to retaining the licence fee for the remainder of the Charter Period. The level of the fee will increase by £5 per household to £174.50 in April 2025, rising in line with inflation as required by the 2022 Licence Fee Settlement. This uplift provides certainty and stability for the BBC and S4C, and supports them in delivering their essential public services remits and world-class educational and engaging programming, while also ensuring we deliver the best outcomes for licence fee payers.Reflecting our understanding of the pressures on households, this government has taken action to expand the Simple Payment Plan to help more households facing financial hardship pay their TV licence.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the elected care framework.

We are committed to working closely with the Northern Irish and other devolved administrations to tackle the shared challenges faced by our health systems. Health is predominantly a devolved issue. However, the Department works collaboratively with the devolved administrations to drive forward our objective of supporting people to lead more independent, healthier lives for longer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the dairy farming industry in Northern Ireland.

Dairy farming policy is a devolved matter and is therefore the responsibility of the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland. However, the UK Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists and works with DAERA to ensure there is a coordinated approach and farmers receive a fair price for their products. Central to this is the Government’s commitment to improving contractual practices across the agriculture industry, using the Fair Dealings powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 to increase transparency and protect farmers from unfair practices. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, which came into force last year, introduced key reforms. These include mandatory written contracts outlining key terms such as termination conditions and agreed supply volumes. They also require greater transparency in milk pricing and establish robust dispute resolution procedures, strengthening trust and cooperation between buyers and sellers. The regulations are enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, who can investigate complaints from farmers who believe they have not been provided with a contract that is compliant with the Regulations, on behalf of the Secretary of State. We will continue to work with DAERA in monitoring the dairy industry to ensure these reforms deliver their intended impact, including through a future review of the effectiveness of the dairy regulations.

What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on tackling poor mental health in schools.

The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education to deliver the commitment to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through rolling out NHS Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.

What discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on lowering the threshold for bowel screening to 50.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in the four United Kingdom nations about all aspects of screening. As screening is a devolved matter, it is then for each individual Government to decide on how and whether to implement the UK NSC’s recommendations.

What steps his Department is taking to help delay the progression of glaucoma in people aged over 50.

Free National Health Service sight tests are available for many, including all individuals aged 40 years old and over with a close family history of glaucoma, and all individuals aged 60 years old and over. Regular sight tests play an important role in the early detection of glaucoma, which is often symptomless in the early stages. Patients with suspected glaucoma will be referred for further investigation, treatment, and monitoring, which can delay its progression. NHS England has been testing how integrating primary and secondary eye care services, through IT connectivity and the development of a single point of access, could improve the referral, triage, and management of patients with eye care needs and reduce the time from diagnosis to treatment.

What steps his Department is taking to help tackle ophthalmic workforce shortages.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service, which will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospitals to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.We will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan, which will deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, to ensure that the NHS has the right people, including those who work in ophthalmology, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.

What estimate he has made of the number of under 16's who vape.

NHS England publishes estimates of the prevalence of vaping in children from the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England Survey. The latest figures are from the 2023 survey, and showed that 5% of children aged between 11 and 15 years old were regular vapers, 4% vaped occasionally, and 25% had ever vaped. The report is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/smoking-drinking-and-drug-use-among-young-people-in-england/2023

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the accessibility of knives online.

The Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve knife crime in a decade and we are already taking a range of steps to make our communities a safer place for our young people.We know that more needs to be done to tackle the sale of knives and offensive weapons online which is why last October, the Home Secretary asked Commander Stephen Clayman, as the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, to carry out a review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The review was published on 19 February 2025: www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-end-to-end-review-of-online-knife-salesWe have already decided to take forward the most pressing recommendations in the report and have announced “Ronan’s Law” a range of measures which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives including strengthening age verification controls and checks through a two-stage age verification system at the point of purchase and on delivery. We are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, funding a new online police coordination hub to take action against illegal knife and weapon content online; and we are intending to consult later this year on a registration scheme for online sellers of knives.It is a Government manifesto commitment to hold senior executives of online platforms and marketplaces to account for illegal knife related content around the sale of prohibited offensive weapons or illegal marketing of knives in ways which encourages violence. We ran a public consultation on these proposals which closed on 11 December 2024 and we will be publishing our response shortly.We have also implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes. The ban came in to force on 24 September 2024 and it is now illegal to sell, manufacture, supply or possess these weapons.It is also a Government manifesto commitment to ban ninja swords and we ran a consultation between 13 November 2024 and 11 December 2024 to clarify the legal definition. We are now moving forward with our plans to ban ninja swords later this year.

What assessment she has made of trends in the level of housing poverty.

Poverty statistics are published on both a before housing costs and after housing costs basis. An assessment can therefore be made on the impact of housing costs on poverty over time. Statistics on the number of individuals living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.

What steps his Department is taking to improve military security.

This Government announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, reaching 2.5% of GDP from April 2027, and setting a clear ambition for defence spending to rise to 3% in the next Parliament. The Strategic Defence Review will ensure that Defence is central both to the security, and to the economic growth and prosperity, of the United Kingdom. The Reviewers will make their final report to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Secretary of State in the spring of this year. The Secretary of State will then subsequently report to Parliament.

What estimate she has made of the number of electric vehicle charging points in the UK.

As of 1 February 2025, the Government and industry have supported the installation of 74,234 publicly available charging devices (including 14,687 rapid charging devices) across the UK. More than 680,000 English households have access to a domestic charging device. Government workplace charging grants have supported the installation of over 1,400 chargepoint sockets in schools and 59,000 in other workplaces.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of funding provided by her Department for transport infrastructure on business productivity in each of the last five years.

DfT's annual report and accounts which are published on gov.uk set out the Department's spending and an assessment of the Department's performance each year.

Whether she has had recent discussions with the Minister of Infrastructure in the Northern Ireland Executive on improving the (a) frequency and (b) accessibility of (i) domestic and (ii) international flights from all Belfast airports.

I have not had recent discussions about Belfast Airports specifically.  However, the question of whether to operate an air service is a commercial matter for industry.  To maximise airlines’ and airports’ commercial and operational flexibility when making such decisions, my officials negotiate international treaties - “Air Services Agreements” – that ensure a wide range of options for operations from/to all UK airports. Furthermore, aviation must be accessible so that everyone can travel with dignity and ease. The Department launched the Aviation Accessibility Task and Finish Group in November 2024.  It brings together industry and consumer representatives, including from the Consumer Council of Northern Ireland, to identify practical and achievable actions to improve aviation accessibility.  The Group is engaging widely with industry across the UK.

What discussions he has had with his counterparts in Northern Ireland on using AI technology for prostate cancer screening.

The Government follows the advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC currently does not recommend screening for prostate cancer because the current best test is not accurate enough for use in asymptomatic men.We are aware of very early-stage trials into artificial intelligence in prostate cancer detection and we look forward to these trials reporting formally so that the evidence can be carefully considered.In the meantime, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has not had any conversations with his counterparts in Northern Ireland on this issue. Implementation of any UK NSC screening recommendation is a devolved matter.

Innovation and Technology, how many people are currently employed in the AI technology sector across the UK.

We are committed to building an AI sector that can scale and win globally, ensuring AI companies want to call the UK home. Our 2024 AI Sector Study found that the UK AI sector employs over 64,000 people in the UK, up from just over 50,000 people in 2022, an increase of 29%.

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of recent reports that energy bills are forecast to rise from April 2025.

Energy bills are forecast to rise for the period 1 April to 30 June 2025 due to an increase in international gas prices.The Government believes the only way to protect consumers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.We continue to monitor energy prices and the price cap and are working to ensure bills are affordable for consumers in the long-term, including through our work with Ofgem to reform standing charges, and through our Warm Homes Plan which will upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the availability of housing stock.

Delivering the government’s ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament will increase the availability of housing stock.