Written questions by Kyrke-Smith.

Whether the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund will be extended beyond March 2025.

This Government is committed to ensuring that all victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse have the information and support they need. On 1 October 2024, I wrote to recipients of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund to confirm that HM Treasury have announced departmental budgets for financial year 2025/26 will be set out through a Budget on 30 October 2024. I understand the need to prioritise confirmation of their budgets as early as possible.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of Chiltern Railways' proposals to bring in (a) replacement and (b) additional carriages to improve capacity on their existing routes.

The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern Railways to support the delivery of its long-term fleet strategy and has recently approved Chiltern Railways’ Mk3 fleet replacement Outline Business Case (OBC). Chiltern now needs to produce the Final Business Case. Chiltern also continues to review opportunities to maximise its passenger capacity within its current train fleet. In June 2024, Chiltern introduced an additional morning and evening peak service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, between London Marylebone and Princes Risborough, which operated pre-COVID-19. This provides additional seating capacity in response to customer demand and crowding.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Israeli counterpart on the death of Muhammed Bhar.

Whilst we have not raised this case specifically, the government does raise International Humanitarian Law compliance regularly with Israel. The Foreign Secretary last spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Katz on 02 October. This Government is clear that International Humanitarian Law must be upheld, and civilians protected. The Foreign Secretary has raised issues of International Humanitarian Law compliance on several occasions with the Israeli government. We want to see an immediate ceasefire and we need the hostages returned immediately and unconditionally. We must see greater protection of civilians, a rapid increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, and Israel to enable the UN and humanitarian agencies to be able to operate safely in Gaza.

Whether it is her policy to ban conversion therapy for (a) asexual, (b) bisexual, (c) intersex and (d) nonbinary people.

This Government’s position is that conversion practices are abuse. Such practices have no place in society and must be stopped. Through the development of the Conversion Practices Bill, this Government will deliver on our manifesto commitment to bring forward a full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, implementing key safeguards for LGBT people. We are committed to listening to all viewpoints as this work progresses, and to engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, organisations and all LGBT communities.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that local authorities provide timely education, health and care plan assessments.

The department knows that parents have struggled to get the right support for their children, particularly through long and difficult education, health and care plan processes. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach to support the sector, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and alternative provision settings, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the department works with them using a range of support and challenge, improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address identified weaknesses.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of launching a digital version of the Disability Living Allowance for Children claim form that can be submitted online.

DLA Child is currently undergoing transformation as part of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme. Work is underway to explore options including how to apply, with the aim of providing a sustainable, simplified and accessible service and the ability for customers to self-serve.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including asexuality as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010.

We have no plans for including asexuality as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act 2010 covers discrimination in employment, the provision of goods, services, and public functions, housing, premises, education, transport, occupational pensions, clubs, and associations. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of nine characteristics, including sex and sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is defined under the Act as a person’s orientation towards persons of the opposite sex, the same sex, or of either sex. The Act also prohibits discrimination based on the perception that someone has a protected characteristic, for example, that they are heterosexual, lesbian, or gay when they are not.

If she will review the current set of questions on the Disability Living Allowance for children claim form.

There are currently no plans to review the Disability Living Allowance claim form (DLA1). The questions on the claim form are intended to gather sufficient information from parents/guardians to accurately award children and young people the appropriate Disability Living Allowance award.

If she will take steps to provide additional funding for pay increases for administrative staff in schools in Buckinghamshire.

This government recognises the vital role that support staff play in children’s education and we are committed to reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.Most school support staff are currently employed on the pay and conditions of the National Joint Council (NJC) for local government services. The NJC is a negotiating body made up of representatives from trade unions and local government employers. The 2024/25 pay offer is currently under negotiation.On 29 July, we announced that we are providing schools with almost £1.1 billion of additional funding in 2024/25, through the new core schools budget grant (CSBG), to support them with their overall costs this year. This matches what we have calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, both the support staff pay offer and the teacher pay award in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets. We recognise that the picture will be different for individual schools. Schools in Buckinghamshire will receive over £8.9 million from the CSBG.

Whether she has had discussions with Buckinghamshire Council on the adequacy of SEND provision in Buckinghamshire.

The department is continuing to support and challenge Buckinghamshire to improve its delivery of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.The last local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for Buckinghamshire was in March 2022, during which inspectors identified three areas of significant weakness:The lack of a cohesive area strategy to identify and meet the needs of those children and young people requiring speech and language, communication and occupational therapy.Waiting times for assessments on the autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis pathways, and the system-owned plans in place to address this.Waiting times to see a community paediatrician.The local area was required to produce a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) to address these areas of weakness, which was accepted by Ofsted and CQC.Following the inspection outcome, the department has worked closely with its partners in NHS England to monitor, support and challenge the local area partnership in making the necessary improvements. This includes regular monitoring meetings with the local area, focussing on the impact of actions taken on improving the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families.Buckinghamshire are part of the Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme which provides £1 million in grant funding to support local authorities to provide more effective SEND services by meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND at an early stage and with the right level of support. The department monitors Buckinghamshire's progress in the DBV programme through quarterly reporting and meetings with the local authority.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure that all children in (a) Palestine and (b) Gaza have access to polio vaccination.

The UK convened the August 2024 emergency session of the UN Security Council to drive urgent action to address the risk of a polio outbreak in Gaza. We are supporting delivery through our funding to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), alongside our wider support to United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in Gaza. The Foreign Secretary noted the importance of the full and effective delivery of the polio vaccination campaign in his statement to the House on 2 September. The UK continues to work with international partners to reinforce the importance of pauses in military operation to allow the delivery of the second vaccination campaign this month. The UK also funds Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is helping wider immunisation of children living in Gaza, the West Bank and within the Palestinian populations in Lebanon.

If he will take steps to provide funding to cover basic costs for low-income care home users in Aylesbury constituency.

Charging, under the Care Act 2014, is based on several principles including that people should not be charged more than it is reasonably practicable for them to pay. Local authorities have discretion to implement charging policies which best meet the needs of the local populations they serve, whilst adhering to legislation and statutory guidance.When assessing a resident’s ability to pay for care in a care home, the local authority may take most of the income and benefits that people receive into account, unless these are specifically required to be disregarded by the regulations. However, it is required to ensure that the resident retains an amount for personal expenses, the Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA), which is currently £30.15 per week. This rate is reviewed annually, and local authorities have the ability to set a higher PEA if they wish.In addition, where a person has no income, the local authority should support the person to access any relevant state benefits or independent advocacy service.

What steps she is taking to ensure the school curriculum is LGBTQIA+ inclusive.

Within a broad framework, set out in subject specific programmes of study, schools have flexibility to organise the content and delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.To prepare children for life in modern Britain, pupils need to understand the world in which they are growing up. The relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum is therefore designed to give pupils the knowledge they need to lead happy, safe and healthy lives, and to foster respect for other people and for difference.The RSHE statutory guidance states that all pupils should receive teaching on LGBT content during their school years. Pupils should have an equal opportunity to explore the features of stable and healthy same sex relationships and this should be integrated appropriately into the relationships and sex education programme, rather than addressed separately or in only one lesson.The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, which is chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Curriculum and Assessment Review will seek to deliver a curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring all children and young people are represented. The review group has recently launched a call for evidence, setting out a number of key questions and themes where it would particularly welcome evidence and input.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure access to (a) safe and (b) effective polio vaccines in conflict-affected areas.

The UK is proud to be a longstanding supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), having contributed £1.4 billion since 1995. The UK continues to be a supportive partner to the GPEI and will take every opportunity to ensure every child everywhere is safe from Polio, including in conflict-affected areas.  The UK is engaging internationally to reinforce the importance of delivering the second polio vaccination campaign in Gaza this month. The UK is also one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Investing £1.65 billion from 2021 - 2025 to support eligible countries with polio vaccines as part of essential childhood immunisations.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking with (a) the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and (b) other multilateral organisations to help eradicate polio.

The UK is proud to be a longstanding supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), having contributed £1.4 billion since 1995. The UK continues to be a supportive partner to the GPEI and will take every opportunity to ensure every child everywhere is safe from Polio, including in conflict-affected areas.  The UK is engaging internationally to reinforce the importance of delivering the second polio vaccination campaign in Gaza this month. The UK is also one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Investing £1.65 billion from 2021 - 2025 to support eligible countries with polio vaccines as part of essential childhood immunisations.

What steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for appointments at NHS gender identity clinics.

NHS England has published a two-year action plan, which sets out how it will continue to transform and improve children and young people’s gender services. Investment in children and young people’s gender services in 2024/25 has more than doubled compared to 2023/24 and will increase further as new services are established.In April 2024, NHS England opened two new services in the North West and London that offer a holistic clinical model, embedding multi-disciplinary teams in specialist children’s hospitals. A third new service will open in the South West later in the autumn, and a fourth in the East of England in spring of next year. NHS England is advancing towards meeting its commitment for there to be a specialist children’s gender service in every region by 2026. These new services will increase service capacity and reduce waiting lists.NHS England has written to all children and young people on the waiting list for services, to offer them a mental health assessment. It has also rolled out a new referral pathway into children and young people gender services, which ensures that children are assessed more holistically through referral via pediatrics or children’s mental health services.