Written questions by Evans.

What recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the Kinship Allowance Pilot Scheme; and when that scheme will begin.

The department is ensuring that a fair and transparent process is used to identify which local authorities are best placed to deliver the Kinship Allowance Pilot, through a published expression of interest process. The application window for the expression of interest has now closed.The department has communicated clear guidance on this process to local authorities through webinars, published expression of interest guidance and a two-week clarification window, following the launch of the expression of interest application window.The Pilot will launch this autumn, following the announcement of successful pilot local authorities in September.

What steps he is taking to ensure that decision making about the return of the BCSSS investment reserve can be made as swiftly as possible.

I met the BCSSS Trustees on 22 April, 11 June and 22 July and confirmed the Government’s commitment to considering their proposals regarding the reserve and the future of the scheme. DESNZ will now engage HM Treasury with a view to agreeing a way forward on the transfer of the reserve to members. I am aiming to reach agreement on an outcome that can be implemented later this year which will benefit scheme members.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 61898 on Railways: Midlands, whether any funding announced in the Spending Review 2025 has been allocated to support Network Rail's work to develop a business case for later phases of the Midlands Rail Hub between Birmingham and destinations in Leicestershire.

The first phase of Midlands Rail Hub (‘Western’ scope) would enable additional trains each hour between Birmingham and South Wales and the South West, and on Birmingham’s Cross City Line. This includes extending Chiltern services from Moor Street to Snow Hill station by improving connectivity across the region. The costs and delivery timescales for later phases are subject to further development work and subsequent investment decisions.

Whether the (a) cost of abolishing NHS England and (b) resulting redundancy package will be paid for from his Department’s settlement at the Spending Review 2025.

We have recently announced the Spending Review settlement, which provides an additional £29 billion of annual day-to-day spending in real terms by 2028/2029 compared to 2023/2024. Ahead of asking the National Health Service to commence a multi-year planning round, we are now carefully reviewing how the settlement is prioritised, including making provision for redundancy costs. At this stage, it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while transition planning is ongoing.While there will be some upfront costs, we expect the reform to eliminate duplication and drive a smaller centre, based in a single organisation, that will generate significant savings in the long run, which can be diverted to the front line.

With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, if he will publish his Department’s assumptions of NHS productivity increases for the reduction in projected staff numbers in 2035 compared to the 2023 Long-Term Workforce Plan.

We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The plan will set out the workforce needed to deliver the transformed service, and the key assumptions used in determining that workforce. That plan will set out assumptions about productivity used in determining projected staff numbers.The approach set out in our 10-Year Health plan means that we will need a very different kind of workforce strategy. Instead of asking ‘how many staff do we need to maintain our current care model over the next 10 years?’, our new 10 Year Workforce Plan will ask ‘given our reform plan, what workforce do we need, what should they do, where should they be deployed, and what skills should they have?’

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61897 on Responsible Dog Ownership Working Group, who the members of the taskforce are; which members are leading on each of the four themes; and when he expects the taskforce to report their findings to Government.

The Responsible Dog Ownership Taskforce is convened by Defra officials, and the membership is made up of representatives from animal welfare organisations, local authorities, the police and Welsh government. Each of these groups is represented on the four subgroups that lead on the key themes. The taskforce will report their findings in due course.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of demand responsive travel in rural areas in (a) the UK and (b) Leicestershire.

The government believes demand responsive transport (DRT) has an important role to play in ensuring communities can access transport services in areas where more traditional, regular stopping services may not be viable. The Department has funded 17 innovative DRT pilots through the Rural Mobility Fund. Each scheme is taking part in a detailed monitoring and evaluation process. This will provide a strong base of evidence and good practice for DRT and a better understanding of both the role it can play in rural areas and the challenges associated with introducing it. The final process evaluation will be published later in 2025, and an impact and value for money evaluation is underway, with findings available in late 2026. Some of the Rural Mobility Fund schemes have grown beyond their original pilot areas, including Fox Connect in Leicestershire. This has expanded from serving an area in south west Leicestershire into five zones around Market Harborough and two zones around Melton Mowbray. Three new zones will shortly commence in north west Leicestershire and will connect parts of Hinckley and Bosworth. These zones provide access into the local town centre and also serve train stations and East Midlands Gateway, also served by Nottinghamshire’s DRT service.

What steps she is taking to ensure that local leaders work across county borders to ensure the (a) development and (b) sustainability of cross-border public transport services.

With regard to bus services, Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) already work closely together when tendering routes that cross shared boundaries, and in delivering their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP). There are also requirements set out in the Transport Act 2000 for LTAs to take account of the effect of an Enhanced Partnership on neighbouring areas, and for policies on bus services in neighbouring LTA areas to be considered when developing their franchising arrangements.The government has updated its bus franchising guidance to LTAs to make clear that they should consider cross-boundary services during any franchising assessment process. This includes as part of the commercial case, where they should set out how they intend to facilitate cross-boundary services to deliver relevant BSIP outcomes and targets in both authorities’ areas.The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December which puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders. This Bill is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including services that cross local authority boundaries. With regard to rail, Great British Rail (GBR) will be organised to work collaboratively with devolved leaders and local stakeholders to ensure rail services meet local needs. All tiers of local government in England will benefit from empowered local GBR business units that are outward-facing and engage with local authorities on their priorities and Local Transport Plans. Through the government’s devolution agenda, Mayoral Strategic Authorities are increasingly serving rural areas. Mayors will have a role in the design of their local rail services. They will also have the power to create unified and integrated transport systems enabling local leaders to create transport networks that deliver for their areas. A single directing mind is essential to ensuring the railway serves passenger and freight interests nationally. It is also vital that mayors have the power to integrate local railways with other transport modes. Later this year, we will publish the Integrated National Transport Strategy and set the vision for transport in England, putting people at the heart of how we plan, build and operate transport. The Strategy will aim to make public transport a more attractive option when people choose to travel and equip local leaders to make the right decisions for their areas. We want to address fragmentation and inefficiency across the transport system to ensure that public, private and third sector partners can work together to provide reliable transport services, including for cross-border journeys.

What steps she is taking to provide funding for public transport in Leicestershire.

This Government is committed to supporting public transport across the country. That is why we have confirmed £955 million for 2025/26 to support and improve bus services in England outside London. On our trains, the planned Great British Railways will have a relentless focus on driving up standards for passengers, including simpler fares and ticketing. The Government is providing £8.1 million to Leicestershire County Council in 2025/26 that the council can use to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities. We are also providing Leicestershire County Council with £12.3 million for 2025/26, and a total of £73.9 million from 2026/27 to 2029/30, in Local Transport Grant, which the council can use for maintenance and enhancements of its local transport network.

Whether she plans to launch a campaign to increase pension credit uptake before winter 2025-2026.

The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are entitled. That is why since Autumn 2024 we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign. The Department’s campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit has continued in numerous stages between January and July 2025 and has included radio, print and social media adverts as well as continuing work with stakeholders. We plan to continue promotional activity from Autumn through to the end of the financial year with the campaign aimed at eligible pensioners who are not yet claiming, and their friends and family, as we work to increase the take up of Pension Credit.

Whether she has completed the capital review of transport projects.

The Capital Review was undertaken by an external panel of independent experts, and has now concluded.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 59764 on Chagos Islands: Sovereignty, what estimate he has made of the cost of payments to Mauritius for the (a) FCDO and (b) MOD as part of the Agreement concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia.

The payments to Mauritius will be split between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Ministry of Defence. They will be published in the normal manner alongside other departmental spend in the annual accounts.

What recent discussions he has had with independent SMEs on the impact of his Department's policies.

The UK has 5.5m SMEs and we are committed to hardwiring their voice into government policy, engaging with them in various ways including through roundtables, visits and events.Hundreds of individual SMEs have been engaged across all sectors and regions as part of co-designing our SME Strategy, including through roundtables across key areas, such as High Streets, Markets and Finance as well as specific policy events such as at Wilton Park.Engagement with individual SMEs will continue to be a priority pre and post-launch of the SME Strategy to assess the impact of these policies on SMEs across the UK.

How much and what proportion of funding the National-Level Transport Scheme allocates to the (a) investigation and (b) completion of business cases; and to the immediate construction of schemes that are ready to build.

The department does not recognise the ‘National-Level Transport Scheme.’ and is therefore unable to provide an answer to this question.

Whether she plans to replace the business rates system from 2026-27; and whether she plans to hold a consultation to inform the new system.

Over the course of this Parliament, the Government will create a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. The Government published a Discussion Paper at Autumn Budget 2024 setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invited industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. The Treasury received over 160 written responses to that Discussion Paper and met with over 250 stakeholders. On 17 February, the Government published a ‘forward look’ of the expected timeline for reforms announced at Autumn Budget 2024, and how stakeholders should engage with the Government on business rates reform going forwards. In the summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Budget 2025.

If she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of school career services in (a) highlighting and (b) encouraging apprenticeships.

The department has introduced a ladder of support and intervention, as set out in our careers statutory guidance, to support compliance with the provider access legislation which requires schools to offer pupils encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships. We will continue to monitor compliance, the support in place and the impact on young people.We will also continue to monitor progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks, especially benchmarks 5, 6 and 7 which are relevant for highlighting and encouraging apprenticeships take-up.Alongside this, the Careers and Enterprise Company’s (CEC) future skills questionnaire shows a move from 38% understanding of apprenticeships in year 7 to 88% by year 13.There are multiple resources available to schools and young people to highlight and encourage apprenticeships participation:CEC’s network of Careers Hubs (covering 95% of schools and colleges) works with schools and colleges to support their careers education programmes.The Skills for Careers Apprenticeships support page, which can be found here: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/training-choice/apprenticeships.CEC’s resource directory, found here: https://resources.careersandenterprise.co.uk/.‘Amazing Apprenticeships’ resources and support for schools and colleges.The ‘Find an apprenticeship’ government website which currently hosts over 40,000 live vacancies and is available here: https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of good quality agricultural land being used for the development of large scale solar farms.

Defra produces statistical estimates of agricultural land areas each year from the annual June Survey of Agriculture: In 2024, the utilised agricultural area (UAA) in England was 8.7 million hectares and this has remained broadly stable, only changing by around +/-1% each year over the past decade. Full breakdowns of agricultural land areas are published here Agricultural land use in England - GOV.UKIn 2024, around 7,300 hectares of this land were used for solar panels (less than 0.1% of UAA). However, 50% of this land is still being used for agricultural production e.g. for livestock grazing. It is recognised that solar can, when delivered in line with relevant planning policy, have a positive impact on the natural environment, and large-scale solar farms can contribute significant gains for local biodiversity with intelligent design and planning.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on the (a) fiscal position and (b) sustainability of independent SMEs.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts. The Office for Budget Responsibility also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances.

If she will take steps to highlight the importance of safety at railway level crossings during the school summer holidays.

Educating users is critical to ensuring that level crossings are used safely and we look to Network Rail as the owner of these assets to do this. Network Rail produces a wide range of educational material on safety on and around the railway, including on level crossing safety, which it promotes through media campaigns and through school and community events. It recognises that the school holidays can pose particular challenges and focuses significant effort in attending local schools and community events in the vicinity of level crossings to promote railway safety.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to fund support services for local neighbourhood plan development.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 59114 on 19 June 2025.