Written questions by Evans.

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.

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.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of AI companion software on (a) children's mental health, (b) children's social skills and (c) trends in the level of children's loneliness.

The department is working to build evidence of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) tools for education, both on the opportunities and the risks. We are supporting the sector to use AI safely.We are funding the development of global guidelines for the safe and effective use of generative AI in education, in partnership with the OECD and, in January 2025, we announced that leading global tech firms had committed to making AI tools for education safer by design. Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Amazon Web Services have helped develop a set of expectations AI tools should meet to be considered safe for classroom use. These are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-ai-product-safety-expectations/generative-ai-product-safety-expectations.The Generative AI product Safety Expectations framework was announced on 22 January 2025 and we have published online materials to help all educators. These materials can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/using-ai-in-education-settings-support-materials.Screens are prevalent in children's lives at home and in education. It is crucial to have protections like the Online Safety Act, while using technology to benefit children. Schools play a key role in promoting balanced technology use, minimising harmful content, and teaching online safety.The department is working across government to implement the Online Safety Act and address technology-related risks, including AI in education, while maximising opportunities for these technologies to support education.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 57375 on Responsible Dog Ownership Working Group, on which dates the Responsible Dog Ownership Taskforce has met since July 2024; what topics it is considering; and what the action points were from its last meeting.

The Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce was reconvened in May 2025. The taskforce is considering four themes: education, training for both dogs and their owners, enforcement, and improving data on dog attacks. We look forward to receiving the findings and recommendations from the taskforce in due course.

What her planned timetable is for the Midlands Rail Hub project; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the Hub supports rail travellers from (a) Leicestershire and (b) Hinckley and Bosworth consistency.

The Chancellor’s commitment to progress Midlands Rail Hub in the 2025 Spending Review follows the release of £123 million last year to design the first phase (with additional services in central Birmingham, to the South West and South Wales, and improved reliability of services through New Street), which could be delivered by the early 2030s. Network Rail is working on the case for later phases, which could include improved services between Birmingham and destinations in Leicestershire including Hinckley.

If she will make an assessment of the challenges faced by young carers in balancing their caring responsibilities with (a) education and (b) training.

Young carers have been a hidden cohort for too long. They provide essential care and support to their loved ones, often stepping up in challenging situations at the expense of their own development and wellbeing.The department is using school census data to shine a light on young carers’ attendance, suspensions and exclusions, and is aiming to publish data on their educational progress and attainment this autumn. This will ensure they receive tailored support and do not miss out on vital educational opportunities.The statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ requires designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role. This includes having a good understanding of, and alertness to, the needs of young carers to identify their needs.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of teacher's awareness of young people's caring responsibilities.

Young carers have been a hidden cohort for too long. They provide essential care and support to their loved ones, often stepping up in challenging situations at the expense of their own development and wellbeing.The department is using school census data to shine a light on young carers’ attendance, suspensions and exclusions, and is aiming to publish data on their educational progress and attainment this autumn. This will ensure they receive tailored support and do not miss out on vital educational opportunities.The statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ requires designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role. This includes having a good understanding of, and alertness to, the needs of young carers to identify their needs.

Communities and Local Government, what plans her Department has to ensure that neighbourhood plans continue to (a) determine and (b) deliver local housing needs.

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

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.

If he will facilitate increased sittings of the Independent Panel to assess payments for LGBTQ+ veterans.

As of 23 June 2025, the FRS had made payments totalling £3.4 million to 69 applicants with life-limiting conditions or serious health concerns. We are now processing applications based on date received. The first payments were issued within 15 weeks of the scheme going live. The Ministry of Defence remains committed to ensuring all eligible veterans receive the recognition they deserve.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that guidance and resources for School Attendance Support Teams includes young carers.

The department wants to ensure that young carers have the best life chances by supporting them in their education. We recognise that absence from school is almost always a symptom of wider needs and barriers that a family are facing and is often also the best early indication of need in a family that may not be in contact with other services.The department’s expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, were made statutory on 19 August 2024 and include specific reference to young carers. The ‘support first’ ethos of the attendance guidance is that pupils and families, including young carers, should receive holistic, whole-family support to help them overcome the barriers to attendance they are facing. This includes holding regular meetings with the families of pupils who the school, and/or local authority, consider to be vulnerable to discuss attendance and engagement at school. Schools are expected to recognise that absence is a symptom and that improving pupil’s attendance is part of supporting the pupil’s overall welfare. This ethos is reflected in resources provided to schools on school attendance, and our Attendance Toolkit for Schools includes reference to supporting young carers in its self-assessment tool.The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.The toolkit can be accessed via: https://attendancetoolkit.blob.core.windows.net/toolkit-doc/Attendance%20toolkit%20for%20schools.pdf.The department also publishes daily attendance data fortnightly and will continue to monitor the quality of data on young carers that is collected via the school register for consideration to include in the daily data collection in the future.

When his Department expects NHS England to publish updated guidance on children's and young people's eating disorders; and which third party bodies were consulted on updates to that guidance.

NHS England is in the process of refreshing its guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, which includes increasing the focus on early identification and intervention across the care pathway, including in settings such as schools and primary care. The guidance focuses on community provision of care, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist support as soon as an eating disorder is suspected. It is not yet known when the updated guidance will be published. The updated guidance is being produced in partnership with a task and finish group comprising of internal and external clinical, academic, and policy stakeholders, including from royal colleges, regional and system children and young people and eating disorder leads and children, young people, and parents with lived experience.

What steps he is taking to ensure that updates made to NHS England guidance help inform the NHS 10 Year Health Plan; and which stakeholders in the eating disorders sector have provided views in his Department's consultation processes.

The 10-Year Health Plan was developed jointly between the Department and NHS England. All relevant NHS England guidance has been considered as part of the development of the plan.We received 1,650 submissions to the 10-Year Health Plan from partner organisations. This included responses from the Faculty of Eating Disorders and BEAT, the eating disorder charity. We also received responses from 120 mental health organisations who may have an interest in eating disorders. However, this information is not held in a format that allows this interest to be identified separately.

Whether he has had discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on reducing overprescribing.

I have discussed with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) concerns raised by Members of Parliament about the adverse effects of antidepressant prescribing, and what the MHRA can do to improve communication on the risks of different medicines.

Whether his Department plans to publish a national carers strategy.

The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. The Government has heard the calls for a National Carers Strategy. This must be addressed in the wider context of the urgent need for a renewed vision for adult social care.We have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The commission will start a national conversation about what care and support working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers, who provide vital care and support.I also chair a cross-Government meeting, made up of ministers from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Department for Education, to consider how we can provide unpaid carers with the recognition and support they deserve.

What steps he is taking to improve the quality of dementia diagnosis data.

To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed. Commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and funded by NHS England and the Welsh administration, the National Audit of Dementia Memory Service Spotlight reports include data on aspects of the diagnostic process, including waiting times and variation in service delivery in terms of diagnosis speed, neuroimaging use, and post-diagnostic support. The aim is to aid commissioners and providers in planning and targeting improvement where appropriate. To enhance dementia diagnosis rate data further, dementia sub types have been included in the Core GP Contract data collection from April 2023 onwards. This plays an important role in improving diagnosis accuracy and care planning, enabling clinicians to refine diagnostic criteria and tailor treatments more effectively.To help address and reduce variation in dementia diagnosis rates, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network developed a data tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the NHS 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance to include a target on dementia diagnosis.

The Government remains committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% and agrees that timely diagnosis is vital to ensure that people with dementia can access the treatment and support they need. The Darzi Investigation found that there were too many targets set for the National Health Service, which made it hard for local systems to prioritise their actions or to be held properly accountable. This is why we have taken a new approach to NHS Planning Guidance this year, reducing the number of national directives from 32 to 18. We will only turn the NHS around by doing things differently. These are the first steps on our journey for long-term reform of the NHS. NHS Planning Guidance is not an exhaustive list of everything the NHS does, and the absence of a target does not mean it is not an area of focus.

Whether his Department plans to publish a dementia strategy.

The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.The 10-Year Health Plan will address the challenges diagnosed by Lord Darzi in his independent investigation into the National Health Service in England, and will set the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of complex health and care needs, including people living with dementia. We are carefully considering policies, including those that impact people with dementia, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, as we develop the plan.As part of this work, we will consider how best to meet the needs of people with dementia, including whether it is appropriate to develop a dementia strategy.

Whether he has carried out an impact assessment for the removal of the dementia diagnosis target from NHS planning guidance.

The Government remains committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% and agrees that timely diagnosis is vital to ensure that people with dementia can access the treatment and support they need. The Darzi Investigation found that there were too many targets set for the National Health Service, which made it hard for local systems to prioritise their actions or to be held properly accountable. This is why we have taken a new approach to NHS Planning Guidance this year, reducing the number of national directives from 32 to 18. We will only turn the NHS around by doing things differently. These are the first steps on our journey for long-term reform of the NHS. NHS Planning Guidance is not an exhaustive list of everything the NHS does, and the absence of a target does not mean it is not an area of focus.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 57372 on Chagos Islands: Sovereignty, what the costs to his Department were 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 Ministry of Defence. They will be published in the normal manner alongside other departmental spend in the annual accounts.