Written questions by Wilson.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) licencing for builders and (b) affordable recourse for people impacted by rogue builders.

This Government is working to ensure we have a high-quality and professional construction industry, which delivers safe work and has consumer protection at the heart of this. Any licencing scheme would need to be robust, proportionate and evidence based.The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets out the standards consumers can expect from traders and remedies if these rights are breached. Consumers can seek redress through the Small Claims Court, where they can pursue claims of up to £10,000 against a rogue builder. Citizens Advice provides information on making claims and can refer complaints on to Trading Standards for appropriate enforcement action.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to reduce the timeframe for the authorisation of new electric vehicle battery recycling facilities.

Environmental permits enable Government missions on economic growth, green innovation and net zero. To protect the environment and the public, all environmental permits require appropriate assessment to prevent harm. All environmental permitting is subject to statutory timeframes. Defra and the Environment Agency are constantly reviewing and improving Environmental Permitting services to make them efficient and reactive to customer needs. The Environment Agency will consider prioritising applications, if they meet specific criteria that include supporting economic growth or are for nationally significant infrastructure projects. The Environment Agency encourages applicants to contact them as early as possible in any project plans and take up pre application advice (Get advice before you apply for an environmental permit), particularly for complex permits for new and novel technologies such as vehicle battery recycling facilities.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of recycling lithium iron phosphate batteries.

The UK currently has an emerging capacity to recycle lithium-ion batteries, with most EV batteries being dismantled and shipped to Europe. Recyclus Group, based in Wolverhampton, is the country's first and only industrial-scale recycling facility. It is licenced to turn 22,000 tonnes of spent lithium-ion batteries, taken from a range of sources including electric cars, each year into black mass without using water, and has a low carbon footprint.

With reference to the Government Office for Science's research entitled What are the technical and policy barriers to increasing EV battery recycling capacity in the UK?, updated on 21 November 2023, what progress he has made in researching (a) water miscible binders, (b) binderless electrodes and (c) methods of recycling polyvinylidene difluoride.

The £610m Faraday Battery Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, supports mission-led academic research on battery recycling technologies through the Faraday Institution’s (FI’s) ReLiB project. ReLiB researchers at the University of Leicester have recently demonstrated algae-derived water miscible anode blinders that can be fully recovered at the end of the batteries life, and are looking to demonstrate an “all” water-soluble binder system that will simplifying battery recycling by the Summer 2025. ReLiB researchers at the University of Birmingham have also been collaborating with a leading supplier of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) binder on the use of “green” solvents for binder recovery from used batteries. They have also recently demonstrated a new process to recover and reuse PVDF binders in new cells.

If she will update the Green Book to allow for the valuation of the reduced carbon footprint of UK produced materials as opposed to imported ones.

The Green Book has supplementary guidance on the valuation of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This is found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65aadd020ff90c000f955f17/valuation-of-energy-use-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions-for-appraisal.pdf That supplementary guidance notes that appraisals should consider the greenhouse gas emissions content of all of the materials that are used to implement a proposal. This applies both to materials produced in the UK, as well as those imported from abroad.

Media and Sport, if she will include podcasts in the broadcasting code.

The Government has no plans to widen the scope of the Broadcasting Code to include all online podcasts.

If she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of children who would be eligible for free school meals had the income threshold for people on Universal Credit risen with inflation since 2018.

The new government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty and widening attainment gaps between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low income family. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies in assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty.The department has not made a recent formal assessment of the proportion of children who are eligible for FSM but not registered to receive the entitlement. The last review conducted in 2013 suggested that 89% of eligible pupils were registered for FSM. We recognise the vital role played by FSM and encourage all eligible families to take their entitlement up and join the 2.1 million pupils currently registered to receive FSM. To support FSM take up, we provide the Eligibility Checking System which allows local authorities to quickly verify eligibility for FSM and ensure that it is easily received.The department has not formally assessed the number and proportion of children who would be eligible for FSM, had the eligibility threshold for households on Universal Credit increased in line with inflation since its introduction in 2018. As with all policies, the government keeps the approach to FSM under review.

How many pupils who are eligible for free school meals are not claiming it.

The new government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty and widening attainment gaps between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low income family. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies in assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty.The department has not made a recent formal assessment of the proportion of children who are eligible for FSM but not registered to receive the entitlement. The last review conducted in 2013 suggested that 89% of eligible pupils were registered for FSM. We recognise the vital role played by FSM and encourage all eligible families to take their entitlement up and join the 2.1 million pupils currently registered to receive FSM. To support FSM take up, we provide the Eligibility Checking System which allows local authorities to quickly verify eligibility for FSM and ensure that it is easily received.The department has not formally assessed the number and proportion of children who would be eligible for FSM, had the eligibility threshold for households on Universal Credit increased in line with inflation since its introduction in 2018. As with all policies, the government keeps the approach to FSM under review.

What age ranges Young Futures hubs will work with.

The government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. Too many children and young people today do not have access to the same enrichment opportunities as their peers, suffer from poor mental health and, in some cases, end up being drawn into crime rather than going on to achieve and thrive.Young Futures Hubs will bring together the support services that tackle underlying needs and make them more accessible to those that need them. The department is engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities and other key stakeholders to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs, including the specific age-range they will serve. The department will share further information in due course.

Whether Young Futures hubs will work with local prevention partnerships; and whether those services will be co-located.

Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes, supporting crime prevention and enabling young people to thrive.This is part of the Young Futures Programme alongside which we will establish a network of Young Futures Prevention Partnerships to bring together key partners to identify children and young people at risk of being drawn into crime and offer support in a more systematic way to divert them.To make progress quickly and achieve impact across this programme, the department will need to build upon the existing structures it has in place, from physical buildings to local partnership working and the existing workforce.

When he plans to respond to the correspondence of 2 October 2024 from the hon. Member for Twickenham on the reciprocity of aviation qualifications.

A response was issued on 6 January.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations by Resolution in its report entitled Domestic Abuse in Financial Remedy Proceedings, published in October 2024.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government, which includes addressing issues of domestic and economic abuse in financial remedy proceedings. The Government will consider Resolution’s recommendations alongside the Law C...

What her planned timescale is for responding to the Law Commission's scoping report on Financial remedies on divorce and dissolution, published on 18 December 2024.

The Government is grateful to the Law Commission for its work on this important and complex area. We will carefully consider the details and will provide a response in due course.

How many people were in receipt of (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Statutory Paternity Pay, (c) Statutory Adoption Pay and (d) Statutory Shared Parental Pay in the 2023-24 financial year.

Data for number of people in receipt of Statutory Maternity pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, and Statutory Shared Parental Pay is provided in the table below. Totals for 2023-24Statutory Maternity Pay623,100Statutory Paternity Pay207,...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether officials of the UK Mission to Afghanistan have asked the Taliban to reconsider its decision to ban women from accessing midwifery education.

The UK is deeply concerned at reports of a ban on women accessing medical training in Afghanistan, including midwifery education. We strongly condemn the decision and officials from the Doha-based UK Mission to Afghanistan have met with Taliban leaders to...

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of skills training for the (a) construction, (b) planning and (c) architecture sectors.

The department is working closely with the construction sector to ensure its skills offer meets the needs of employers. We are working with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), Construction Skills Delivery Group (CSDG), industry leaders and other go...

What steps her Department is taking to ensure adequate numbers of skilled workers in the (a) construction, (b) planning and (c) architecture sectors.

The department is working closely with the construction sector to ensure its skills offer meets the needs of employers. We are working with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), Construction Skills Delivery Group (CSDG), industry leaders and other go...

When he plans to publish his Department's final delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

The final myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), delivery plan is a priority for the Department, and we aim to publish it in March 2025. We cannot comment on the exact content of the final delivery plan at this time, b...

What discussions her Department has had with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on coroners’ reports of deaths associated with online suicide forums.

The Ministry of Justice has worked closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on measures to support coroners when investigating child deaths, including those by suicide.Measures in the Online Safety Act 2023 give OFCOM the power t...

What estimate his Department has made of the number of deaths associated with online suicide forums in each of the last five years.

The Department does not hold this information centrally.