Written questions by Morrison.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increased funding for (a) quality assurance and (b) inspector training on the level of (i) serious incidents and (ii) child deaths in early years settings.

The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority, and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements for early years settings. Ofsted has delivered important changes to the way it works in response to the Big Listen consultation. This work is important and ongoing. Parents of young children and babies rightly expect all inspections to be high-quality, consistent and conducted with the highest levels of professionalism.As announced in the recent Best Start in Life publication, Ofsted will receive additional investment from the department to raise the quality and consistency of inspections. While there is no additional funding allocated to directly early years settings at this time in relation to this, we will be working with Ofsted to strengthen quality assurance and to deliver focused inspector training.Ofsted are also increasing inspection frequency to ensure better oversight of early years settings. More regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality. We know that this sentiment is echoed in the early years sector and are determined to help all children get the best start in life.We constantly monitor and review the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework requirements and how these requirements are inspected by Ofsted to ensure children are kept as safe as possible. Changes are informed by extensive engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts and using lessons learned from previous incidents. Ofsted inspectors are early years professionals with relevant knowledge of safer sleep practice and can assess a provider’s adherence to the relevant safer sleeping requirements in the EYFS.

Whether safe sleep practices are included in early years qualifications; and whether her Department plans to make this training mandatory.

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements all early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2. The safety of our children is the department’s utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the EYFS safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.Within the EYFS there is a requirement for babies to be placed down to sleep in line with the latest government safety guidance, accessible here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/. The department is currently exploring whether changes are needed to these requirements and are due to meet with various safe sleep experts.The department works closely with Ofsted to analyse data on safety within early years settings, including inspection data and serious incident reports. This informs our ongoing monitoring and review of the EYFS safeguarding requirements and whether any changes are required.The Level 2 Early Years Practitioner criteria, and the Level 3 Early Years Educator criteria, can be found at Annex C and Annex E of the Early Years Requirements and Standards document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a4fc4e0e720adbd4f6ae27/Early_years_qualification_requirements-and-standards.pdf. Both criteria contain references to suitable sleep provision, and staff must meet these criteria in order to work within staff:child ratios.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with social housing providers on the (a) Decent Homes Standard and (b) the provision of furnished tenancies in social housing, in the context of levels of furniture poverty.

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing on all issues facing social housing tenants and with a range of stakeholders on issues facing residents and has engaged with groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their research on this issue. On 2 July, we opened a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors. It can be found on gov.uk here. People in need may be able to get support from their local authorities via the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally. The Deputy Prime Minister is also part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing on children.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that regulatory frameworks at (a) Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and (b) other hospitals do not inhibit patients in obtaining (i) prosthetic eyes and (ii) novelty prosthetics through the National Artificial Eye Service.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for the development and implementation of regulations for medical devices placed on the United Kingdom’s market, irrespective of the specific hospital in which they are used. All devices, including prosthetic eyes, must meet the relevant requirements of the UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (MDR 2002).The MHRA is developing a future regulatory framework for medical devices that will ensure patients have access to the safe and effective medical devices they need, including prosthetic eyes and other custom-made devices. The first step is the introduction of new Post-Market Surveillance regulations, which came into force in June, putting in place strengthened legal requirements for how manufacturers monitor and report on their devices once they are being used in the real world. We intend to follow this with updates to the MDR 2002, which will enter into force next year, bringing further risk-proportionate improvements to ensure device traceability and patient safety. This will include additional measures that must be taken before a product can be placed on the market, including enhanced requirements for custom-made devices. To support patient access to medical technologies, the MHRA recently consulted on proposals to introduce an international reliance scheme to enable swifter market access for certain devices that have already been approved in a comparable regulator country. The agency will publish a response to that consultation in due course.

What steps hi Department has taken to support GP practices who have taking on patients coming from private healthcare backgrounds.

The National Health Service and general practices (GPs) are free at the point of use, and anyone is entitled to register with an NHS GP regardless of whether they have had private healthcare before.Under the GP Contract, a contractor must not host private paid-for GP services that fall within the scope of NHS funded primary medical services, and must not themselves, or through another person, advertise the provision of private services using the same written or electronic means used to advertise the NHS funded primary medical services they provide.This does not prevent individual GPs from offering purely private GP services to non-registered patients, although these services must be outside the agreed medical services and separate to the services provided to their NHS patient list and on alternative premises which are not NHS-funded. This is intended to safeguard the model of comprehensive NHS primary medical care and ensure that the line between NHS and private practice does not become blurred.The British Medical Association provides guidance to GPs on its website for their responsibility in responding to private health care.

What steps she is taking to improve the (a) accuracy and (b) speed of her Department's decision-making processes for asylum seekers.

The Home Office continues to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement, including innovative methods to speed up asylum decision making and improve the quality and consistency of our work. The latest quarter saw the second highest three-month period for people receiving initial decisions since comparable records began in 2002, and more than double (+116%) those in the three months before the election (April to June 2024).

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department monitors trends in levels of furniture poverty in (a) England and (b) the UK.

My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing on all issues facing social housing tenants and with a range of stakeholders on issues facing residents and has engaged with groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their research on this issue. On 2 July, we opened a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors. It can be found on gov.uk here. People in need may be able to get support from their local authorities via the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally. The Deputy Prime Minister is also part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing on children.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional support to people on waiting lists for an ADHD diagnosis who show clear symptoms.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including assessments and support for people suspected or confirmed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted that the demand for assessments for ADHD has grown significantly in recent years and that there are severe delays for accessing ADHD assessments.The independent ADHD taskforce, commissioned by NHS England to consider these issues and how to address them, recently published its interim report. The report recommends the need for timely access to needs-based support, including practical help for people showing signs of ADHD, such as coaching, classroom tools, and parenting advice. The taskforce's final report is expected to be published later this year, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.The Government is also supporting earlier intervention for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through the Early Language Support for Every Child and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programmes. The Government will be investing in support for pupils with SEND more widely, enabling transformation of the SEND system to make mainstream schools more inclusive and to improve outcomes.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to increase social housing supply.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771).

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of decreases in levels of spending welfare on the capacity of the Household Support Fund.

Social security spending is forecast to increase. We are providing £742 million in England to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. And we secured the first ever multi-year settlement for the HSF – now the Crisis & Resistance Fund - until 2029 to give councils certainty over funding. This will ensure vulnerable households in the most need can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. We have shared guidance and documentation ahead of the launch of the scheme, arranged and facilitated a series of Delivery Plan Drop-in and LA Knowledge Share sessions, to support LAs with completing Delivery Plans and with planning for the new scheme. No further assessment has been made.

What steps her Department is taking with local authorities to support the integration of refugees that have been granted leave to remain.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 26 June to Question 61436.

What steps his Department is taking to help reduce wait times for (a) assessment and (b) diagnosis of ADHD in Greater Manchester.

NHS England has established an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce which is bringing together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support. An interim report was published on 20 June 2025, with the final report expected to be published later in the year.For the first time, NHS England published management information on ADHD waits at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan. NHS England has also released technical guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving the quality of ADHD waits data and publishing more localised data in future. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services and is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.The Greater Manchester ICB has recently conducted reviews of both children and young people’s and adult ADHD pathways. The ICB has been working with people with lived experience and has developed new service models which aim to provide earlier, fairer, and more effective ADHD support locally. The ICB expects to begin implementing these pathway changes in the coming months.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that there is a wide range of customisations available to patients at all providers when procuring prosthetic eyes through the National Artificial Eye Service.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning artificial eye services. The National Artificial Eye Service supplies one artificial eye free of charge. Customised bespoke artificial eyes can be provided to patients at the time of the supply of a National Health Service prosthesis at a small cost. Further information, including examples of customisations provided to patients, can be found on the National Artificial Eye Service website, at the following link:https://www.naes.nhs.uk/custom-eyes

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect intellectual property rights in the training of AI models.

The Government recently consulted on the use of copyright material in AI model development.The Government is currently analysing responses to that consultation, to help inform policy development. The Government will continue to engage extensively on this issue and proposals will be set out in due course.We have committed to report on progress to Parliament by December.

What steps her Department is taking to review the financial support available to carers whose role ends due to the death of a disabled adult child; and if she will introduce (a) a bereavement payment or (b) extended support for long-term carers in such circumstances.

Entitlement to Carer's Allowance in England and Wales can continue for up to eight weeks following the death of the disabled person who was being cared for. If the carer is in receipt of Universal Credit, entitlement continues for the next two full monthly assessment periods following the assessment period in which the Disabled Person dies (a maximum of 13 weeks). These run-on periods support carers who have recently been bereaved by giving them some time to adapt to their new circumstances. Within DWP there are a range of employment support programmes available to people who are or have been providing care. Support offered can include access to skills provision, referral to Restart careers advice, job search support, volunteering opportunities and access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Israel on hostages in Gaza.

Since day one, this Government has been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability. The remaining hostages must be released and the only way to return them safely is through a deal. The UK is playing an active role in coordination with our international partners and continue to urge all parties to re-engage in ceasefire negotiations to get the hostages out and to secure a permanent end to the conflict. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Ministers continue to regularly engage their Israeli counterparts on this issue.

What discussions her Department has had on the potential impact of its forthcoming legislation on umbrella companies which engage temporary staff with the (a) NHS, (b) construction sector and (c) healthcare sector.

The government is introducing legislation to close the tax gap by making recruitment agencies that use umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. This measure is expected to protect around £2.8 billion of tax revenue from being lost to umbrella company non-compliance across the scorecard period to 2029-30. In relation to this measure, officials have engaged extensively with the representatives of the recruitment industry that provide temporary workers to these sectors and will continue to do so. The government will set out full details of how this measure will operate, alongside draft legislation, later this year. As well as a consultation period, the government will support businesses as they prepare for the implementation of this measure by engaging with stakeholders before legislation is introduced into Parliament and publishing technical guidance for businesses that will be affected by it.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Council Tax banding appeals process conducted by the Valuation Office Agency.

The Council Tax banding appeals process is governed by the statutory requirements set out in the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and secondary legislation. In England, primarily the Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009 and the Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009. In Wales, primarily the Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) Regulations 1993 and the Valuation Tribunal for Wales Regulations 2010. Responsibility for administering the appeals process sits with the Valuation Tribunal for England and the Valuation Tribunal for Wales.

Whether the Government has provided any funding for the UAV Tactical Systems joint venture between Thales UK and Elbit.

The Ministry of Defence has not provided any funding direct to UAV Tactical Systems Limited - it is a sub-contractor to Thales.

What steps she is taking to ensure that (a) experienced and (b) new teachers in mainstream schools receive adequate training for teaching neurodivergent children.

The department provides continuing professional development to the school and further education (FE) workforce through the Universal Services programme, led by the National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen). This programme helps the school and FE workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) earlier and more effectively.From September 2025, the new initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF) will set out a minimum entitlement to training for all new teachers. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and SEND which was tested with SEND educational experts, to ensure new teachers are equipped to support pupils with a range of additional learning needs.The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential and has committed to review the ITTECF in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support. This review will include a focus on teaching pupils with SEND.Also in November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, which includes clinicians, scientists, academics, education experts and third sector organisations. The group will make recommendations on the best ways to support and meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people in mainstream education settings.The department is also investing in the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, which is a national programme backed by £22 million of investment. PINS deploys specialists from both health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children.