Written questions by Foxcroft.

What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Violence Reduction Units in reducing youth violence.

Crime prevention is key to the government’s Safer Streets mission and ambition to halve knife crime. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) play an important role by uniting local partners to collectively identify and address the underlying drivers of serious violence within their communities.This financial year (2025/26), we have allocated £47m to a network of 20 VRUs, in the areas experiencing the most severe challenges, to support their valuable work. In addition, we have provided further funding to enable the roll out of Young Futures Panels in the first year of their establishment.The most recently published independent evaluation demonstrates that VRUs, in combination with additional hotspot police patrols, are reducing hospital admissions, with a clear impact on their target cohort of young people under 25. There were statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions for violence amongst this age group. In addition, VRUs continue to demonstrate progress and show signs of maturing and becoming embedded in local responses to prevent violence.Allocations decisions on Violence Reduction Units and the wider policing system will be finalised early this year.

When her Department will announce funding arrangements for Violence Reduction Units for future financial years.

Crime prevention is key to the government’s Safer Streets mission and ambition to halve knife crime. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) play an important role by uniting local partners to collectively identify and address the underlying drivers of serious violence within their communities.This financial year (2025/26), we have allocated £47m to a network of 20 VRUs, in the areas experiencing the most severe challenges, to support their valuable work. In addition, we have provided further funding to enable the roll out of Young Futures Panels in the first year of their establishment.The most recently published independent evaluation demonstrates that VRUs, in combination with additional hotspot police patrols, are reducing hospital admissions, with a clear impact on their target cohort of young people under 25. There were statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions for violence amongst this age group. In addition, VRUs continue to demonstrate progress and show signs of maturing and becoming embedded in local responses to prevent violence.Allocations decisions on Violence Reduction Units and the wider policing system will be finalised early this year.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of central Government funding for Violence Reduction Units.

Crime prevention is key to the government’s Safer Streets mission and ambition to halve knife crime. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) play an important role by uniting local partners to collectively identify and address the underlying drivers of serious violence within their communities.This financial year (2025/26), we have allocated £47m to a network of 20 VRUs, in the areas experiencing the most severe challenges, to support their valuable work. In addition, we have provided further funding to enable the roll out of Young Futures Panels in the first year of their establishment.The most recently published independent evaluation demonstrates that VRUs, in combination with additional hotspot police patrols, are reducing hospital admissions, with a clear impact on their target cohort of young people under 25. There were statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions for violence amongst this age group. In addition, VRUs continue to demonstrate progress and show signs of maturing and becoming embedded in local responses to prevent violence.Allocations decisions on Violence Reduction Units and the wider policing system will be finalised early this year.

Whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of providing longer term funding for violence reduction units, beyond the current one year settlement.

Crime prevention is key to the government’s Safer Streets mission and ambition to halve knife crime. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) play an important role by uniting local partners to collectively identify and address the underlying drivers of serious violence within their communities.This financial year (2025/26), we have allocated £47m to a network of 20 VRUs, in the areas experiencing the most severe challenges, to support their valuable work. In addition, we have provided further funding to enable the roll out of Young Futures Panels in the first year of their establishment.The most recently published independent evaluation demonstrates that VRUs, in combination with additional hotspot police patrols, are reducing hospital admissions, with a clear impact on their target cohort of young people under 25. There were statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions for violence amongst this age group. In addition, VRUs continue to demonstrate progress and show signs of maturing and becoming embedded in local responses to prevent violence.Allocations decisions on Violence Reduction Units and the wider policing system will be finalised early this year.

What assessment her Department has made of the projected financial impact of the new 12% premium insurance rate for Motability leases on (a) Motability users and (b) the car industry.

At Budget 2025, the government announced tax changes to the Motability scheme, which will save over £1 billion over the next five years. The VAT relief for top-up payments made to lease more expensive vehicles will be removed for new leases from 1 July 2026, and Insurance Premium Tax will apply at the standard rate to new insurance contracts on the Scheme from 1 July 2026. The tax changes will not apply to vehicles designed, or substantially and permanently adapted, for wheelchair or stretcher users. These tax changes ensure Motability can continue to deliver for its customers, for example through the continued provision of a broad range of vehicle models available without any top-up payments. Further detail on the impacts of the tax changes can be found in the Tax Impact and Information Note here:Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 91415 on Citizenship: Teachers, what steps she is taking to train and support teachers to teach citizenship as a national curriculum subject at Key Stages 1 and 2; and if she plans to fund additional training routes to help meet this need.

Work is underway to deliver a new curriculum and assessment system, including Programmes of Study for citizenship at key stages 1 and 2. Working closely with the sector, we are working towards a first teaching of the new curriculum from September 2028.Proposals will be consulted on from 2026 to ensure that we are capturing the important views from those most impacted. This will inform decisions about teacher training to support implementation. We will provide time for familiarisation and high quality digital resources through Oak National Academy (Oak).Oak draws expertise from the best in the sector and shares it with teachers. Its curriculum partners include high performing school trusts, subject associations, education charities, publishers and universities. All resources are openly licensed and free for anyone to use and adapt.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 91414 on Citizenship: Teaching, what method her Department uses to assess whether citizenship is a shortage subject in schools in the absence of subject-specific data.

The Teacher Workforce Model (TWM) is used each to year estimate required number of teachers, which the department then uses to calculate the number of trainees needed. This includes those on postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT), which is the largest source of new trainees. Required PGITT trainee numbers and actual numbers of PGITT trainees are published annually.

What recent progress his Department has made towards publishing the details of the Warm Homes Plan.

We are working across Government on a comprehensive Warm Homes Plan to cut energy bills for good, we will publish more details soon.

What recent progress his Department has made towards publishing the details of how funding will be allocated to different schemes under the Warm Homes Plan.

We are working across government on a comprehensive Warm Homes Plan to cut energy bills for good. At almost £15 billion, the Warm Homes Plan is the single biggest public investment programme in energy efficiency in UK history. This includes £1.5 billion increased capital in this Budget to support driving forwards with home upgrades.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 87803 on Access to Work Programme, whether his Department holds data on the (a) number and (b) proportion of Access to Work applications that have closed in each financial year from 2022-2023 to 2025-26 to date by (i) stage of the claim and (ii) reason for closure.

The Department for Work and Pensions does not close Access to Work applications. Instead, applications may be approved or not approved following assessment. The Department holds data on the number of applications that were not approved at the application outcome stage for each financial year as follows:2022/23: 31,482 applications were not approved (30% of all decisions)2023/24: 33,886 applications were not approved (24% of all decisions)2024/25: 34,874 applications were not approved (27% of all decisions)2025/26 (to October 2025): 27,297 applications were not approved (33% of all decisions)This represents a total of 108,314 applications not approved between April 2022 and October 2025, accounting for 28% of all decisions made during that period.Data on non-approvals is only recorded at the application outcome stage. The reasons for non-approval include:No contact from the applicantInsufficient evidence providedApplicant not eligibleApplication not pursued

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 87802 on Access to Work Programme, whether his Department has any plans to collect data on employment outcomes for Access to Work customers following reassessments.

Access to Work is only available to individuals who are in employment. The Department for Work and Pensions does not therefore collect data on employment outcomes for Access to Work applicants, including after reassessments. In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of the Access to Work scheme. We are considering responses to the consultation and will set out our plans in due course.

What steps she is taking to ensure that Ofsted (a) inspections and (b) public reporting properly reflect schools’ statutory obligations to deliver Citizenship education.

These are matters for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Lewisham North and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

How many new teachers have been recruited since July 2024; and how many of those are citizenship teachers.

Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.41,736 qualified teachers joined state-funded schools in England for the 2024/25 academic year, the latest date for which data is available. This has been available since 5 June 2025 and, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3d4415a2-a099-427d-d209-08de2129b4fd..A breakdown of the above figure by subject taught is not available.

What steps she is taking to ensure that Citizenship is treated on an equal footing with other statutory National Curriculum subjects within Ofsted’s inspection framework.

These are matters for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Lewisham North and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the exclusion of citizenship from the teacher training bursary list on the (a) recruitment of specialist teachers and (b) ability of schools to deliver high-quality citizenship education.

The department is working with the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession across all subjects, including citizenship. As a first step, this government has increased teacher pay by almost 10% over two years.Our Plan for Change is committed to recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament to ensure sufficient teachers across all subjects. We are making good progress with the workforce has grown by 2,346 on a full-time equivalent basis between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, where it is needed most.Trainee bursaries are reviewed annually to ensure we are focusing on the subjects most in need. Our commitment of over £200 million for bursaries in 2026/27 follows improved recruitment, with 10% more acceptances to start initial teacher training courses this year compared to last year and the teacher leaver rate falling to 9%, one of the lowest on record. In 2024/25 3,685 teachers taught citizenship.

What steps she is taking to ensure that specialist Citizenship teachers are recruited and retained; and what steps she is taking to extend bursaries to this subject.

The department is working with the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession across all subjects, including citizenship. As a first step, this government has increased teacher pay by almost 10% over two years.Our Plan for Change is committed to recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament to ensure sufficient teachers across all subjects. We are making good progress with the workforce has grown by 2,346 on a full-time equivalent basis between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, where it is needed most.Trainee bursaries are reviewed annually to ensure we are focusing on the subjects most in need. Our commitment of over £200 million for bursaries in 2026/27 follows improved recruitment, with 10% more acceptances to start initial teacher training courses this year compared to last year and the teacher leaver rate falling to 9%, one of the lowest on record. In 2024/25 3,685 teachers taught citizenship.

Whether she plans to introduce a funded programme of national CPD to build teacher confidence in delivering Citizenship education.

The department recognises the importance of providing schools with the tools they need to deliver high quality teaching.Oak Academy draws expertise from the best in the sector and shares it with teachers. Its curriculum partners include high performing school trusts, subject associations, education charities, publishers and universities. All resources are openly licensed and free for anyone to use and adapt.The Educate Against Hate website has a range of resources to support education staff, governors and parents in protecting children from radicalisation and building their resilience to extremism.National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) are part of a wider evidence-based national continuing professional development offer available to teachers throughout their career. This begins with initial teacher training through to the implementation of an early career framework-based induction for early career teachers and NPQs for more experienced education professionals.

What assessment her Department has made of the impact of (a) VAT and (b) Insurance Premium Tax exemptions on the affordability of Motability Scheme advance payments.

The Motability Scheme allows those eligible for a qualifying mobility allowance to lease a new car, Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair. The Motability Scheme receives relief from VAT and Insurance Premium Tax. The level of advanced payments is commercially determined by the Motability Operations Group, which is independent of Government. A number of vehicles are currently available through Motability without any additional payment beyond the enhanced Mobility component of PIP. The Government keeps all taxes under review, and the Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of the overall public finances.

What assessment his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) percentage of Access to Work applicants who have lost their employment after a reassessment resulted in a reduction in the support they receive through the programme.

The Department for Work and Pensions has not assessed the (a) number and (b) percentage of Access to Work applicants who may have lost their employment following a reassessment that resulted in a reduction in the support they receive. The programme does not collect data on employment outcomes following reassessment decisions. Customers who disagree with a reassessment outcome may request a reconsideration of their award.The scheme is there to support disabled people to start and stay in employment by providing tailored support based on individual needs. However it has not been substantially changed since its introduction in 1994. Given that, the government has consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.

Whether his Department holds data on the (a) number and (b) proportion of Access to Work applications terminated in each financial year from 2022-2023 to 2025-26 to date by (i) stage of the claim and (ii) reason for termination.

The Department for Work and Pensions does not terminate Access to Work applications. Instead, applications may not be approved following assessment.