My hon. Friend is right that tackling reoffending and youth crime needs a cross-Government effort. It is an issue for the Department for Education, the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and indeed the Ministry of Justice. That is why on Thursday I will be in No. 10 North with colleagues from across Government launching our new strategy to devolve youth justice services so that they serve places and localities and the people within them.

On 1 September, the Lord Chancellor announced from this Dispatch Box a further £4.5 million to better support and supervise children, in order to move them away from criminality. Earlier this year, we published the youth justice White Paper, and we are getting on with the job of delivering that reform across the country.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing the important work of Together Gloucestershire to the House’s attention. It is an excellent example of where social value can ensure that British taxpayer’s money is directed towards delivering British jobs and skills in our constituency. I will ask the Minister and our officials to meet with my hon. Friend and businesses in his constituency.

Last month I announced reforms to public procurement that will cut red tape and focus social value on delivering good jobs and skills development. In the autumn, I will publish new guidance to ensure that central Government procurement consistently supports jobs, skills and people in every postcode.

The Government will support good growth in every postcode, including in Cornwall and Gloucester. We have already established No. 10 North to work in partnership with local leaders, businesses and communities, and at the Budget next month we will publish plans for further fiscal devolution, including greater retention of business rates revenue for local councils and strategic authorities.

My hon. Friend is a great champion for his constituency. The Cabinet statement on devolution set out the Government’s ambitions to accelerate devolution across the country by establishing a strategic authority for every area in England that wants one by the end of 2028. All strategic authorities, including those without a mayor, will benefit from greater powers over skills, transport and housing.

The Government are undertaking a number of pieces of work to look at what more we can do to revitalise our high streets. The Secretary of State and I are looking specifically at what more we can do to arm local authorities with the powers they need to bring empty homes back into use.

Ofcom is the independent regulator of postal services and is responsible for setting Royal Mail’s performance targets under the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

Ofcom’s regulation, under its Designated Universal Service Provider Condition, requires Royal Mail to monitor its performance, or procure the monitoring of its performance, on its USO services including Second Class mail. Royal Mail also publishes quarterly and annual reports on its quality of service. These are published on the website of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services: www.internationaldistributionservices.com/en/regulation/universal-service-obligation/quality-of-service/.

The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce.

Endometriosis is identified as a priority condition in the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, where women experience unacceptably long delays to diagnosis, pain being dismissed, and fragmented care.

Clinical pathways for heavy periods and pelvic pain, including endometriosis, will be redesigned to reduce repeat appointments, unnecessary referrals, and long waits.

The strategy also announces a new programme to improve education for girls about their menstrual health, investing an additional £1 million to support targeted work in schools and community settings to support girls’ knowledge about menstrual health and when to seek healthcare. This is an important factor in delays in diagnosis and treatment for endometriosis.

Menstrual problems, including those caused by endometriosis, are prioritised as one of the first pathways to be delivered through community-based services and the new virtual hospital, NHS Online.

These measures will support women across the country with endometriosis, including in Gloucester.

With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy. This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

No estimate is available of the number or proportion of people aged 16 - 24 years who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in constituencies. The survey used to estimate 16-24 NEETs has too small a sample to produce robust estimates at this level. Estimates of the 16-24 NEET rate in English regions are available at Get Britain Working: Labour Market Insights April 2026 - GOV.UK

The lifelong learning entitlement (LLE) will replace and transform the existing student finance system for higher education at Levels 4-6. It will support this ambition by making modular provision eligible for funding for the first time.

An equality analysis was published about the LLE in 2023 and is available on GOV.UK. A subsequent equality analysis was published alongside the Lifelong Learning (Fee Limits) Regulations 2026 that were laid before the House on 18 May 2026.

The department expects the LLE to have a positive impact on mature learners and for them to benefit from the ability to use their student finance entitlement more flexibly.

The department has not made an estimate of the impact on mature student enrolment, or local upskilling opportunities specifically in the Gloucester constituency.

In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as we have successfully rolled-out the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents.

30 hours per week of government funded childcare will save families using their full entitlement up to £8,000 per eligible child per year.

Coram–PACEY’s 2026 Childcare Survey shows the expansion of government funded entitlements in 2024/25 brought the cost of a part-time childcare place for eligible working parents back to what it was in 2005. It additionally found that the expansion of 30 hours of funded childcare significantly reduced costs for eligible working parents in England, in some cases making part time childcare effectively free during term time.

For 2026/27 the local authority funding rates per hour for Gloucester are:

Under 2-year-olds: £11.35, 2‑year‑olds: £8.37, 3 and 4‑year‑olds: £6.03.

A pre-evaluation assessment was conducted by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) to examine the feasibility of different evaluation designs for assessing the efficacy of the Turnaround Programme. It was concluded that despite considerable efforts it would not be possible to deliver a randomised controlled trial (RCT) or quasi-experimental design (QED) evaluation of the Turnaround programme as it was not possible to establish an appropriate comparator or control group. It has therefore not been possible to assess the impact of Turnaround on reoffending rates, either nationally or at constituency level. The YEF report is available at: https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Turnaround-Evaluation-Pre-Evaluation-Assessment.pdf

However, evidence from an independent implementation and process evaluation of the Turnaround programme shows that, as of December 2024, only 7% of children who completed Turnaround interventions across England and Wales had offended as proven by a judicial decision or caution within 12 months of completion. This figure is published in the Turnaround Programme – Independent process and implementation evaluation report available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/turnaround-programme-independent-process-and-implementation-evaluation-final-report

A regional breakdown of offending outcomes for children who took part in the Turnaround programme based on programme management information has also been published by the Ministry of Justice, covering the period of January – December 2023. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/turnaround-programme-management-information

The Government understands the importance of reliable bus services in enabling people to stay connected and access education, work and vital services. We are committed to delivering better bus services and the Bus Services Act 2025 puts passenger needs, reliable services and local accountability at the heart of local bus services by putting the power back in the hands of local leaders right across England, including in Gloucester.

The Government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services long-term in the Spending Review, confirming over £3 billion from 2026/27 to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services for millions of passengers. This includes multi-year allocations for local authorities under the Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) totalling nearly £700 million per year, ending the short-term approach to bus funding and giving councils the certainty they need to plan ahead to improve services for local communities.

Gloucestershire County Council will be allocated £24.9 million under the LABG from 2026/27 to 2028/29, in addition to the £8 million they received in 2025/26. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services can be used in whichever way they wish to deliver better services for passengers, including expanding services and improving reliability.

Apprenticeship starts in Gloucester so far for the 2025/26 academic year (August 2025 to January 2026), along with earlier full academic year data, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/cb43461e-e56d-4442-3041-08dec5ee8a21

These figures are published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication, which can accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships

The department is investing to expand support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across the system, with a focus on strengthening inclusive mainstream provision. This includes £1.6 billion over three years through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, alongside over £200 million to train all staff to better identify and meet pupils’ needs.

This investment will help settings deliver high‑quality, adaptive teaching and put in place early, evidence‑based support, ensuring children can access the help they need without delays.

In addition, we are investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships to develop a new ’Experts at Hand’ offer, strengthening mainstream education through improved access to specialist advice and support such as educational psychologists and speech and language therapists. Gloucestershire has been allocated £4,605,308 in year one.

The Government and the National Health Service are taking steps to ensure that all people in England living with cancer can access timely and quality care, including in Gloucester.

NHS England aims to empower individuals with choice and control over their health and care through personalised care, focusing on promoting independence, good health, and well-being. This includes provision of information, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. Where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer, including in Gloucester, will have access to personalised care, including a needs assessment, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support.

The National Cancer Plan, published in February 2026, aims to redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. More cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, with growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate. In addition, the NHS will ensure patients have a named neighbourhood lead to help coordinate their care locally, working alongside hospital specialists to provide continuity, reduce fragmentation, and make it easier for people to navigate services.

Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts, which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.