The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and cutting waiting times across all specialities, including gynaecology.

Through the Elective Reform Plan, we are increasing the relative funding available specifically for gynaecology activity, introducing innovative models of care that deliver services closer to home, including women’s integrated neighbourhoods in the NHS South West London Integrated Care Board (ICB), and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for conditions such as post-menopausal bleeding.

As of April 2026, there are fewer than 16,800 pathways on the gynaecology waiting list in the NHS South West London ICB. 12 months ago, there were fewer than 17,000. Care is being delivered quicker with the percentage of patient pathways involving waits of less than 18 weeks for treatment improving to 64.5% from 57.8% in the same period.

In April, we published the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England. The strategy represents a decisive shift towards addressing longstanding failings in women’s health outcomes, experiences, and access to care.

On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out plans for spending and public sector reforms through the Spending Review 2025. This announcement confirmed departmental budgets for 2026/27 onwards and committed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, working with parents to help give children the best start in life.

This builds upon my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change, published in December 2024, which outlined the ambition to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood.

We are working within the department and with the Department for Health and Social Care to share further information about what the Spending Review settlement means for the continuation and expansion of the programme. We recognise the importance of providing local authorities with certainty of future funding across the whole programme and we will share further information when we are able.

No assessment has been made on this basis.

The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.

This government is committed to supporting unpaid carers, who provide invaluable support to elderly or disabled people.

As the Green Paper sets out, we will consider any impacts our reforms might have on benefits for unpaid carers as part of our wider consideration of responses to the consultation and as we develop our detailed proposals for change. We will also continue to work closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure everyone’s health and care needs are met.

We are taking other action to improve Carer’s Allowance separate to the Green Paper. We have pegged the weekly Carer’s Allowance earnings limit to 16 hours’ work at National Living Wage (NLW) levels, and in future it will increase when the NLW increases. The Carer’s Allowance earnings limit increased to be £196 a week net earnings on 7 April 2025, compared to £151 in 24/25. This is the largest ever increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976 and the highest percentage increase since 2001.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish its strategy as soon as possible. We are exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

The strategy will look across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in devolved governments.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour to boost the pay of three million workers.

The Right to Rent Scheme was introduced to ensure only those lawfully in the United Kingdom can access the private rented sector, and to tackle unscrupulous landlords who exploit vulnerable migrants, sometimes in very poor living conditions.

The Scheme applies equally to everyone, including British and Irish citizens seeking accommodation in the private rented sector in England. There is an extensive list of documents that tenants can use to prove their right to rent. The Scheme has been independently evaluated twice.

Statistics on levels of homelessness are overseen by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The latest official data on statutory homelessness in England can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-july-to-september-2024.

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence and to ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons.

The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to tackle absence, including those in the Battersea constituency. Central to this approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, including special schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance can be found here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.

The guidance promotes a support first approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs. The department is committed to ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs and will work with the sector as essential and valued partners to deliver our shared mission and restore parents’ trust.

Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.

The department is strengthening its tools for faster and more effective school improvement by launching the new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams. Supported by over £20 million, these teams will offer both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools. The RISE teams are now beginning work with the first 30 schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with additional schools to begin in April.

School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs, across all primary schools, including special schools, to ensure children start their day ready to learn.

The department is working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, which can be used to support eligible pupils to attend school regularly.

The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.

The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.

The 2022 public consultation on improved food waste reporting by large food businesses in England included an Impact Assessment which assessed the economic and environmental impacts of the of the voluntary and mandatory approaches to reporting. These assessments were made at the national level. No regional or local assessments have been made.

The Government sets the overall target and rules for the delivery of the Energy Company Obligation but does not direct where measures are installed; that is left to the obligated energy suppliers and their installers.

The Sustainable Warmth Strategy details its approach to tackling fuel poverty in England. The Government is currently reviewing this strategy.

The Government considers energy efficiency improvements to be the best way to tackle fuel poverty long term. Energy efficiency measures are available through schemes including the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant, Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) and the Great British Insulation Scheme. ECO4 runs from 2022-2026 at a value of £4billion.

The Government expect the Warm Home Discount scheme to provide over 3 million low-income and vulnerable households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate off their energy bill this winter.