From April 2027, integrated care boards (ICBs) will take on responsibility and accountability for commissioning vaccination services. This includes taking on responsibility for improving uptake towards the targets for vaccination coverage which are currently set out as key performance indicators in the National Health Service public health functions agreement 2026 to 2027. These targets will be maintained through delegation.

The NHS Oversight Framework provides a consistent approach to assessing how well providers and ICBs are delivering for patients and supporting improvement. Uptake of the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine and healthcare worker flu vaccine are included in the metrics used to assess ICB performance. The Department is continuing to develop the detail of our approach to oversight and accountability of the system as part of the transformation to merge NHS England into the Department.

Throughout this period and beyond we will continue to support new vaccination programmes with clear, time-bound delivery plans working with national partners, including the UK Health Security Agency, and partners throughout the system including, from April 2027, offices for pan-ICB commissioning and ICBs.

We will also continue to support commissioners to arrange high-quality vaccination services including supporting a strong core offer through general practice and school-age immunisation services as well as the arrangement of effective supplementary and targeted outreach services that drive uptake where needed and appropriate for population health needs.

The Government publishes statistics annually on Child Benefit which includes detail on the trends and explanations of take-up, including the implications from the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), at: Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2025 - GOV.UK

HMRC administers Child Benefit and regularly undertakes communications campaigns in press and social media to encourage people to claim. Last year, over 500,000 flyers were issued to new parents with a QR code that takes customers straight to the Child Benefit claim page on GOV.UK. HMRC also regularly runs communication campaigns and engages with partner organisations to remind families of the monetary and non-monetary benefits of claiming Child Benefit.

HMRC has also taken steps to simplify the administration of the HICBC and continues to keep these processes under review, while working to ensure that clear guidance is available so that eligible families can make informed decisions about claiming Child Benefit.

There are around 30 social tariff offers currently available to eligible consumers, however, Ofcom data shows that the take up remains relatively low: increasing from 380,000 households in September 2023 to 532,000 by June 2025. Due to an expansion in the number of eligible households, these figures represent 8.3% and 8.6% take up respectively as a proportion of eligible households.

In February 2026, the Government secured commitments from telecoms providers through the Telecoms Consumer Charter. These include ensuring social tariffs are easy to find and clearly signposted to eligible customers, alongside the Government's continued encouragement for more providers to offer social tariffs where they are able. Providers also commit to supporting all customers who are facing financial difficulty by offering practical support such as the ability to move to cheaper packages without charge or penalty or manageable payment plans.

Can the Secretary of State advise what steps will be taken and what funding provided to encourage young people to take up sport, drama and other activities when the social media ban comes into place?

Through the national youth strategy, we were absolutely horrified to find that a majority of young people in this country spend all, or almost all, of their free time alone in their bedrooms online. As part of the commitment to keep young people safe online and to get them out of their bedrooms and into the real world, we have been pleased to announce a significant uplift in funding for young people to ensure that we build the next generation of youth clubs and grassroots sports facilities, rebuild youth work and ensure that every young person has those opportunities in our country.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all pensioners receive the support to which they are entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign across the whole of Great Britain, promoting Pension Credit to eligible pensioners and their families. The campaign has featured advertising on television and radio, including Greatest Hits Radio, Classic FM, Smooth and Hits Radio Lincolnshire. The campaign has also featured in the national and local press, including advertorials in the Lincolnshire Echo, Grantham Journal, Lincolnshire Free Press, Spalding Guardian and the Stamford Mercury. Adverts have also appeared across social media and on digital screens in GP surgeries and Post Offices screens, including at 13 locations across Lincolnshire. The latest campaign burst launched in May 2026.

We are also using data to target potentially eligible households. For example, since February 2025 all new Housing Benefit claimants who may be eligible have been invited to apply for Pension Credit. We also conducted a trial with Age UK and Independent Age targeting 2,000 households in England, testing whether it is possible to identify potentially eligible households using HMRC and DWP data.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all pensioners receive the support to which they are entitled. That is why we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign across Great Britain, promoting Pension Credit to eligible pensioners and their families. The campaign has featured advertising on television and radio, social media, digital screens in GP surgeries and Post Offices screens as well as in the national and local press. The latest campaign burst launched in May 2026.

We are also using data to target potentially eligible households. For example, since February 2025 all new Housing Benefit claimants who may be eligible have been invited to apply for Pension Credit. We also conducted a trial with Age UK and Independent Age targeting 2,000 households in England, testing whether it is possible to identify potentially eligible households using HMRC and DWP data.

The Government is committed to stabilising and improving the uptake and access of vaccines, including those that protect against meningitis, across all immunisation programmes. This includes expanding routes to access, such as community pharmacies, as set out in the NHS Vaccination Strategy and the 10-Year Health Plan for England.

General practices (GPs) continue to prioritise the timely delivery of the meningococcal B (MenB) vaccination programme to all eligible children. The school-aged immunisation services are commissioned to deliver a 100% offer of the meningococcal ACWY (MenACWY) vaccine to eligible children. GPs also offer the MenACWY vaccine to those who missed the school-aged offer up to the age of 25.

As part of the vaccination strategy, digital improvements are in place to support the offer of these vaccinations and the data flows to ensure accurate reporting. The roll out of Manage Vaccination In Schools (MAVIS) by NHS England is supporting the offer of vaccines, including MenACWY, to school-aged children by providing a digital platform to improve the consent gaining process, data capture and flow and which sends automated reminders to parents.

We are working to improve vaccine uptake by strengthening training and support to healthcare professionals who have a central role in communicating accurate information about vaccination to parents and teenagers to support informed consent. In addition, national communication campaigns use paid-for marketing, partnerships with charities and influencers, and local stakeholder engagement to raise awareness, address misconceptions and counter misinformation.

The NHS Breast Screening Programme is seeing improvement in uptake nationally with annual data from NHS England for 2024/25 showing 70.6% of women attending their appointment. However, there is much more to do.

NHS England recently published a review of national actions to improve uptake and next steps. This review details actions taken at a national level so far, such as working towards introducing digital options for sending out invitations and managing appointments, raising awareness of the importance of screening through the media, and facilitating learning and gathering evidence to inform programme policy, pathway changes, and guidance.

The review supports breast screening service providers with national solutions, as well as setting out the focus to drive uptake even further. The programme of work will continue to evolve, reflecting and learning from ongoing improvements to the programme, including from data intelligence and digital innovation. The review is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-the-uptake-challenge-a-review-of-progress-and-next-steps/tackling-the-uptake-challenge-a-review-of-progress-and-next-steps#national-actions-to-improve-uptake-and-next-steps

Parents cannot receive more than one statutory payment at the same time, meaning Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP) is often taken at the end of Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay. As mothers can receive up to 39 weeks of maternity pay, and SNCP was introduced from April last year, many eligible mothers will have been in receipt of maternity pay at the point the data was extracted and may not yet have claimed SNCP.

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2025. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) Cases have been rounded to nearest 100.

3) Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding.

The Government is committed to supporting people with diabetes. Improving the uptake of annual diabetes health checks recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is a key primary care metric in the NHS Oversight Framework, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-oversight-framework-2025-26/

The framework sets out how NHS England will assess providers and integrated care boards, to identify where support is needed and promote improvement.

NHS England is also working closely with systems within the National Health Service to monitor improvement of achievement rates in delivering the annual diabetes health checks. To help deliver this, NHS England has recently launched a new National Diabetes Audit Care Processes and Treatment Targets dashboard to support systems to benchmark and improve delivery of the health checks.

On electric vehicle uptake, the Department for Transport has not assessed the potential impact of current electricity costs on the rate of uptake, and it is too early to determine how changes in fuel and electricity prices may influence electric vehicle adoption. The Department for Transport will monitor closely and remains fully committed to the ZEV transition.

On energy pricing, Ofgem are reviewing how we could recover energy system costs from consumers (including consumers who own electric vehicles) in ways that are fairer and more efficient through their Cost Allocation and Recovery Review. DESNZ are working closely with the regulator on this.

This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to attend higher education.

Targeted maintenance grants from the academic year 2028/29 onwards will provide up to £1,000 extra support per year to students from low income households studying courses aligned with the government’s missions and Industrial Strategy. It will be crucial that the subject list is informed by the best and most up-to-date evidence on skills needs, and we will confirm which subjects will be eligible for grants closer to launch. The grants will be available to new and continuing students undertaking full-time courses at levels 4 to 6, including technical qualifications and degrees, at university or college.

In parallel, we have established a Task and Finish Group to tackle regional disparities in access and the most systemic barriers across the journey into higher education for disadvantaged students.