The Government is committed to improving cancer screening services in line with the National Cancer Plan and as part of the 10-Year Health Plan’s shift from sickness to prevention.

The performance of all national screening programmes is under regular review, informed by advice from the UK National Screening Committee, NHS England, and ongoing analysis of programme and outcome data.

20,000 cancers were identified through breast screening in England in 2024/25, demonstrating the programme’s ongoing contribution to early diagnosis of breast cancer and ensuring women with cancer are referred to treatment in a timely manner.

Breast screening attendance has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with approximately 70.6% of women taking up their invitation to be screened and approximately 71.8% of eligible women up to date with screening.

Breast screening is estimated to save the lives of approximately 1,300 women each year in the United Kingdom.

The NHS Cervical Screening Programme is highly effective at preventing cancer as well as detecting disease early, primarily through the identification and treatment of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) and pre-cancerous changes.

The programme is estimated to save approximately 4,500 lives each year in England. As of 2023/24, 1,058 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer through screening while 70,286 were diagnosed with pre-cancerous changes of varying severity in cells on the surface of the cervix. 92.6% of women who had a referral to colposcopy for high grade, or more serious, cell changes were offered an appointment within two weeks.

Approximately 68.8% of eligible women were up to date with screening in the 2023/24 screening year in England. Later this year, we will start to offer self-testing for HPV to women who have missed their cervical screening appointments by at least six months. This expansion aims to overcome barriers that stop women from taking up cervical screening.

Home-to-school travel is an integral part of the school system. It provides a valuable service on which many families rely. The department is grateful to the many transport operators for the crucial role they play in ensuring that children receive the education they need to help them thrive.

Officials engage regularly with local authorities to understand the challenges they face and to monitor impact, but have not seen any significant impact of the National Insurance contribution (NIC) changes on home-to-school travel for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Local authorities are responsible for arranging home-to-school travel and deliver this through a range of in-house services and external providers.

Businesses can claim employer reliefs on NICs, where eligible. These reliefs are estimated to have been worth around £2.5 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.

Over 40% of employers (around 900,000) will not pay employer NICs in 2030/31, as their total employer NICs bill will continue to fall below the Employment Allowance, which was more than doubled to £10,500 in April 2025.

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The department is committed to ensuring that all children have the best possible start in life and is committed to improving school readiness with a clear ambition for 75% of children to reach a good level of development by 2028.

Support for parenting and the home learning environment is central to this, as what happens at home has the biggest impact on a child’s life chances. We are supporting families of children aged 0–5 to build strong foundations for development through everyday interactions such as talking, playing and reading.

To deliver this, Best Start Family Hubs have been expanded nationally, with a hub now available in every local authority area, making it easier for families to access universal support close to home.

Further, the government is rolling out universal childcare entitlements, helping more families access high-quality early education and childcare while supporting children’s learning and development before they start school.

The department set out its strategy in the ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ report. We are working with the sector to address barriers to recruitment and retention and create more opportunities to enter the profession and gain relevant qualifications.

The department sets the criteria that qualifications must meet in order for staff to be included in the staff to child ratios. These are known as ‘full and relevant’ qualifications. We will continue to simplify the number of early years qualifications on offer.

Having these qualification requirements ensures a consistent level of knowledge and skills across all settings, so that every child receives a quality early education and receives the best start in life. Any individual that does not hold a full and relevant qualification can only work as an unqualified member of staff.

To check whether a qualification is considered full and relevant, practitioners and managers can now use the department’s digital registry at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-an-early-years-qualification.

We want more people to achieve a level 3 qualification. To do this, we are working to develop an Assessment Only route for experienced staff to achieve level 3 recognition, which is similar to those in other education professions.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe. The statutory guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.

All early years providers are already required to meet the safer sleep requirements set out in the EYFS statutory framework, available at: https://www.nhs.uk/baby/caring-for-a-newborn/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/.

Ofsted is responsible for inspecting registered early years providers against the EYFS requirements and can take regulatory action where providers fail to meet them.

The department continually reviews safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible. We are planning to update the wording in the EYFS framework so that the safer sleep requirements are set out directly in the statutory framework, rather than through a link to NHS safer sleep guidance, from September 2026, subject to parliamentary and legislative process.

Ofsted has also announced it will inspect safer sleep practice at every early years inspection. This sits alongside additional investment to strengthen inspection and regulatory activity, including funding to deliver an additional 3,000 unannounced inspections each year, helping to strengthen oversight of compliance with safer sleep requirements.

The department’s priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of pupils and staff during periods of extreme heat. Schools are supported through the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Met Office heat‑health alerts, alongside clear guidance on practical mitigations such as adapting the school day, improving ventilation, ensuring hydration and reducing strenuous activity.

The department’s position is that schools should remain open wherever it is safe to do so, as attendance supports pupils’ learning, wellbeing and safeguarding, and helps ensure children remain in a supervised environment. Decisions on whether to close or restrict attendance are taken locally by school leaders, who are best placed to assess safety in their setting.

Where it is not safe for all pupils to remain on site, schools may adapt their approach, including adjusting the school day or providing high quality remote education to support continuity of learning. Schools are expected to inform parents of any disruption and prioritise provision for vulnerable pupils and children of critical workers, in line with emergency planning guidance.

The department also provides clear public health messaging and encourages schools to share advice with families on staying safe in hot weather, including staying hydrated, avoiding peak heat, and keeping indoor environments cool.

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.

The department does not hold data on the number of parents or carers that are entitled to government funded childcare and have purchased additional hours.

We are delivering more support to working families. Eligible working parents of children aged 9 months and older are now benefiting from 30 hours of funded childcare per week (over 38 weeks a year). Families using their full entitlement can save an average of £8,000 per child per year.

In 2026/27 we expect to provide over £9.5 billion in early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24.

As announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, the department is leading a cross-government review into the early education and childcare support that is provided by different parts of government. The Review is supporting the vision for early education and care set out in the ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ publication, one that strengthens children’s life chances across the country, supports parents’ work choices, is simpler and easier to use, and improves access.

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.

The department does not hold data on the number of parents or carers that are entitled to government funded childcare and have purchased additional hours.

We are delivering more support to working families. Eligible working parents of children aged 9 months and older are now benefiting from 30 hours of funded childcare per week (over 38 weeks a year). Families using their full entitlement can save an average of £8,000 per child per year.

In 2026/27 we expect to provide over £9.5 billion in early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24.

As announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, the department is leading a cross-government review into the early education and childcare support that is provided by different parts of government. The Review is supporting the vision for early education and care set out in the ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ publication, one that strengthens children’s life chances across the country, supports parents’ work choices, is simpler and easier to use, and improves access.

The 15 or 30 hours must be accessible free of charge to parents and there must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the free hours.

Paragraph A1.38 of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities states that local authorities must take all steps available to ensure that the free entitlements are available free of charge and that providers do not charge parents for top‑up fees or any general charges, including but not limited to supplementary charges on top of the government-funded hours.

The statutory guidance also emphasises transparency at the heart of how the entitlement should be passed on to parents, including that any additional costs should be clear on websites, contracts, and invoices.

This Government is introducing comprehensive policing reforms to strengthen neighbourhood policing and ensure forces have the capability to respond to the crimes that matter most to their communities, including in rural areas.

Through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, every community, rural or urban will have named, contactable officers and stronger local policing presence, with forces supported to deliver an additional 13,000 neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. By February 2026, we had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles. The first-year growth target was first exceeded in January 2026, two months ahead of schedule. Local forces retain flexibility to determine the workforce needed to meet their specific crime demands.

In addition, every neighbourhood, rural or urban, now gets named and contactable officers dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour locally. Every rural area will also be covered by a Local Policing Area under a commander responsible for emergency response, local crime investigation and neighbourhood policing. They will be set targets to ensure they answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds and attend 90% of the most serious incidents within 20 minutes in rural areas.

Alongside this, we are strengthening specialist national capability. We are providing over £800,000 of funding to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit this financial year. These units provide specialist operational support to police forces, improve coordination and partnership working, and share best practice across the country.

The National Rural Crime Unit plays an important role in supporting forces to tackle organised criminality affecting rural communities, including theft of machinery and livestock. By improving coordination across forces and partners and supporting targeted operations, the Unit is strengthening the collective response to serious and organised crime and helping to disrupt the criminal networks that operate across regional and national borders.

Together, these reforms and specialist capabilities ensure police forces are equipped to maintain and strengthen their response to rural crime, including tackling the organised criminal networks that drive it.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 109172 on 6 February 2026.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to green space.

We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in the summer.

We recognise that families and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can face significant pressures, including on their mental health and wellbeing, and are not always able to access the support they need. Decisions about the design and delivery of local mental health and SEND services in North East Hampshire are made by local commissioners and providers to meet the needs of their population. However, we are committed to ensuring that the National Health Service provides timely, effective support for those experiencing mental health difficulties.

Through the 10-Year Health Plan, we are expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies so that more people, including parents and carers experiencing anxiety and depression, can get evidence-based support. We are also expanding access to mental health support teams in schools and colleges, which support children and young people and can also work with parents and carers where appropriate, to reach full national coverage by 2029. In addition, NHS services continue to provide specialist community-based support for children and young people with more complex needs.

Other support is available to families and carers of children with SEND. SEND Information, Advice and Support Services (SENDIAS), provided by local authorities, offer free impartial, confidential, and legally based information, advice, and support across education, health, and social care. The Department for Education is also putting more money into parent carer forums and local SENDIAS services, so parents have access to good, independent advice that helps them understand their rights and navigate the system with confidence.

More broadly, the Schools White Paper Every Child Achieving and Thriving and the SEND Reform consultation document set out the Government’s ambitions to transform outcomes for children, young people, and their families who have been let down for far too long. Following the closure of the SEND Reform consultation on 18 May, consultation responses are being reviewed alongside feedback gathered through more than 200 engagement events held over a 12‑week period.

Where it is considered to be in the claimant’s best interests, those who are vulnerable or who have accumulated arrears may have their rent payments sent direct to their landlords. Rent is a contractual agreement between a tenant and their landlord, which DWP is not party to. These administrative arrangements do not interfere with that contractual relationship and the tenant remains responsible for meeting their rental liabilities.

In general, there is no compensation available to landlords if errors or delays lead to arrears of rent as this would absolve them and the claimant of their responsibilities. The landlord remains responsible for pursuing any rent arrears in the normal way.

In cases of maladministration the Department may consider redress which may take the form of an apology, an explanation of what happened and what has been done to rectify matters or corrective action. In cases where an individual landlord is personally engaged in the management of their property(ies) and in the administration of their tenants’ rents and maladministration has caused an injustice or hardship, financial redress can be considered. Such payments are non-statutory and discretionary.

Services for people with epilepsy are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs) so the responsibility of services in Hampshire would sit with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB.

We recognise the very important role that epilepsy specialist nurses play in providing care to people with epilepsy, in conducting ongoing reviews and medication monitoring, and in supporting self-management, thereby helping to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and improve quality of life.

The updated service specification for specialised adult neurology services, which NHS England published in August 2025, sets out that clinical nurse specialists can play a key case manager role for patients with long-term neurological conditions such as epilepsy.

The Government has already made progress in increasing the number of frontline staff, improving working conditions, and making the National Health Service a rewarding and fulfilling place to work. This is helping to ensure patients receive the timely care they need.

However, we must go further. The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will set out the action we will take to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

The government is committed to ensuring every young person is equipped with the skills, knowledge and experiences needed to progress into skilled employment.

We are improving careers guidance through the updated Gatsby Benchmarks, career hubs, careers leader training and greater employer engagement.

We are reforming the post-16 qualifications landscape so that technical and academic qualifications better support progression into skilled employment and meet employers' needs. We are also supporting 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, including through expanded foundation apprenticeships, a £2,000 hiring payment for non-levy employers, and full funding for non-levy employers recruiting 16 to 24-year-old apprentices.

Alongside this, we are working towards delivering our manifesto commitment to guarantee two weeks' worth of work experience for every secondary pupil and continue to promote apprenticeships, T Levels and other technical routes. Through the Construction Skills Programme and Industry Placement programme, learners can gain valuable workplace experience and progress into skilled employment.

Significant progress has been made across England in recent years, as specialist perinatal mental health services are now available in all areas in England. In addition, Maternal Mental Health Services provide specialist care for women with moderate/severe or complex mental health conditions arising from birth trauma, tokophobia, or loss in the maternity/neonatal context.

In the 12-month rolling period ending May 2026, 66,580 people were in contact with specialist perinatal mental health community services. This is a 3% increase on the same period in 2025, in which 64,789 people were in contact with specialist perinatal mental health community services. However, we know there is work to do to ensure all women receive timely access to the care they need.

The Department does not collate numbers or produce statistics for this purpose.

A request for a Managed Payment to a Landlord (MPTL) is considered on a case-by-case basis and is not automatically granted. An MPTL may not be accepted where the claimant does not meet the criteria for an Alternative Payment Arrangement.

Where a MPTL has been requested because of rent arrears, the department contacts the claimant and provides an opportunity to provide any contrary evidence. Claimants are given seven days to respond before a decision is made. Decisions are made using all available evidence.

The Department for Transport has not made a specific assessment of the impact of short-notice rail service cancellations on the economy in the constituency of North East Hampshire. However, the Department recognises that cancellations and poor reliability can affect passenger journeys, access to employment and services, and wider economic productivity, and these impacts are considered through rail performance monitoring and appraisal processes.

The Department for Transport has not made a specific assessment of the impact of rail ticket prices on commuters travelling from Fleet, Winchfield and Hook to London. However, the Department considers the impact of fares on passenger demand, affordability and travel behaviour through its wider rail appraisal and analysis processes when informing rail policy and fares decisions.

This Government has set out its ambition to simplify the fares and ticketing system and drive innovation across the network. Once established, I expect Great British Railways to consider the potential for loyalty schemes as a way of encouraging more people to travel by rail.