The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has announced an ambition to create 100,000 new jobs in the retail sector for young people by 2029, supporting more young people to take their first step into work. This is a significant commitment from one of the UK's largest employment sectors and an important contribution towards the Government's ambition that every young person has the opportunity to build the skills, experience and connections needed to move into work.

As part of this ambition, BRC is launching 'Opening Shift' a new joint DWP and BRC work experience programme for 18–24 year old jobseekers. ‘Opening Shift’ will provide retail work experience, workplace support and interview experience, helping young people to build skills, confidence and experience employers are looking for.

The commitment complements the Government's Youth Guarantee, which is backed by £2.5 billion of additional investment and will ensure young people can access the support, training, work experience and opportunities they need to move into employment, education or training. ‘Opening Shift’ will play an important role in helping deliver the Youth Guarantee's commitment to provide 150,000 work experience opportunities by 2029.

BRC represents a wide range of retail employers across the UK, and young people across the country will benefit from opportunities created through this partnership. The opportunities available in individual areas will depend on participating employers' business needs and local presence.

Work Experience is available to all claimants throughout their claim. Young jobseekers will be offered a work experience placement as part of their Youth Guarantee Journey which may include referrals to Opening Shift opportunities, where these are available and appropriate for the individual.

The information requested is not available from published information.

Backed by £400 million capital investment, the school-based nursery programme will deliver tens of thousands of new places by expanding early education and childcare places where it is most needed. This will help more families access funded childcare and give children the best start in life.

The department has already made an impact, awarding £82 million in capital funding to more than 600 primary and maintained nursery schools, which is expected to deliver over 11,000 new nursery places by September 2027. This includes 3 schools in Fylde: Clifton Primary School, Singleton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, and Treales Church of England Primary School.

Schools report that by the end of September 2026 450 new and expanded nurseries will have created over 9,000 new places since the start of the programme.

Local authorities have until 5pm on 30 September 2026 to submit their funding proposals for phase 3.

Following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, all schools with primary-age pupils will be required to offer a free breakfast club. New groups of schools will be onboarded in stages throughout 2027/28 to ensure we can continue to provide appropriate support.

There is currently one school delivering a free breakfast club in the Fylde constituency, Medlar-with-Wesham Church of England Primary School, who joined the programme during the early adopter phase. For this first year of national rollout, places on the free breakfast club programme were offered to schools with primary provision who have higher levels of disadvantage.

We look forward to more schools in Fylde joining the programme as national rollout continues, getting the benefits of a healthy breakfast, a soft start to the day, and childcare savings to more children and families.

One employer based in the Fylde constituency was named on 3^rd September 2026 for underpaying the national minimum wage.

The department includes information on which employers are based in which constituency in the spreadsheet published with each National Minimum Wage naming round. You can find the spreadsheet for the 3^rd September round here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a984c515a0c25165ae46814/Round_24_Naming_Publication_Spreadsheet.xlsx

The Department assesses proposals for ticket gate installations against a range of criteria, including value for money, deliverability and local operational considerations. We did not receive any proposals for ticket gate installations at stations serving Blackpool, Kirkham & Wesham, Poulton-le-Fylde or Lytham as part of the first phase of the rollout. Any future proposals for these or other stations would be considered against the relevant assessment criteria.

The government has set aside over £1 billion across the Spending Review period to meet the additional meal costs associated with extending free school meals to all children in households receiving Universal Credit. Funding for individual schools will depend on the number of pupils who become newly eligible. In 2026/27, mainstream schools will receive additional support through the Free School Meals Expansion Grant, which provides £505 per additional eligible pupil per year, with a pro-rata rate of £295 per pupil for the period September 2026 to March 2027, while the funding system adjusts to increased eligibility.

From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, all children in households receiving Universal Credit attending state-funded schools in England are eligible for free school meals. We anticipate that over half a million additional pupils nationally will become eligible as a result of this expansion, which is expected to lift around 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. Eligibility will depend on household circumstances and the number of families in receipt of Universal Credit whose children were not previously entitled to free school meals.

Pearson Education Limited has apologised for failing to return the 2026 key stage 2 SATs results on time, and for the impact on schools, pupils and parents. Schools rightly expect results to be delivered on time, and the department recognises the frustration this delay has caused to schools across England. A thorough review will be conducted into how such a serious failing could have occurred.

This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Fylde directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Government is committed to making our roads safer for all users, which will in turn reduce the risk to horse riders.

The new Road Safety Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035.

This target will focus the efforts of road safety partners across Britain, with measures to improve road design, protect vulnerable road users, and review motoring offences.

The Department already recognises that horse riders are vulnerable road users with safety needs. Accordingly, the Highway Code covers horse riders and the need for drivers to exercise special care in relation to them.

Rule 49 of the Highway Code highlights the legal requirement for children under the age of 14 to wear a helmet that complies with the Regulations and advises all other riders to follow these requirements.

The Government will bring forward a High Streets Strategy later this year, backed by £301 million. Some of this funding is expected to support High Street Innovation Partnerships, supporting some of the most challenged high streets to transition into mixed-use models, fit for the future. Further detail will be set out in due course.

The Government cannot provide exact figures for eligible businesses by specific location. Eligibility for BICS will be determined through an application process that will open on 1 October 2027. The Government’s response to the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme consultation on eligibility sets out the parameters to by which decisions on eligibility will be made.

The Department for Business and Trade will also be publishing an online eligibility checker later this summer to enable businesses to self‑assess whether they are likely to be eligible for the scheme.

More than 1,400 schools will join the free breakfast club programme from September, offering a free breakfast club to all pupils from Reception to Year 6. This brings the total number of schools on the programme to more than 2,700 from September and includes two schools in Fylde: Westminster Primary Academy and The Maple School.

For this first year of national rollout, places on the free breakfast club programme were offered to schools with primary provision who have higher levels of disadvantage, and to schools on the food-only National School Breakfast Programme. All schools who were invited to apply for the programme have been offered a place. You can see the full list of more than 2,700 schools on the programme on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopters-schools-in-the-scheme.

New groups of schools will be onboarded in stages throughout 2027 and 2028 to ensure we can continue to provide appropriate support to ensure successful delivery.