Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of not including grassroots and community sports clubs in the bodies subject to The Prevent Duty.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Prevent duty applies to specified authorities including local authorities, education, health, police, and criminal justice agencies. Whilst no formal assessment of applying the duty to grassroots and community sports clubs has been made, this is not required for such organisations to work with Prevent in stopping people from becoming involved in, or supporting, terrorism.
Prevent statutory guidance can be used to inform best practice in sectors that are not specified authorities. The Home Office also has a central fund, the Preventing Radicalisation Fund (PRF), to support project delivery. This initiative has established a catalogue of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), including community and grassroots sports clubs that have a track record in implementing Prevent-relevant projects, which aim to reduce the risk of radicalisation at a local level. There are currently 70 CSOs on the PRF framework, of which 4 are sports clubs but this initiative would be open to any local grassroots organisations to join. The Home Office funded 93 projects for the financial year 2025/2026.
Anyone, including staff or volunteers at grassroots and community sports clubs, can make a Prevent referral if they are concerned that someone is at risk of becoming radicalised. These concerns can be raised with Counter Terrorism Policing via the 24/7 Act Early support line on 0800 011 3764. Further information is available at www.actearly.uk/contact.
Where there is an immediate risk of harm or danger to life, emergency services should be contacted via 999.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the levels of delays in the international extradition of individuals suspected of murder and other serious violent offences; and what steps her Department is taking to expedite extradition proceedings and reduce delays.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
This Government recognises the importance of robust extradition arrangements in creating a pathway to justice for all victims of crime. Extradition in the UK is very largely a judicial process, with strong legal safeguards and independent decision making. The Government works with operational and international partners to support effective extradition cooperation and ensure that individuals accused or convicted of serious offences can be surrendered to face trial or serve their sentence.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms exist for grassroots and community sports clubs to report concerns on radicalisation and potential terrorist activity.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Prevent duty applies to specified authorities including local authorities, education, health, police, and criminal justice agencies. Whilst no formal assessment of applying the duty to grassroots and community sports clubs has been made, this is not required for such organisations to work with Prevent in stopping people from becoming involved in, or supporting, terrorism.
Prevent statutory guidance can be used to inform best practice in sectors that are not specified authorities. The Home Office also has a central fund, the Preventing Radicalisation Fund (PRF), to support project delivery. This initiative has established a catalogue of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), including community and grassroots sports clubs that have a track record in implementing Prevent-relevant projects, which aim to reduce the risk of radicalisation at a local level. There are currently 70 CSOs on the PRF framework, of which 4 are sports clubs but this initiative would be open to any local grassroots organisations to join. The Home Office funded 93 projects for the financial year 2025/2026.
Anyone, including staff or volunteers at grassroots and community sports clubs, can make a Prevent referral if they are concerned that someone is at risk of becoming radicalised. These concerns can be raised with Counter Terrorism Policing via the 24/7 Act Early support line on 0800 011 3764. Further information is available at www.actearly.uk/contact.
Where there is an immediate risk of harm or danger to life, emergency services should be contacted via 999.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of inheritance tax on middle-income households whose estates are primarily comprised of residential property, including the effect on their ability to fund social care costs; and what proportion of estates were liable for inheritance tax in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
Inheritance tax is only paid by a small number of estates. For the 2023-24 tax year, the most recent year available, fewer than 5% of UK deaths resulted in an inheritance tax charge.
No inheritance tax is due on any property, money, or other assets passed on to a spouse or civil partner, more widely, various nil-rate bands, exemptions, and reliefs exist including a £325,000 nil-rate band and a residence nil-rate band of a further £175,000 for those passing on a qualifying residence on death to their direct descendants, such as children or grandchildren. This means qualifying estates can pass on up to £500,000 and the qualifying estate of a surviving spouse or civil partner can pass on up to £1 million without an inheritance tax liability.
Information of the proportion of estates liable for inheritance tax is published online at the following:
Inheritance tax should not affect the ability of individuals to fund social care costs as it is only paid on the estate of someone who has died.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women's health hubs have been established in NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB in each of the last three years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) established a virtual Women’s Health Hub in 2023/24 as a foundation for wider service development in subsequent years. One Women’s Health Hub was then established in 2024/25. In 2025/26, four Women’s Health Hubs were established in Portsmouth, Southampton, Isle of Wight and Hampshire, alongside a mobile women’s health service offering menopause and long-acting reversible contraception services, and a core women’s health offer through pharmacies providing health checks, cardiovascular disease screening and contraception services.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of screening provisions for (a) breast cancer and (b) cervical cancer.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential benefits of excepting SEND transport operators from National Insurance contribution increases to relieve pressures on local authority budgets.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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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Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children from families not eligible for 30 hours of Government-funded childcare per week are not disadvantaged when starting primary school.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of enforcement of safer sleep standards across early years settings.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of introducing a career development strategy for nursery staff, including a requirement for staff working with children aged two to four to hold, or be working towards, a relevant Early Years qualification, in order to improve recruitment and retention.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.