Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of approved advanced driving courses on motor insurance premiums for young drivers.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of advanced driving courses on motor insurance premiums for young drivers. Motor insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer and it is for them to decide whether a driver having completed an advanced driving course would reduce the level of risk that any given applicant poses.
Motor insurers use a wide range of criteria to assess the potential risk a driver poses before issuing a policy. This includes the age of the applicant, the type of vehicle being insured, the postal area where the applicant lives and the driving record and experience of the applicant.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what progress his Department has made on implementing the commitments in the Replacing animals in science strategy.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government published the Replacing Animals in Science strategy in November 2025, setting out a cross-government programme to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods. Delivery is underway across Government and partner organisations, supported by £75 million of investment. Progress includes the establishment of the £20 million Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub, guidance on the establishment of an alternative methods expert committee, new MHRA measures supporting the regulatory use of non-animal data, and £2 million funding for innovative human-relevant technologies to replace dogs in drug development. A delivery update and key performance indicators will be published later in 2026.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding her Department has provided to support the prevention of rural crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime and is taking a coordinated, cross-system approach to tackling this issue. To support the policing response, the Home Office is providing over £800,000 in 2026/27 to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit. These specialist capabilities provide intelligence, analysis, coordination and operational support to forces across the UK, helping to identify, disrupt and pursue offenders operating across force boundaries.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help pupils develop the skills to identify online misinformation and disinformation.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Media literacy is currently covered across the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), English and computing curricula. Pupils are taught to think critically about information, distinguish fact from opinion, evaluate evidence and use technology safely, responsibly and critically.
The updated statutory RSHE guidance, mandatory since 1 September 2026, strengthens learning about the online world. In secondary education, this includes critical thinking in relation to emerging technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and AI chatbots, deepfakes, misinformation and disinformation.
The government is also taking forward Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendations to strengthen media and digital literacy in the refreshed curriculum. We expect to consult publicly on the revised programmes of study later this year.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households using heating oil have received Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants to replace their heating system with a heat pump since 21 July 2026.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics are published monthly with a delay of approximately one month. The latest available data are for August 2026: Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics - GOV.UK. Table 1.3 provides information on the number of redemptions paid, broken down by the fuel type displaced since the scheme’s launch.
Across all technology types, a cumulative 15,106 voucher redemptions had been paid for the replacement of oil-heated systems through the scheme by the end of July 2026. By the end of August 2026 this had increased to 16,129 voucher redemptions, representing a further 1,023 voucher redemptions for installations displacing oil-heated systems during August 2026.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Help to Save accounts are held by people resident in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) Milton Keynes.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publishes Help to Save figures as part of their annual savings statistics publication, including a breakdown of Help to Save accounts by region. The latest figures are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2026.
Bedfordshire is in the East of England region, where 58,150 Help to Save accounts had been opened as of April 2026.
Milton Keynes is in the South East of England region, where 79,500 Help to Save accounts had been opened as of April 2026.
Following a consultation on its published statistics, HMRC removed Help to Save tables for Parliamentary Constituencies and Local Authorities for the 2023 publication onwards. The final version of these tables with a lower level geographical breakdown can be found in the 2022 Annual Savings Statistics publication, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2022
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to secure public water supplies in areas experiencing drought in winter 2026-27.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government works with EA and water companies ensuring they take actions required to secure water supplies, including fixing more leaks quickly, optimising and moving water around their networks and holding them accountable if they delay drought plan actions. National Drought Group meets weekly ensuring coordinated action across affected sectors.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many organisational Blue Badges are currently valid, broken down by local authority.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of March 2025, there were 21,440 valid Blue Badges held by organisations in England.
Information on Blue Badges held by organisations and a breakdown by local authority is published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/blue-badge-scheme-statistics-data-tables-dis#blue-badge-scheme-statistics-data-tables.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential for advanced vehicle safety technology to reduce motor insurance premiums.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of advanced vehicle safety technology on motor insurance premiums. Motor insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer and it is for them to decide whether advanced vehicle safety technology would reduce the level of risk that any given applicant poses.
Motor insurers use a wide range of criteria to assess the potential risk a driver poses before issuing a policy. This includes the age of the applicant, the type of vehicle being insured, the postal area where the applicant lives and the driving record and experience of the applicant.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her department has taken since the publication of the outcome of Fairer Food Labelling consultation to consider the potential role of method of production labelling reform.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy and the Farming Roadmap, we are committed to ensuring that consumers have access to clear information on how and where their food was produced.
To support this, we will continue working with relevant stakeholders, including the farming and food industry, scientists and NGOs to explore how improved animal welfare food labelling could provide greater consumer transparency, support farmers and promote better animal welfare. We will set out next steps in due course.