Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of families expected to benefit from the 30 hours of free childcare by council area in the East of England.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. We are delivering more support to working families than ever before with the rollout of 30 hours government-funded childcare.
The department does not hold data on estimates of the numbers of families expected to benefit by area.
However, we do collect data on eligibility codes, which show the number of children, down to local authority level, who have benefitted. This information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/expansion-to-early-childcare-entitlements-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated/2025-may.
This data is being updated periodically in response to the hours rollout.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of existing national planning policy and guidance in relation to meanwhile use.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such an assessment.
The government recognises the important role that meanwhile use can play in activating empty high street units, including through pop-up shops and community hubs, while longer-term plans are developed.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data her Department holds on the scale of ride sharing car services.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold any data on the scale of ride sharing car services.
However, to help better understand the scale of usage I have commissioned officials to consider how we can support and promote the use of car club and car-sharing schemes, starting with a roundtable of industry stakeholders.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of existing regulatory frameworks governing travel companies that market or sell tickets to animal-based tourist attractions.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has made no such assessment. Overall responsibility for consumer regulation, including Package Travel Regulations, sits with the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of giving National Highways a remit to increase the efficiency of motorways and major A roads by incentivising increasing the number of people in a car.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways does not currently have a formal policy on car sharing but recognises the role it can play in reducing congestion. National Highways will continue to seek opportunities to collaborate with partners and stakeholders to support a more efficient and sustainable strategic road network, including initiatives such as car sharing.
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 steps her Department is taking to prevent the resale of stolen mobile phones in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) Cambridgeshire and (c) Suffolk.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft and the resale of stolen devices is a priority.
Earlier this year the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including work to disrupt the resale of stolen phones, exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and working with the police to better understand the routes used to sell stolen phones.
The Home Office is driving this work with the police and other stakeholders to tackle this criminality.
In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 potential merits of allowing NHS trusts to reduce mileage reimbursement to incentivise use of pool vehicles.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no specific assessment has been made, the NHS Staff Council, which has responsibility for maintaining the Agenda for Change system of pay and terms and conditions, is currently negotiating a new mechanism that will assess the costs of motoring to determine mileage reimbursement rates. Further updates from the NHS Staff Council’s work will be made in due course.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Great British Railways will introduce a centralised lost property system across the rail network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Great British Railways will bring the track, train and rail estate together under one organisation. This will enable it to more effectively adapt and create a system to better suit passenger needs. We are working closely with industry on opportunities to optimise the approach to standards across the rail sector.
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 impact of the decision to extend UK e-scooter rental trials until 2028 on (a) private and (b) public funding of active travel infrastructure.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has made no specific assessment of the impact of e-scooter trial extensions on active travel infrastructure investment.
In the Spending Review we announced £616 million for Active Travel England from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to support local authorities to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of road traffic incidents in which unrestrained pets have caused (a) injury to vehicle occupants, (b) difficulty for emergency services accessing vehicles and (c) secondary accidents as a result of pets escaping following a collision.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is not held by the Department.