Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what timetable HMRC has set for its review of Benchmark Scale Rates for employee subsistence; and whether that review will consider (a) increasing the five-hour and ten-hour meal allowance rates to reflect current food and drink costs and (b) introducing a mechanism for those rates to be regularly uprated in future.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
In June 2026, the Government announced a review of Benchmark Scale Rates and Overseas Scale Rates, to consider whether the current rates and structures remain appropriate and effective. The Government will consider the findings of the review before determining any next steps.
The Government keeps all taxes under review and decisions on tax policy are taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps, if any, the Department is taking to educate drivers about the Highway Code’s guidance on passing distances when overtaking cyclists.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The THINK! Campaign runs year-round radio filler adverts encouraging compliance with the guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. These were updated in 2025 to include specific messaging about the safe passing distances for cyclists and horse riders. We will continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
As our road environment and technologies evolve, providing education for all road users throughout their lifetime is vital to improving road safety. As set out in the Road Safety Strategy, this Government will publish for the first time national guidance on the development and delivery of road safety education, training and publicity. Alongside this, we will publish a manual to support the implementation of a Lifelong Learning approach for road safety.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her department has made of a) the potential reduction in water consumption, b) the cost of installation and c) the ongoing maintenance costs for householders with regards to greywater harvesting systems in new build homes.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises the benefits of greywater reuse in homes and is taking steps to support its use for domestic purposes. We have committed to reforming how greywater is used in homes through the Clean Water Bill, including an assessment of water savings, cost benefit analysis and management of systems.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her department has made of the potential merits of using greywater harvesting to reduce domestic water consumption.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises the benefits of greywater reuse in homes and is taking steps to support its use for domestic purposes. We have committed to reforming how greywater is used in homes through the Clean Water Bill, including an assessment of water savings, cost benefit analysis and management of systems.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure equal access to education for children with additional learning needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
An inclusive education system for all children and young people requires a strong universal offer, built on high-quality adaptive teaching and early, effective support.
To support the development of a more inclusive mainstream system, we are investing £500 million per financial year over the next three years through an Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) to support schools, colleges and early years settings with upfront funding to help them move towards becoming more inclusive by design.
We have published guidance for school leaders on how to develop an Inclusion Strategy and use their IMF allocations alongside core budgets to more effectively invest in inclusive approaches and activities that address barriers to learning and participation.
Beyond this investment, we have published guidance on Inclusion Bases, assistive technology, and other resources designed to help education and early years settings deliver high-quality inclusive learning environments and practice. Additionally, following changes to Ofsted inspections, settings are now held to account for their support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), through a new focus on inclusion. The renewed inspection framework sets out expectations for how leaders should ensure needs are identified and met, and how barriers to learning and engagement are removed.
The government is committed to supporting local areas to create high-quality places that are suitable to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, to enable more children and young people to access the right support in their local area. This will enable them to learn alongside their peers and siblings, instead of travelling a long way to a specialist school.
The department is investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding between 2025/26 and 2029/30, to support local authorities to provide places for children and young people with SEND, or who require alternative provision, across early years settings, schools, and colleges.
This funding is expected to fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, as well as adaptations to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings. It can also be used to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Additionally, the department is investing around £1.8 billion over three years to develop a new Experts at Hand offer, giving mainstream settings access to specialist support from key health and education professionals.
Our overall package of reforms will ensure every child gets the right support at the right time.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government plans to review the maximum amount jurors can claim for loss of earnings while undertaking jury service, and whether he considers the current allowance to be sufficient.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Jury service is an important civic duty, and the Government is committed to ensuring jurors feel supported throughout their service. People who are not paid by their employer whilst they are on jury service can claim a loss of earnings allowance from the court, and jurors can apply for a deferral or excusal based upon financial hardship. All support for jurors is kept under review to ensure that it remains appropriate and accessible
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of (a) cancellation rates and (b) service reliability on Thameslink services since the operator transferred into public ownership.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Thameslink services transferred into public ownership on 31 May 2026, and the Department has not yet made a formal assessment of trends in cancellation rates and service reliability since that transfer.
However, the new public sector operator has committed to a range of measures intended to improve reliability and reduce cancellations, including recruiting additional drivers, completing the Thameslink automatic train operation training programme and introducing further operational improvements across the network.
These measures will take time to implement, but they will have long lasting benefit to passengers.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what service targets apply to (a) application processing, (b) renewals, (c) payment processing and (d) complaint handling within Access to Work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Access to Work is a discretionary grant scheme and does not operate against published service targets for application processing or renewals.
The time taken to process applications and renewals will vary depending on a range of factors, including the complexity of the case and the provision of evidence from customers.
Access to Work operates a Service Level Agreement for payment processing. The current Service Level Agreement is to process payments within 10 working days of receiving the information required to make a payment.
Complaints are handled in accordance with the Department's complaints procedures. The Department aims to provide a full response to complaints within 15 working days.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to review Civil Enforcement Officer powers where there is a repeated contravention of parking restrictions over the course of a single day within a localised area.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are no plans to review Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) powers. In the event that multiple parking contraventions are observed, CEOs have powers to issue a Penalty Charge Notice in respect of each contravention.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to recover public funds lost through fraud, misconduct and the improper award of public contracts; and how much has been recovered in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This government is taking the strongest action against fraudsters that seek to take advantage of the public sector.
That’s why the government introduced the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act in December 2026 - giving us more tools to combat fraud, recover public money and allow the government to investigate fraud. The Procurement Act also takes tougher action on fraud and corruption against public contracts, excluding suppliers which have fallen foul of the fraud exclusion ground and pose particular risks.
Taking action against fraud and error has an impact. In 2024-25, the Government Counter Fraud Function delivered counter fraud and error savings of £7.53bn. This includes not only fraud and error recoveries, but also savings in prevented fraud and error. The Public Sector Fraud Authority’s Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Reports sets out where departments (except HMRC and DWP, which publish their own figures independently) have taken action to prevent and recover fraud and error.