Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when her Department plans to (a) conclude its review of salary sacrifice schemes in the public sector and (b) make decisions on their future.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Public sector employers should consider the use of salary sacrifice schemes carefully. HM Treasury approval is generally required before new schemes are established, and we will consider carefully all requests which are made for scheme expansion.
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 steps his Department is taking to help protect barn owls in Sussex, in the context of the decline in breeding numbers in 2025.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The decline of the barn owl is attributed to several factors including the loss of suitable habitat, which limits the availability of hunting grounds; the use of rodenticides; road traffic collision; and the loss of traditional nesting sites.
To address their decline nationally, agri-environmental schemes are supporting barn owls by the funding of habitat creation, such as rough grassland for hunting, and by supporting the provision of nest boxes in suitable locations.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many officials are assigned to work in the secretariat of the independent commission into adult social care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently 11 officials assigned to work in the secretariat of the independent commission into adult social care, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey. This secretariat may expand as the commission carries out its work, and as Baroness Casey considers what further skills and expertise she needs.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of withdrawing funding from applied general qualifications on the number of young people not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department introduced 140 newly reformed qualifications to be taught from the beginning of this academic year and just announced a further 27 newly reformed qualifications which it will fund from August 2026. This includes newly reformed alternative academic qualifications and new technical qualifications in health and social care and related areas such as science, that will sit alongside the T Level in health and related A levels. The department is withdrawing funding from unreformed qualifications in the same areas, so that students can benefit from the higher quality reformed alternatives.
T Levels are out-performing other qualifications. Where a student wishes to study a large qualification in health they should undertake the T Level.
We published an equalities impact assessment alongside the outcome of the review of qualifications reform. The review is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-level-3-qualifications-reform-equality-impact-assessment. The department expects the impact on the number of young people not in education, employment or training, to be mitigated by the availability of T Levels and other reformed qualifications.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of withdrawing funding from applied general qualifications in Health and Social Care on the number of students studying courses in these subjects.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department introduced 140 newly reformed qualifications to be taught from the beginning of this academic year and just announced a further 27 newly reformed qualifications which it will fund from August 2026. This includes newly reformed alternative academic qualifications and new technical qualifications in health and social care and related areas such as science, that will sit alongside the T Level in health and related A levels. The department is withdrawing funding from unreformed qualifications in the same areas, so that students can benefit from the higher quality reformed alternatives.
T Levels are out-performing other qualifications. Where a student wishes to study a large qualification in health they should undertake the T Level.
We published an equalities impact assessment alongside the outcome of the review of qualifications reform. The review is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-level-3-qualifications-reform-equality-impact-assessment. The department expects the impact on the number of young people not in education, employment or training, to be mitigated by the availability of T Levels and other reformed qualifications.
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 that schools enable pupils with severe dietary conditions to access free school meal entitlements.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Schools are expected to make reasonable efforts to cater for pupils with particular requirements, for example to reflect medical, dietary and cultural needs, to ensure they are not put at a substantial disadvantage in relation to accessing meals.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on governing bodies of maintained schools, proprietors of academies and management committees of pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils at their school with medical conditions, which may be food-related. Schools must therefore take appropriate action in supporting such pupils to access free school meals provision.
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, whether he plans to review Disability Living Allowance criteria for children with severe dietary conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has no plans to review the criteria for children with severe dietary conditions.
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is available to children under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition, have mobility issues and/or have care needs which are substantially in excess of a child the same age without the disability or health condition.
Entitlement to DLA depends on the extent to which a child needs help with personal care, needs supervision or has difficulties with walking. It is the effects of the condition and the needs arising from those effects that are important, rather than the child’s particular diagnosis.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether multi-academy trusts can implement Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice schemes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
New electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes for academy trusts are currently paused. Academy trusts with existing schemes have been able to keep them in place, but not expand them by adding new members. This pause is subject to a review about salary sacrifice schemes in the public sector and a decision on these schemes by HM Treasury. The department will inform academy trusts when a decision has been made, and the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH) will be updated accordingly. The ATH is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-handbook/academy-trust-handbook-2025-effective-from-1-september-2025.
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 make cycling (a) safer and (b) more accessible through funding for (i) protected cycle lanes, (ii) well-lit routes and (iii) other new infrastructure.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government treats road safety very seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. My Department is developing our Road Safety Strategy and will set out more detail when possible.
In the Spending Review we announced that we are allocating £616 million for Active Travel England from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to support local authorities to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure, which can include segregated cycle lanes and lighting.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to make changes to draft duty relief for (a) consumers, (b) pubs and (c) breweries in Mid Sussex constituency.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor’s draught rate cut at Autumn Budget 2024 applied to approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This took a penny of duty off a typical strength pint at a cost to the Exchequer of over £85m a year. Draught beer and cider now pay 13.9% less in duty than their packaged equivalents – an increase of over 50% on the previous draught discount of 9.2%.
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.