Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing holders of a UK Category B driving licence to drive motorhomes with a maximum mass of 4,250kg.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not yet made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing holders of a Category B driving licence to drive motorhomes with a maximum mass of up to 4,250kg. I acknowledge that this change is within the EU 4th Driving Licence Directive and the Department is considering whether to apply similar measures within Great Britain.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2026 to Question 107489 on Child Benefit: Maladministration, what records her Department holds on weekly management information and feedback from the compliance teams working the cases, in the context of page 10 of Data Protection Impact Assessment 15489.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Data Protection Impact Assessment, HMRC teams share management information and feedback on a weekly basis. This helps teams ensure that processes run as smoothly as possible.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written answer 100620 of 6 Jan 2025 on Slaughterhouses, whether the Food Standards Agency plans to begin routinely recording the method of slaughter used at the time an animal welfare breach is identified.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Approved slaughterhouses may use any legally compliant slaughter method. They are not required to notify the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in advance of the method to be used. Many establishments alternate between stunned and non‑stunned slaughter to meet differing market and trade requirements.
Breaches most commonly arise before slaughter commences. They are typically recorded for enforcement before a decision by the slaughterhouse operator on the slaughter method to be used. Examples include the handling of animals during unloading, or failures to provide adequate feed, water, or bedding.
As a result, in most cases the FSA is unable to attribute animal welfare breaches to a specific slaughter method because they occur prior to slaughter.
Similarly, requirements relating to CCTV, such as ensuring camera lenses are clean and recordings are securely retained, apply regardless of the slaughter method used. These do not necessitate different enforcement approaches based on the slaughter method. Attributing these types of failure to a particular slaughter method would be misleading.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written answer 100620 of 6 Jan 2025 on Slaughterhouses, how many slaughterhouses were subject to more than one enforcement action for animal welfare breaches in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Approved slaughterhouses may use any legally compliant slaughter method. They are not required to notify the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in advance of the method to be used. Many establishments alternate between stunned and non‑stunned slaughter to meet differing market and trade requirements.
Breaches most commonly arise before slaughter commences. They are typically recorded for enforcement before a decision by the slaughterhouse operator on the slaughter method to be used. Examples include the handling of animals during unloading, or failures to provide adequate feed, water, or bedding.
As a result, in most cases the FSA is unable to attribute animal welfare breaches to a specific slaughter method because they occur prior to slaughter.
Similarly, requirements relating to CCTV, such as ensuring camera lenses are clean and recordings are securely retained, apply regardless of the slaughter method used. These do not necessitate different enforcement approaches based on the slaughter method. Attributing these types of failure to a particular slaughter method would be misleading.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will reconsider the decision to withdraw the childminder tax agreement BIM 52751.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Childminders play a vital role in childcare. The Government has eased rules on working from schools and community centres and increased early years funding rates above 2023 average fees. These increases reflect increased costs, and from April 2026, local authorities must pass at least 97 per cent of funding to providers.
At Budget 2025 the Government confirmed that the standard rules for calculating income tax would apply to childminders who are mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD). We will phase in this change between 2026 and 2028, in line with the MTD income thresholds. The threshold from April 2026 is £50,000 of qualifying income, reducing to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028.
HMRC’s Business Income manual page BIM52751 is not being withdrawn. A revised version will be published in early 2026 to reflect the Government’s confirmation at Budget 2025 that the standard rules for calculating income tax will apply to childminders within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The guidance will also be clarified for childminders that work from non-domestic premises.
Childminders can continue to claim tax relief for wear and tear by deducting the actual cost of buying, repairing or replacing items. They can also deduct the cost of business expenses such as utilities, cleaning and equipment. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department issues to local authorities, police forces and licensed premises on the operation of Pubwatch schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Pubwatch schemes are voluntary, licensee-led local partnerships that operate independently of Government. Advice and practical resources for such schemes are provided by the National Pubwatch charity, which supports local groups across the country.
Separately, the Home Secretary issues statutory section 182 guidance under the Licensing Act 2003 to licensing authorities in England and Wales on the discharge of their functions. Licensing authorities must have regard to this guidance, which supports partnership working between licensing authorities, the police and industry to promote the four licensing objectives.
The section 182 guidance does not set operational requirements for Pubwatch schemes but does recognise and support industry led schemes such as Pubwatch as examples of good practice in promoting safer, well run licensed premises.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number and proportion of patients waiting 12 hours or more in Emergency Departments in England; and how Blackpool Victoria Hospital compares with the national average.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the NHS Constitutional standard.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements and make services better every day. The plan commits to reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This is supported by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.
The table attached sets out the proportions of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharged for England and the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, of which Blackpool Victoria Hospital is the only type 1 accident and emergency provider.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the company behind the Morgan windfarm pulling out of the project on the proposed Morgan and Morecambe cabling corridor.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The planning application for the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm Transmission Assets is a live case. The government is unable to discuss matters relating to live planning applications.
The UK is one of the most successful and attractive markets for offshore wind in the world and has seen £62 billion of private investment in clean energy industries since July 2024
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to NHS Trusts on the use of ward-wide audible alarm systems in maternity wards.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current obligations of tech companies to communicate to customers about how their data will be used.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) impose obligations on tech companies to process customers’ personal data lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely, unless certain limited exemptions apply. Organisations must only process personal data where there are legitimate grounds to do so, and be clear with people about how and why their data is being used, such as through privacy notices.
The data protection legislation is monitored and enforced independently of Government by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO has published guidance on transparency requirements here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-and-services/audits/data-protection-audit-framework/toolkits/accountability/transparency/.