Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2026 to Question 16191 on Child Trust Fund, whether she has considered the potential merits of requiring social workers with responsibility for looked after young people to provide (a) information and (b) assistance to access unclaimed Child Trust Fund accounts.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is important that young people, including looked-after children and care leavers, are able to access financial assets held in their name. Existing statutory guidance already sets out responsibilities for local authorities in relation to Child Trust Funds for looked-after children, including guidance intended for social workers and Independent Reviewing Officers. These arrangements are kept under review.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2026 to Question 16191 on Child Trust Fund, whether he has made an estimate of the proportion of unclaimed Child Trust Fund accounts registered to (a) currently and (b) previously looked after young people.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Child Trust Fund (CTF) Taskforce has met twice. It brings together Government and industry to improve tracing outcomes and encourage more young people to access their matured CTFs. Providers have shared tracing approaches, and the Taskforce is considering how effective practices can be adopted more widely across the sector. Discussions have also focused on improving engagement with account holders, strengthening communications and developing measures to assess progress. This work is being supported by HMRC research into the barriers that prevent some young people from accessing their accounts.
We cannot estimate the proportion of unclaimed CTF accounts registered to (a) currently and (b) previously looked after young people because the information required to identify these accounts is not included in the statistical returns that HMRC receives from providers. Information on CTFs is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics published on Gov.uk:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2025
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2026 to Question 16191 on Child Trust Fund, if he will provide an update on the work of the CTF taskforce to improve tracing approaches for unclaimed funds.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Child Trust Fund (CTF) Taskforce has met twice. It brings together Government and industry to improve tracing outcomes and encourage more young people to access their matured CTFs. Providers have shared tracing approaches, and the Taskforce is considering how effective practices can be adopted more widely across the sector. Discussions have also focused on improving engagement with account holders, strengthening communications and developing measures to assess progress. This work is being supported by HMRC research into the barriers that prevent some young people from accessing their accounts.
We cannot estimate the proportion of unclaimed CTF accounts registered to (a) currently and (b) previously looked after young people because the information required to identify these accounts is not included in the statistical returns that HMRC receives from providers. Information on CTFs is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics published on Gov.uk:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2025
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a postgraduate student with a valid Student Visa, who has been asked to leave the UK to apply for an Innovator Founder Visa, would have their Student Visa revoked during the assessment process for an Innovator Founder Visa.
Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Student visa holders do not need to leave the UK to apply for an Innovator Founder visa, provided they have completed the course they were sponsored to study or, if they are studying for a PhD full-time, they must have been studying for at least 24 months.
Applicants must also meet all relevant eligibility requirements to apply for an Innovator Founder visa (https://www.gov.uk/innovator-founder-visa/eligibility).
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether postgraduate students already in the UK on a Student Visa can be exempted for the requirement to apply for an Innovator Founder Visa from outside the country.
Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Student visa holders do not need to leave the UK to apply for an Innovator Founder visa, provided they have completed the course they were sponsored to study or, if they are studying for a PhD full-time, they must have been studying for at least 24 months.
Applicants must also meet all relevant eligibility requirements to apply for an Innovator Founder visa (https://www.gov.uk/innovator-founder-visa/eligibility).
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether when new rolling stock is introduced to a railway line she requires accessibility accessories such as Harrington Humps to be relocated to ensure compatibility.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not require accessibility features such as Harrington Humps to be relocated solely because new rolling stock is introduced. However, when new trains are introduced, operators and infrastructure managers are expected to ensure that stations and rolling stock remain compatible and meet applicable accessibility requirements, and this may include assessing whether platform modifications or the repositioning of accessibility features are necessary at specific locations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) shortest, (b) median, and (c) longest time was for patients to receive the results of a suspected cancer biopsy for each of the last 12 months, broken down by hospital trust.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department does not hold the data on the shortest, median, and longest time for patients to receive the results of a suspected cancer biopsy, broken down by National Health Service trust.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to help improve NHS (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment pathways of patients suffering a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
Treatment for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks depends on the cause, site, and severity of the leak. CSF leaks are often treated conservatively, while others require procedures such as epidural blood patching, targeted patching, endoscopic skull-base repair, neurosurgical/spinal repair or, in selected cases, endovascular treatment of a CSF-venous fistula. These interventions are delivered through established specialist services and multidisciplinary teams.
Patients are managed through existing local and regional specialist pathways, with referral to centres with relevant expertise where required.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 developing a nationally coordinated (a) diagnosis pathway and (b) specialist service for patients with a suspected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
Treatment for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks depends on the cause, site, and severity of the leak. CSF leaks are often treated conservatively, while others require procedures such as epidural blood patching, targeted patching, endoscopic skull-base repair, neurosurgical/spinal repair or, in selected cases, endovascular treatment of a CSF-venous fistula. These interventions are delivered through established specialist services and multidisciplinary teams.
Patients are managed through existing local and regional specialist pathways, with referral to centres with relevant expertise where required.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the extent of the use of Large Language Models in providing inaccurate advice to HMRC customers relating to (a) self-assessment and (b) corporation tax returns.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to helping taxpayers get their tax right. While the use of external Large Language Models can be helpful, they may not always provide accurate tax advice and HMRC has no control over the way these models are trained. HMRC therefore encourages customers and agents to use official guidance and services on GOV.UK when meeting their tax obligations.
This includes GOV.UK Chat an AI-powered chatbot which uses a Large Language Model within guardrails developed by HMRC and DSIT/GDS. There is evidence that the GOV.UK chatbot’s responses are robust, as evidenced by a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, which chronicled a journalist using an adversarial line of questioning, who still received accurate replies.
HMRC also works closely with software developers and industry partners to promote the responsible use of AI, helping reduce the risk of errors and supporting customers to meet their tax obligations with confidence.