Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he will take steps to ensure that individuals seeking a divorce are automatically eligible for legal aid in cases where evidence demonstrates that a child of the family has been subjected to abuse.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government recognises that legal aid – a vital part of the justice system – supports the ability of individuals to access publicly funded legal assistance to uphold their legal rights.
Legal aid is available for private family proceedings, such as divorce and financial remedy proceedings, if an adult is a victim of domestic abuse or at risk of being abused. Funding is subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests. The Government recognises that abuse may include behaviour directed at a third party, for example the victim’s child, to influence the victim. In May 2025, we amended the legislation to explicitly reflect this definition of domestic abuse; it now reflects the definition of domestic abuse from the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and it clarifies that behaviour, violence or abuse between individuals may consist of or include behaviour, violence or abuse directed at another individual.
Legal aid is available for individuals for some private family orders, such as child arrangement orders or prohibited steps orders, if the child who is the subject of the order is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse. This is subject to providing evidence of child abuse and passing the means and merits tests.
The Government monitors legal aid provision and is carefully considering the criteria that govern financial eligibility for legal aid.
Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, eligible individuals may be able to obtain Exceptional Case Funding where they can show that, without the provision of legal aid, there is a risk that their human rights may be breached.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targeted support his Department is providing people with asthma during the winter period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has provided £2.61 million of funding in 2025/26 to support people with respiratory conditions this winter, including improving access to diagnostic tests such as spirometry to support early and accurate diagnosis of asthma.
The funding builds on the work of NHS England to improve asthma outcomes, including the publication of commissioning standards for spirometry and the inclusion of Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators to support asthma diagnosis and management. These measures will support asthma patients to manage their condition throughout the year, including during the winter period.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for local pedestrian safety of encouraging local authorities to prioritise the creation and connectivity of active travel routes in ways that could affect their eligibility for Active Travel funding.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Active Travel England (ATE) undertakes assurance of new or upgraded schemes in close collaboration with local authorities. Submitted scheme designs are put through a series of checks using the ATE scheme review tools, last published in February 2024.
These tools include an assessment of the critical safety issues for walking, wheeling and cycling to support local authorities over scheme quality. Additional guidance on how to work with the safety issues was published in November 2025.
Eleven of the sixteen critical safety issues relate to walking and cover examples such as conflict at junctions, trip hazards, the standard and positioning of crossings and the condition of the footway. Tool outputs for completed schemes are considered as part of authority active travel capability ratings, which in turn help to determine future funding impacts.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that accredited rail retailers offer standardised and automated Delay Repay compensation directly to passengers; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of doing so.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Passengers can currently claim delay repay by applying directly to the train operator they travelled with.
Through delivering Great British Railways (GBR), the Government is committed to improving the passenger experience. As set out in the recently introduced Railways Bill, GBR will retail both on line and in person once established, creating a more streamlined, unified offer for passengers by bringing together 14 existing train operator websites and apps. GBR will retail alongside independent retailers, in a fair and open market, and the Government recognises the important role they play in terms of innovating and driving up standards for passengers.
The Government will continue to keep Delay Repay policy under review, including in the context of the move to GBR.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of freezing the accrual of interest on student loans for individuals on maternity or paternity leave.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Student loans are subject to interest to ensure that those who can afford to do so contribute to the full cost of their degree.
The student finance system protects borrowers if they see a reduction in their income for whatever reason, including those on maternity or paternity leave. Student loan repayments are based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not the interest rate or amount borrowed, and no repayments are made for earnings below the relevant student loan repayment threshold. Any outstanding debt, including interest built up, is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
A full equality impact assessment of how the student loan reforms may affect graduates, including detail on changes to average lifetime repayments under Plan 5, was produced and published in February 2022, and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia is expected to be published in 2026 and will deliver rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.
We intend to engage with a range of partners over the coming months to enable us to build a framework which is both ambitious and practical, to ensure we can improve system performance for people with dementia both now and in the future.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
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 (a) the sufficiency of the supply of covid-19 vaccines during winter 2025/26 and (b) whether there will be sufficient supply of covid-19 vaccines to meet the expected demand from people eligible for a free NHS covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccine availability is monitored as part of standard operational practice by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and the devolved administrations.
The UKHSA collects and analyses data from the vaccination programmes to understand the impact, the effectiveness, and any inequalities.
The UKHSA has procured COVID-19 vaccines for the upcoming season in line with uptake forecasts received from all four nations. Based on procured volumes, it is expected that there is sufficient COVID-19 vaccine available for those eligible to receive a vaccine across the current autumn/winter campaign. People aged 75 years old and over, those in older adult care homes, and those aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed are eligible.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure parity of pay between staff employed by (a) independent sector providers of NHS services and (b) the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service staff pay is set by the Government and usually informed by recommendations made by pay review bodies (PRBs). The PRBs are independent advisory bodies made up of industry experts who carefully consider evidence submitted to them by a range of stakeholders, including the Government and trade unions, to make recommendations for headline pay awards and on related matters.
PRBs make recommendations to the Prime Minister and ministers for most staff working in the NHS. The PRBs do not advise on the pay or terms and conditions for staff employed by independent sector providers of NHS services such as social enterprises.
Independent organisations, such as social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and the provision of any non-consolidated pay awards.
It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate and how to recoup any additional costs they face.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of private healthcare providers using NHS hospital facilities on NHS waiting lists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made as these decisions are taken locally. National Health Service trusts can utilise ‘insourcers’, private healthcare providers who operate using NHS facilities, but services must be arranged in a manner which offers value for money compared to the other options available.
NHS England published updated guidance on the use of insourcing in July 2024 to support NHS trusts in achieving value for money. This guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/guidance-for-trusts-on-the-use-of-insourcing/#
In this guidance, NHS England clearly prohibits the use of insourcing solutions where rates are not in line with, or are below, the prices in the NHS Payment Scheme, and where compliant approved frameworks are not used.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) promote competition and (b) expand consumer choice in the water sector.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat has a primary duty set out in Section 2 of the Water Industry Act 1991 to carry out its relevant functions in the way it considers best to protect the interests of consumers by, where appropriate, promoting effective competition.
There are existing competitive markets in the sector. All businesses in England are already able to choose their water retailer as part of the business retail market. Housing developers also have flexibility over whether they contract with incumbent water companies or 'New Appointments and Variations’. Both of these markets can provide an improved level of service to customers.
The Independent Water Commission makes a number of recommendations intended to strengthen competition within the water sector and protect consumers. The Government has already announced immediate actions, such as the creation of a water ombudsman to protect consumers in disputes. A White Paper setting out further detail will be published and consulted on this autumn, forming the basis of a new water bill.