Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will amend the criteria relating to bathing water designation to include the (a) use of (i) non-motorised boats and (ii) paddleboards and (b) holding of (i) the Royal Regatta, (ii) events organised by Swim Henley and (iii) other such events.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers continue to consider possible changes to the Bathing water system. In light of this, applications for designations for the 2025 bathing season which were closed by the previous administration, remain closed.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to review levels of pharmacy reimbursement funding, in the context of recent trends in levels of closures of local pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community Pharmacy funding is kept under regular review. The Department and NHS England consult with the sector on a quarterly basis on reimbursement rates, as well as monthly on concessionary prices. Consultations are held each year about service fee levels and what the sector will deliver for the available funding.
Department officials are working at pace to conclude the consultation on the Community Pharmacy contractual framework arrangements for 2024/25. The Department also continues to monitor patient access to pharmaceutical services closely.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his planned timetable is for adopting Standard Assessment Procedure 10.2, in the context of the Home Upgrade Grant 2 project; and whether residents that have missed out on solar batteries will be able to apply for their system to be upgraded.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are introducing improvements to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) modelling in early 2025, known as Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure 10 (RdSAP 10), to improve accuracy. EPC assessors will soon be able to record if a consumer has installed solar batteries. The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG 2) will run until March 2025 and will be succeeded by the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG). Details of the policy on retreating low-income households that received upgrades under HUG 2 were published on 23rd September as part of the WH:LG guidance.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide grants for people whose (a) property and (b) business has been (i) flooded and (ii) significantly impacted by flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that flooding is devastating for those affected. Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) co-ordinates the Government's Flood Recovery Framework (FRF). The FRF, which includes support for businesses and households, and Defra's Property Flood Resilience grant scheme (PFR) can be activated in response to large scale and widespread flooding.
Where flooding results in localised impacts, local authorities should provide support as needed. Affected householders should ask their insurance provider if they are eligible for Build Back Better within their claim, which can provide for flood resilient repairs over and above the cost for like-for-like reinstatement of actual flood damage.
The Government is determined to turbocharge the delivery and repair of flood defences, improve drainage systems and develop natural flood management schemes. That is why the Government set up the Flood Resilience Taskforce to improve coordination of the national and local flood response and strengthen preparedness ahead of the winter flood season. We are investing over £1.25 billion this year to scale up national resilience through building new and improving existing flood defences.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help (a) prepare the NHS for innovative medicines for the treatment of and (b) increase the use of MRI scanners for (i) detection and (ii) diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is a world leader in rolling out innovative treatments, including personalised cancer and life-saving gene therapies. A dedicated team is in place overseeing the NHS’s preparations for the potential arrival of new Alzheimer’s treatments that are approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and determined to be clinically and cost-effective by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
The team, supported by clinical experts and system leaders, has taken concrete steps to ramp up preparations across the country, for example identifying new clinical pathway requirements and assessing the additional scanning, treatment and safety monitoring capacity that would be needed. This includes options for securing additional genetic testing and diagnostic capacity including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), lumbar puncture and PET-CT scanning.
NHS England is also working with partner agencies to support and inform further research into other diagnostic modalities, including blood-based biomarker and digital tests, which may help improve identification and management of Alzheimer’s disease. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services, including for the detection and diagnosis of dementia, through investment in new capacity, including MRI scanners.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what further steps he plans to take to help ensure the safety of children on (a) social media apps and (b) other online platforms, in the context of the use of virtual private networks by criminals to target vulnerable young people.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act makes search and user-to-user services, including social media services, responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms. The Act contains strong protections for children, safeguarding them from harmful and illegal activities online, even when these are proliferated by users using virtual private networks.
The regulatory regime is designed to be tech-neutral, allowing Ofcom to revise its codes and guidance as new risks emerge.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of SEND services in Henley and Thame constituency; and if she will have discussions with Oxfordshire County Council on (a) the level of and (b) the process for receiving funding for SEND provision.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The last local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for Oxfordshire was in July 2023, which identified widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND. The report, published on 15 September, included four areas for priority action:
Every child and young person with SEND should have access to high quality services, and where a council does not meet requirements to provide appropriate support for these children, the department will take action to prioritise their needs and bring about rapid improvement.
Oxfordshire County Council was issued with an Improvement Notice on 9 November 2023. This sets out the steps the department expects the local authority to take in raising standards in their SEND services. The department is working closely with its partners in NHS England to monitor, support and challenge the local area partnership to making the necessary improvements, including through regular monitoring meetings, which focus on the impact of actions taken on improving the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families. Oxfordshire County Council are committed to working closely with us to improve their SEND services.
Oxfordshire County Council’s high needs funding allocation for children and young people with complex SEND is over £111 million for the 2024/25 financial year, including funding for teachers’ pay and pension costs. In addition, this government has allocated Oxfordshire Council an extra core schools budget grant of £1.3 million to help with special schools’ costs. The department does not collect data or information on the Council’s process for allocating this funding on to specific provision in the Henley and Thame constituency.
Oxfordshire are part of the Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme which provides £1 million in grant funding to support local authorities to provide more effective SEND services by meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND at an early stage and with the right level of support. The department monitors Oxfordshire's progress in the DBV programme through quarterly reporting and meetings with the local authority.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to (a) help tackle the use of bots and apps to bulk-buy practical driving tests, (b) increase the number of driving test examiners and (c) otherwise increase the availability of practical driving tests in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at driving test centres include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 7 October 2024, there were 571,047 car practical driving tests booked, and 89,349 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
It is not possible to block book car practical driving tests. A driving licence number can only be assigned to one car practical driving test at a time. A survey by DVSA suggests that only 10% of learner drivers use third parties to book their tests. Most either book appointments themselves or through their approved driving instructor (ADI).
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests. Such apps or bots are not approved by DVSA. They make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test. DVSA will continue to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system, which are having a positive impact.
DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for instructors and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.
In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, DVSA has issued 313 warnings, 766 suspensions, and closed 705 businesses for misuse of its booking service.
Following these changes, there has been a significant drop in traffic to these services because DVSA is successfully identifying and blocking apps or bots.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Third Report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights of Session 2022-23 on The Violation of Family Life: Adoption of Children of Unmarried Women 1949–1976, HC270, published on 6 July 2022, if she will apologise for the historic role of the Government in forced adoptions; and if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on ensuring that suitable mental health support is made available for adult adoptees.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has the deepest sympathy with everyone affected by historic forced adoption. The practice was abhorrent and should never have taken place.
The department is committed to supporting adopted adults. Regulations have already been changed to make it easier for adults to access therapy, and we are providing funding to Adoption England’s Improving Adoption Services for Adults project, which is designed to maintain relationships and offer support.
The department will continue to review the offer, including looking to learn from the approach of the devolved nations and will consider how we can collaborate across the government to provide support.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
If he will meet the hon. Member for Henley and Thame and the Environment Agency to discuss the repair of Marsh Lock bridge on the Thames Path between Henley and Shiplake.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I would be happy to meet with the honourable Member alongside the Environment Agency to discuss this matter.