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, with reference to the response of 23 February 2026 to question 112545, what progress she has made on securing a reliable supply of testosterone and oestrogen HRT implants.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are continuing to work closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure safe access to these products.
We have reached out to specialist importers in order to find alternative sources of both oestrogen and testosterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) implants, which are not currently licensed in the United Kingdom, and it remains the case that the decision to prescribe an unlicensed imported medicine sits with the prescriber.
The MHRA is also working closely with current importers of the product and encouraging applications to supply products through the licenced medicines route.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, with reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Henley and Thame during oral questions on 15 October 2026, how much funding has been diverted to defence spending from the former Department for Science, Innovation and Technology budget; and which programmes have been impacted.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Departments have been asked to contribute 1p in every £1 of their capital budgets to help fund the Defence Investment Plan.
BIST is assessing how best to deliver this contribution while continuing to support key priorities, including for programmes previously delivered by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology. Decisions regarding individual programmes are still being carefully considered, and further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she plans to provide new schemes when the existing charging point grant schemes for home and workplaces expire; and what steps she is taking to help ensure that EV charging infrastructure keeps pace with EV adoption.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We continue to monitor grants for homes and workplaces to ensure best value for the taxpayer. We will make a further announcement on these grants in due course.
The Department continues to work closely with industry to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure and meet rising demand. As of 1 October 2026, Government and industry have supported the installation of over 124,000 public chargers across the UK. The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is expected to deliver over 100,000 more near homes across England. We continue to monitor charge point rollout.
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 discussions she has had with relevant partners on increasing the number of EV charging points.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We continue to monitor grants for homes and workplaces to ensure best value for the taxpayer. We will make a further announcement on these grants in due course.
The Department continues to work closely with industry to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure and meet rising demand. As of 1 October 2026, Government and industry have supported the installation of over 124,000 public chargers across the UK. The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is expected to deliver over 100,000 more near homes across England. We continue to monitor charge point rollout.
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, what discussions she has had with Thames Water on the implementation of the proposed upgrades at Thame Wastewater Treatment Works.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s Water Delivery Taskforce is holding water companies to account for delivery of their planned investments and upgrades. The Environment Agency regularly engages with Thames Water to monitor delivery of their Water Industry National Programme (WINEP) scheme to reduce phosphorous discharges at Thames Wastewater Treatment works.
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, pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2026 to UIN 10804, when the UK National Screening Committee will next review the evidence for whether screening for Group B Streptococcus should be routinely offered during pregnancy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is nothing to add at this time to the answer cited in the Hon. Member’s question. When there is new information available, the Hon. Member will be updated in the normal way.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on the launch of test and learn pilots for children with parents in prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to improving the recognition and support of children with a parent in prison. Working with the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice announced a test-and-learn pilot programme in July 2026 to test different approaches to recognising and supporting children affected by parental imprisonment and their families.
An Expression of Interest process for local authorities to take part in the pilots ran from 3 September to 1 October 2026. We plan to work with up to 10 local authorities, providing a diverse range of areas and demographics in which to test the approaches. Successful local authorities will be notified shortly, aiming for the focused support offer to be in place in all pilot local authorities by April 2027.
The pilots will test two approaches to recognising children with a parent in prison through data sharing, alongside local authority-led assurance, triage and focused support for them. The learning will build our understanding of what works and inform any future decisions on a national approach.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the summary of responses to the call for evidence on park home sales commission.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognise that there are longstanding concerns about the requirement to pay site owners a commission upon sale of a park home.
The previous government published a report in June 2022 on the impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission. It can be found on gov.uk here.
On 5 March 2026, my Department published a 12-week call for evidence regarding the rationale for the payment of a commission. It can be found on gov.uk here.
We are currently analysing the feedback received and remain committed to publishing a detailed summary of responses ahead of announcing the government's final position by the end of the year.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance service's enforcement methods.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a strong range of enforcement powers to address non-compliance, including deductions from earnings and bank accounts, the use of Enforcement Agents, disqualification from driving, passport disqualification, and committal to prison in the most serious cases. These are very effective; 7% of all maintenance arranged since the launch of the 2012 scheme remain to be collected through the ‘collect and pay’ service.
But the Government is not complacent and has plans for CMS reform. It has confirmed its intention to remove Direct Pay and move to a single, strengthened Collect and Pay service.
There are also plans to introduce Administrative Liability Orders. These will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order. Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.
These changes combined will enable the CMS to monitor all payments, identify missed or partial payments more quickly, and take faster enforcement action.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Armed Forces are taking to prepare for an increase in requests for military support during (a) floods, (b) wildfires and (c) other extreme weather events.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Wildfire response is the responsibility of local Fire and Rescue Services. In England, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the lead government department for fire and rescue policy, while responsibility in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sits with the devolved governments. Together, these organisations are responsible for assessing wildfire risk, maintaining appropriate levels of capability and readiness at the local level and managing the response to incidents.
Defence continues to assess its own ability to support any wildfire response in line with affordability and overall effectiveness. Defence has a range of capabilities that may be made available through Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA), subject to operational availability and competing Defence commitments. These include personnel, engineering and logistics support, command and control, reconnaissance and specialist capabilities. However, these capabilities are primarily maintained for Defence tasks and not all are held at readiness specifically for domestic wildfire response.