Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications to the Court of Protection for statutory wills were made in each of the last five years; and how many applications were granted in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest published Court of Protection (COP) statistics on application and order volumes by type, are all available in the Family Court Statistics 2025 published quarterly in tables 20 and 21.
Volumes of applications and orders relating to wills (applications to execute wills) are grouped together currently with applications for gifts and orders for settlement due to the low volumes and their paths through the court being similar with Official Solicitor involvement.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to review the statutory will process to help ensure that it is accessible for (a) people with disabilities and (b) their families.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission recently completed a substantial review of the Law of Wills, and its report “Modernising Wills Law” was published on 16 May 2025. A copy of the report can be found at: https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/wills/#3-Documents. The report provides a thorough analysis of the case for reforming the law and procedure governing statutory wills.
The Government will make further announcements on the response to the report in due course, once it has given the report the detailed consideration it deserves.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the 2,000 GPs recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme have been recruited in Taunton and Wellington constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data for July 2025 shows that since October 2024, 2,097 newly qualified general practitioners have been recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, nine of which were recruited in the NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board, in which the Taunton and Wellington constituency is located. The data is not available at constituency level.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence (a) dated 28 April 2025 and (b) its follow-up dated 19 June 2025, concerning ABCD Bethlehem.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Apologies for the delay in responding to the hon. Member's correspondence, I issued a response to the hon. Member on 11 July 2025.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court sitting days were allocated in (a) Taunton and (b) the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In Taunton, the following allocations were made:
Allocation and Outturn for For Years 2021 – 2026
Crown
Year | Allocation | Actual |
25/26 | 448 | 81, Apr-May |
24/25 | 428 | 465 |
23/24 | 316 | 461 |
22/23 | 439 | 315 |
21/22 | 450 | 430 |
Civil
Year | Allocation | Actual | |||
25/26 | 162 | 36, Apr-Jun | |||
24/25 | 158 | 119 | |||
23/24 | 181 | 140 | |||
22/23 | 123 | 191.5 | |||
21/22 | 221 | 113 | |||
Family
Year | Allocation | Actual |
25/26 | 694 | 222, Apr-Jun |
24/25 | 743 | 882.5 |
23/24 | 712 | 967 |
22/23 | 580 | 958.3 |
21/22 | 597 | 752.5 |
In the rest of England and Wales, the allocations were as followed. Please note that justice is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In England and Wales:
Allocations for years 2021 – 2026
Jurisdictions |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
2024-25 |
2025-26 |
Crown |
105,000 |
105,000 |
102,300 |
106,000 |
110,000 |
Mags |
125,300 |
130,200 |
124,100 |
124,100 |
114,000 |
Civil |
86,100 |
79,500 |
71,000 |
75,500 |
74,300 |
Family |
96,000 |
106,200 |
99,500 |
102,500 |
97,300 |
Of Which Public Family |
|
|
|
49,700 |
43,500 |
Of Which Private Family |
|
|
|
34,500 |
36,400 |
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with Connecting Devon and Somerset and Airband on its planned timetable for publishing its connection schedule.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Building Digital UK (BDUK) is in regular contact with Airband and Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) in relation to the finalisation of the remaining contracts under the earlier Superfast Broadband Programme. Airband and CDS will publish the latest timeframes for build across the Taunton and Wellington constituency, with the overall contracts expected to be completed in full by Autumn 2027.
CDS is responsible for delivering these contracts and any queries about specific delivery areas and timescales should be directed to CDS.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of licensing building companies.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Grenfell Inquiry recommended that principal contractors wanting to work on higher-risk buildings should need a licence, which would be managed by the construction regulator. It also recommended that when applying for building control approval for these buildings, the principal contractor should include a personal undertaking from a company director or senior manager. We accept this and will work on creating a licensing system that works for the industry and the public.
We support stronger accountability and competence of principal contractors and are considering how to achieve this without creating unnecessary layers of regulation and barriers to the supply of new homes.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overheating incidents have been logged in Musgrove Park Hospital in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of overheating incidents logged at Musgrove Park Hospital, from 2019/20 to 2023/24:
Year | Overheating incidents |
2023/24 | 20 |
2022/23 | 15 |
2021/22 | 9 |
2020/21 | Data not collected |
2019/20 | Data not collected |
Source: Estates Returns Information Collection, from January 2025.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken to process access for records requests from veterans.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has experienced a substantial rise in Subject Access Requests, which has put significant pressure on our ability to deliver within the legislative timescales. However, I have already asked the Department to take steps to improve our ability to respond within the necessary timeframes. The MOD’s Data Protection Team have made the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) aware of the situation, which is being experienced across all Services.
Where an individual is seeking information about themselves, known as a SAR, the MOD adheres to guidance issued by the ICO. This stipulates that a public authority must supply the information within one month, but can take up to 90 days for complex cases. Further information can be found at the following link: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/time-limits-for-responding-to-data-protection-rights-requests
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of revising the requirement for a grade 4 in GCSE maths for entry into teacher training, in cases where applicants hold postgraduate qualifications in relevant subjects but did not achieve that grade in maths at school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to protecting the quality of teachers and the profession’s status. The initial teacher training (ITT) criteria set out the requirements for all ITT courses leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). All accredited ITT providers must ensure that entrants to these courses have achieved a standard equivalent to a grade 4 in the GCSE examinations in English and mathematics (and science, for primary trainees).
The entry requirements aim to ensure that entrants to ITT have demonstrated their achievement of a minimum standard of educational attainment, and for primary trainees that they demonstrate an acceptable level of subject knowledge in the core subjects of the national curriculum.
It is the standard, not the certificate, that matters. Applicants who are otherwise suitable but have not successfully achieved a GCSE grade 4 may be given an opportunity to show that they can meet the required standard either by taking an equivalence test or by offering other evidence of attainment, which should demonstrate a similar level and breadth. It is for accredited ITT providers to decide whether an applicant’s qualification is of a standard equivalent to GCSE grade 4.