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 adequacy of the performance of Royal Mail delivery services in Wellington, Somerset; what steps Royal Mail is taking to increase staffing levels and improve delivery times in that area; and what steps Royal Mail is taking to ensure the timely delivery of medical correspondence and other essential items.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, has powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without good justification. It is for Royal Mail, as an independent business, to determine the appropriate staffing levels it needs to meet its universal service obligation.
Additionally, the government recognises the importance of timely delivery of NHS letters. Royal Mail has introduced an NHS barcode to assist NHS units that continue to rely on post to communicate with patients.
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, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of upgrading Ofcom’s Violence Against Women and Girls guidance to be a mandatory code.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act has delivered a robust set of legal duties, taking some of the boldest steps in the world. Enforcement for non-compliance is severe.
Ofcom’s guidance on violence against women and girls goes beyond this, setting a new and ambitious standard for women and girls’ online safety with simple and practical measures that tech firms can adopt.
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, what plans her Department has for cross-government working to encourage safety by design of smart and connected technology to help protect victims and survivors of technology-facilitated abuse.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in all its forms, including online, is a priority for this Government. That is why, in December, we published the cross-government VAWG Strategy.
Within the Strategy, we commit to working across departments to explore what more we can do to encourage safety‑by‑design in smart and connected technologies. This work aims to better protect victims and survivors, and to prevent perpetrators from misusing these technologies to facilitate abuse.
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, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of including individuals on spouse visas who have the right to work and contribute to the NHS among the priority groups for NHS specialty training offers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill was introduced to Parliament on 13 January 2026. The bill delivers the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, published in July 2025, to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training.
For specialty training places starting in 2026, NHS experience is being represented by immigration status as people with a settled immigration status are more likely to have worked in the NHS for longer. For specialty training posts starting from 2027 onwards, this provision will not apply automatically. Instead, it will be possible to make regulations to specify additional groups who will be prioritised, where they are likely to have significant experience working as a doctor either in the NHS in England, Scotland, or Wales, or in health and social care in Northern Ireland, or by reference to their immigration status.
Individuals on spouse visas are not included in the prioritised group for specialty training posts starting in 2026, because it is not a good indicator of likely NHS experience. The Department of Health and Social Care worked closely with the Home Office on the development of the bill.
Applicants on spouse visas will still be able to apply and will be offered places if vacancies remain after prioritised applicants have received offers.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that mature students who wish to retrain as doctors are able to access available financial support; and what assessment her Department has made of the extent to which those mature students who previously had a student loan that is now fully repaid are eligible to access that financial support.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to ensuring the country develops the skills needed to break down barriers to opportunity and so is introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). This will launch in the 2026/27 academic year for learners up to aged 60 studying courses that start on or after 1 January 2027.
The LLE will remove the Equivalent Level Qualification rules meaning more people can train, retrain and upskill flexibly. Also under the LLE, a priority additional entitlement will be available to support graduates who study a second degree in certain courses, including medicine. Courses eligible for priority additional entitlement funding have been chosen based on their alignment to the government’s Industrial Strategy and the UK’s priority skills needs.
Medical students taking a second degree using the LLE will also be able to access standard maintenance support for those years not covered by the NHS bursary.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will introduce an enhanced public awareness campaign to improve understanding of the updated Highway Code rules.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Improving road safety is one of my Department’s highest priorities. Injuries and fatalities from road collisions caused by driving are unacceptable, and this Government will work hard to prevent these tragedies for all road users.
That is why on 7 January 2026, we published our new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all.
Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022, the Department ran large-scale THINK! advertising campaigns to raise awareness of the changes.
Via the THINK! campaign, we are also running year-round radio filler adverts encouraging compliance with the guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
However, as set out in the Strategy, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes and ensuring overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
As our road environment and technologies evolve, providing education for all road users throughout their lifetime is vital to improving road safety. As announced in the Strategy, to support a Lifelong Learning approach in the UK the Government will publish for the first time national guidance on the development and delivery of road safety education, training and publicity. Alongside this, the Government will publish a manual to support the implementation of a Lifelong Learning approach for road safety.
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, whether he has considered the potential merits of creating a national mail order fraud database for (a) retailers, (b) delivery companies, (c) customers and (d) other relevant parties to log delivery issues.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not made an assessment on creating a national mail order fraud database. Led by the Home Office, the Government will be setting out its approach to tackling all types of fraud in its upcoming Fraud Strategy.
Report Fraud is the new national reporting service for fraud and for cyber crime operated by City of London Police. They also take information reports on attempted frauds. Reports submitted to Report Fraud are considered by the service’s National Crime Analysis Service and evaluated to assess the information available which could assist an investigation.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much revenue has been generated from the application of VAT to private school fees to date and how this revenue has been allocated.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government has estimated that ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30. At the Autumn Budget 2025, the re-costing of the measure showed it will raise around £40 million per year more than originally forecast. This will raise essential revenue to help fund public services, including supporting the 94% of children in state schools.
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, what steps NHS England will take to ensure Integrated Care Boards comply with Regulation 6(4) of the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013, particularly where chemist premises are removed following a consolidation application, but no Supplementary Statement is publicly published to confirm that the relevant Health and Wellbeing Board is satisfied that no gap in service provision was created.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
If two pharmacies are consolidated onto one site, the relevant Local Authority Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) must publish a supplementary statement to their Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment if, in their view, the consolidation has not created a gap in service provision. This requirement is set out in Regulation 6(4) of the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013. Whilst it is not the responsibility of NHS England to ensure HWBs comply with this requirement, integrated care boards (ICBs) must seek assurance that a closure of a pharmacy would not create a gap when considering consolidation applications. This includes seeking the view of the HWB. Any representations received from the HWB are considered when reviewing an application from a contractor to open a pharmacy in the area. NHS England oversees the performance of ICBs through the NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 and the Strategic Commissioning Framework.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has undertaken comparative analysis of maternity and paternity pay provisions for (a) teachers and (b) other (i) public and (ii) private sector professions; and what steps he is taking to help reduce disparities in parental leave entitlements across sectors.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has committed to review the parental leave and pay system. All current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements are in scope of the Parental Leave and Pay Review.