Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of reviewing the taxation of road fuel to reduce the impact of significant increases in global fuel prices on households and businesses.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government continues to assess the impact of heightened fuel prices on households, motorists, and businesses. RAC data has shown that since February, motorists and businesses have spent around £9.3bn more on fuel than otherwise would have been spent. To mitigate cost of living impacts, we have extended the 5p cut to fuel duty and announced that all single bus fares outside London will be capped at £2 in 2027. Government will regularly review measures to mitigate future impacts where appropriate.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of fluctuations in fuel prices on the cost of living and operating costs for motorists and commercial road users.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government continues to assess the impact of heightened fuel prices on households, motorists, and businesses. RAC data has shown that since February, motorists and businesses have spent around £9.3bn more on fuel than otherwise would have been spent. To mitigate cost of living impacts, we have extended the 5p cut to fuel duty and announced that all single bus fares outside London will be capped at £2 in 2027. Government will regularly review measures to mitigate future impacts where appropriate.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes in fuel prices on the cost of road transport for businesses and households.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government continues to assess the impact of heightened fuel prices on households, motorists, and businesses. RAC data has shown that since February, motorists and businesses have spent around £9.3bn more on fuel than otherwise would have been spent. To mitigate cost of living impacts, we have extended the 5p cut to fuel duty and announced that all single bus fares outside London will be capped at £2 in 2027. Government will regularly review measures to mitigate future impacts where appropriate.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming Mental Health Strategy will include measures to improve access to NHS Talking Therapies, and what options will be available to patients for whom a course of treatment has not been effective.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since coming to office, this Government has recruited thousands of extra mental health staff, increased access to National Health Service talking therapies, started the roll-out of mental health specialists to every school and college in the country, and announced a major expansion of mental health support within the community, with £187 million allocated for 100 community mental health centres, and £156 million for 59 mental health emergency departments.
Later this year, we will also publish our new mental health strategy for England, setting out our plans to transform mental health care into a system that responds earlier, reduces waiting times for support, intervenes earlier, and supports people to stay active and participate in education, work, family, and community life.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen mental health support and services as part of the forthcoming Mental Health Strategy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since coming to office, this Government has recruited thousands of extra mental health staff, increased access to National Health Service talking therapies, started the roll-out of mental health specialists to every school and college in the country, and announced a major expansion of mental health support within the community, with £187 million allocated for 100 community mental health centres, and £156 million for 59 mental health emergency departments.
Later this year, we will also publish our new mental health strategy for England, setting out our plans to transform mental health care into a system that responds earlier, reduces waiting times for support, intervenes earlier, and supports people to stay active and participate in education, work, family, and community life.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Review of Early Deaths of Care Leavers, published on 25 August 2026, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling greater continuity of care placements for young people with assessed care needs transitioning to adulthood.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has had constructive discussions with the Trustees of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and hopes to be able to make an announcement shortly.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with HM Treasury on VAT treatment for further education colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
While VAT is a matter for His Majesty’s Treasury, we recognise that the VAT status of further education (FE) providers remains an issue of interest to the sector. The government continues to look into the VAT position of FE colleges as it keeps all taxes under review, and any changes would be announced at a fiscal event.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount of VAT that will be incurred by colleges on projects funded through the £2.275 billion further education college capital programme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is providing significant capital investment to support further education (FE) colleges, including £1.7 billion of funding to maintain their estates and £570 million to expand capacity in construction courses and accommodate additional learners for post-16 education.
The department has not made an estimate of the total VAT that will be incurred by colleges on projects supported through our capital funding.
For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. This applies to both capital and non-capital expenditure.
In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students but cannot recover it either.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of (a) the value for money and (b) impact on affordability for low-income households of the Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information (Household Tumble Dryers) Regulations 2026.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government assessed the costs and benefits of the regulations in the published impact assessment. The net present value is estimated to be +£2.69 billion by 2050.
Over the 12 year lifetime of a typical tumble dryer, the increased energy efficiency will deliver a net saving of around £200 for a typical household. This saving is particularly significant for low-income households who spend a higher proportion of their income on energy. This saving more than offsets the average £40 increase in purchase cost of tumble dryers following the introduction of the regulations.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the correlation between the availability of live traffic data in ambulances and average response times to Category 1 and Category 2 calls.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The specific information requested by the Hon. Member regarding live traffic updates is not centrally held. All ambulance vehicles have satellite navigation systems that assist crews to identify the location of each emergency. These are updated regularly to ensure the information within them remains current, and to reflect feedback from operational crews and managers who are trained on these systems and understand best the areas they serve.