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 recent steps his department has taken to roll-out the Men-B vaccination to vulnerable people.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The risk of infection to the wider population remains low. This is because transmission of meningitis B (MenB) requires close and prolonged contact to spread. Examples of this include living in the same household and intimate contact such as kissing or sharing drinks or vapes. The bacteria are not as contagious as other infections such as measles and COVID-19.
Decisions on routine vaccination programmes are taken on the basis of independent scientific advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which is an expert scientific advisory committee that advises the Government on vaccination and immunisation matters.
In response to the outbreak of meningitis in Kent on 17 March, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced to the House of Commons, that he has asked JCVI to review its advice on eligibility for vaccination for MenB.
As ever, the Government will carefully consider their advice.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Defending Democracy Taskforce has made an assessment of the potential impact of convicted terrorists standing for elected public office on levels of national security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Defending Democracy Taskforce coordinates work across Government to continually review and respond to the full range of threats to our democratic system, working closely with the security and intelligence agencies, law enforcement and other partners.
I refer the Hon Member to the question answered by Minister McGovern on 9 March 2026.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department collects on children with dyslexia to improve understanding of the number of children with dyslexia in schools, their support needs in the classroom and their educational outcomes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the numbers of children with dyslexia is not collected separately by the department. Dyslexia is included within the wider special educational need type of ‘Specific learning difficulties’ (SpLD).
All the information held by the department relating to children with SpLD is provided by schools via the school census. This data is also available for local authorities, enabling them to take informed decisions when supporting the needs of children in their communities.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department requires local authorities to collect in relation to the numbers of children with dyslexia in education in their area.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the numbers of children with dyslexia is not collected separately by the department. Dyslexia is included within the wider special educational need type of ‘Specific learning difficulties’ (SpLD).
All the information held by the department relating to children with SpLD is provided by schools via the school census. This data is also available for local authorities, enabling them to take informed decisions when supporting the needs of children in their communities.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Yoti has any current contracts for cross-Government digital identity programmes.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any services provided by Yoti are currently used in Home Office identity verification, border control, or age assurance systems.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will set out who assesses the value for money of Arm's Length Bodies.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Value for money in Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) is primarily assessed by their sponsoring department. The Accounting Officer (typically the Chief Executive Officer) is directly accountable for the use of public funds.
ALBs are also scrutinised by Parliament and subject to independent audit, including value for money examinations, by the National Audit Office (NAO).
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to whom Arm's Length Bodies report annually.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) are accountable to their sponsoring Minister and parent department. Their annual Reports and accounts are typically laid before Parliament.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the cost of Arm's Length Bodies to the public purse for the latest year for which data is available.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The UK government budgeted £369.78 billion for arms length bodies in the financial year 2023-24. 67% of this went to NHS England and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, which will both be repatriated to their parent departments.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when will she provide a response to questions 118113, 118114 and 118115 tabled on 4th March 2026.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I apologise for the delay in responding to the Hon Member's questions. The answers were published on 16 March.