Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the size of the anaesthetist workforce in (a) the East of England and (b) St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the adequacy of the size of the anaesthetist workforce in the East of England and/or the St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency. Appropriate National Health Service staffing levels are determined locally.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of anaesthetists across the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England published in July 2025 that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need.
On 8 December, the Government put an offer in writing to the British Medical Association (BMA) Resident Doctors Committee, which was rejected. The offer would have increased the number of training posts over the next three years from the 1,000 announced in the 10-Year Health Plan to 4,000, bringing forward 1,000 of these training posts to start in 2026. The BMA have rejected the Government's offer, so that is not going ahead. The Government will consider its next steps.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) encourage people into the educational psychologist profession and (b) retain educational psychologists in the profession.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. That is why the department is already investing more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments. Trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this period is three years.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 79779 on the Timms Review, when he will provide more details on the membership of the steering group overseeing the review and planned next steps in the process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 18 December, the Timms Review’s co-chairs provided an update on the work of the Review, including recruitment of the steering group and next steps. You can find this update on GOV.UK via the following link: The Timms Review: Co-Chair Update, December 2025 - GOV.UK.
We will continue to publish updates on GOV.UK as the Review progresses.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of students who gained the Large Programme Uplift as a result of studying 4 A-levels in 2025 or most recently available year and would be eligible for the LPU under the revised guidance for 2026 to 2027, are (a) female; or (b) eligible for Free School Meals.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions delivering 16-19 education have received the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) in the 2025/26 academic year. There were 6,755 students eligible for the LPU as a result of studying 4 or more A levels, of which:
Of those 6,755 students that attracted the LPU in the 2025/26 academic year due to studying 4 or more A levels, 3,968 (58.74%) would be eligible under the revised guidance for the 2026/27 academic year, of which:
Notes about the data:
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) number and (b) percentage of students who gained the Large Programme Uplift as a result of studying 4 A-levels in 2025 or most recently available year would be eligible for the LPU under the revised guidance for 2026 to 2027.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions delivering 16-19 education have received the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) in the 2025/26 academic year. There were 6,755 students eligible for the LPU as a result of studying 4 or more A levels, of which:
Of those 6,755 students that attracted the LPU in the 2025/26 academic year due to studying 4 or more A levels, 3,968 (58.74%) would be eligible under the revised guidance for the 2026/27 academic year, of which:
Notes about the data:
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of students who gained the Large Programme Uplift as a result of studying 4 A-levels in 2025 or most recently available year were (a) female; (b) eligible for Free School Meals.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions delivering 16-19 education have received the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) in the 2025/26 academic year. There were 6,755 students eligible for the LPU as a result of studying 4 or more A levels, of which:
Of those 6,755 students that attracted the LPU in the 2025/26 academic year due to studying 4 or more A levels, 3,968 (58.74%) would be eligible under the revised guidance for the 2026/27 academic year, of which:
Notes about the data:
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students gained the Large Programme Uplift as a result of studying 4 A-levels in 2025 or the most recently available year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions delivering 16-19 education have received the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) in the 2025/26 academic year. There were 6,755 students eligible for the LPU as a result of studying 4 or more A levels, of which:
Of those 6,755 students that attracted the LPU in the 2025/26 academic year due to studying 4 or more A levels, 3,968 (58.74%) would be eligible under the revised guidance for the 2026/27 academic year, of which:
Notes about the data:
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delaying by one year the transfer of the responsibility to make support scheme payments from the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS) to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) on infected people who have not yet received any support payments due to ineligibility for the England IBSS, but who are eligible under new IBCA regulations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The eligibility criteria for infected people for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, established by the Government, are different from the eligibility criteria for the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Only those who are receiving support scheme payments from the IBSS will be eligible to continue receiving these payments as part of their wider compensation paid by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), if they choose to do so.
The delay of the transfer will therefore not impact the compensation available to infected people who were never registered with IBSS. IBCA opened its service to the first claims from infected people who were not registered with IBSS in November.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged i) 18, ii) 19, iii) 20 and iv) 21 have been claiming Universal Credit for 18 months or longer.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department regularly publishes the number of people on Universal Credit by age and claim duration on Stat-Xplore. The provisional statistics for the number of people aged 18 to 21 who have been claiming UC for up to 18 months and for 18 months or more in October 2025 is shown in table 1.
Table 1: Number of People aged 18 to 21 on Universal Credit for up to 18 months and for 18 months or more, October 2025
Age | Duration: 0 months up to 18 months | Duration: 18 months or more | Total |
18 | 59,404 | 3,149 | 62,554 |
19 | 87,151 | 15,804 | 102,951 |
20 | 67,448 | 43,783 | 111,237 |
21 | 56,062 | 60,457 | 116,521 |
Total | 270,065 | 123,196 | 393,262 |
Source: DWP Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS) Extract
Notes: