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, when he plans to announce Music and Dance Scheme funding for the 2026-27 academic year; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a lack of announcement on potential funding on schools' ability to plan for future cohorts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has committed to a continuation of the Music and Dance Scheme. Providers will be informed of future funding shortly.
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, what components are included in the Government's estimate of around £2 billion for the cost of Financial Assistance Scheme pre-1997 indexation; and whether that figure includes (a) arrears, (b) indexation at a CPI cap above 2.5%, and (c) post-1997 assistance costs.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has brought forward legislation to introduce increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme that relate to pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These will be CPI-linked (capped at 2.5%) and apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward) for members whose former schemes provided for these increases.
At the Budget, the cost of this measure was estimated to be around £0.3 - £0.6 billion for the Financial Assistance Scheme over the lifetime of the scheme.
The Pension Protection Fund has previously estimated that the cost of providing both prospective and retrospective pre-1997 indexation in the Financial Assistance Scheme is around £2 billion for members whose former schemes had provided such indexation. This estimate is broken down as follows:
a) It includes arrears for retrospective pre-1997 pension increases of CPI capped at 5%: £0.5 billion.
b) It includes prospective and retrospective pre-1997 pension increases of CPI capped at 5%: £1.3 - £2.0 billion.
c) The estimate of £2 billion does not include post-1997 assistance costs.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to implement the recommendations of Part One of the Leveson Inquiry; and whether she plans to resume Part Two.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Leveson Inquiry led to changes in the regulatory system of the press, which included the creation of the Press Recognition Panel, by Royal Charter, and two new press regulators, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and the Independent Monitor of the Press (Impress). This is a self-regulatory system, which was established to be independent from Government and protect press freedom. A free and fair press is vital to ensure the public has access to accurate and trustworthy information from a range of different sources. We are also clear that with this freedom comes responsibility, and newspapers must operate within the bounds of the law.
Given the substantial changes to the news landscape over the past decade, the Government remains of the view that beginning the second part of the Leveson Inquiry is not the right way forward. As a government we are closely following trends in media consumption and are carefully considering the best route forward to safeguard public trust in our news media.
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 he is taking to encourage ICBs to redistribute unallocated 'clawback' funding to NHS dental practices which are ready and able to deliver additional NHS care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning National Health Service dental services to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England encourages ICBs to make effective use of available dental funding, including the reinvestment of any unspent contractual funding where possible, to secure additional NHS dental activity and improve patient access. Decisions on the allocation of dental funding are a matter for individual ICBs, taking account of local circumstances and priorities.
NHS England expects local commissioners to manage dental contracts actively and responsively, working with dental providers to redistribute contracted activity where appropriate and to rebase consistently underperforming contracts, helping to maximise the delivery of NHS dental care and improve access for patients.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the exclusion of recording studios from the lower Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business rates multipliers on the recording studio sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties.
Since these new multipliers were announced at Budget 2024, the Government has been clear that the intention was for their scope to broadly reflect the scope of the previous RHL relief, which was centred around RHL properties that are “reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public”.
However, in recognition of the impact of the 2026 revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion to protect ratepayers against large overnight increases in bills. Additionally, many recording studios are also likely to benefit from Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR). SBRR is available to businesses with a single property below a set RV. Eligible properties under £12,000 receive 100 per cent relief, which means around a third of properties in England pay no business rates at all. Tapered support is available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department has taken to improve accessibility to online banking for blind and partially sighted people.
Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone can access and use financial services.
Financial services providers are bound under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, where necessary, in the way they deliver their services. UK banks’ and building societies’ treatment of their customers is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which requires firms to provide a prompt, efficient and fair service to all customers.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty seeks to raise the standard expected from firms for all customers. It aims to ensure firms deliver products and services that offer fair value and are designed to meet customers’ needs, and that they are increasingly focused on delivering good outcomes and preventing harm.
For example, from a financial inclusion perspective, the Consumer Duty seeks to prevent consumers with characteristics of vulnerability from being unable to access and use a product because the customer support is not accessible to them.
In practice, firms are expected to consider how they provide services to customers who are unable to use specific processes, such as biometric or digital identity verification, and to ensure that appropriate alternative approaches are available where needed.
More widely, the Government published its Financial Inclusion Strategy last year which sets out a range of ambitious measures for government and industry to improve financial inclusion for underserved groups across the UK. This includes a focus on access to banking and accessibility, with interventions to make it easier for blind and partially sighted people to pay by card and to make financial products more accessible through an inclusive design working group.
The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) also published their Digital Inclusion Action Plan last year, which sets out Government’s first steps towards our ambition of delivering digital inclusion for everyone across the UK. This seeks to address wider digital barriers, including improving digital skills and confidence, widening access to devices and connectivity, and providing support through local communities.
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 assessment she has made of the potential merits of offering funding support for those universities affected by the costs of the Teachers Pension Scheme contributions, in line with support provided for further education colleges and schools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the financial challenges in the higher education (HE) sector both for providers and their staff.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, and the government does not fund the costs of changes to the scheme for them in the same way as for schools and colleges.
However, we remain committed to engaging with both employer and staff representatives to fully understand the impacts of pension provision in HE on both staff and providers.
Furthermore, we appreciate both the impact of the increased Teachers’ Pension Scheme employer contribution rate on providers and that defined benefit pensions are highly valued by staff across the sector. As set out in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the government is seeking to better understand concerns within the post-1992 HE sector regarding pension provision.
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 assessment she has made of the impact of Teachers’ Pension Scheme contribution rates on the ability of post-1992 higher education institutions to compete with pre-92 institutions for staff.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the financial challenges in the higher education (HE) sector both for providers and their staff.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, and the government does not fund the costs of changes to the scheme for them in the same way as for schools and colleges.
However, we remain committed to engaging with both employer and staff representatives to fully understand the impacts of pension provision in HE on both staff and providers.
Furthermore, we appreciate both the impact of the increased Teachers’ Pension Scheme employer contribution rate on providers and that defined benefit pensions are highly valued by staff across the sector. As set out in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the government is seeking to better understand concerns within the post-1992 HE sector regarding pension provision.
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 has taken to implement the NHS Accessible Information Standard effectively.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers have been expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss.
NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication, and engagement. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the NHS are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.
NHS England published a revised AIS on 30 June 2025 to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. This guidance document is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/accessible-information-standard/
A self-assessment framework has been developed to support providers of NHS and social care services to measure their performance against the AIS, and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/accessible-information-standard-self-assessment-framework/
The AIS conformance criteria published in 2016 and revised in 2025 set out what organisations need to do to meet the AIS, as the responsibility for monitoring compliance with the AIS sits with the commissioner of the service. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/accessible-information-standard-requirements-dapb1605/
The Care Quality Commission does not assure the AIS but takes the AIS into account when regulating health and social care services, considering whether people using services have accessible communications, in line with the relevant regulations, as set out in their assessment framework.
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 his Department has made of the potential merits of surgery and GLP-1 medication as treatments for Lipoedema.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made any assessment of the potential role of GLP-1 medications in reducing inflammation and pain associated with lipoedema. Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on which new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE only makes recommendations on medicines within their licensed indications, and there is no GLP1 inhibitor with a United Kingdom marketing authorisation for use in the treatment of lipoedema. If a manufacturer applies for a UK marketing authorisation it may then be considered for evaluation by NICE.
In the absence of NICE guidance, clinicians are able to prescribe a medicine if they consider it appropriate for their patients, subject to funding being available. NHS commissioners are expected to make funding decisions based on an assessment of the available evidence.
NICE HealthTech guidance recommends that liposuction, a surgical procedure, for chronic lipoedema should only be used in research, as evidence on its safety and efficacy is inadequate. NICE will review the guidance when results from the LIPLEG trial in Germany are published.