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, with reference to pages 12 and 19 of the report published by the Office for Students entitled Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: 2025, published on 8 May 2025, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the potential impact of market competitiveness on (a) regional higher education provision and (b) access to higher education for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Market competitiveness is a longstanding feature of our independent and autonomous higher education (HE) sector.
The regional and local provision of HE, and access to HE for students from underrepresented backgrounds, are both important components of our strategy for HE.
HE providers have duties to co-operate in the development and review of Local Skills Improvement Plans and have regard to the plan when making decisions in relation to their technical education or training provision.
The department will support the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, and will act to address the persistent gaps for different student groups and to break down the barriers to opportunity.
The department will soon publish its plans for HE reform as part of the post-16 Skills White Paper.
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 improve access to (a) minimally-processed and (b) nutritious foods for (i) families and (ii) children and young people in food poverty.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and its commitment to raising the healthiest generation of children in history. The Department is working closely with the Child Poverty Taskforce to develop and deliver an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start in life. An important part of this will be alleviating the negative experience of living in poverty through supporting families and enhancing public services.
The Department is also working collaboratively across Government to deliver a resilient food system that promotes health and food security. The Food Strategy will work to provide healthier, more easily accessible food to help people live longer, healthier lives.
The Government’s Eatwell Guide advises that people should eat more fruit and vegetables and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less processed meat and food and drink that is high in sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt. The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the National Health Service website and Government social marketing campaigns; for example, the Better Health Healthier Families website and the Healthy Steps email programme which aims to help families with primary aged children in England to eat well and move more.
Healthy Start aims to support those in greatest need. We recently announced in the 10-Year Health Plan that we will uplift the value of weekly payments by 10%, boosting the ability to buy healthy food for those families who need it most. From April 2026, pregnant women and children aged over one year old and under four years old will each receive £4.65 per week, up from £4.25, and children under one year old will receive £9.30 per week, up from £8.50. The funding for Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen, or tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses, milk, and infant formula. In August 2025, Healthy Start supported over 355,000 people.
In relation to processed foods and drinks high in calories, saturated fat, salt and free sugars, work on Government commitments is progressing through: implementing the TV and online advertising restrictions for less healthy food or drink; consulting on plans to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old; and giving local authorities stronger, clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools and where young people congregate.
Earlier this year, the Government committed to reviewing the School Food Standards to reflect the most recent government dietary recommendations, in particular this will reduce levels of sugar and increase fibre in school food.
In August 2025, voluntary industry guidelines for commercial baby food and drink were published by the Government. The guidelines challenge businesses to reduce the sugar and salt content and improve marketing and labelling of foods and drinks aimed at children aged up to 36 months old.
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 progress she has made on the development of a national youth strategy; what discussions she has had with youth sector organisations on its design; and how she plans to ensure that young people are involved in all stages of the strategy's (a) development and (b) implementation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are co-producing the National Youth Strategy in partnership with young people and cross-sector experts to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
We have set up a Youth Advisory Group and an Expert Advisory Group to provide expertise, challenge and a range of perspectives throughout our development of the strategy. DCMS has engaged with over 20,000 young people through a national survey, roundtables, in-person and online focus groups, and ‘hacks’ across England. We have also engaged with over 1,400 practitioners from a range of sectors including youth, arts, sports, culture and civil society to understand the current needs and priority areas for improvement.
We will publish the National Youth Strategy in the autumn. We are working closely across government and with young people and the youth sector on the first steps of delivery.
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 she plans to publish the criteria for universities to meet to ensure appropriate reasonable adjustments for disabled students, following the withdrawal of Assistive Technology funding; and whether these criteria will be in place before the start of the academic year in September 2025.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not withdrawn funding for assistive technology under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Students who require assistive software and training due to their disability will continue to receive support through DSA. Universities remain responsible for making reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. No new criteria are planned for publication ahead of the 2025/26 academic year.
The department reviewed the provision of non-specialist spelling and grammar software and found that the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs is available through free-to-access software. As a result, the department does not expect that this change will lead to additional costs for universities in supporting disabled students. Therefore, no formal assessment of the impact on university support costs was undertaken.
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 her Department has made of the potential impact of cuts to funding for non-specialist software under the Disabled Students’ Allowance on costs for universities to support disabled students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not withdrawn funding for assistive technology under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Students who require assistive software and training due to their disability will continue to receive support through DSA. Universities remain responsible for making reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. No new criteria are planned for publication ahead of the 2025/26 academic year.
The department reviewed the provision of non-specialist spelling and grammar software and found that the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs is available through free-to-access software. As a result, the department does not expect that this change will lead to additional costs for universities in supporting disabled students. Therefore, no formal assessment of the impact on university support costs was undertaken.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) non-regulated and (b) non-medical practitioners performing aesthetic procedures on the health and safety of people in St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department published its response to the consultation entitled The licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England on 7 August 2025. The response is available at the following link:
As set out in the response, the Government is committed to protecting public safety by introducing legal restrictions to ensure that cosmetic procedures that are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public are classed as Care Quality Commission regulated activities, which can only be performed by specified regulated healthcare professionals. The Government is also committed to developing and implementing local authority licensing for lower risk procedures, using powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022, and to introducing age restrictions for those undergoing non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
The development of policy in this area will continue to be subject to stakeholder engagement, public consultation, impact assessments, and parliamentary procedures. There are no plans to specifically assess the potential impact of non-regulated and non-medical practitioners performing aesthetic procedures on the health and safety of people in the St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency.
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, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled The licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England, published on 3 September 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department published its response to the consultation entitled The licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England on 7 August 2025. The response is available at the following link:
As set out in the response, the Government is committed to protecting public safety by introducing legal restrictions to ensure that cosmetic procedures that are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public are classed as Care Quality Commission regulated activities, which can only be performed by specified regulated healthcare professionals. The Government is also committed to developing and implementing local authority licensing for lower risk procedures, using powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022, and to introducing age restrictions for those undergoing non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
The development of policy in this area will continue to be subject to stakeholder engagement, public consultation, impact assessments, and parliamentary procedures. There are no plans to specifically assess the potential impact of non-regulated and non-medical practitioners performing aesthetic procedures on the health and safety of people in the St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Extended Producer Responsibility fee structures on UK manufacturers’ investment in sustainable fibre-based composite packaging innovation that supports a circular economy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment did not split the assessment by sector or material type.
Since January 2025 the Recyclability Assessment Methodology has allocated packaging to fee modulation sub-categories, ensuring less-recyclable materials attract higher fees and drive investment in recyclability and innovation.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) median, (b) mean and (c) 90th percentile for time on electronically-monitored remand by magistrates' courts was for people found guilty and given non-custodial sentences in each year between 2018 and 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of those remanded in custody and bailed together with details of the final sentence at criminal courts in England and Wales in the remands data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
However, data held centrally does not include information on the time a person spent on remand in prison.
Data on the number of remand prisoners in each prison in the HMPPS estate is routinely published within the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ): Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) median, (b) mean and (c) 90th percentile for time on electronically-monitored remand by magistrates' courts was for people found guilty and sentenced to immediate custody in each year between 2018 and 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of those remanded in custody and bailed together with details of the final sentence at criminal courts in England and Wales in the remands data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
However, data held centrally does not include information on the time a person spent on remand in prison.
Data on the number of remand prisoners in each prison in the HMPPS estate is routinely published within the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ): Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.