Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of regulations on sewage sludge.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the need to ensure the safe and sustainable use of sludge in agriculture to help clean up our waterways and promote healthy soil.
Noting the Independent Water Commission’s recommendation for reform, in early 2026 we will consult on reforms to how sewage sludge use in agriculture is regulated, including whether this should be included in the Environmental Permitting Regime.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools report safeguarding concerns during family court proceedings.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for this government, and schools and colleges play a critical role in this.
They are supported by the statutory guidance, 'Keeping children safe in education' (KCSIE), which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.
Local authorities, police, and health services share an equal statutory duty to work together, and schools and colleges must work with local safeguarding partners to protect children.
KCSIE makes clear that all staff have a responsibility to identify and respond to any safeguarding concerns and stresses the importance of effective information sharing at the right time to ensure children receive the support they need. This includes ensuring clear processes and principles are in place for sharing information not only within the school or college and with children’s social care, but with safeguarding partners and other relevant organisations.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of sexual assaults on individuals with learning difficulties.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recognise that adults with learning difficulties may be particularly vulnerable to harm in home, care, and educational settings. We remain firmly committed to tackling rape and all forms of sexual offending, and to securing the best possible outcomes for victims.
The cross‑government VAWG Strategy, published on 18 December 2025, sets out a comprehensive programme of action to address rape and sexual offences and to ensure that all victims receive the highest standard of support and protection.
We are investing £13.1 million in the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP), which is leading the implementation of Operation Soteria. This work is ensuring that police forces strengthen their response to rape, improve victim safeguarding, and use every available tool to disrupt perpetrators and bring them to justice.
We have also instructed all police forces in England and Wales to establish specialist rape and sexual offence teams by 2029, and we are working with the NCVPP to ensure these units operate consistently and to a high standard nationwide.
As set out in our manifesto, we are committed to introducing free, independent legal advice for victims of adult rape, supporting them to uphold their legal rights.
In addition, the Ministry of Justice will invest £550 million over the next three years to provide counselling, court guidance and children’s services for victims. This funding will be delivered via PCCs, who assess local need and are best placed to commission tailored services, including for victims with protected characteristics such as disability.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
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 ensure his department’s contribution to the Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care will be passed on to independent adult social care employers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce.
This £500 million of funding will be given to local authorities to support providers to improve pay, and terms and conditions through the Fair Pay Agreement. It represents the most significant investment in improving pay and conditions for adult social care staff to date.
Negotiations between employee and employer representatives, including those from all types of providers, such as independent providers, will shape how this funding will be used to enhance pay, terms and conditions. The Government is committed to supporting commissioners to enable the successful delivery of the Fair Pay Agreement and we are exploring options for engagement to best inform our understanding of this.
We also recognise that, in preparation for the first Fair Pay Agreement, commissioners and providers, will need time, support and guidance. We are committed to publishing guidance to support these groups, and our consultation seeks views from all providers, including independent providers, to ensure their perspectives are fully considered.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve education on (a) sexual consent and (b) relationships.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department published updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance in July 2025. It focuses on building healthy relationships skills from the start of primary school. It sets out that secondary schools should cover how to recognise, respect and communicate consent and boundaries in both platonic and romantic relationships.
Pupils should be taught the law about the age of consent and that they have a choice about whether to have sex. Pupils should also be taught about their capacity to give, withhold or remove consent at any time, even if initially given.
This government, in December 2025, has published a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. We want to protect young people and drive forward education on healthy relationships and will be investing £11 million to pilot the best interventions in schools over the next three years.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the financial sustainability of childminding roles in (a) East Sussex and (b) Lewes constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life.
From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers, an increase from 96%. We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that, where they want to, childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. Childminders, who often care for children of different ages, can use the funding they receive to support costs across all the children they look after. We expect this will also bring increased demand for childminder places, providing new opportunities for growth.
From 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the police to ensure hunting laws are fully enforced.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not had recent discussions with the police regarding the enforcement of hunting laws.
The enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament.
It is for individual Chief Constables to determine how their resources are deployed, and it is for locally elected PCCs to hold their forces to account. This includes consideration of how the police tackle the crimes that matter most to residents and businesses in rural and urban areas alike.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help increase public awareness of the new Highway Code.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Injuries and fatalities from road collisions caused by driving are unacceptable, and this Government will work hard to prevent these tragedies for all road users.
That is why on 7 January 2026, we published our new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all.
Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022, the department ran large-scale THINK! advertising campaigns to raise awareness of the changes.
Via the THINK! campaign, we are also running year-round radio filler adverts encouraging compliance with the guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
However, as set out in the strategy, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes and overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
As our road environment and technologies evolve, providing education for all road users throughout their lifetime is vital to improving road safety. As announced in the strategy to support a Lifelong Learning approach in the UK, the government will publish for the first time national guidance on the development and delivery of road safety education, training and publicity. Alongside this, the government will publish a manual to support the implementation of a Lifelong Learning approach for road safety.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested for being a supporter of (a) the Maniacs Murder Cult and (b) the Russian Imperial Movement in the latest reported quarter, July to September 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Data on arrests, charges and convictions for the proscription offences in sections 11 to 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 can be found in the quarterly Home Office publication ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’. The most recent publication up to year ending September 2025, was published on 18 December 2025. This can be accessed on GOV.UK in the following link: Operation of police powers under TACT 2000, to September 2025 - GOV.UK
Data is not published on the specific proscribed organisation that the arrest, charge or conviction relates to, with the exception of Palestine Action. Since the proscription of Palestine Action on 5 July 2025, arrests linked to supporting this group have materially altered the volume and demographic makeup of terrorism-related arrests. To preserve the clarity and time-series compatibility, arrests and charges relating to supporting Palestine Action are shown separately, while still being included in the overall total of all arrests in the publication. The separation does not imply that this cohort has been treated differently to other arrests and charges.
The investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including determining whether an offence has been committed or not, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who are operationally independent.
The Government is absolutely clear that support for proscribed organisations is unacceptable. Anyone expressing support for a proscribed organisation should expect to be investigated by the police.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his department taking to raise awareness of the warning signs of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is working to improve awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals, including rare conditions that lead to sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS).
NHS England has a published the national service specification Cardiology: Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages), which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions-all-ages/
This outlines the service model and mandatory guidelines for commissioned providers in England to support the diagnosis and treatment of patients or families affected by inherited cardiac conditions or sudden cardiac death. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification and is working with stakeholders as part of this review including NHS clinical experts and the British Inherited Cardiovascular Conditions Society. The NHS England Genomics Education Programme has also developed a range of educational resources for healthcare professionals.
This includes a Knowledge Hub page on sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, including information on presentation, diagnosis, management, and links for clinicians to further resources. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.genomicseducation.hee.nhs.uk/genotes/knowledge-hub/sudden-arrhythmic-death-syndrome/