Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of access to sports and physical activity facilities in areas of South Basildon and East Thurrock with higher levels of deprivation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
In England, the Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sports through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions. Sport England works closely with local partners, including Active Essex, to support community-led interventions to improve access to sport and physical activity. The constituency of South Basildon and East Thurrock received a total of £17,600 of Sport England funding in 2024/2025.
In June, following the Spending Review we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We will ensure that this funding promotes health and wellbeing, and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of consumer redress available to homeowners where installers of loft spray foam insulation have ceased trading.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For installations under DESNZ schemes, consumers are entitled to remediation where work has not been up to standard even when an installer has ceased trading. Homeowners should claim through their guarantee where this is the case. However, we understand most spray foam loft insulation has been installed outside of our schemes where the protection available depends on what was agreed at the time between the homeowner and the installer.
Poor-quality installations are the result of years of a failed system, and this government is committed to introducing new reforms to drive up quality and protect consumers through the Warm Homes Plan.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the number of homeowners who installed loft spray foam insulation during the period in which it was eligible under Government-backed energy efficiency schemes.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Schemes run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero do not have a list of eligible products but require that assessments are made and designs produced for properties individually, with the most appropriate measures installed to the required standard.
Official statistics of government schemes are collected by measure rather than product. Under the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme there were 6,217 pitched roof loft insulation measures installed. As of August 2025, ECO 4 had installed 1,698, and GBIS 130. Spray foam is not the only product used for this measure, so the precise number will be lower.
Official statistics for the schemes can be found here: GHG Vouchers: Green Homes Grant and Home Upgrade Grant statistics - GOV.UK
ECO: Household Energy Efficiency Statistics - GOV.UK
GBIS: Great British Insulation Scheme - GOV.UK
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 address regional disparities in whooping cough vaccination uptake among pregnant women.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The latest published data for September 2025 shows that prenatal pertussis vaccination coverage has improved in all seven NHS England regions when compared to September 2024.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report shows monthly prenatal pertussis vaccination coverage followed an increasing trend since April 2024. The report is available at the following link:
To support continued improvements, NHS England has developed and implemented a vaccination in pregnancy improvement plan. Actions delivered to date include:
- system level oversight and leadership of programme commissioning and delivery, to strengthen the offer process and tackle factors contributing to low vaccine uptake;
- ensuring commissioned providers are aware of their responsibilities within the vaccination in pregnancy programmes and are working to strengthen the vaccination offer and ensure consistency in delivery approach;
- commissioning community pharmacy providers in areas of low uptake and high deprivation to deliver National Health Service pertussis vaccinations to pregnant women opportunistically or on request;
- revised governance arrangements for vaccination in pregnancy programmes, with regional and national colleagues meeting regularly to share learning and good practice from local systems; and
- improved vaccination recording and accurate data collection to monitor programme effectiveness, allowing regional teams and their partner integrated care boards to access timely NHS operational data. This informs targeted action to increase uptake and reduce inequalities.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of pregnant women who are not offered the whooping cough vaccine by 20 weeks’ gestation; and what steps are being taken to improve timely access.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All pregnant women in England should be offered the pertussis vaccination in every pregnancy, around the time of the mid-pregnancy scan, usually 20 weeks, and ideally before 32 weeks.
Recent data shows maternal pertussis vaccination coverage from July to September 2025 was 71.9%, which was 7.5% higher than the equivalent period in 2025. The data is available at the following link:
NHS England has implemented a range of measures to ensure timely access to the pertussis vaccination programme, including NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency having developed a joint maternal vaccines toolkit and campaign to promote timely uptake of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whooping cough, and flu vaccines during pregnancy, highlighting the protection provided to newborns.
NHS England has commissioned community pharmacies in the North West, Midlands, London, and the East of England to deliver pertussis and RSV vaccines, increasing convenience and capacity, particularly in areas of high deprivation and low uptake.
A maternal vaccination postcard has been translated into seven additional languages and distributed to 200 practices with lower uptake. Tailored communications are shared through community and faith-based channels, including radio, podcasts, and local publications.
NHS England regularly shares vaccination information with pregnancy and parenting organisations such as Tommy’s and the NCT, as well as community and faith groups, for use on their websites, newsletters, and social media.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of advance ticket discounts on affordability on the c2c rail line.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
c2c serves a mostly short distance turn up and go market, with around 95 per cent of all daily ticket sales made within a week of the date of travel. Affordability is therefore primarily determined by walk-up fares.
c2c reduced its single fares in December 2023 to always be half the equivalent of a return fare, a change made in readiness for the roll out of contactless Pay As You Go (PAYG) ticketing.
c2c is the first TOC in Britain to offer contactless PAYG ticketing on its whole network and advises that it has the lowest walk-up fares per mile of any train company in the southeast.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of HMRC’s reminders, app notifications and communications in reducing the level of last-minute self assessment tax return filings.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC app users can choose to enable ‘push notifications’ to receive a variety of updates, including payment notifications. At present, this feature operates on an ‘all or nothing’ basis, meaning users cannot select only payment notifications. Since the app launched, over 5.3 million users have opted to enable push notifications, although some may have subsequently chosen to disable them.
HMRC regularly shares guidance and updates to help taxpayers stay safe online and protect themselves from scams and fraudulent messages, particularly during the Self Assessment period.
They include practical advice and links to relevant materials in their Self Assessment emails, social media content, radio broadcasts, press releases, GOV.UK guidance and through other communication products.
For example, the following press releases regarding Self Assessment scams were published in August and December 2025 respectively:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/scams-warning-as-self-assessment-customers-targeted
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/4800-self-assessment-scams-reported
HMRC’s guidance on phishing and scams can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-phishing-and-scams-detailed-information
Alongside communications regarding avoiding scams, HMRC also uses a range of communication activity to support customers to file their Self Assessment return on time. This starts with the notice to file issued to all relevant customers in April and with reminders issued directly to customer’s Personal Tax Accounts (PTA) and HMRC app or by letter, email and text. HMRC also encourages customers to file on time through their annual multi channel communications campaign.
A wide range of online help and support is available on GOV.UK. This includes guidance notes and help sheets, as well as online webinars and recorded videos on YouTube covering various Self Assessment scenarios.
In addition, there is information on GOV.UK on how a customer can ask for the requirement to file a Self Assessment tax return to be withdrawn if they no longer meet the Self Assessment criteria. This can be done through HMRC’s digital services, via their PTA or by calling HMRC.
Customers are also able to use the services of an agent to file their returns. In 2024/25, 59% of the Self Assessment population was represented. HMRC works closely with agent representative bodies to encourage the early filing of returns.
HMRC monitors the effectiveness of their communications. Last year, over 90% of customers filed their Self Assessment return on time. The Self Assessment campaign tracking report 2024 to 2025 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-campaign-tracking-2024-to-2025-report/self-assessment-campaign-tracking-report-2024-to-2025
Late filing penalties incentivise good filing behaviours. They are an important feature of tax administration to encourage taxpayers to meet their obligations and to provide sanctions for those who do not.
All customers have the right to appeal against late filing penalties within 30 days of the date of the penalty notice. HMRC will cancel penalties where a customer can demonstrate that they had a reasonable excuse for the failure to file their return on time and the failure was remedied shortly after the reasonable excuse ceased. HMRC will also cancel any late filing penalties when a return is not required, such as where a customer has ceased self-employment or no longer meets the Self Assessment criteria.
Penalty notices are issued automatically and therefore all customers who miss the filing deadline will receive a filing penalty.
The tables below set out the number of fixed £100 penalties raised for late filing, the daily penalties issued for late filing and the values of late filing penalties paid for each tax year since 2020.
Table 1: Fixed £100 penalties raised for late filing
Tax Year | Fixed £100 penalties raised |
2019/2020 | 1,260,000 |
2020/2021 | 1,350,000 |
2021/2022 | 1,250,000 |
2022/2023 | 1,220,000 |
2023/2024 | 1,060,000 |
Table 2: Daily penalties issued for late filing
Tax Year | Daily penalties raised |
2019/2020 | 700,000 |
2020/2021 | 770,000 |
2021/2022 | 730,000 |
2022/2023 | 700,000 |
2023/2024 | 660,000 |
The figures in tables 1 and 2 are rounded to the nearest 10,000, and are correct as of December 2025.
Table 3 – Values of late filing penalties paid for each tax year since 2020
Tax year of late submission | Value of Late Filing Penalties Paid (£m) |
2019/20 | 190 |
2020/21 | 209 |
2021/22 | 184 |
2022/23 | 147 |
2023/24 | 82 |
The figures in table 3 are rounded to the nearest £1m and are correct as of December 2025.
Notes for tables 1 – 3:
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent guidance HMRC has provided to taxpayers on steps to protect themselves from fake or fraudulent messages when submitting the self assessment tax return.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC app users can choose to enable ‘push notifications’ to receive a variety of updates, including payment notifications. At present, this feature operates on an ‘all or nothing’ basis, meaning users cannot select only payment notifications. Since the app launched, over 5.3 million users have opted to enable push notifications, although some may have subsequently chosen to disable them.
HMRC regularly shares guidance and updates to help taxpayers stay safe online and protect themselves from scams and fraudulent messages, particularly during the Self Assessment period.
They include practical advice and links to relevant materials in their Self Assessment emails, social media content, radio broadcasts, press releases, GOV.UK guidance and through other communication products.
For example, the following press releases regarding Self Assessment scams were published in August and December 2025 respectively:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/scams-warning-as-self-assessment-customers-targeted
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/4800-self-assessment-scams-reported
HMRC’s guidance on phishing and scams can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-phishing-and-scams-detailed-information
Alongside communications regarding avoiding scams, HMRC also uses a range of communication activity to support customers to file their Self Assessment return on time. This starts with the notice to file issued to all relevant customers in April and with reminders issued directly to customer’s Personal Tax Accounts (PTA) and HMRC app or by letter, email and text. HMRC also encourages customers to file on time through their annual multi channel communications campaign.
A wide range of online help and support is available on GOV.UK. This includes guidance notes and help sheets, as well as online webinars and recorded videos on YouTube covering various Self Assessment scenarios.
In addition, there is information on GOV.UK on how a customer can ask for the requirement to file a Self Assessment tax return to be withdrawn if they no longer meet the Self Assessment criteria. This can be done through HMRC’s digital services, via their PTA or by calling HMRC.
Customers are also able to use the services of an agent to file their returns. In 2024/25, 59% of the Self Assessment population was represented. HMRC works closely with agent representative bodies to encourage the early filing of returns.
HMRC monitors the effectiveness of their communications. Last year, over 90% of customers filed their Self Assessment return on time. The Self Assessment campaign tracking report 2024 to 2025 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-campaign-tracking-2024-to-2025-report/self-assessment-campaign-tracking-report-2024-to-2025
Late filing penalties incentivise good filing behaviours. They are an important feature of tax administration to encourage taxpayers to meet their obligations and to provide sanctions for those who do not.
All customers have the right to appeal against late filing penalties within 30 days of the date of the penalty notice. HMRC will cancel penalties where a customer can demonstrate that they had a reasonable excuse for the failure to file their return on time and the failure was remedied shortly after the reasonable excuse ceased. HMRC will also cancel any late filing penalties when a return is not required, such as where a customer has ceased self-employment or no longer meets the Self Assessment criteria.
Penalty notices are issued automatically and therefore all customers who miss the filing deadline will receive a filing penalty.
The tables below set out the number of fixed £100 penalties raised for late filing, the daily penalties issued for late filing and the values of late filing penalties paid for each tax year since 2020.
Table 1: Fixed £100 penalties raised for late filing
Tax Year | Fixed £100 penalties raised |
2019/2020 | 1,260,000 |
2020/2021 | 1,350,000 |
2021/2022 | 1,250,000 |
2022/2023 | 1,220,000 |
2023/2024 | 1,060,000 |
Table 2: Daily penalties issued for late filing
Tax Year | Daily penalties raised |
2019/2020 | 700,000 |
2020/2021 | 770,000 |
2021/2022 | 730,000 |
2022/2023 | 700,000 |
2023/2024 | 660,000 |
The figures in tables 1 and 2 are rounded to the nearest 10,000, and are correct as of December 2025.
Table 3 – Values of late filing penalties paid for each tax year since 2020
Tax year of late submission | Value of Late Filing Penalties Paid (£m) |
2019/20 | 190 |
2020/21 | 209 |
2021/22 | 184 |
2022/23 | 147 |
2023/24 | 82 |
The figures in table 3 are rounded to the nearest £1m and are correct as of December 2025.
Notes for tables 1 – 3:
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 ensure that all pregnant women are offered the whooping cough vaccine at the optimal time in pregnancy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All pregnant women are offered the whooping cough vaccination in every pregnancy, around the time of the mid-pregnancy scan, usually 20 weeks, and ideally before 32 weeks, via midwifery in the community or their general practice.
The Department is working with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency to encourage high uptake of all immunisations, including in underserved communities and in groups with historically lower vaccination rates.
Significant efforts have been made to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination to protect babies against whooping cough, also known as pertussis. These include targeted campaigns using social media, digital screen graphics, and community outreach. The National Health Service actively promotes vaccination for pregnant women to protect their newborns, and efforts are underway to enhance the recording and monitoring of vaccinations, ensuring accurate data collection to assess the programme’s effectiveness.
Recent data shows maternal pertussis vaccination coverage from July to September 2025 was 71.9%, which was 7.5% higher than the equivalent period in 2025. However, there is more to do to stabilise and improve uptake, and that is why we have set out actions to improve uptake in our 10-Year Health Plan for England. Putting our plans into action, we have recently launched a campaign to promote awareness and confidence in vaccination, including for pregnant women, which will run throughout the year.
To improve accessibility, community pharmacies in areas of high deprivation and low uptake are now also commissioned to offer some vaccinations, making it more convenient for individuals to get vaccinated.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to introduce national compensation for homeowners adversely affected by loft spray foam insulation.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For installations under DESNZ schemes, consumers are entitled to remediation where work has not been up to standard even when an installer has ceased trading. Homeowners should claim through their guarantee where this is the case. However, we understand most spray foam loft insulation has been installed outside of our schemes where the protection available depends on what was agreed at the time between the homeowner and the installer.
Poor-quality installations are the result of years of a failed system, and this government is committed to introducing new reforms to drive up quality and protect consumers through the Warm Homes Plan.