Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
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 create a two-stage financial redress scheme for people harmed by Sodium Valproate and surgical mesh implants.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex area of work, involving several Government departments, and it is important that we get this right. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he expects fixed sum payments to be awarded to people harmed by Sodium Valproate and surgical mesh implants during 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex area of work, involving several Government departments, and it is important that we get this right. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to reduce the (a) number and (b) administrative costs of arms length bodies.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister has commissioned departments to assess all current and proposed arms length bodies against new principles to determine which should continue, close, merge, or have functions returned to departments. This is part of the government's mission to create a more productive and agile state, as demonstrated by NHS England's integration into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Additionally, the Chancellor has initiated Phase 2 of the Spending Review, which will zero-base all public spending, including ALBs. This involves a detailed evaluation to assess priorities and value for money for taxpayers. Departments and ALBs are tasked with identifying a minimum of 5% savings against their day-to-day spending, building on the previous 2% target.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 40654 on Income Tax: Pensioners, what estimate she has made of the number of pensioners that will be affected in each year.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publish the number of income tax payers by age. This information can be found in Table 2.1 of the collated income tax liabilities statistics tables for the years up to 2024-25, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66798d4797ea0c79abfe4b83/Collated_Income_Tax_liabilities_statistics_tables_-_2.1_to_2.6.ods. Data on future years will be published in the usual way.
As I set out in my previous answer, the Personal Allowance - the amount an individual can earn before paying tax - will continue to exceed the basic and full new State Pension in the coming tax year. This means pensioners whose sole income is the full new State Pension or basic State Pension without any increments will not pay any income tax.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has received any representations on fire safety guidance and the time within which care homes should aim to evacuate residents from protected areas.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Fire Risk Assessment: Residential Care guide is being updated as part of a major work programme to update all fire safety guidance under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and will address evacuation times in premises such as care homes. This work is currently expected to run over the next couple of years given the number of guides in development, the detailed policy work required and the differing expert views regarding care home evacuation times.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the DWP appointee scheme to cover Child Trust Funds with a value up to £5,000.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP will not be extending its appointeeship scheme to include Child Trust Funds. The scheme only applies to Government benefits which help with day-to-day living expenses, as opposed to a capital asset like a Child Trust Fund which matures overtime. Further, applying benefit rules to Child Trust Funds would not provide the protections currently delivered by the Mental Capacity Act and could expose vulnerable people to risk.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost of applying to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order was in cases relating to Child Trust Funds in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to provide information on the numbers of applications for a deputyship order in cases relating to Child Trust Funds as Court of Protection data is not broken down by the type of asset held.
Locally collected management information relating to Child Trust Funds does not include those cases where a Child Trust Fund may be one of several assets owned by the young person lacking capacity and therefore does not provide an accurate picture of the number of applications made.
With effect from 08 April 2025, applications to the Court of Protection will cost £421. Where an application to access a Child Trust Fund is made before the child reaches 18, no fee is payable if the child has savings of less than £4,250 and a monthly income less than £1,420. In addition, where the Child Trust Fund is the sole asset, an exceptional fee waiver can be applied for. When an application is made after a child turns 18, and they have savings or income above these levels, a parent or carer can apply for an exceptional fee waiver at the court’s discretion.
The Ministry of Justice has published a toolkit for parents and carers to help them navigate the court process.
The Department is exploring plans to facilitate the CoP process for parents and guardians applying for a deputyship, for example by alerting parents in advance of a child's 18th birthday of the need to make an application.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order in cases relating to Child Trust Funds were made in each year since 2019.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to provide information on the numbers of applications for a deputyship order in cases relating to Child Trust Funds as Court of Protection data is not broken down by the type of asset held.
Locally collected management information relating to Child Trust Funds does not include those cases where a Child Trust Fund may be one of several assets owned by the young person lacking capacity and therefore does not provide an accurate picture of the number of applications made.
With effect from 08 April 2025, applications to the Court of Protection will cost £421. Where an application to access a Child Trust Fund is made before the child reaches 18, no fee is payable if the child has savings of less than £4,250 and a monthly income less than £1,420. In addition, where the Child Trust Fund is the sole asset, an exceptional fee waiver can be applied for. When an application is made after a child turns 18, and they have savings or income above these levels, a parent or carer can apply for an exceptional fee waiver at the court’s discretion.
The Ministry of Justice has published a toolkit for parents and carers to help them navigate the court process.
The Department is exploring plans to facilitate the CoP process for parents and guardians applying for a deputyship, for example by alerting parents in advance of a child's 18th birthday of the need to make an application.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what options she is considering for improving access to matured Child Trust Funds for people who lack capacity.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Where a young adult lacks mental capacity, including due to a disability, the law requires parents or a guardian to have legal authority to make decisions on their behalf about financial assets or property. This requirement to have legal authority is vital in ensuring that vulnerable people are safeguarded and protected from all forms of abuse including financial abuse. This is not specific to accessing funds held in Child Trust Funds or Junior ISAs but applies more widely to all assets belonging to vulnerable people who lack capacity. This includes in relation to accessing funds held in a Child Trust Fund or a Junior ISA.
On 9 June 2023, the Ministry of Justice published the Making Financial Decisions for young people: parent and carer toolkit’ explaining the process by which parents and guardians of disabled children are able to obtain legal authority if no other arrangements are in place. This can be done by making an applying to the Court of Protection for an order authorising access to monies held in a Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA. The toolkit is available on Gov.UK.
We understand that concerns remain, and I am speaking with relevant stakeholders to explore what further can be done to help improve access to matured Child Trust Funds in a way that balances facilitating access with safeguards.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish updated guidance for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Updated guidance was published on the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme website on 19 March 2025.