Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of classifying Access to Work expenditure as Annually Managed Expenditure to help ensure the scheme can respond to demand from new and sustained employment of disabled people.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Access to Work is an important programme that supports many people to start and stay in work. We are committed to ensuring it can respond to demand. That is why we announced in May that we would recruit and train 480 additional staff to speed up decisions and tackle the existing backlog by September 2027. That is a 72.5% increase to the existing 658 staff already working on Access to Work.
Access to Work is funded within DWP’s Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) to support effective management of expenditure. Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) is generally reserved for spending that is particularly volatile or cannot reasonably be managed within departmental DEL budgets.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of recent findings by UCL, City St George’s and Carers Trust that young adult carers are more than twice as likely as non-carers to be 'Persistently NEET' for two years or more.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Government recognises the valuable contribution of unpaid carers, including young adult carers, and the challenges that caring responsibilities can present for education, training, and employment.
The Department has noted the recent research by University College London City St George’s and the Carers Trust, which contributes to the evidence base and will inform policy development. The Government continues to work across departments to support unpaid carers, including young adult carers, to access the support they need to balance caring responsibilities with education, employment, and their own health and wellbeing.
On 14 July 2026, the Government published the Cross-Government Action Plan for Unpaid Carers, setting out measures to improve recognition of unpaid carers, connect them with the right support, and help them balance caring with work, education, health, and everyday life.
The Government is also committed to improving opportunities for young people to access education, training, and employment. Through the Youth Guarantee and wider skills and employment reforms, the Government is investing £2.5 billion over the next three years to support young people into opportunities to learn and earn.
The Government will continue to review the evidence, including this research, as it develops policies to improve outcomes for unpaid carers and young people.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has designated a team responsible for agri-tech as a frontier industry under the Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department of Business and Trade has expertise committed to delivering economic growth in the agri-tech sector and helping to deliver the outcomes of the Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much public funding has been allocated through the Industrial Strategy to support agri-tech as a frontier industry; and how this compares with the funding allocated to each other frontier industry identified in the Strategy.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the Industrial Strategy, Government set out an ambition to drive innovation in agriculture. We committed to invest at least £200 million in the Farming Innovation Programme by 2030, with £123 million available for competitions in 2026-27. To date, the programme has supported more than 300 projects, including innovations in fruit crop protection and dairy health in Horsham. Frontier industries are supported through a range of interventions tailored to their specific growth opportunities and barriers, rather than through directly comparable funding allocations. Progress is reported through our Quarterly Updates and recent one-year Industrial Strategy delivery update.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to add young carers to the data which local authorities must provide in relation to 'Participation in education, training and NEET' for 16 and 17 year olds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities already have statutory duties to identify, track and support young people, including those not in education, employment or training (NEET). They collect characteristic data such as sex, ethnicity, special educational needs and young carer status.
We are implementing measures to reduce the number of young people who become NEET, building on the existing guarantee of a post-16 education place. This includes working with local authorities, strategic authorities, schools and further education (FE) providers to improve the identification, tracking and sharing of information on young people, while strengthening local oversight and accountability.
To support earlier intervention, we are investing in better data sharing, introducing new Risk of NEET indicator tools, and enhancing attendance monitoring in FE settings. These measures are intended to help identify at-risk young people sooner and provide timely support.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were recruited into National Institute for Health and Care Research supported (i) phase 1, (ii) phase 2, and (iii) phase 3 trials for (a) dementia, (b) cancer, (c) stroke and (d) coronary heart disease for each year from 2020/21 to 2024/25.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The UK Clinical Research Delivery key performance indicators (UKCRD KPI) report monitors the United Kingdom’s delivery of globally competitive clinical research. The table attached provides the requested figures for phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3 interventional clinical trials, by disease type.
They are an unpublished subset of statistics under indicator six of the UKCRD KPI report, which measures the number of participants recruited to clinical studies. The information is taken from studies recorded on the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network’s (RDN) Central Portfolio Management System.
The data was processed and assured by the NIHR RDN’s data, analytics, and specialty teams using the same established checks applied to data provided to the Department for publication in the UKCRD KPI report.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to update building regulations to require property flood resilience measures in new homes built in areas at risk of flooding.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 81948 on 21 October 2025. The government has no plans to update Building Regulations to require further property flood resilience in new homes.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
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 a.) patients with pancreatic cancer can easily access information about relevant clinical trials and b.) they are automatically linked onto clinical trials where eligible.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research. The NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health and care research, by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.
The National Cancer Plan for England sets out the Government’s ambition to deliver world class cancer care through world class research, including delivering breakthroughs for rare and less survivable cancers. Throughout the lifetime of this plan, we will ensure that every cancer patient gets the opportunity to access relevant clinical trials quickly, fairly, and easily.
As set out in this plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act 2026, including Section 3 of the act which will involve developing a service to ensure rare cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, can be automatically contacted about clinical trials. This will allow data sharing from the National Disease Registration Service to the NIHR Be Part of Research registry tool.
The United Kingdom continues to see pioneering pancreatic cancer studies, including research led by the University of Birmingham into personalised mRNA cancer vaccines, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer
A specific example is the CRISTAL-APC trial to improve treatment for people living with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, supported by NIHR's Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility.
Implementing the provisions of the Rare Cancers Act will make it easier for clinical trials on pancreatic cancer to take place in England.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his department will work with the NIHR National Speciality Lead for research into rare cancers to develop a national strategy focused on unlocking greater investment in pancreatic cancer research.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
As set out in the National Cancer Plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act 2026 by ensuring that a National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers is appointed by summer 2026.
The National Specialty Lead will be based in the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network (RDN) and will support the delivery of research for rare cancers, including pancreatic cancer, rather than developing national strategies. The NIHR National Specialty Lead will provide strategic oversight of rare cancer research studies on the NIHR RDN portfolio and address specific challenges with the delivery of research in this specialty.
The National Cancer Plan for England sets out the Government’s ambition to deliver world class cancer care through world class research, including delivering breakthroughs for rare and less survivable cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Rare and less common cancers are a priority for the Government, and the National Cancer Plan is the first ever cancer plan to include a dedicated chapter on rare cancers.
The United Kingdom continues to see pioneering pancreatic cancer studies, including research led by the University of Birmingham into personalised mRNA cancer vaccines, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer
A specific example is the CRISTAL-APC trial to improve treatment for people living with stage four pancreatic cancer, supported by the NIHR's Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility.
As set out in the plan, the Government recognises the crucial need for research into pancreatic cancer and is committed to supporting high-quality research through the NIHR. The NIHR welcomes high-quality funding applications for research into pancreatic cancer and rare cancers. Funding is awarded through open competition and expert peer review to support the highest-quality research proposals.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on strengthening planning policy to help ensure that new developments do not increase runoff and surface water flood risk for surrounding communities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the importance of development being resilient to flooding from all sources, including from surface water.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published on 12 December 2024 makes clear that developments of all sizes should use sustainable drainage techniques where the development could have drainage impacts.
These are designed to control surface water runoff and provide benefits for water quantity, water quality, biodiversity, and amenity by lowering flow rates and increasing water storage capacity.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on a new NPPF. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included policies incorporating a new requirement that Sustainable Drainage Systems should be designed in accordance with the National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems to provide a consistent basis for improving their design.
We are currently analysing the feedback received to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.