Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department will provide to support the delivery of (a) art therapy, (b) animal therapy, (c) talking therapies, (d) group therapies and (e) other community-based preventative mental health support provision for residents in the Eastbourne area.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board is responsible for funding decisions relating to the provision of mental health care for people in the Eastbourne area.
Nationally, funding to expand evidence-based NHS Talking Therapies services has been prioritised, with the number of people completing a course of treatment expected to increase by 384,000 by 2028/29.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average wait time is from initial assessment to an Education, Health, and Care Plan document being produced in East Sussex.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care (EHC) plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a52558d-1cb4-4f5d-7ddd-08dde95299cd.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page one of the First Report of the Public Accounts Committee of Session 2024-25, Support for children and young people with special educational needs, HC 353, what steps her Department is taking to provide adequate funding to meet the level of high special educational needs forecasted in that report.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing total high needs funding in England of over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Of that total high needs funding, East Sussex County Council is being allocated over £94 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant.
We are considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system to boost children’s outcomes, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in dealing with abandoned vehicles.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Councils have a duty to remove abandoned vehicles from land in the open air and roads (including private roads). Guidance to help councils comply with this duty is available here: Abandoned vehicles: local authority responsibilities - GOV.UK
Councils can take enforcement action against people who abandon vehicles by issuing a fixed penalty notice or prosecuting them.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve recruitment and retention of SEND teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes for all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament. We are making good progress. The workforce has grown in secondary and special schools. There were 1,435 more secondary school teachers and 911 more special and pupil referral unit teachers in 2024/25 compared to the previous year, in the schools where they are needed the most.
The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, and this is embedded in teacher training. From September 2025, all new teachers will benefit from three years of evidence-based training through the revised initial teacher training and early career framework, which has significantly more content related to supporting pupils with SEND, including content adapted from the new National Professional Qualification for special educational needs coordinators.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many British citizens are serving prison sentences abroad.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is providing consular assistance to over 1,700 British nationals detained overseas. This includes those who are held in police custody, immigration detention, pre-trial detention (sometimes called 'remand') either in a police station or detention facility, and those who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle the intersectional stigma of place-based ageing.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I recognise that people can face challenges as they age, and so I welcome the University of Stirling Research on the Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing and look forward to seeing it's report in due course.
This research is exploring how interventions such as home and environmental modifications can help people to age well within their homes and communities.
This government recognises how important home adaptations are in enabling older and disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment. This is why government has boosted funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), which can contribute to the cost of adaptations for eligible people of all ages and tenures, to £711 million for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
DFG funding helps adapt over 55,000 homes annually, helping disabled people and their families to live independently and well in their own homes and communities for longer.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the budget is for the Office of the Standing Advocate in financial years (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is important that the Office of the Independent Public Advocate is adequately equipped to deliver its vital function of supporting victims of future major incidents and preparing for these incidents.
The budget for the Independent Public Advocate for 2025/26 is £552k. All future spending will be considered as part of the Department’s allocations process to determine detailed budgets over the spending period. We will explore budgetary requirements with the Advocate once they are in post.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to ensure that policy-makers are aware of international law pertaining to war and genocide.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Law Officers’ Convention applies to advice which may or may not have been given by, or requested of, the Law Officers, and it applies to your question. It can be found at paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May:
“By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.”
Policy-makers are mindful of the overarching duty, set out at paragraph 1.6 of the Ministerial Code, to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations. They seek advice from their departmental lawyers in this regard, as appropriate.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to allocate funding to the Lobular Moonshot Project.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council (MRC).
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, accompanied by the Minister of State for Health, met with representatives of the Lobular Moonshot Project on 14 July 2025 to discuss their work. The Chief Scientific Adviser and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the MRC have held two further meetings with the Lobular Moonshot Project to provide advice on existing funding options.
Both the MRC and the NIHR have committed to continuing to work with the Lobular Moonshot Campaign team to support the development of fundable research proposals in this area and help drive our collective ambition to increase understanding and effective management of this disease.
The NIHR continues to welcome high quality, high impact funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including lobular breast cancer.