Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether mainstream or special free school projects in the Maidenhead constituency are affected by the review of the free schools pipeline set out in her written ministerial statement of 15 December 2025.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are no mainstream or special and alternative provision free schools planned in the Maidenhead constituency.
In line with the statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to the House on 15 December, we are making a funding package available to the local authority so they can deliver the places planned for the school themselves more quickly and with a greater focus on mainstream inclusion where appropriate. There is one planned special school in Windsor and Maidenhead local authority
For the planned special school in Windsor and Maidenhead, the local authority has a choice about whether to continue with the school or take the funding package. The department will fund the capital delivery of schools the local authority chooses to proceed with in the usual way.
Local authorities have until 27 February 2026 to make their decisions, and we will confirm the total funding for all local authorities, as well as the schools that are going ahead, in due course after that date.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase early years workforce recruitment and retention in Windsor and Maidenhead; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of her proposed funding rate increases on provider ability to offer competitive wages in that area.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is supporting recruitment through our national ‘Do something Big’ marketing campaign and financial incentives to new and returning educators in areas of most need. Our delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, is supporting local authorities and providers with one-to-one targeted support.
We are committed to strengthening career pathways and championing early years teachers as part of our Best Start in Life strategy. To boost retention and attract new talent, we plan to more than double the number of funded training places on early years initial teacher training by 2028, and roll out a new degree apprenticeship route, with financial support for employers to deliver this.
In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling the government’s commitment to funded childcare since 2023/24. This will fund a full year of the expanded entitlements and an above inflation increase to funding rates. These increases also continue to reflect in full forecast cost pressures on the early years sector, including National Living Wage increases announced at the Autumn Budget 2025. Early education is delivered by a mixed market who set their own rates of pay. It is then up to those providers how they choose to spend this funding.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the scope and timescale will be for the review of the childcare system; and what estimate she has made of the number of working parents in Windsor and Maidenhead who are unable to access Government-funded childcare places due to insufficient local provider capacity.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. As announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, the department will lead a review of childcare provision. This review aims to simplify the system for providers and families, improving access and strengthening the impact of government support.
The department does not hold the specific data requested. The department publishes information on the number of parents that have obtained eligibility codes (to allow them access to the expansion to the early education entitlements) and how many of those codes have been validated by a childcare provider. These figures are available for each local authority. It should be noted that failure to validate a childcare eligibility code does not always mean the parent could not find a place and some parents may obtain an eligibility code but chose later to not use it. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6c795555-7148-4429-b1e3-08de39895a0e. The data is as of 22 September 2025.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities must ensure sufficient childcare provision to meet parental requirements in their area. Parents unable to secure a government-funded place should contact their local authority if they cannot access a place.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 fairness of the current means tested social care system for people with dementia in cases where individuals are required to sell their homes or exhaust lifetime savings to fund care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The adult social care system is means tested and provides funded support for those with the least financial means. While the Department sets the minimum thresholds for accessing local authority support, local authorities have the discretion to set more generous thresholds if they choose.
Individuals are not required to sell their home to pay for care if they, their spouse, or another eligible relative still lives there, as the property is disregarded in the financial assessment. In cases where a person’s property is included in the financial assessment, the universal deferred payment agreement (DPA) scheme means that the person should not be forced to sell their home in their lifetime to pay for their care. By entering into a DPA, a person can defer paying the costs of their care and support in a care home until a later date.
The Government has launched an Independent Commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The commission will deliver recommendations for the transformation of adult social care, addressing demographic change, how services should be organised to deliver this, and how to best create a fair and affordable adult social care system.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure police forces receive (a) adequate training and (b) resources to (i) identify, (ii) prevent and (ii) prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society, and the government is committed to tackling it in all its forms.
The government is committed to ensuring there are consistent, high standards in police training and leadership to help maintain public trust and confidence. That is why the Home Office continues to fund the College of Policing to deliver support to forces and improvements to leadership and training standards through the National Police Leadership Centre.
The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing in England and Wales, including publishing Authorised Professional Practice on hate crime. This Authorised Professional Practice provides guidance on how police should respond to hate crimes and promotes a proportionate and consistent approach that upholds the rights of victims and protects free speech. While the College sets the overall framework, individual police forces are responsible for determining their own local delivery of training.
Police forces are operationally independent, but we expect them to use these standards, tools and guidance, and to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure robust charging decisions and prosecutions in cases of antisemitic hate crime.
The Home Secretary launched an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. This review will assess whether police powers remain fit for purpose, are used consistently, and strike the right balance between protecting the public and safeguarding the right to lawful protest.
It will address whether the existing legislation is effective and proportionate, whether it adequately protects communities from intimidation and hate and whether it strikes a fair and sustainable balance between the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and the need to prevent disorder and keep communities safe.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential value to the UK economy of enhanced services trade provisions in the UK-Turkey Free Trade Agreement; what specific barriers to UK services exports to Turkey are being addressed in the negotiations referenced in his written ministerial statement of 11 December 2025; and what recent developments have taken place in negotiations regarding mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Detailed economic scoping analysis of an upgraded UK-Turkey FTA was published in March 2024. A full Impact Assessment will be published upon the completion of negotiations.
In the four quarters to the end of Q2 2025, UK-Turkey bilateral services trade was worth £7.7 billion, with UK exports comprising £3.4 billion. Despite this strong performance, Turkey is a relatively restrictive services export market, with an above-average OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index scoring. We are seeking to ease this restrictiveness, providing improved market access and greater legal certainty for UK services exporters, including through provisions on recognition of professional qualifications.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department has taken to explore alternatives to business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure premises; and whether she has considered implementing a Commercial Landowner Levy based on land value.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.
The Government is doing this by introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Call for Evidence, published at Budget, focuses on how reform of the business rates system can be used to incentivise and secure more investment by Britain’s businesses. This Call for Evidence builds on the findings of the Transforming Business Rates: Discussion Paper and asks stakeholders for more detailed evidence on how the business rates system influences investment decisions.
Any reforms taken forward will be phased over the course of the Parliament.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been deprived of their British citizenship in each year since 2020; and how many of those (a) were born British citizens, (b) became stateless as a result, and (c) had their citizenship restored following an appeal.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on the number of citizenship deprivation orders. These reports are available on Gov.UK as part of the HMG Counter-Terrorism Disruptive Powers reports and the Immigration and Protection transparency data
However, the full information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the process for assigning judges to cases involving legal challenges to Government decisions.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Under section 7(2)(c) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Lady Chief Justice is responsible for the maintenance of appropriate arrangements for the deployment of the judiciary and the allocation of work within courts. Accordingly, the Government has no role in the process for assigning judges to cases.
This is consistent with the important principle of judicial independence, which shields judges from external pressures and gives the public confidence that cases will be decided fairly and in accordance with the law.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK financial services firms can effectively use the (a) data localization and (b) transparency commitments in the UK-South Korea Free Trade Agreement.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Although we have concluded negotiations, we have not yet reached signature, let alone ratification, so this question is premature. However DBT’s Free Trade Agreement Utilisation team helps businesses understand and benefit from the UK’s new Free Trade Agreements, such as the new UK-Republic of Korea FTA, working in partnership with businesses and their representatives.
New data localisation and transparency provisions will provide legal certainty to UK firms on their treatment by Korean authorities, underpinned by appropriate enforcement mechanisms. The Republic of Korea has also agreed to publish new regulatory guidance on its domestic data rules which will give firms practical, accessible information to help navigate the Republic of Korea’s data regime and make effective use of the agreement’s commitments.