Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2026 to Question 101404, what assessment he has made of the Quality Franchise Association's effectiveness at enforcing its Code of Conduct.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government has not made an assessment of the British Franchise Association's effectiveness at enforcing its Code of Conduct. However, DBT Ministers and officials have recently met with MPs and Fairer Franchisees representatives to listen and understand views regarding practices within the franchising industry. We will continue to remain engaged with relevant stakeholders on this issue.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2026 to Question 101404, what assessment he has made of the British Franchise Association's effectiveness at enforcing its Code of Ethics.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government has not made an assessment of the British Franchise Association's effectiveness at enforcing its Code of Ethics. However, DBT Ministers and officials have recently met with MPs and Fairer Franchisees representatives to listen and understand views regarding practices within the franchising industry. We will continue to remain engaged with relevant stakeholders on this issue.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help support the franchise industry.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our Small Business Plan, launched in July 2025, outlines how we will support small and medium sized businesses, including franchisees, to grow and thrive across the UK.
The plan includes the most significant package of legislation in 25 years to tackle late payments; unlocking billions of pounds in finance to support start-ups and scale ups; removing unnecessary red tape; revitalising the High Street as a place to do business; and boosting support for Digital and AI Adoption. The new Business Growth Service makes it easier for SMEs to access the right support for any stage of their growth journey.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 performance of franchise businesses in the UK since 2022.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold data on the performance of franchise businesses.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to assess compensation for those living with Fetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to take forward work to explore redress for those affected by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate, which includes recommendations made by the Patient Safety Commissioner in the Hughes Report. We recognise the importance of these issues for all those affected. This remains a cross-Government policy area involving multiple organisations, and given the complexity of the issues involved, it is important we get this right.
I met with the Patient Safety Commissioner in December 2025, to discuss progress following the Hughes Report and have made clear the Department’s expectation of continued, proactive engagement with the Patient Safety Commissioner and key stakeholders.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to increase access to defibrillators in Ellesmere Port and Bromborough constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s Community Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Fund delivered 3080 new AEDs to local communities between September 2023 and February 2025.
The Government’s position is that local communities are best placed to make decisions about procuring, locating and maintaining AEDs. Over 110,000 defibrillators are registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent AED database. Over 30,000 of these have been added in the past two years, many as a result of local community-led action.
More broadly, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is taking a whole system approach to improving cardiovascular health including improving the detection and treatment of key cardiac risk factors. The action being taken aims to lower the incidence of sudden cardiac arrest associated with unmanaged arrhythmia, high blood pressure and advanced coronary disease.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the response times to queries made to the Child Maintenance Service by service users.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) are committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload.
Through the Service Modernisation Programme, CMS is expanding digital channels and self-service options, including online tools like Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance and My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC), available 24/7. It has improved speed of communications via use of SMS, email, and clearer letters, and introduced online messaging for certain processes, with plans to extend this further.
Our telephony service is available to 8am to 6pm on weekdays to meet demand. We continuously monitor telephony performance and through this fully recognise that call waiting times are at times longer than we would like. To address this, we are working to improve the efficiency of our customer interactions through both the telephone and digital channels. We have introduced a Digital Assist Telephony Service, which has been a significant step forward in our mission to support and encourage customers to use our online services.
We restructured our call routing to make more caseworkers available to answer telephone calls. By promoting self-service options online and efficient call routing, we have freed up valuable resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone.
CMS continues to exceed key performance indicators, including application clearances, change of circumstances clearances, demonstrating improved outcomes for customers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Child Maintenance Service's hotline in responding to concerns raised.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a customer makes a complaint, including when an MP contacts DWP on their behalf, DWP complaints service standard (including Child Maintenance Service - CMS) aim is to contact a customer within 15 working days to tell them of the outcome of their complaint, or when they can expect a response if the complaint is complex and will take longer.
The Department actively assesses the adequacy of the timeliness and priority of enquiries received from MPs, which enables us to identify which benefit areas are generating the highest number of enquiries, the underlying reasons for these contacts, and the factors contributing to any delays in responses. Regrettably, higher volumes of MP enquiries, combined with a rise in more complex complaints which take longer to investigate, has caused some delays with our responses.
MPs and their caseworkers can contact the CMS via dedicated routes, in writing or by phone. Contact details are available on the parliamentary website. The CMS MP Hotline is available for MPs and their caseworkers who need to contact CMS regarding a general enquiry or a constituency case. This service is in addition to written correspondence.
The hotline operates Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and is staffed by Complaint Resolution Managers. We aim to provide an immediate response to enquiries wherever possible. For more complex cases, we will arrange follow-up contact with the MP’s caseworker to discuss or provide additional information.
CMS is committed to delivering a modern, efficient service that meets the needs of all customers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Child Maintenance Service's response times to MPs' queries.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a customer makes a complaint, including when an MP contacts DWP on their behalf, DWP complaints service standard (including Child Maintenance Service - CMS) aim is to contact a customer within 15 working days to tell them of the outcome of their complaint, or when they can expect a response if the complaint is complex and will take longer.
The Department actively assesses the adequacy of the timeliness and priority of enquiries received from MPs, which enables us to identify which benefit areas are generating the highest number of enquiries, the underlying reasons for these contacts, and the factors contributing to any delays in responses. Regrettably, higher volumes of MP enquiries, combined with a rise in more complex complaints which take longer to investigate, has caused some delays with our responses.
MPs and their caseworkers can contact the CMS via dedicated routes, in writing or by phone. Contact details are available on the parliamentary website. The CMS MP Hotline is available for MPs and their caseworkers who need to contact CMS regarding a general enquiry or a constituency case. This service is in addition to written correspondence.
The hotline operates Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and is staffed by Complaint Resolution Managers. We aim to provide an immediate response to enquiries wherever possible. For more complex cases, we will arrange follow-up contact with the MP’s caseworker to discuss or provide additional information.
CMS is committed to delivering a modern, efficient service that meets the needs of all customers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Child Maintenance Service's stated response time is for MPs' queries.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a customer makes a complaint, including when an MP contacts DWP on their behalf, DWP complaints service standard (including Child Maintenance Service - CMS) aim is to contact a customer within 15 working days to tell them of the outcome of their complaint, or when they can expect a response if the complaint is complex and will take longer.
The Department actively assesses the adequacy of the timeliness and priority of enquiries received from MPs, which enables us to identify which benefit areas are generating the highest number of enquiries, the underlying reasons for these contacts, and the factors contributing to any delays in responses. Regrettably, higher volumes of MP enquiries, combined with a rise in more complex complaints which take longer to investigate, has caused some delays with our responses.
MPs and their caseworkers can contact the CMS via dedicated routes, in writing or by phone. Contact details are available on the parliamentary website. The CMS MP Hotline is available for MPs and their caseworkers who need to contact CMS regarding a general enquiry or a constituency case. This service is in addition to written correspondence.
The hotline operates Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and is staffed by Complaint Resolution Managers. We aim to provide an immediate response to enquiries wherever possible. For more complex cases, we will arrange follow-up contact with the MP’s caseworker to discuss or provide additional information.
CMS is committed to delivering a modern, efficient service that meets the needs of all customers.