Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the City of Wolverhampton Council's safeguarding standards for obtaining taxi and private hire vehicle licenses.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department’s statutory guidance sets out a robust set of measures that taxi and private hire vehicle licensing authorities should act on to safeguard the most vulnerable in society. This recommends that licensing authorities should require taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers to undertake an enhanced DBS and barred lists check as part of its licensing processes. The City of Wolverhampton Council has advised that it requires this important safeguard and carries out automated criminality checks on a daily basis.
We undertake regular surveys of all licensing authorities to better understand how all licensing authorities ensure the safety of their passengers. Data from the Department’s 2026 survey of licensing authorities in England, which includes details on safeguarding polices, will be published in summer.
The Government is legislating to tackle inconsistencies in taxi and PHV licensing. As a first step, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill seeks a power for the Secretary of State to set national minimum standards. The power was approved by the House of Commons, and the Bill is now being considered by the House of Lords. If passed, this would enable government to set robust standards for licensing right across England, to keep vulnerable children and, indeed, all members of the public safe, wherever they live or travel.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to provide support for the electric motorcycle industry after the end of the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has committed £7.5 billion over the next decade to support industry and the public as they transition to zero emission vehicles.
Ending the £500 Plug-in Motorcycle Grant is not expected to have a significant impact on uptake of zero emission motorcycles or on riders. The Government will continue to work with industry and monitor the development of the zero emission motorcycle market and the need for any further interventions on an ongoing basis.
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 enforcement action his Department plans to take against companies found to be wrongly engaging people as self-employed.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Bogus or false self-employment is unacceptable and we are committed to robustly tackling it. HMRC will investigate evidence that suggests companies may have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. Employers can also be taken to an employment tribunal if they seek to deny people their employment rights and avoid their own legal obligations by claiming someone is self-employed when they are not.
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 response was provided by DHSC to the consultation by HM Treasury around changes to the VAT treatment of public bodies under Section 41 of the VAT Act.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care did not submit a formal response to HM Treasury’s consultation on proposed changes to the VAT treatment of public bodies under section 41 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994.
The consultation, VAT and the Public Sector: Reform to VAT Refund Rules, was published by HM Treasury on 27 August 2020 and closed on 19 November 2020.
As a central Government department, the Department of Health and Social Care engaged with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs through cross-Government discussions to consider the potential implications of the proposals for the health and care system, including National Health Service bodies, rather than responding as a stakeholder in its own right.
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 any NHS Trusts are developing proposals for new SubCos.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service trust proposals to establish subsidiary companies are reviewed by NHS England in line with its published subsidiary transaction guidance. NHS England has one proposal under formal consideration.
As set out on 26 September 2025, NHS England will shortly consult on updating national guidance to confirm that subsidiaries involving the transfer of NHS staff will now only be approved in a limited number of circumstances and only where there is clear local union support and protection of NHS terms and conditions, including pension access.
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 assessment had been made by DHSC or provided to DHSC by NHS England about the potential impact on the NHS of proposed changes to introduce the full refund model for VAT in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a formal published assessment of the potential impact on the National Health Service of the proposed changes to introduce a full refund model for VAT under section 41 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994.
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have engaged with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs through cross-Government discussions to understand the potential implications of the proposals for the NHS, including the interaction with NHS funding flows and the principle that any reform would need to be fiscally neutral.
NHS England has provided input to the Department to support this engagement, including analysis of existing VAT recovery arrangements and high-level consideration of the potential impacts of moving from the current Contracted Out Services regime to a full refund model. This work has been undertaken to inform cross-Government discussions and data-gathering exercises led by HM Treasury, rather than as a standalone assessment of the impact on NHS services.
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 1) the challenges faced by electric vehicle manufacturers and 2) the output of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government acknowledges the challenges the EV sector faces due to volatile consumer demand. However, our ambition is to make the UK one of the best locations in the world to manufacture electric vehicles. We engage closely with UK industry on the challenges it faces and how we can ensure the sector remains internationally competitive and a global leader in innovation.
Our flagship DRIVE35 (Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification) commits £4 billion of capital and R&D funding to the British automotive industry through to 2035. It will support the latest research and development, accelerate commercial scale up, and increase capital investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries and their supply chains. In addition, we are making an additional £200 million available for EV charging infrastructure on top of the £400 million committed at the summer 2025 Spending Review.
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 reduce energy costs for vehicle manufacturers.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will reduce electricity costs by up to 25% from 2027, bringing electricity costs more in line with other economies in Europe, and help level the playing field for British businesses.
The scheme will benefit frontier manufacturing industries identified in the Industrial Strategy, such as automotive, as well as foundational manufacturing industries in their supply chains. Responses to the recent Government consultation are currently being reviewed, and Government's response will be published shortly.
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, if he will consider conducting a review of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains firmly committed to the EV transition and increasing vehicle manufacturing in the UK. This is why we have committed £4 billion of capital and R&D funding through to 2035 for our flagship DRIVE35 (Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification) programme which will support the latest R&D in strategic vehicle technologies, accelerate commercial scale up, and unlock investment in their industrialisation. We continue to listen closely to feedback from vehicle manufacturers.
In addition, we are investing an additional £1.3 billion in the Electric Car Grant, taking total funding to £2 billion, and extending it until 2030 which will mean more motorists will benefit from discounts of up to £3,750.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evidence and compliance assessments the Environment Agency relied upon when permitting the continued operation of the Stanlow refinery, including in relation to BAT 52 obligations.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) assessed the Stanlow refinery BAT 52 derogation against known pollutants such as non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) benzene. The EA confirmed there would be no increase in emission concentrations from the White Oil Docks vent or other site activities as a result of the derogation. [assets.pub...ice.gov.uk]
The operator’s impact assessment followed the EA’s established methodology in ‘Air emissions risk assessment for your environmental permit’, which evaluates potential effects on sensitive human health receptors. The operator submitted dispersion modelling in accordance with this guidance, and the modelling and assessment report is available on the EA Public Register. [consult.en...ncy.gov.uk] The EA concluded that long‑ and short‑term impacts from these known pollutants under BAT 52 are not significant.