Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has issued guidance to early years educational settings on the use of screens in nurseries.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The ‘Early years foundation stage’ (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe. Details about the framework are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf.pdf.
The department has published guidance to inform practitioners about online safety and appropriate device usage in early years settings, including an ‘Internet safety’ page on the Help for Early Years Providers platform here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/internet-safety. This includes information on how device use affects development, outlining both benefits and challenges.
Following the publication of new screen time guidance for parents, we will update this page to provide further emphasis on screen time and outline considerations around adult use of technology within settings. We will also incorporate updated guidance into the EYFS frameworks and review Development Matters to include information on screen time and digital literacy.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of local government reorganisation on educational services for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department fully recognises the importance of ensuring that any structural changes to local government protect the safety, wellbeing, and life chances of children and young people. The department is already working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to put in place resource, structures and processes that support effective reorganisation, including in relation to provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, to ensure that we improve outcomes for children as these changes take place.
The department is reviewing all local government reorganisation (LGR) proposals and will provide feedback to MHCLG, with a particular emphasis on how proposals will ensure the effective delivery of SEND, children’s social care and education services and reforms. The department will also work with individual local authorities throughout the LGR process to ensure local, contextual knowledge is embedded into feedback provided.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she will publish a response to the consultation on reforming the approach to floods funding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 14 October 2025, following consultation, the Government announced major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy. Further information can be found here.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 1 May 2024 to Question 19413 on NHS: Expenditure, how much NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and integrated care boards spent in aggregate on (a) mental health services, (b) acute health services, (c) NHS community health services (d) social care services, (e) primary medical services, (f) specialised services, (g) NHS continuing healthcare, and all other recorded spending categories in each financial year since 2015-16; and how much those organisations plan to spend in aggregate in each of those areas in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the disaggregation of services in local government reorganisation proposals on (a) governance and (b) service delivery.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Decisions on the most appropriate option for each area will be judgements in the round, having regard to the statutory guidance and the available evidence, including governance and service delivery considerations.
All public bodies, including the Government, are required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010. This duty applies to the local government reorganisation process.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that decisions relating to local government reorganisation meet relevant (a) public sector equality duties and (b) provisions of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Decisions on the most appropriate option for each area will be judgements in the round, having regard to the statutory guidance and the available evidence, including governance and service delivery considerations.
All public bodies, including the Government, are required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010. This duty applies to the local government reorganisation process.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of local government reorganisation on the (a) implementation of transport infrastructure projects and (b) strategic planning.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the lead department for the planning system, and the Department for Transport works with it closely on the impacts of local government reorganisation.
Existing district councils have responsibilities for taxi licencing and spatial planning, but transport infrastructure is generally delivered by county and unitary authorities. New unitary authorities formed by local government reorganisation should have appropriate scale to effectively deliver transport infrastructure projects and, outside of Strategic Authorities, to undertake their local transport authority responsibilities.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the disaggregation of local authority responsibilities in the context of local government reorganisation on (a) flood management and (b) resilience planning.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Lead Local Flood Authorities are required, under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, to develop and maintain a strategy for managing local flood risk. They also have a duty to collaborate with other flood risk management authorities and to keep a register of flood risk management assets.
During the local government reorganisation process, councils continue to deliver their business‑as‑usual services and duties, which remain unchanged until reorganisation is complete. Commitments undertaken by existing councils will become the responsibility of any new unitary authorities, the exact details of which will be worked out and planned for in the transition period jointly with the new and predecessor councils.
Local government reorganisation remains a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create stronger local councils empowered across local services, equipped to drive economic growth, improve local public services, and empower their communities.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to release an impact assessment for changes to the NICE cost-effectiveness threshold.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to publish an impact assessment or details of the modelling in relation to changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence cost-effectiveness threshold. Information included in the impact assessment is commercially sensitive.
The United Kingdom and United States’ pharmaceutical deal is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our National Health Service and world leading life sciences sector.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether lipoedema has a diagnostic code within NHS data systems; what steps he is taking to improve the collection of data on prevalence, diagnosis and outcomes for people with lipoedema; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of improved data collection on future commissioning and service planning.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Lipoedema does not currently have a unique standalone diagnostic code within the National Health Service’s primary coding systems. In clinical practice, it is often recorded under broader World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision categories relating to disorders of subcutaneous tissue or lymphatic disease.
NHS England is taking forward a wide programme of work to improve how data is recorded and coded across the health service by expanding the use of modern electronic patient record systems, strengthening national coding standards, and supporting staff to record information consistently and accurately. This includes better use of SNOMED CT in primary care, clearer guidance for hospitals, and investment in shared care records so that patient information is captured once and used safely across services. These improvements are helping to ensure that clinical data is more reliable, more complete, and better able to support high‑quality care, earlier diagnosis, and effective service planning.