Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the independent report entitled Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, how much of the recommended new spending of £2.6 billion has been allocated to date.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has committed to implement the recommendations of the Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, in each of the next five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
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 he plans to request that NICE conduct an exceptional (expedited) partial review of the NICE Depression guideline (NG222) to consider the inclusion of intravenous racemic ketamine as an option for patients for whom electroconvulsive therapy is being considered.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans to ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to conduct a review of the NICE guideline on the treatment and management of depression, reference code NG222.
NICE is an independent body and is responsible for taking decisions on whether its guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence and changes in clinical practice. NICE operates an active surveillance programme and when new evidence emerges, it proactively considers whether existing guidance should be reviewed and, if appropriate, updated. Decisions as to whether NICE will create new, or update existing, guidance are overseen by an integrated, cross-organisational prioritisation board. NICE has no current plans to review intravenous racemic ketamine in the context of the depression guideline.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether provisions of the UK-India trade deal address the freedom and human rights of minority groups in India.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The landmark UK-India trade deal includes chapters on labour, gender, environment and anti-corruption. In common with most free trade agreements it enables the two partners to discuss important matters including human rights on a regular basis. It is not our only means of advancing concerns.
The British High Commission in New Delhi and our network across India track human rights across the country. We engage Indian stakeholders on a range of human rights matters, working with Union and State Governments, and with civil society.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to ensure asbestos awareness training is provided to a) health and education workers or b) all public-sector workers in order to reduce the risk of contracting mesothelioma or another asbestos-related cancer.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR) require all dutyholders such as employers or building occupiers, including those in the public sector, to provide adequate information, instruction and training to workers who are liable to be exposed to asbestos.
These requirements extend to ensuring that information about the location and condition of any asbestos is provided to every person liable to disturb it.
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, if he will consider establishing a national clinical audit for people living with mesothelioma to understand a) the need for preventative measures and b) the scale of treatment needed.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Loughborough on 12 May 2025 to Question 46503.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to ensure that incidences of asbestos-related disease are accurately and consistently recorded to allow analysis of the scale of asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma nationally.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) produces and publishes statistics for asbestosis, mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer and non-malignant pleural disease in Great Britain.
The statistics are taken from multiple sources including THOR (The Health and Occupation Reporting Network), Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) and death certificates.
There is consistency in how data on asbestos-related disease is collected and analysed to tell us about the changing nature of risk to different populations. However, because of factors such as long latency of asbestos related diseases, the data tells us nothing about the effect of recent exposure or those that could still be occurring today.
HSE continues to monitor and assess evidence in this area.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2025 to Question 77524, whether he will recommend the work of the UK National Asbestos Register to the HSE in order to accelerate its work to create an asbestos census.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive is aware of the work being undertaken by the UK National Asbestos Register and others and is exploring a phased approach to improving its understanding of the legacy of asbestos remaining in buildings by gathering relevant data, with an initial focus on developing a better understanding of the scale of asbestos in the Government estate.
This should help to provide a more objective and reliable evidence base to inform decision making and a longer-term strategy for the management and removal of asbestos.
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, if he will consider specific funding for mesothelioma nursing posts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.
Funding provided to NHS trusts is not ringfenced for specific items such as staffing levels. Hospitals receive funding allocations which they can use at their discretion, based on local priorities.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
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, what assessment he has made on the potential merits of statutory regulation of therapy titles.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Titles can only be protected for statutorily regulated professions. Some regulated professions include the term ‘therapist’ and as such have protected title status, for example Art therapist, Dental therapist, and Occupational therapist. Therapists in general are not a statutorily regulated profession in the United Kingdom. The Government has not made an assessment on the merits of protecting all therapy titles.
The Government is clear that the professions protected in law must be the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight must be proportionate to the risks to the public.