Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of local authorities which voluntarily provide support for self-employed adoptive parents in each of the last five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect information from local authorities or regional adoption agencies on the extent to which they provide voluntary support for self-employed adoptive parents.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce a mechanism allowing councils to insist that property developers are registered with the New Homes Ombudsman to make development applications.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government expects all housebuilders to deliver high-quality homes and to swiftly resolve issues if and when things go wrong. We have committed to working with the devolved administrations to implement a statutory UK-wide New Homes Ombudsman that developers will have to join and remain members of. This Ombudsman will investigate and resolve complaints and provide new home buyers with redress.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 continuity of care for children and young people discharged from inpatient eating disorder units into community settings; and what steps he is taking to prevent deterioration in patients’ conditions following discharge.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England will shortly publish refreshed guidance on children and young people’s eating disorders. This guidance strengthens the focus on early identification and intervention across the whole care pathway, including in settings such as schools and primary care, to support prevention and timely access to help. It places particular emphasis on high-quality community provision, while ensuring that children and young people can access specialist support swiftly as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people’s community eating disorder services has increased every year. This includes an additional £54 million per year from 2023/24, which continues to enhance the capacity and capability of community eating disorder teams to deliver early intervention, evidence-based treatment, and ongoing support for all children and young people, including boys and young men.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning eating disorder pathways for their local populations. In doing so, ICBs are expected to assess and respond to the needs of their local communities and to ensure services are provided equitably, including that diagnosis, treatment pathways, and clinical support are appropriate and accessible for all patients. This includes maintaining effective transitions from inpatient care into community services, with robust follow-up and ongoing support to reduce the risk of deterioration following discharge.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 whether eating disorder services adequately meet the needs of boys and young men; and what steps he is taking to ensure that diagnosis, treatment pathways and clinical support are appropriate and accessible for male patients.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England will shortly publish refreshed guidance on children and young people’s eating disorders. This guidance strengthens the focus on early identification and intervention across the whole care pathway, including in settings such as schools and primary care, to support prevention and timely access to help. It places particular emphasis on high-quality community provision, while ensuring that children and young people can access specialist support swiftly as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people’s community eating disorder services has increased every year. This includes an additional £54 million per year from 2023/24, which continues to enhance the capacity and capability of community eating disorder teams to deliver early intervention, evidence-based treatment, and ongoing support for all children and young people, including boys and young men.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning eating disorder pathways for their local populations. In doing so, ICBs are expected to assess and respond to the needs of their local communities and to ensure services are provided equitably, including that diagnosis, treatment pathways, and clinical support are appropriate and accessible for all patients. This includes maintaining effective transitions from inpatient care into community services, with robust follow-up and ongoing support to reduce the risk of deterioration following discharge.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 effectiveness of current NHS strategies to prevent eating disorders, particularly among children and young people; and what steps he is taking to strengthen early intervention and prevention services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England will shortly publish refreshed guidance on children and young people’s eating disorders. This guidance strengthens the focus on early identification and intervention across the whole care pathway, including in settings such as schools and primary care, to support prevention and timely access to help. It places particular emphasis on high-quality community provision, while ensuring that children and young people can access specialist support swiftly as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people’s community eating disorder services has increased every year. This includes an additional £54 million per year from 2023/24, which continues to enhance the capacity and capability of community eating disorder teams to deliver early intervention, evidence-based treatment, and ongoing support for all children and young people, including boys and young men.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning eating disorder pathways for their local populations. In doing so, ICBs are expected to assess and respond to the needs of their local communities and to ensure services are provided equitably, including that diagnosis, treatment pathways, and clinical support are appropriate and accessible for all patients. This includes maintaining effective transitions from inpatient care into community services, with robust follow-up and ongoing support to reduce the risk of deterioration following discharge.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure online safety regulations adequately address harmful eating disorder-related content on social media platforms.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, services must implement rigorous safeguards to eliminate illegal content that promotes or facilitates serious self-harm.
For services accessed by children, the bar is even higher: they are required to deploy highly effective age-assurance to prevent children encountering content that while not strictly illegal, still promotes, encourages, or provides instructions for eating disorders. These protections are critical to preventing harm and safeguarding vulnerable users.
Services must also protect children from content that shames or otherwise stigmatizes body types as this type of content may cause harm if encountered in high volumes.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of promoting zipper merging at roadworks to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport works closely with local authorities to encourage effective traffic management during highway works, ensuring disruption to road users is kept to a minimum. Local authorities are responsible for determining the most appropriate traffic management plan as part of the permit conditions for the work, which may include measures such as zipper merging.
National Highways who maintain and operate the Strategic Road Network are always looking at ways to keep traffic flowing better during roadworks. This includes keeping the maximum number of lanes open at all busy times and carrying out the vast majority of work requiring extra restrictions overnight or at the weekend when traffic flows are lowest. National Highways has also increased the speed limit through most roadworks from 50mph to 60mph and is using more contraflows on its schemes, which can reduce the need for closures.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the financial and emotional impact of current waiting times for mandatory reconsideration on individuals; and what his Department is doing to ensure that mandatory reconsiderations are carried out in a timely manner.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) offers claimants the opportunity to challenge decisions and provide additional information which may be relevant to their claim.
Entitlement is usually from the date of claim, so if a decision is changed at MR, the amount awarded will be the same as if it were awarded at the initial decision stage. Arrears are paid as a lump sum.
We are allocating more decision makers to MRs to ensure decisions are made in as timely manner as possible.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 potential impact of mandatory reconsiderations on the (a) finances and (b) emotions of affected people; and how the Department is ensuring those reconsiderations are completed in a timely manner.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) offers claimants the opportunity to challenge decisions and provide additional information which may be relevant to their claim.
Entitlement is usually from the date of claim, so if a decision is changed at MR, the amount awarded will be the same as if it were awarded at the initial decision stage. Arrears are paid as a lump sum.
We are allocating more decision makers to MRs to ensure decisions are made in as timely manner as possible.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 potential impact of the receipt of combined monthly benefit payments on claimants with (a) severe mental health conditions and (b) reduced capacity.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit (UC) is designed to support people both in and out of work, using up to date information to assess UC entitlement each month, meaning that the benefit calculated accurately reflects the needs of the household.
DWP understands that some customers will require support to help them adjust to monthly payments. Money guidance on budgeting, debt, pensions and savings is provided at the customer’s initial work search interview. More frequent payments are available to customers who are struggling to adapt to monthly payments.