Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 proposed reductions in funding for level seven apprenticeships on barriers of access to the legal profession.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43275.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will include the removal of the (a) two-child limit and (b) benefit cap.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the timeframes, will be set out in the strategy publication.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will look beyond the 10-year timeframe.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the timeframes, will be set out in the strategy publication.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 potential implications for his policies of the report by the National Hair and Beauty Federation entitled Straightening out the costs, published on 5 March 2025.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government recognises the immense economic and social value of the hair and beauty industry, which is why we have committed to reforming business rates from 2026-27 with a permanently lower multiplier for retail, leisure and hospitality properties, including hair and beauty salons.
For national insurance contributions, increasing the employment Allowance to £10,500 will mean that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all and more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package including many businesses in the hair and beauty industries.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support the uptake of apprenticeships in the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships are a great way for individuals to begin or progress a successful career in the hair and beauty industry. Employers in the sector have developed several apprenticeships, including the level 2 hairdressing professional standard, to help them develop their workforce.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships to young people, adults and employers through the Skills for Life campaign.
Employers can benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. To support smaller employers access apprenticeships, the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an EHC plan, or have been in local authority care.
Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 where they earn less than £967 a week, or £50,270 a year.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help elderly people access affordable ear wax removal services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local population. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal.
When ICBs exercise their functions, including commissioning healthcare services such as ear wax removal, they have a duty to reduce inequalities between people with respect to their ability to access health services and to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to their health outcomes.
Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so general practitioners (GPs) will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.
However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with the Circular Economy Taskforce on supporting a green economy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Circular Economy Taskforce was convened to help the government develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England, including a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The outputs will aim to support economic growth, deliver green jobs, promote efficient and productive use of resources, minimise negative environmental impacts and accelerate to Net Zero.
As outlined in the Secretary of State’s recent speech, transitioning to a Circular Economy is our chance to improve lives up and down the country, to grow our economy, and to protect our environment for generations to come. To support this transition, the Circular Economy Taskforce will start with five sectors: agrifood, built environment, chemicals and plastics; textiles and transport.
The Taskforce has already begun extensive engagement with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders to ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to take steps to support the celebration of Ahmadiyya culture in the UK.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has no specific plans to do so.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help make it easier for patients with chronic urinary tract infections to receive referrals from their GPs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidelines for the referral of patients who present with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), which is available at the following link:
There are specific referral criteria for women, compared to men and children. There are also guidelines in place for those who present to Pharmacy First. If the patient has had a history of UTIs, they are asked to see their general practice (GP) surgery, rather than being prescribed antibiotics by the pharmacy.
Patients with recurrent UTIs should be referred to secondary care to exclude other causes, perhaps through an ultrasound scan or a cystoscopy. Once cleared, patients may be prescribed prophylactic antibiotics.
The number of lower urinary tract symptom service clinics are locally managed and commissioned by integrated care boards, in accordance with local population need.
While there are no current plans to train GPs and urologists on recognising the symptoms of chronic UTIs, NHS England’s UTI reduction workstream was established as part of the delivery of the UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024. This workstream aims to enhance prevention, support early and accurate diagnosis, and improve the treatment of UTIs through identifying and adopting best practice, and through interventions for different population groups.
NHS England has also been working with other public bodies, including the UK Health Security Agency, to strengthen the guidance regarding the appropriate use of diagnostics, including dipsticks. GPs can request testing for chronic UTIs via several pathways, including at point-of-care, via community diagnostic centres, or via laboratories. Laboratories across England adhere to stringent quality standards, including the UK Accreditation Standard ISO 15189, and implement robust internal and external quality assurance schemes, ensuring the accuracy of the tests used.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide training for (a) GPs and (b) urologists on recognising the symptoms of chronic urinary tract infections.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidelines for the referral of patients who present with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), which is available at the following link:
There are specific referral criteria for women, compared to men and children. There are also guidelines in place for those who present to Pharmacy First. If the patient has had a history of UTIs, they are asked to see their general practice (GP) surgery, rather than being prescribed antibiotics by the pharmacy.
Patients with recurrent UTIs should be referred to secondary care to exclude other causes, perhaps through an ultrasound scan or a cystoscopy. Once cleared, patients may be prescribed prophylactic antibiotics.
The number of lower urinary tract symptom service clinics are locally managed and commissioned by integrated care boards, in accordance with local population need.
While there are no current plans to train GPs and urologists on recognising the symptoms of chronic UTIs, NHS England’s UTI reduction workstream was established as part of the delivery of the UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024. This workstream aims to enhance prevention, support early and accurate diagnosis, and improve the treatment of UTIs through identifying and adopting best practice, and through interventions for different population groups.
NHS England has also been working with other public bodies, including the UK Health Security Agency, to strengthen the guidance regarding the appropriate use of diagnostics, including dipsticks. GPs can request testing for chronic UTIs via several pathways, including at point-of-care, via community diagnostic centres, or via laboratories. Laboratories across England adhere to stringent quality standards, including the UK Accreditation Standard ISO 15189, and implement robust internal and external quality assurance schemes, ensuring the accuracy of the tests used.