Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with train operators on the level of demand for train services at Worcester Park station post Covid-19.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials are in regular conversation with South Western Railway regarding their service provision in response to demand. When reviewing train services, the Department needs to assess business cases and balance demand with value for the taxpayer in its considerations.
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, whether the NHS 10-year plan will incorporate the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published on 20 July 2022.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to the Women's Health Strategy, which will be taken forward as part of the 10-Year Health Plan.
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 ensure Integrated Care Boards create more women's health hubs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to encouraging integrated care boards (ICBs) to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and to support ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women.
Women’s health hubs have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 ICBs reported that they had a women’s health hub. Reporting from ICBs to NHS England shows that the pilot funding has been used to open or expand a total of 88 hubs. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health care needs of their local population, including women's health hubs.
Data on waiting times for women’s health hubs is not collected centrally.
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 has taken to reduce waiting times at women's health hubs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to encouraging integrated care boards (ICBs) to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and to support ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women.
Women’s health hubs have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 ICBs reported that they had a women’s health hub. Reporting from ICBs to NHS England shows that the pilot funding has been used to open or expand a total of 88 hubs. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health care needs of their local population, including women's health hubs.
Data on waiting times for women’s health hubs is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure fair and competitive pay for people working in further education.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring there is a thriving further education (FE) sector, which is vital to our missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and boost economic growth.
FE colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay for their staff. Colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for schoolteachers. FE colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gave them autonomy over the pay and contractual terms and conditions of their staff.
At the Autumn Budget 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE in the 2025/26 financial year to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs and a further £300 million to support colleges to maintain, improve and ensure suitability of their estate. We have recently announced that we are making approximately £50 million of the additional revenue funding available to statutory FE providers for April to July 2025. This one-off grant will enable colleges to respond to current priorities and challenges, including workforce recruitment and retention.
The remaining funding will be made available in 16-19 funding rates for the 2025/26 academic year.
This builds on the department’s investment to extend targeted retention incentive payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. We are also delivering funding to support those young people who do not pass mathematics and English GCSE at 16, who are predominantly studying in FE.
The department will continue to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas. FE teacher training bursaries will be offered for a further year, worth up to £31,000 each, tax-free, in the 2025/26 academic year. Additionally, we are supporting industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through our Taking Teaching Further programme.
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 recent steps he has taken to tackle health inequalities affecting women.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact women’s health, as we develop the plan.
We want to ensure that the 10-Year Health Plan reflects the diversity of the people who use the NHS every day, and it is important that everyone can have their say as we develop it. The Department has held ministerial roundtables on women’s health as well as maternity and neonatal care, attended by service users, senior clinicians, and a range of charity partners.
We are committed to the Women’s Health Strategy and are continuing work to deliver it. For example, the strategy had an ambition to improve workplace support for menopause, and through the Employment Rights Bill we are making this a reality, by requiring large employers to publish gender equality action plans, including how they are supporting employees through the menopause. Women’s health hubs provide integrated women’s health services in the community, and have a key role tackling health inequalities faced by women. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) reported to NHS England that they had at least one operational women’s health hub. We continue to engage with and encourage ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hubs pilots to improve local delivery of services to women.
We are also working with NHS England on how to take forward the Women’s Health Strategy, by aligning it to the Government’s Missions and 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department recognises the use of Malaysian driving licenses.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is currently working towards putting in place a driving licence exchange agreement with Malaysia. This is subject to public consultation and the introduction of domestic legislation.
Currently, holders of a driving licence issued in Malaysia who become resident in the UK can drive small vehicles (motorcars and motorcycles) for up to 12 months from the date they become resident in the UK. To continue driving after this period the licence holder must apply for a provisional driving licence and pass both a theory and practical driving test here. If the holder of a driving licence issued in Malaysia is only visiting the UK they can drive using their Malaysian licence for up to 12 months from the date they last entered the UK.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle global child malnutrition.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger, and tackling malnutrition, is essential to our mission of a world free from poverty on a liveable planet. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of 45% of child deaths and 20% of maternal deaths and the UK is committed to acting with urgency. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is a co-founder of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF), which supports partner governments to procure essential nutrition commodities and to prevent and detect malnutrition. Since 2021 the UK has contributed £15.74 million to the CNF and committed a further £8.55 million.
The UK continues to champion the integration of nutrition across different sectors such as health, agriculture, humanitarian, and climate, in order to achieve improved nutrition outcomes alongside successes on other UK development priorities.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the global immunisation of children living in poverty.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have supported Gavi to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine-preventable diseases. Since 2000, Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children, saving over 18 million lives. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period for Gavi, covering 2021-2025.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department collects data on the (a) frequency and (b) geographical distribution of tool theft in London.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recognise the negative impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living, including small businesses.
We are continuing to work with the police-led National Business Crime Centre and industry via the Combined Industries Theft Solutions forum to explore ways to tackle and prevent the theft of tools.
The Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI) is a not-for-profit, police-owned organisation that works on behalf of Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables to deliver crime prevention and reduction initiatives across the UK. It also provides crime prevention advice: Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.
A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales on the proportion of incidents that involved tools being stolen in personal theft offences. These estimates are available in Table 3b of Nature of crime: personal and other theft. They provide estimates of theft of tools against individuals, including those who are self-employed but do not cover crimes against commercial premises. These estimates cover England and Wales, but no regional breakdown is available.