Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing information for clients on their rights, options and available redress following the collapse of a regulated legal firm.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operate independently of government. The responsibility for regulating the sector sits with approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of solicitors and most law firms in England and Wales.
The SRA can publish information for clients following the collapse of a regulated firm, including guidance on their rights, options and routes to redress. This includes information on accessing client files, the role of the SRA’s intervention process, compensation arrangements where applicable, and signposting to complaints and redress bodies such as the Legal Ombudsman. For example, the SRA has published specific guidance for clients affected by WW&J McClure Ltd entering into administration in 2021, which is available here: SRA | WW&J McClure and Jones Whyte | Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The Government keeps the overall framework for legal services regulation under review and engages regularly with regulators. While the independent regulators publish information for clients affected by law firm collapses, the Government may seek to support access to this information for consumers where appropriate.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will publish the number of former clients affected by the collapse of McClure Solicitors.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold information on the number of former clients affected by the collapse of WW&J McClure Ltd (McClure) and is therefore not in a position to publish those figures.
The legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operates independently of government. Responsibility for regulating the sector sits with approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of solicitors and most law firms in England and Wales. Information about the impact of an individual firm’s closure on its former clients, including any estimates of affected client numbers, is a matter for the relevant regulator and those responsible for the firm’s former files.
Details of the SRA’s ongoing work in relation to McClure is available here: https://www.sra.org.uk/news/news/mcclure/.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to (a) publish guidance and (b) pursue agreements to help improve certainty for UK Blue Badge holders driving in EU member states.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Blue Badge scheme in the UK is administered and enforced by local authorities and applies to on-street parking locations only. While the UK has informal reciprocal arrangements with EU Member States, acceptance of any non-UK badge is ultimately a matter for local authority discretion.
The UK is a member of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport Resolution ECMT Resolution 97/4 and has accepted Resolution 97/4, but this is not mandatory, nor is it reflected in UK domestic legislation.
The UK continues to recognise disabled parking cards issued in individual EU/EEA Nations for people visiting and travelling in the UK. Any confirmation of reciprocity of this goodwill gesture is not legally binding. It is for individual EU Member States to decide if they will recognise a Disabled Parking Card issued in another country. Using a Blue Badge in Europe - GOV.UK
The Department for Transport has ongoing discussions with individual countries regarding continued recognition of the UK Blue Badge across the European Union (EU).
Through close working and partnership with our French and Spanish friends and allies, this Government has now secured the mutual recognition with France regarding each other’s disabled parking permits and are now currently working on the final agreement with Spain. This means that UK Blue Badge holders can now travel with confidence when heading to France for their holidays or travel and this will also apply to Spain in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on disabled drivers of levels of recognition of UK Blue Badges across EU member states.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Blue Badge scheme in the UK is administered and enforced by local authorities and applies to on-street parking locations only. While the UK has informal reciprocal arrangements with EU Member States, acceptance of any non-UK badge is ultimately a matter for local authority discretion.
The UK is a member of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport Resolution ECMT Resolution 97/4 and has accepted Resolution 97/4, but this is not mandatory, nor is it reflected in UK domestic legislation.
The UK continues to recognise disabled parking cards issued in individual EU/EEA Nations for people visiting and travelling in the UK. Any confirmation of reciprocity of this goodwill gesture is not legally binding. It is for individual EU Member States to decide if they will recognise a Disabled Parking Card issued in another country. Using a Blue Badge in Europe - GOV.UK
The Department for Transport has ongoing discussions with individual countries regarding continued recognition of the UK Blue Badge across the European Union (EU).
Through close working and partnership with our French and Spanish friends and allies, this Government has now secured the mutual recognition with France regarding each other’s disabled parking permits and are now currently working on the final agreement with Spain. This means that UK Blue Badge holders can now travel with confidence when heading to France for their holidays or travel and this will also apply to Spain in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with the European Commission and EU member states on the recognition of UK-issued Blue Badges for disabled drivers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Blue Badge scheme in the UK is administered and enforced by local authorities and applies to on-street parking locations only. While the UK has informal reciprocal arrangements with EU Member States, acceptance of any non-UK badge is ultimately a matter for local authority discretion.
The UK is a member of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport Resolution ECMT Resolution 97/4 and has accepted Resolution 97/4, but this is not mandatory, nor is it reflected in UK domestic legislation.
The UK continues to recognise disabled parking cards issued in individual EU/EEA Nations for people visiting and travelling in the UK. Any confirmation of reciprocity of this goodwill gesture is not legally binding. It is for individual EU Member States to decide if they will recognise a Disabled Parking Card issued in another country. Using a Blue Badge in Europe - GOV.UK
The Department for Transport has ongoing discussions with individual countries regarding continued recognition of the UK Blue Badge across the European Union (EU).
Through close working and partnership with our French and Spanish friends and allies, this Government has now secured the mutual recognition with France regarding each other’s disabled parking permits and are now currently working on the final agreement with Spain. This means that UK Blue Badge holders can now travel with confidence when heading to France for their holidays or travel and this will also apply to Spain in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to seek mutual recognition of UK Blue Badges for disabled drivers when travelling in EU member states.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Blue Badge scheme in the UK is administered and enforced by local authorities and applies to on-street parking locations only. While the UK has informal reciprocal arrangements with EU Member States, acceptance of any non-UK badge is ultimately a matter for local authority discretion.
The UK is a member of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport Resolution ECMT Resolution 97/4 and has accepted Resolution 97/4, but this is not mandatory, nor is it reflected in UK domestic legislation.
The UK continues to recognise disabled parking cards issued in individual EU/EEA Nations for people visiting and travelling in the UK. Any confirmation of reciprocity of this goodwill gesture is not legally binding. It is for individual EU Member States to decide if they will recognise a Disabled Parking Card issued in another country. Using a Blue Badge in Europe - GOV.UK
The Department for Transport has ongoing discussions with individual countries regarding continued recognition of the UK Blue Badge across the European Union (EU).
Through close working and partnership with our French and Spanish friends and allies, this Government has now secured the mutual recognition with France regarding each other’s disabled parking permits and are now currently working on the final agreement with Spain. This means that UK Blue Badge holders can now travel with confidence when heading to France for their holidays or travel and this will also apply to Spain in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 2 January 2026 to Question 100730, whether electronic messages held in the Private Office of the then Prime Minister on 28 August 2019 would ordinarily have been assigned subject classifications for meetings with external individuals.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The guidance in place in August 2019 has been published by the National Archives: https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/popapersguidance2009.pdf
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 23 December 2025 to Question 100077 on Telecommunications: Innovation, whether she plans to connect all populated areas with (a) high and (b) very high connectivity as defined by Ofcom.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government is working with the industry to deliver high quality digital connectivity right across the UK, whether this is fixed, or mobile connectivity. Our ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030, and we expect this to be delivered through the mobile operators' commercial network rollout plans. Ofcom, as the telecommunications regulator is responsible for reporting on coverage.
For both non-standalone and standalone 5G, high and very high confidence thresholds are used. These thresholds are explained in detail in the methodology annex published alongside the Connected Nations 2025 report. This states that high confidence is associated with a probability of at least 80% of coverage being present in the predicted location and a 95% probability for very high confidence.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to review and reform Dartmoor Commons legislation this Parliament.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no commitment or timescale for implementing a review or reform of provisions as set out in the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Newton Abbot sent on the 27 of November 2025 with case ref MW04041.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
As the majority of the issues raised do not fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, in line with Cabinet Office guidance, the correspondence was transferred out of the Department and accepted by the Home Office.