Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Equality Act to add socio-economic status as a protected characteristic.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government has no plans to add to the list of protected characteristics in the 2010 Act. The Government committed to commencing the socio-economic duty in England in our manifesto, as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity and make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of people in Britain.
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, what progress her Department has made on the roll-out of badger TB vaccination programmes.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Significant progress has been made in rolling out badger vaccination as part of our strategy to eradicate bovine TB. Large-scale vaccination is being delivered by Animal and Plant Health Agency field teams, alongside a farming community-led initiative in East Sussex, demonstrating that vaccination is practical at scale, including in areas where culling has previously taken place.
In 2024, over 4,000 badgers were vaccinated across England, the highest annual total to date. Further work includes a new project led by the National Farmers’ Union which is now underway in Cornwall to explore scalable and cost-effective approaches to vaccination delivery, and the establishment of a new badger vaccination field force from next year to further accelerate rollout in areas where bovine TB incidence remains high and is worsening.
Work on a comprehensive new bovine TB strategy is progressing at pace, and together with these measures, will help drive down disease rates, protect farmers’ livelihoods, and support our commitment to end the badger cull by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance was in use in 2019 on keeping written records of meetings between Ministers and external stakeholders.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Guidance for the Management of Private Office Information and Records is published on www.gov.uk. The guidance was last updated in December 2023. Previous versions are available on the website of The National Archives.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the then Prime Minister met Peter Thiel between July 2019 and September 2022.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Details of official meetings held in a ministerial capacity with external organisations or individuals are declared quarterly on GOV.UK. This includes the meetings of the former Prime Minister.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when her Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 25 June 2025 from the hon. Member for Newton Abbot in the name of his constituent L. Clowes.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I apologise for the delay in responding to the Hon. Member's correspondence. I issued a response to the Hon. Member on 9 September.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June to Question 59824 on Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, whether his Department has had discussions with the International Maritime Organisation on the reported drone attack on the vessel Conscience.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support children's wellbeing in schools in Newton Abbot constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government has set a bold new ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history. On 19 June, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a new approach to enrichment, PE and school sport.
The government has committed to offer free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. From the start of this term, free breakfast clubs are being funded in 750 early adopter schools across England, ahead of national roll out, including two in Newton Abbott.
We are also providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). 31% of schools and colleges in Newton Abbot constituency were supported by an NHS-funded MHST in March 2025.
This data has been available since 16 May 2025 at national, regional and local authority level, and since 10 July 2025 at constituency level. Around six in ten pupils nationally are expected to have access to an MHST by March 2026.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2025 to Question 68534 on Members: Correspondence, when the hon. Member will receive a reply to the correspondence with reference MW07790.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A response was sent to the Honourable Member on 25 September 2025. I apologise for the delay.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered introducing a ring-fenced national funding stream to support the expansion of GP surgeries in (a) high-growth and (b) underserved areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) to ensure that the National Health Service estate is fit for purpose, in order to meet the needs of the local population.
General practices (GPs) are independent contractors, which, alongside ICBs, are responsible for ensuring their premises are up to standard. Most practice premises are privately owned or leased.
The Department and NHS England requested that ICBs develop estates infrastructure strategies. These have been developed to create a long-term plan for future estate requirements and investment for each local area and its needs. These strategies must take existing and future GP and primary care estate into account when considering how best to deliver local services. To support them in doing this, we provide an annual capital allocation, operational capital, which ICBs are free to use as they see fit, working with healthcare providers in their area including GPs, to deliver their estates and infrastructure priorities.
At a national level, we continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure all new and existing developments have an adequate level of healthcare infrastructure for the community.
In Autumn 2024, the Government announced the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, a nationally controlled fund which will deliver upgrades this financial year to GP surgeries across England. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care. ICBs were invited to submit funding proposals that align with local integrated care system infrastructure strategies and the Primary Care Network Estates Toolkit, prioritising high-quality, fit-for-purpose estates over poorly maintained assets.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the funding model administered by integrated care boards supports (a) long-term infrastructure planning for primary care and (b) the timely development of new GP practices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) to ensure that the National Health Service estate is fit for purpose, in order to meet the needs of the local population.
General practices (GPs) are independent contractors, which, alongside ICBs, are responsible for ensuring their premises are up to standard. Most practice premises are privately owned or leased.
The Department and NHS England requested that ICBs develop estates infrastructure strategies. These have been developed to create a long-term plan for future estate requirements and investment for each local area and its needs. These strategies must take existing and future GP and primary care estate into account when considering how best to deliver local services. To support them in doing this, we provide an annual capital allocation, operational capital, which ICBs are free to use as they see fit, working with healthcare providers in their area including GPs, to deliver their estates and infrastructure priorities.
At a national level, we continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure all new and existing developments have an adequate level of healthcare infrastructure for the community.
In Autumn 2024, the Government announced the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, a nationally controlled fund which will deliver upgrades this financial year to GP surgeries across England. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care. ICBs were invited to submit funding proposals that align with local integrated care system infrastructure strategies and the Primary Care Network Estates Toolkit, prioritising high-quality, fit-for-purpose estates over poorly maintained assets.