Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls the Child Maintenance Service MP hotline has received in 2025.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) MP hotline is available for MP offices or constituency staff who need to contact CMS regarding a general enquiry or a constituency case. This service is in addition to written correspondence routes.

The hotline operates Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and is staffed by Complaint Resolution Managers. We aim to provide an immediate response to enquiries wherever possible. For more complex cases, we will arrange follow-up contact with the caller to provide additional information.

For 2025, the CMS Parliamentary Line has received 1801 calls. Information is up to and including Tuesday 25^th November 2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions she has had with National Rail and LNER on alternative platform solutions at Market Rasen on the Lincoln to Cleethorpes East Coast line.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

With rail infrastructure and passenger services being brought together as we progress towards Great British Railways, we expect a fresh assessment of the business case to be made. The aspirations of local communities and stakeholders are noted and will be incorporated as appropriate in future planning assessments, subject to available funding.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a Technical Excellence College in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is introducing Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) to specialise in training skilled workforces which industry needs in growth-driving priority sectors.

The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper confirmed that the government is expanding the TEC programme to a further four sectors: clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and defence. These new TECs, backed by £175 million, will secure the pipeline of skilled workers into these areas.

The selection process for these TECs will start by the end of 2025, with delivery planned to begin from April 2026. Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. Further details will be published in due course.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support North East Lincolnshire Council to complete the long-overdue repairs and re-open Corporation Bridge in Great Grimsby.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department is committed to supporting local authorities in maintaining and renewing the local highway network, which is why by 2029/30, the Government will commit over £2 billion annually in local highways maintenance funding, doubling funding since coming into office. For the first time, we have confirmed allocations for four years of funding, enabling local authorities to plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and instead investment in proactive and preventative maintenance.

In addition to this, the Spending Review announced £1 billion for key local highway enhancement projects and a new Structures Fund for repairing run down bridges, decaying flyovers and worn out tunnels.

I know that the work on Corporation Road Bridge has been ongoing since the beginning of 2022 and has faced significant challenges including a change of contractor which has led to considerable delays to these works. My officials are liaising with North East Lincolnshire Council Officers and I'm pleased to hear a new contractor has been appointed with the bridge likely to be reopened in December of next year.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support her department is providing to local authorities to help them increase levels of library use ahead of the national year of reading in 2026.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Public libraries are central to the success of the National Year of Reading’s campaign to engage people of all ages with reading. The Reading Agency has been appointed to work with sector partners to deliver and support public library engagement. The Summer Reading Challenge in 2026, and World Book Night, the annual celebration of reading for adults on 23 April 2026, will be key moments for libraries during the National Year of Reading 2026. Throughout the year, The Reading Agency will provide public libraries with resources, toolkits, and print and digital materials to support their work.

This is part of the broader programme of government support for the National Year of Reading including the £5 million funding for secondary schools to purchase books the Chancellor announced during her budget speech.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) financial sustainability of early years providers and (b) capacity of schools to deliver wraparound care in areas experiencing long waiting lists.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

In 2025/26, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27, and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this we have provided further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.

At Spending Review 2025, the government announced it will provide an additional £1.6 billion per year by 2028/29. We will also spend over £400 million over the next four years to deliver school-based nurseries across England.

The free breakfast clubs programme has delivered more than 5 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million into the programme to fund an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. Since September 2024, the National Wraparound Programme has also provided over 50,000 additional full childcare places. In 2026/27, we are providing local authorities with £12.9 million to sustain these places, ensuring sufficiency of school-age childcare and supporting national rollout of free breakfast clubs.

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 that children referred for (a) neurodevelopmental and (b) paediatric assessment continue to receive care during transitions between (i) services and (ii) providers.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including pre-and-post diagnostic support for children with neurodevelopmental conditions, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

The 10-Year Health Plan commits to establishing a new radical approach that will ensure that, as children and young people navigate the National Health Service, they feel comfortable and confident in managing their own health and care from 16 years old where appropriate. This will include supporting young people as they move from child to adolescent and adult services, making sure that care is developmentally appropriate throughout.

A national transition framework is being developed to help local areas set up this model or to strengthen an existing one. The principles of age-appropriate services it will set out apply to young people receiving care for the first time as well as those already on a transition pathway.

While this framework focuses on the broad principles of transition, future work will focus on specific considerations and conditions. Training is also being developed for healthcare staff to develop their skills in providing the best standards of care.

In April 2023, NHS England published a framework and guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. The guidance aims to help integrated care boards and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. This includes support for them and their families/carers, while they are waiting for a diagnostic assessment and once they have received the diagnostic outcome.

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 potential merits of introducing routine finger-prick blood glucose testing or urine testing for children who display one or more recognised symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

A national task and finish group has been established by NHS England which brings together key experts from across the health system, including academia/research and leading national clinicians, to jointly assess the opportunities and challenges that are associated with a national screening programme for diabetes and to inform future national policy.

Through our National Institute for Health and Care Research, we have supported the establishment of the Early Surveillance for Autoimmune diabetes, or “ELSA” study. This study is exploring the feasibility and benefits of screening for type 1 diabetes.

Found: h-Eileanan an Iar) Graeme Downie (Labour; Dunfermline and Dollar) Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat; Bath) Melanie Onn