Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will consider introducing a national scheme offering small grants to private individuals for the creation of climate-resilient, wildlife-friendly gardens.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the importance of individual action and the contribution that wildlife-friendly gardens can make to nature recovery and climate resilience. Our Land Use Consultation this year asked about approaches to support such outcomes in urban areas. We are considering the responses we received, which will inform the upcoming Land Use Framework.
We also coordinate and work with a range of partners to promote guidance and support for individuals. For example, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Grow Wild programme inspires and supports individual and community gardening, and Defra’s annual Bees’ Needs Week and Bees’ Needs Champions Awards celebrate action and promote simple actions everyone can take to benefit pollinators. We encourage individuals to participate in and contribute to the preparation of Local Nature Recovery Strategies to help shape nature recovery in their area.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of rural broadband coverage.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Rural broadband coverage is not good enough. We are delivering nationwide gigabit broadband, through Project Gigabit.
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, 89% of premises benefitting from government broadband schemes were in rural areas.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the difference in per capita bus funding between rural and urban areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises that different areas have different characteristics and needs for their local bus network. The Government has committed to reforming bus funding to create a fairer and simpler system for bus funding that takes into account local needs.
The Government took the first step towards a fairer allocation system by using a formula to determine Local Authority Bus Grant allocations for 25/26 based on need, including population, the distance that buses travel, and the levels of deprivation. Under this formula, Devon County Council was allocated £11.6 million. This is an increase in funding compared to the £8.7 million allocated to the Council in equivalent funding under the previous Government in 24/25.
The formula used in 25/26 is an interim formula. We are currently reviewing this formula to ensure funding is allocated as fairly as possible, including engaging with stakeholders on any revisions.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to sign the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; and for what reason the UK has not yet signed that Convention.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government considers that the current domestic framework and legislation already prevent arbitrary arrests, prohibits torture and degrading treatment, and holds the Security and Intelligence Agencies to account.
We therefore currently have no plans to sign or ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
We strongly condemn any instances of enforced disappearance internationally. We urge states to fully investigate any allegations, prosecute those responsible and provide justice to victims.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that internet-connected smart TVs do not monitor users’ activity without prior, informed consent; and if she will consider requiring such devices to use an opt-in system for data collection.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
All organisations in the UK that process personal data must comply with the requirements of the UK GDPR, including ensuring any processing is lawful, fair and transparent. Providers of smart devices must consider how their products implement these principles effectively and include appropriate safeguards to protect people's rights.
In addition, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 include more specific rules on the use of technologies such as cookies on people’s smart devices. This is prevented unless an exception applies, for example, where the user has given their consent.
The Information Commissioner is currently consulting on a revised version of guidance on the use of storage and access technologies.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment on (a) small business owners and (b) unrepresented taxpayers; and if she will consider delaying implementation until issues associated with the (i) cost, (ii) software availability, (iii) administrative burden and (iv) digital exclusion have been addressed.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC are on track to implement Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax for those with income over £50,000 from April 2026, with a wide range of customers already testing the service in live running.
MTD modernises the tax system and will help self-employed individuals and landlords keep on top of their tax affairs, making their annual tax returns easier.
While many users will incur some cost in moving to MTD for Income Tax, many will also experience wider productivity gains through time savings and greater accuracy. We continually monitor the impacts of MTD and the latest published assessment is available at:
The government has worked with the software industry to ensure there are free and low-cost software options available to support taxpayers, both represented and unrepresented, alongside a wider range of software choices to suit varying needs and budgets. HMRC's software choices page can be found here:
www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-thats-compatible-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax#software-available-now
The government recognises that not everyone is able to interact with HMRC digitally. Taxpayers who are digitally excluded will be able to apply for an exemption from MTD. HMRC will provide further information about the exemption process in due course.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the reasons for the price differential between (a) ciclosporin and (b) other generic immunosuppressant drugs sold in UK pharmacies compared to the same drugs available overseas; and if he will take steps to review (i) NHS procurement and (ii) pricing arrangements to ensure better value for money.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment of the reasons for the price difference between ciclosporin and other generic immunosuppressant drugs sold in United Kingdom pharmacies compared to other countries.
The UK has well established mechanisms to control the level of spend on branded medicines. The voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access, and growth and the statutory scheme for branded medicines, control the growth in sales of branded medicines, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s evaluations ensure that spend on new medicines represents a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources.
For generic medicines, the Government’s policy is freedom of pricing. Community pharmacies buy the drugs they need to dispense against NHS prescriptions and are reimbursed for these according to the prices and ‘rules’ as set out in the Drug Tariff. The reimbursement arrangements include an amount of medicines margin in 2025/26, as allowed for as part of Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework funding. The system incentivises pharmacy contractors to source items as cheaply as possible, so they individually get to keep more medicine margin. This leads to competition and downward pressure on selling prices, which in turn leads to lower reimbursement prices and lower costs to the NHS.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of issuing the Winter Fuel Payment on a per-household basis.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
No such estimate has been made. The Winter Fuel Payment is already a household payment paid on an individual basis.
Winter Fuel Payments are typically £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over.
Winter Fuel Payments are paid automatically, without the need to claim, based on information held by DWP.
Where a pensioner is receiving a relevant income-related benefit such as Pension Credit, whether as a single person or as part of a couple, one payment of £200 or £300 (depending on age) is made to that household. This is because Pension Credit is assessed and paid on a household basis.
State Pension is not assessed or paid on a household basis, so shared payments are made to individuals to reflect the household effect. For example, a couple, each under 80 and not on Pension Credit will receive a shared payment amount of £100 each.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Minister of State for Care plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth dated 18 March 2025 on NHS dentistry in the South West.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I replied to the hon. Member on 25 June 2025.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will set out what (a) support and (b) safeguards are in place to assist adults with intellectual disabilities in completing benefit application forms; and whether information provided when applying for a welfare benefit can be (a) transferred and (b) reused in subsequent applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to pursuing a just, equal and inclusive society, ensuring independence and control for all customers, including all disabled people and those with complex needs. This means we need to ensure that our customers have access to reasonable adjustments or additional support, to enable them to access benefits and our services.
We aim to support customers to access services independently but recognise some customers need the support of an appointee. The Department has a robust end-to-end process to fully assess both the customer and the proposed appointee to ensure suitability and prevent financial abuse. For customers without an appointee, and unable to complete forms through other channels, the DWP Visiting service can conduct home visits to provide support. Support is also offered within our Job centres.
The national DWP Visiting Service provides additional support across all service lines to customers who cannot access DWP services in any other way. A visit can be arranged for a customer if they need extra help to claim benefits, for example because they have complex needs, are disabled, are a vulnerable young person making a claim for the first time, have nobody else to support them or cannot claim benefits in any other way. Support visits if you need help to claim benefits - GOV.UK. Where further specialist help is required, DWP has a national network of 37 Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders who can provide additional advice and support through the local networks they have built with external partners and organisations.
In some benefits there is an opportunity to share information. For example, Case Managers will occasionally cross reference information held on previous Employment Support Allowance (ESA) claims to build a more complete picture, where it is felt there are gaps or inconsistencies in evidence provided. However, specific information is required to support a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim to assess functionality across a range of activities. In this scenario, information provided for the purposes of other benefit claims would not be sufficient for this purpose. A further example of where information is shared across benefits would relate to an SR1 claim - special rules for end of life.
The Department continues to review the experience of users of its services and seeks to balance application simplicity with obtaining the information needed for an accurate award. A key objective of the DWPs Service Modernisation Programme is assessing how people locate, access, and navigate support, including making new applications and ensuring that services are designed around the needs of DWP customers and joined up wherever it is possible to do so.