Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 108297, whether his Department holds any evidence on rates of neonatal and post-neonatal death, including accidental suffocation and overlaying, associated with parental cannabis use during pregnancy and the postnatal period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) programme is responsible for reviewing stillbirths and neonatal deaths across the United Kingdom to identify causes, improve clinical care, and reduce future preventable deaths. Analysis of MBRRACE-UK data found that between 2014 and 2024, there were 17 neonatal deaths attributed to accidental suffocation, with only one case explicitly linked to cannabis use. There was also one neonatal sudden infant death syndrome case involving maternal cannabis and alcohol history, and one neonatal death where maternal cannabis use was a secondary contributor. There were thus a total of three neonatal deaths linked to cannabis use between 2014 and 2024.
The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) collects and analyses data on the deaths of all children under 18 years of age. The latest data published by the NCMD highlighted that of the deaths reviewed by Child Death Overview Panels between April 2024 and March 2025, substance misuse during pregnancy was identified as a contributing factor in 62 out of 4,035 infant deaths where data was available. The NCMD thematic report on Deaths of children and young people due to traumatic incidents also highlighted that between 1 April 2019 and March 2022, there were 42 deaths as a result of accidental strangulation or suffocation. 13, or 31%, children were aged under one years old, 17, or 40%, were aged one to four years old, and 12, or 29%, were aged five to 17 years old. In total, 18 children died where entrapment or overlay was found to be a significant contributing factor, but the analysis did not look at whether or not there was substance misuse by the parents.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is considering mandating the TechSafe framework as a national safety, competence and assurance framework to support implementation of the Automated Vehicles Act and related vehicle technology regulation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is currently running a public Call for Evidence in support of the regulatory framework for automated vehicles. Responses to this Call for Evidence will inform a public consultation on the proposed regulations later in the year. The Department encourages those with views or evidence on frameworks such as TechSafe to respond to the Call for Evidence.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 110095, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the absence of route-level ferry fare modelling risks on consumer price impacts for ferry-dependent communities.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not undertaken route level ferry fare modelling for the UK ETS domestic maritime expansion. This is because, as we set out in the Impact Assessment, operators’ commercial decisions, vessel utilisation and fare structures vary widely. The qualitative assessment indicates that any passthrough to consumers is likely to be modest.
The Government will review the maritime element of the UK ETS in 2028 with further consideration of regional or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 105894, what estimate the Department has made of the proportion of efficiency savings attributed to regulated settlements that arise from funding constraints imposed by the Office of Rail and Road rather than from operational productivity improvements.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As set out in Question 105894, the Office for Rail and Road do not set funding constraints as these are determined via the overall funding settlement.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Memorandums of Understanding the UK has signed since 5 July 2025, broken down by (a) the countries with which countries they were signed and (b) the policy areas covered by each agreement.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Department has signed a range of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) since 5 July 2025 to help drive economic growth. However, these are not routinely published or notified to Parliament in line with HMG policy on non-legally binding instruments and in some cases to respect the confidentiality requirements of partner countries. It is, therefore, not possible to provide a full list of MoUs by country and subject area as requested.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2026 to Question 107165, in which month the final text of the National Policy Statement for Ports is expected to be published.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I expect the final text to be laid in March 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has she made of requiring (a) regulatory and (b) policy frameworks to be in place before the Heathrow third runway project can proceed to its next phase.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), as the independent economic regulator, is currently considering options for the future regulatory framework for Heathrow, including how costs are controlled and risks are allocated, with a decision on a preferred regulatory model for expansion expected in the summer. The government is aware of the need for a clear direction of travel to enable investment.
In parallel, the Government launched a review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) on 22 October which is the policy framework that any future development consent order for expansion at Heathrow will be examined against. The Government expects to consult on any proposed amendments to the ANPS by the summer, alongside Parliamentary scrutiny in line with statutory processes.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Motor Insurance Taskforce examined motorcycle insurance as part of its work leading to the Final Report published on 10 December 2025.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The taskforce was given a strategic remit to set the direction for government policy, in order to identify short- and long-term actions that may stabilise or reduce motor insurance premiums, but not the cost of motorcycle insurance specifically. The scope of the taskforce was agreed by ministers at the Department for Transport and HM Treasury, as the co-chairing departments.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 2 February 2026 to Question 108796, where the portrait of William Shakespeare formerly displayed in the Pillared Room at 10 Downing Street is located.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government Art Collection (GAC) is a working collection, used across government buildings in the UK and the global estate, which means that artworks may change their display location from time to time. The GAC removed this portrait from the Pillared Drawing Room at No.10 to install a refreshed display of artworks celebrating 125 years of the Government Art Collection, planned prior to the General Election in July 2024. Locations of artworks in the collection can be found on the GAC’s website.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2025 to Question 95968, for what reason there is a difference between the estimates of the fiscal cost of freezing rail fares (a) as set out in that Answer and (b) the figures published in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook, November 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The difference is due to a difference in rounding. The estimates provided in the Department’s previous response were sourced from the published Budget document, where numbers are rounded to the nearest £5m. The OBR choose to round figures to the nearest £1m in their own publications, including their Economic and Fiscal Outlook published in November 2025.