Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report entitled Walking and Cycling Index: UK, published by Walk Wheel Cycle Trust on 17 March 2026, what steps she is taking to support councils to lower speed limits.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Local authorities are responsible for managing the roads under their jurisdiction, drawing on their knowledge of local conditions and the needs of their communities. This includes the power to set local speed limits. Authorities may introduce 20mph limits in areas where people and traffic mix, such as outside schools, and they may also apply enforceable part‑time 20mph limits during specific periods, including school drop‑off and pick‑up times.
Authorities will have our full backing when implementing measures that respond to the concerns of local people.
As set out in the Road Safety Strategy the Government will be reviewing and updating its guidance, including ‘Setting Local Speed Limits’ and the ‘guidance on the use of speed and red‑light cameras’, to further support local authorities in making well‑informed decisions about managing speed on their networks.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report entitled Walking and Cycling Index: UK, published by Walk Wheel Cycle Trust on 17 March 2026, what assessment she has made of the potential economic benefits of increased investment in walking, wheeling and cycling facilities; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Active Travel England published research on the benefits of active travel investment in February this year. This research can be viewed at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluating-the-impact-of-active-travel-investment.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to provide financial support to house boat dwellers impacted by the cost of red diesel fuel.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Certain uses, such as non-propulsion use by private pleasure craft, retained the entitlement access to use red diesel after it was withdrawn from most sectors in 2022. In contrast to full duty diesel, taxed at 52.95 pence per litre (ppl), red diesel currently incurs a duty of 10.18 pence per litre.
At Budget 2025, the Government extended the temporary 5p fuel duty cut alongside extending the proportionate percentage cut for rebated fuels, which includes red diesel. This maintains the red diesel rate at the levels set in March 2022 at 10.18 peppl until the end of August 2026, with rates then gradually returning to March 2022 levels by March 2027, an increase of less than 1 ppl. The planned inflation increase for 2026-27 has also been cancelled.
As the Chancellor has set out, the Government will keep fuel duty under review.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the financial impact of maternity leave on the (a) amount of additional debt accrued on and (b) length of time to repay the debt for student finance loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department and the Student Loan Company do not hold information on the amount of additional money accrued by women while on maternity leave.
Student loan repayments are linked to income, not to the amount borrowed or interest applied. Repayments are made at a constant rate of 9% above the earnings threshold. Borrowers earning under the repayment threshold, including while on statutory maternity leave, are not required to make repayments, however, interest will continue to accrue. When borrowers are on maternity leave, and earnings are below the earnings threshold, interest, across both plan 2 and plan 5, is applied at the Retail Price Index only.
Any outstanding loan, including interest built up, is cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.
The department will release an equalities impact assessment, including the impact on lifetime repayments, alongside other borrower impacts for the plan 2 repayment threshold and interest threshold freeze announced at the 2025 Budget.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data the Student Loans Company holds on the amount of additional money accrued by women while on maternity leave.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department and the Student Loan Company do not hold information on the amount of additional money accrued by women while on maternity leave.
Student loan repayments are linked to income, not to the amount borrowed or interest applied. Repayments are made at a constant rate of 9% above the earnings threshold. Borrowers earning under the repayment threshold, including while on statutory maternity leave, are not required to make repayments, however, interest will continue to accrue. When borrowers are on maternity leave, and earnings are below the earnings threshold, interest, across both plan 2 and plan 5, is applied at the Retail Price Index only.
Any outstanding loan, including interest built up, is cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.
The department will release an equalities impact assessment, including the impact on lifetime repayments, alongside other borrower impacts for the plan 2 repayment threshold and interest threshold freeze announced at the 2025 Budget.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to publish their response to the Extending the Right to Work Scheme consultation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government intends to publish the response to the 'Consultation on the prevention of illegal working: Extending the Right to Work Scheme to other working arrangements' alongside updated guidance and statutory codes of practice in June. Officials will continue to discuss the responses and the updated guidance with stakeholders in advance of June to support business preparations.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the current average processing time is for Mandatory Reconsiderations for (a) Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children and (b) other disability‑related benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Disability Living Allowance
From April 2025 to January 2026, the average actual clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) for Disability Living Allowance for children was 121.7 working days.
We have approved overtime and reallocated decision makers to clear our outstanding Disability Living Allowance Child MR cases more quickly. This will help us to reduce our clearance times.
Attendance Allowance
From April 2025 to January 2026, the average actual clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) for Attendance Allowance was 29.4 working days.
Personal Independence Payment
PIP MR clearance times are published at Personal Independence Payment statistics - GOV.UK. They can be found by accessing the latest release and opening the excel tables. Tables 4A – 4Biii contain information on PIP MR median clearance times.
Employment and Support Allowance
ESA Work Capability Assessment MR clearance times are available on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. They can be found by going through “ESA Work Capability Assessments”, “Mandatory Reconsideration – Clearances” “Table 4 – Median Clearance Times by Date of Decision”.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to help decrease the amount of time to assess Mandatory Reconsiderations for Disability Living Allowance for children.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Disability Living Allowance
From April 2025 to January 2026, the average actual clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) for Disability Living Allowance for children was 121.7 working days.
We have approved overtime and reallocated decision makers to clear our outstanding Disability Living Allowance Child MR cases more quickly. This will help us to reduce our clearance times.
Attendance Allowance
From April 2025 to January 2026, the average actual clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) for Attendance Allowance was 29.4 working days.
Personal Independence Payment
PIP MR clearance times are published at Personal Independence Payment statistics - GOV.UK. They can be found by accessing the latest release and opening the excel tables. Tables 4A – 4Biii contain information on PIP MR median clearance times.
Employment and Support Allowance
ESA Work Capability Assessment MR clearance times are available on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. They can be found by going through “ESA Work Capability Assessments”, “Mandatory Reconsideration – Clearances” “Table 4 – Median Clearance Times by Date of Decision”.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the average waiting for the Building Safety Regulator to approve the remediation of residential flats in London.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The monthly Building Control Approval Application dataset January 2026 showed that the average approval timeframe for remediation projects in London was 30 weeks.
We recognise that processing times need to improve, and we will be bringing forward a Building Safety Regulator remediation improvement plan in the coming weeks detailing how we intend to work with the sector to achieve improvements.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department is taking steps to increase staffing capacity at the Building Safety Regulator.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has conducted a recent recruitment campaign to scale up its regulatory capacity.