Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what changes there have been in levels of employment between 2024 and 2026.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The independent Office for National Statistics publish data on the levels of employment in the UK. This can be found here: A01: Summary of labour market statistics - Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many privately contracted prison vans logged failures of service to the Ministry of Justice each year in the UK since 2015.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many privately contracted prison vans logged failures of service to the Ministry of Justice each year in London since 2015.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment they have made of the impact that delayed and lost deliveries from poor performance of courier services have on small and medium-sized businesses.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
We expect all delivery companies to provide a good level of service for businesses and have been clear that some need to do more to meet customer expectations.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for reviewing the regulatory framework including considering the needs of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users. Ofcom monitors the experiences of businesses and consumers of parcel delivery services. Its last 2024/25 annual post monitoring report found that around eight in ten SMEs were satisfied with delivery services. Ofcom has, however, recognised concerns about parcel delivery performance and is keeping the need for further regulation under review.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of restricting non-compete clauses on the competitiveness of the UK financial services sector.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government recognises the importance of a competitive and dynamic UK financial services sector, which is a key driver of growth across the economy. The Prime Minister recently announced that the Government will legislate on non-compete clauses in employment contracts and bring forward options to address the wider use of restrictive practices. These reforms are intended to support labour mobility, innovation and business dynamism while ensuring firms continue to have tools available to protect legitimate business interests. Further detail will be set out in the Government's response to the working paper on reform of non-compete clauses at Budget 2026.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what actions they have planned to review the regulatory framework for postal deliveries to ensure small and medium-sized businesses are not negatively impacted by the poor performance of courier services.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
We expect all delivery companies to provide a good level of service for businesses and have been clear that some need to do more to meet customer expectations.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for reviewing the regulatory framework including considering the needs of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users. Ofcom monitors the experiences of businesses and consumers of parcel delivery services. Its last 2024/25 annual post monitoring report found that around eight in ten SMEs were satisfied with delivery services. Ofcom has, however, recognised concerns about parcel delivery performance and is keeping the need for further regulation under review.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of restricting non-compete clauses on (a) labour market mobility, (b) innovation and (c) business investment in staff training.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The evidence is clear that non-compete clauses deter labour mobility, which can lead to reduced wage growth and lower business creation. Around 5 million employees are subject to a non-compete clause in Great Britain with a typical duration of around 6 months. The government will legislate to make sure that non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most innovative and promising startups and scaling firms.
The Competition and Markets Authority found non-compete clauses were associated with slightly more formal on-the-job training, but not with other types of training, suggesting that not all non-compete clauses are protecting substantial training investments.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to address the shortage of Packaging Recovery Notes.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Due to exceptional factors that have reduced PRN and PERN availability this year, the four UK regulators issued Regulatory Position Statements on 9 October. This means that producers and compliance schemes that meet the reduced proportions of 2026 recycling obligations for plastic, steel and wood will not face enforcement action.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition plans to undertake an assessment of iodine deficiencies in the UK before the end of this year.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) considered the topic of iodine at its horizon scan meeting in June 2026. The SACN agreed to progress the topic in its future work programme. The SACN is planning to start this work in early 2027.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what are the current average wait times to complete Special Educational Need and Disability appeals heard through the HM Courts and Tribunals Service which have received an Order allowing the case to proceed towards determination on the papers.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The current waiting time for a final oral hearing in a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal is 84 weeks.
The time taken to complete a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal after an order for determination on the papers is set by the judiciary according to the circumstances of each case. Establishing an average would require a manual review of every case and could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The average wait for a call to the SEND helpline to be answered is approximately two minutes (1 minute 56 seconds). The current longest response time for written correspondence, including emails and letters, is eight days.