Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of local authorities' ability to deal with increased levels of demand for therapy above the Adoption Support and Special Guardianship Support Fund fair access limit.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department continues to monitor and assess the impact of the changes to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) and is engaging with stakeholders.
In the current financial year, the department has invested £50 million in the ASGSF, ensuring that adopted and kinship children may have access to therapeutic services designed to stabilise placements and address complex needs.
The government has launched the Families First Partnership programme, providing an additional £547 million, and bringing total funding to £2.4 billion over the next three years. We are also investing nearly £1.5 billion to strengthen family services and early years education, including £500 million for Best Start Family Hubs between 2026 and 2029.
Local authorities are responsible for determining how best to deploy these resources to meet increased demand for therapeutic support beyond the fair access limit.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2025 to Question 78154 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, what assessment her Department has been made of the potential economic impact of funding additional therapies beyond the fair access limit on local authorities; and if her Department holds data on how many families require therapy beyond the fair access limit.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department continues to monitor and assess the impact of the changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) and is engaging with stakeholders. Decisions to fund additional therapy beyond the fair access limit rest with individual local authorities.
This financial year, we have invested £50 million in the ASGSF, giving adopted and kinship children access to therapeutic services that stabilise placements and address complex needs.
The government has introduced the Families First Partnership programme, with an extra £547 million, bringing total funding to £2.4 billion over the next three years. We are also investing nearly £1.5 billion to improve family services and early years education, including £500 million for Best Start Family Hubs between 2026 and 2029. Local authorities should decide how best to use these resources to support adoptive and kinship families.
The department does not collect data on how many families require therapy beyond the fair access limit.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department made of the potential impacts of removing the ability for driving instructors to book driving tests on behalf of learners on test availability.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.
The measures the Secretary of State for Transport announced on 12 November are designed to make the practical driving test booking process fairer, providing all learners with equal access to the booking system and ensuring that everyone pays the prescribed fee.
The decision follows a call for evidence and a public consultation that sought views from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties. In reaching this decision, impacts were fully considered. Further detail on the rationale, which will set out the detailed analysis, will be provided in the consultation report which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made in implementing the conclusion of the 2014 consultation on modernising parish poll rules; and if he will take legislative steps to (a) strengthen trigger thresholds and (b) prevent the misuse of parish polls.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government acknowledges that a significant time has passed since the coalition government consulted on proposals to modernise the parish polls.
The government has no immediate plans to amend the parish poll regulations.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the value for money of parish polls.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government acknowledges that a significant time has passed since the coalition government consulted on proposals to modernise the parish polls.
The government has no immediate plans to amend the parish poll regulations.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in freight-related crime; and what measures her Department are implementing in collaboration with (a) police forces and (b) industry to reduce theft from commercial vehicles and logistics facilities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. This Government is determined to crack down on it. The incidence of cargo theft, where criminals rip the sides of lorries and take the goods inside, is frightening for those dedicated HGV drivers across the UK, and the perception this crime is low risk and high reward is unacceptable.
Freight crimes are not currently separately identifiable in the centrally held police recorded crime data. Crimes involving the theft of freight are recorded by the police within broader vehicle-related theft categories. In order to monitor trends, we are piloting the use of a flag on police crime recording systems which officers can use to indicate that the crime they are investigating is freight crime. Set against police priorities and the need to ensure burdens on the police are proportionate, we will keep the need for a separate freight crime recording code under review.
We are working closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime. We have regular discussions with key partners, including Opal, about tackling organised freight crime.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 2024 National NHS Staff Survey Results, what data his Department holds on staff wellbeing indicators for (a) consultants, (b) trainees and (c) specialty, associate specialists and specialist doctors in (i) clinical radiology and (ii) clinical oncology, including (A) additional paid hours worked, (B) additional unpaid hours worked, (C) trends in the level of stress and (D) trends in the level of burnout.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As reported in the 2024 NHS Staff Survey, 30.24% of respondents reported having felt burnout because of their work. Data taken from the NHS Staff Survey cannot however be used to identity trends in specialities.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 2024 National NHS Staff Survey Results, what data his Department holds on whether (a) consultants, (b) trainees and (c) specialty, associate specialists and specialist doctors in (i) clinical radiology and (ii) clinical oncology believe there are enough staff in their organisation for them to do their job properly.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this data. As reported in the 2024 NHS Staff Survey, 34.01% of respondents said that there are enough staff at their organisation for them to do their job properly. The data from the Staff Survey cannot, however, be used to identity trends in specialities.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to improve procedures for processing gestational diabetes blood glucose tests to improve the accuracy of diagnosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is responsible for setting clinical guidelines. For diabetes in pregnancy, including testing for gestational diabetes, the relevant clinical guideline is NG3 - Diabetes in pregnancy: management from preconception to the postnatal period, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng3/chapter/Recommendations#gestational-diabetes
The Department provides funding to the National Institute for Health and Care Research for research to help improve procedures around gestational diabetes, such as the DOMINO study, with further information available at the following link:
https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR134628
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration he has given to supporting the National Screening Committee to (a) more swiftly implement innovation within screening programmes and (b) adopt innovative new programmes once proven effective.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) and its secretariat have adopted several robust strategies that support responsiveness to innovation in screening.
The committee uses the expertise of its research and methodology group to help researchers focus the design of screening research to ensure it addresses questions in a way that is useful for screening policy. Where screening research trials are ongoing, the secretariat maintains close contact with researchers to ensure that we are proactive in response to the results coming out of the trial.
Where there are evidence gaps in screening research, in-service evaluations provide an innovative solution to generating high quality evidence for the UK NSC in live National Health Services. The UK NSC secretariat works closely with NHS England on upcoming work so that the NHS can optimise their preparations in their readiness for the implementation of recommendations agreed by ministers.
Networking across the healthcare landscape both nationally and internationally helps to ensure that the UK NSC keeps abreast of developments in screening and identifies viable innovations in tests and treatments that are suitable in the context of the United Kingdom. Collaboration between organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and professional bodies such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists supports joined up working with partners and avoids unnecessary duplication.