Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he intends to respond to the emails of 7 October 2025 and 5 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG10331, on a constituent's issue with their Bounce Back Loan.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade aims to respond to correspondence within 15 working days, but in some instances it can take longer. A response to the correspondence of 5 January has now been sent to Tom Gordon MP. The department apologises for not responding to the original correspondence of 7 October.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure newly retired civil servants receive their pension on time.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The previous government awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023.
The administration transferred to Capita on 1 December 2025 and the first payroll ran successfully in the same month.
We recognise that a number of pension scheme members have experienced delays in receiving their pension payments. The Cabinet Office is meeting regularly with Capita to review their performance, identify priorities, and agree actions to improve the overall processing and service. We continue to work with our administrator, Capita, to increase the processing of retirement quotes. Alongside this, Capita is increasing staffing in key areas, such as the contact centre, to increase the level of support for members.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she intends to respond to the letters of 1 August 2025, 23 September 2025, and 18 December 2025 from the Hon. Mem. for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG09406, on the Online Safety Act.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I wrote to the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough on 16 January. The Department sincerely apologises for the exceptional delay in responding on this occasion, and we regret that this fell short of expected standards.
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, if he will publish data on staff wellbeing indicators for (a) clinical radiology and (b) clinical oncology, including the data by specialty for (i) q10b on additional paid hours worked, (ii) q10c on additional unpaid hours worked, (iii) q11c on work related stress and (iv) q12b on burnout.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this data nor are there any plans to collect NHS Staff Survey data from any additional occupational groups.
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 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 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 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.