Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of funding the full cost of specialist palliative care delivered by hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.
Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that ICBs should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
Hospices provide both core and specialist palliative care. Whilst acknowledging that not everyone will need specialist palliative care, we must ensure is that there is equitable and timely access to these services, whether they are provided by hospices or the National Health Service.
While no specific assessment has been made of the cost of changes in the levels of funding to hospices on the wider healthcare system, as part of our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government will shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community. We recognise that it is vital to include palliative care and end-of-life care, including hospices, in this shift.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the cost of changes in the levels of funding to hospices on the wider healthcare system.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.
Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that ICBs should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
Hospices provide both core and specialist palliative care. Whilst acknowledging that not everyone will need specialist palliative care, we must ensure is that there is equitable and timely access to these services, whether they are provided by hospices or the National Health Service.
While no specific assessment has been made of the cost of changes in the levels of funding to hospices on the wider healthcare system, as part of our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government will shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community. We recognise that it is vital to include palliative care and end-of-life care, including hospices, in this shift.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of Dating Scam Fraud were reported in 2025; and what the financial loss was.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on Dating Scam Fraud. City of London Police are the national lead force for fraud and operate the Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) reporting service which collects data on Dating Scam Fraud. The below data was collected from the reports made to Action Fraud (now Report Fraud) that amounted to a crime under the Home Office crime recording rules.
In the first 10 months of 2025, there were 9,305 dating scam reports to Action Fraud (now ‘Report Fraud’). Losses for these reports totalled £90.9m. Source: Report Fraud Analysis Services (Public)
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of Grey Belt policy on speculative development proposals on village edges in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 98288 on 5 January 2026, UIN 105177 on 20 January 2026, and UIN 106373 on 26 January 2026.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce annual increases in household energy bills in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tackling the affordability crisis is Government’s number one priority. Energy bills remain too high – that is why we are acting to bring bills down now and for the long term. At the last Budget, we took an average of £150 of costs off energy bills from this coming April. On top of this around six million households will receive the £150 Warm Home Discount, after we expanded the scheme for this winter.
In addition, the Government’s Warm Homes Plan is the biggest investment in home upgrades ever, with £15 billion of investment to cut energy bills, bring households out of fuel poverty, increase our energy security and make our homes warmer and more efficient. The £15 billion total includes £5 billion directed towards low income and fuel poor households, helping to lift up to one million households out of fuel poverty by 2030.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the quarterly instalment payment regime on companies that realise large but infrequent capital gains, particularly in cases where tax liabilities cannot be known at the point quarterly payments fall due.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
If a company or a group's annual profits exceed £1.5 million, they will be classed as ‘large’ and will be required to pay their Corporation Tax in quarterly instalments. This long-standing regime ensures that larger companies pay their Corporation Tax bill closer to the point at which they make a profit, which is in line with other G7 countries.
Companies must self-assess whether they are in the regime and pay accordingly. Where liabilities may be difficult to predict, including from capital gains, companies should make their best estimate of instalment payments based on the information available at the time. Payments can be adjusted up or down as the final liability becomes clearer, and if they prove to be excessive a repayment can be claimed.
As always for late paid tax, interest is charged to reflect the time value of money. Recognising the estimated nature of the instalments, special rates of interest apply which charge less for late payment, and pay more for overpayment, than the normal rates.
The Government keeps the impact of the quarterly instalment payment regime, including associated interest rules, under review.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of interest charges on companies that are unable to estimate quarterly instalment payments accurately due to the unpredictable timing and size of capital gains.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
If a company or a group's annual profits exceed £1.5 million, they will be classed as ‘large’ and will be required to pay their Corporation Tax in quarterly instalments. This long-standing regime ensures that larger companies pay their Corporation Tax bill closer to the point at which they make a profit, which is in line with other G7 countries.
Companies must self-assess whether they are in the regime and pay accordingly. Where liabilities may be difficult to predict, including from capital gains, companies should make their best estimate of instalment payments based on the information available at the time. Payments can be adjusted up or down as the final liability becomes clearer, and if they prove to be excessive a repayment can be claimed.
As always for late paid tax, interest is charged to reflect the time value of money. Recognising the estimated nature of the instalments, special rates of interest apply which charge less for late payment, and pay more for overpayment, than the normal rates.
The Government keeps the impact of the quarterly instalment payment regime, including associated interest rules, under review.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of making the testing of AI models a legal requirement on the use of AI systems to create child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to tackling the creation of this atrocious material. Creating, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content.
We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators, and to ensure AI developers can directly test for and address vulnerabilities in their models which enable the production of CSAM.
The Government is clear: no option is off the table when it comes to protecting the online safety of users in the UK.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce a statutory right to access free period products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of women and girls being able to access the care they need for their reproductive health, including period products.
We know that poverty doesn’t recognise gender, and that women and girls may suffer given the cost of period products. However, we know that period poverty reflects wider cost-of-living pressures, which is why the Government is tackling the root causes of poverty, through measures to make work pay, boosting the living wage, and investing in public services, so no one has to go without the essentials.
There are a number of schemes across the Government which ensure that those who are most vulnerable can access the products they need. The Department for Education’s Period Products scheme launched in 2020 and provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study so that nobody misses out on education because of their period. Similarly, all women and girls being cared for by the National Health Service are entitled to be given, upon request, appropriate period products free of charge.
We are also taking steps to ensure that products are as affordable as possible, as the tax on period products has been zero-rated since 2021, and in 2023 this was extended to include reusable period underwear.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that free period products are accessible to everyone who needs them in schools, workplaces, and public facilities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Nobody should have to miss out on education because of their period, which is why the department provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study through the period products scheme. The scheme aims to remove periods as a barrier to accessing education and addresses pupils being unable to afford period products.