Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish guidance for schools on (a) responding to parental requests for the withdrawal of books from recommended reading lists and (b) the circumstances under which schools can remove books from those lists.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current National Curriculum requires teachers to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. Following the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review on 5 November 2025, the department will continue to emphasise the importance of pupils listening to, discussing, and reading for themselves a wide range of stories, poems, plays and non-fiction books.
Within the framework of the National Curriculum, schools make their own choices about which specific books or other resources they use. Teachers have flexibility in their choice of books to teach within the context of the curriculum. Any sensitive issues should be covered by the school’s own policy, and in consultation with parents.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a progressive remote betting duty on small, independent bookmakers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government launched a consultation on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system which closed on 21 July 2025. Responses are now being analysed and impacts are being assessed, and the Government will respond at Budget.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of HMRC's Child Benefit verification checks on the timelines of Self Assessment tax repayments.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Child Benefit is a non-means tested benefit payable to families as a contribution towards the cost of raising children. It is claimed through the Child Benefit service, which is separate to Self Assessment, so for the majority of families Child Benefit checks should have no impact on the timelines of Self Assessment tax repayments.
There are no further impacts anticipated.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) delays in HMRC Self Assessment tax repayments and (b) the non-fulfilment of published complaint response timeframes on taxpayers awaiting refunds.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible.
HMRC balance the provision of prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters.
For Self Assessment repayments, once the repayment is created it goes through automated fraud and compliance checks. In 2024-25, after these checks, 93.1% of the repayments were paid automatically within a few days.
HMRC continues to invest in automation and to review their internal processes to ensure repayments are issued as quickly as possible.
HMRC recognise too the importance of keeping the customer, and where appropriate the customer’s representative, informed of progress, and are exploring ways of doing that more effectively.
In the meantime, HMRC’s online ‘Where’s My Reply’ tool can help customers understand when they can expect to receive a response.
HMRC aim to respond to complaints within six weeks.
In 2024-25, HMRC responded to 73% of new complaints within this timeframe. HMRC are committed to prioritising customer experience and are reviewing their complaints processes. The Adjudicator’s Annual Report was published on 20 October 2025 and HMRC are using the insight in the report to make further improvements.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment with the Home Secretary of the potential merits of funding a wider rollout of long-acting Injectable Buprenorphine as a treatment option for people using opioids in Dorset.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department supports the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine as an option for those undergoing Opioid Substitution Treatment. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services according to local need, and this includes the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine.
In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing Dorset Council with £1,469,140 to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. The Department encourages local authorities to prioritise resourcing long-acting injectable buprenorphine prescribing from this additional funding if current provision is not adequate.
The Department is currently doing more analysis to understand cost-effectiveness and develop clinical guidance, and to scope out how best to expand access to long-acting injectable buprenorphine further.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on families with home-educated children who are unable to (a) secure a place in a GCSE examination centre and (b) afford exam entry fees.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data on families with home educated children who are unable to secure a place in a GCSE examination centre or afford exam entry fees.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families in their areas who are registered with them and who request support. This support could include advice and information on how to access examinations.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of requiring water companies to demonstrate efficient land asset management before price increases are approved on customers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water bills are set by Ofwat who consider all aspects of company business planning through their price review process. The Government is preparing to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, including on asset management. Reforms outlined in the government's forthcoming white paper will form the basis of a new water reform bill to be introduced early in this Parliament.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Ofsted inspections are carried out in accordance with standardised procedures across childcare settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
From 10 November 2025, Ofsted report cards will be introduced across all education remits Ofsted inspects, including early years. We need all inspections to be high-quality, consistent and conducted with the highest levels of professionalism. That is what Ofsted is determined to achieve.
Ofsted will receive additional funding from the department as part of the Best Start in Life strategy to enhance the quality and consistency of early years inspections. We will also fund Ofsted to move to inspecting all providers at least once every four years, as opposed to the current six-year window, to achieve parity with schools. This investment will support the government’s ambition to deliver the best start in life for every child.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment with Secretary of State for Education of the potential impact of amending Schedule 17, Part 1, Paragraph 12(b) of The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable schools to obtain new adrenaline nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic reactions on children with allergies .
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Officials at the Department are in the early stages of considering if potential amendments to Schedule 17 of the Human Medicines Regulations (HMRs) 2012 are required.
Should amendments to the HMRs be required, the Government will conduct a public consultation to ensure that the views of stakeholders are carefully considered, prior to any changes being made.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the (a) Building Safety Act 2022 and (b) Building Regulations to ensure (i) building owners and (ii) nominated building design professionals can access Building Control records when required.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Provisions already exist within section 53 of the Building Act 1984 (as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022) to ensure relevant building control information is made available to both local authorities and those carrying out building work when changing building control body.
When a building control body can no longer provider services, they are required to provide the local authority any information it would have obtained had it been performing building control functions itself, and any additional information reasonably required to enable it to do so within 21 days. The building control body must also provide the person carrying out the work, typically the building owner or their nominated building design professional, any such information and other records necessary to allow another building control body to perform those functions.
The Department is considering how best to invest in building control digitalisation to improve the openness, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of building control data and deliver better outcomes for regulators, developers, built environment professionals and members of the public.