Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant expiry on investment confidence and jobs in the UK motorcycle and L-Category vehicle sector.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In February 2025, we announced the decision to close the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant, which closed at the end of the 2025/26 financial year. Ending the £500 Plug-in Motorcycle Grant is not expected to have a significant impact on uptake of zero emission motorcycles or on riders.
The Government, working with industry, will monitor the development of the zero emission motorcycle market and the need for any further interventions on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential economic impact of removing support for electric motorcycles relative to the cost of the scheme.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In February 2025, we announced the decision to close the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant, which closed at the end of the 2025/26 financial year. Ending the £500 Plug-in Motorcycle Grant is not expected to have a significant impact on uptake of zero emission motorcycles or on riders.
The Government, working with industry, will monitor the development of the zero emission motorcycle market and the need for any further interventions on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of loss of the expiry of the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant on the UK electric motorcycle market.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In February 2025, we announced the decision to close the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant, which closed at the end of the 2025/26 financial year. Ending the £500 Plug-in Motorcycle Grant is not expected to have a significant impact on uptake of zero emission motorcycles or on riders.
The Government, working with industry, will monitor the development of the zero emission motorcycle market and the need for any further interventions on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what work her Department is undertaking to develop a long-term policy framework to support the uptake of zero emission L-Category vehicles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Decarbonising transport is critical to ensuring that the UK meets its net zero commitment by 2050 and all road vehicles have a part to play in this. The Plug-in Motorcycle Grant has now ended after supporting over 15,500 vehicle purchases since 2016. We will continue to monitor the development of the zero emission motorcycle market and the need for any further policy interventions.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his department has to tackle the decline in the number of health visits to families with young children.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of health visits which must be offered to families in England has remained the same since 2015, with additional support provided according to need. Families must be offered at least five health visits, with four of these taking place post birth.
Health visiting service delivery data for England is published annually. The latest published data shows that, at a national level, a greater percentage of children received each post-birth health visit in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24, with the datasets and statistical commentaries available at the following two links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-visitor-service-delivery-data-for-2024-to-2025
However, we recognise there is unwarranted regional variation in delivery, and we are working to reduce this. In line with the Government’s commitment to strengthening health visiting, set out in the Best Start in Life Strategy, we have recently published refreshed guidance for the Healthy Child Programme, which specifies requirements for health visiting services, in order to strengthen delivery and promote consistency in service quality. We are working closely with regional colleagues to support the implementation of this guidance across the country.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for Personal Independence Payment assessments which impact the (a) application for and (b) renewal of Blue Badges.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service, which is kept under regular review.
We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant.
The provision of Blue Badges is a devolved matter and administered by Local Authorities, using Department of Transport guidelines. Access to a Blue Badge is available to people who are not in receipt of a qualifying mobility benefit through a separate assessment carried out by the Local Authority.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has considered expanding statutory guidance for schools on supporting children and young people with medical conditions to all school types.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, is issued under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014. This requires local authority-maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, and to have regard to statutory guidance.
As part of the department’s consultation on revised statutory guidance on medical conditions at school, we are inviting views on whether we should seek to extend the section 100 duty to cover independent schools, non-maintained special schools and post-16 institutions. This would ensure the guidance is statutory guidance for all types of school.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, has the department reviewed the impact on disabled people when changing the mileage allowance from 20,000 miles to 10,000 miles in the Motability Scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors.
The changes to the leasing package were announced on 26 March and include reducing the mileage allowance from 20,000 per year to 10,000 per year. Changes only apply to new leases and there are no changes to the mileage allowance of existing leases. Motability Foundation have advised that approximately 75% of customers on the Scheme already use less miles than the proposed new mileage allowance. They have acknowledged that there will be an impact on some customers and are considering if the impact can be mitigated in some limited circumstances.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 ensure that reductions in electricity costs are passed on to consumers in park home communities.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Park homes residents who pay for their electricity via their site owner are protected from excessive charges by the Maximum Resale Price provisions drafted by Ofgem. The provisions prevent businesses from reselling energy to the residents at a higher price than the price that they paid to the licensed energy supplier.
Consumers are entitled to receive a breakdown of the costs incurred by the party that arranges your energy contract upon request. The breakdown should include details of the cost of electricity and/or gas, standing charges and VAT paid.
The measures taken in the Autumn Budget reduce the cost of electricity and therefore benefit all households with a domestic electricity meter, including those not on the gas grid – and the Chancellor and I are exploring ways to support eligible households on non-domestic contracts, like park homes, too.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest time was that it has taken for a paid for priority and super priority application to be turned around and decided since 2000.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Statistics on UK Visas and Immigration applications is published in table VSI_01a on GOV.UK in the ‘Visas, status and immigration data: October to December 2025’, as part of the 'Migration Transparency data'. The information displayed goes back to 2021. For migration transparency data before 2021 please see the ‘Migration Transparency Data – March 2014 to December 2024’ on National Archives website.
The VSI_01a data table provides data on the volume of overseas and in-country applications received and input for each route and performance against service standard for each route including for Priority and Super Priority Services.
UKVI’s communications to visa customers applying for Priority and Super Priority Services set out that it can take longer to get a decision beyond the advertised waiting times for these services. For example, if the Home Office needs to ask for more information or check details with other government departments. Where an individual who has applied for these services may experience a delay beyond advertised times for these services, customers are notified by relevant UKVI caseworking teams.