Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to reform the family court system to ensure children's best interests are prioritised.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Children Act 1989 states that the welfare of the child is the court’s paramount consideration when making decisions in relation to a child's upbringing.
This Government is committed to reform of the family court to improve the experience and outcomes for children and families. Central to this is the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model, which amplifies the voice of the child through a Child Impact Report and ensures a higher proportion of children are directly engaged by social workers during proceedings. The model is supporting the court in making safe decisions which prioritise the best interests of the child, without delay.
The Pathfinder pilot was launched in Dorset and North Wales in February 2022 and is now operating across 10 court in England and Wales, which accounts for around a quarter of relevant private law proceedings. Plans for further expansion will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding for wheelchair users is adequate to meet essential needs, including equipment and specialist support.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes the introduction of personal wheelchair budgets, including through legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
NHS England also published a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Some local authorities deliver this themselves, but a significant number have external contracts for an integrated community equipment service.
NHS England is also responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to ICBs. NHS England’s allocations policy aims to support equal opportunity of access for equal need, alongside NHS England’s duties to reduce health inequalities that are amenable to healthcare.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has marked 2025/26 as a financial reset year with the publication of Planning Guidance 2025/26. He has been clear that systems must live within their means, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity, tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what statistics he has on the demand for and use of wheelchairs; and how that data informs NHS England’s commissioning of appropriate services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes the introduction of personal wheelchair budgets, including through legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
NHS England also published a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Some local authorities deliver this themselves, but a significant number have external contracts for an integrated community equipment service.
NHS England is also responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to ICBs. NHS England’s allocations policy aims to support equal opportunity of access for equal need, alongside NHS England’s duties to reduce health inequalities that are amenable to healthcare.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has marked 2025/26 as a financial reset year with the publication of Planning Guidance 2025/26. He has been clear that systems must live within their means, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity, tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ensure that NHS organisations and contracted wheelchair service providers are subject to more rigorous, mandatory regulation.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
NHS England also introduced personal wheelchair budgets, including legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
The Medium-Term Planning Framework sets a requirement for all providers and ICBs to actively manage long waits for community health services reducing the proportion of all waits over 18 weeks. This will be monitored via the NHS’s usual regional and national assurance processes.
The Community Health Services Situation Report, which will be used to monitor ICB performance against waiting time targets in 2026/27, currently monitors waiting times for both children and young people, and adult waiting times under the ‘Wheelchair, Orthotics, Prosthetics and Equipment’ line. These targets will guide systems to reduce the longest waits, and improvement initiatives to meet these targets may affect waits that are over 18-weeks and 52-weeks.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make the recently developed service specification guidelines for wheelchair services mandatory across England.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
NHS England also introduced personal wheelchair budgets, including legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
The Medium-Term Planning Framework sets a requirement for all providers and ICBs to actively manage long waits for community health services reducing the proportion of all waits over 18 weeks. This will be monitored via the NHS’s usual regional and national assurance processes.
The Community Health Services Situation Report, which will be used to monitor ICB performance against waiting time targets in 2026/27, currently monitors waiting times for both children and young people, and adult waiting times under the ‘Wheelchair, Orthotics, Prosthetics and Equipment’ line. These targets will guide systems to reduce the longest waits, and improvement initiatives to meet these targets may affect waits that are over 18-weeks and 52-weeks.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have been returned to France under the 'one in, one out' scheme; of these, how many were age-disputed persons; and how many of those selected for the scheme were age-disputed persons and have not been returned as a result of their age dispute.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
As of 3rd February, 305 people have been returned to France.
Removing minors to France is explicitly prohibited under Article 4(2)(d) of the Agreement.
Individuals are not removed to France where their age is in dispute, given the terms of the Treaty sets out that those removed will be individuals who have been determined to be an adult. We have recently seen several cases where migrants in this country are claiming to be children to prevent their removal. This can happen despite their having claimed to be an adult upon arrival in the country.
Operational details of the scheme are not disclosed outside of what has already been published as this may impact migrant behaviour or be exploited by organised crime gangs.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of poor air quality in (a) ambient air and (b) indoor air on different age groups of people in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Poor air quality is a major public health risk in the United Kingdom. An estimated 29,000 to 43,000 deaths were attributable to long-term exposure to ambient air pollution in the UK in 2019 among adults aged 30 years old and over.
Indoor residential exposure to damp and mould was associated with approximately 5,000 cases of asthma and 8,500 lower respiratory infections among children, those who are aged between zero to 14 years old, and adults, those who are aged between 15 to 49 years old, in England in 2019.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contributed to a report by the Royal College of Physicians in 2025. This contained data on new cases of mortality, myocardial infarction, asthma, lung cancer, and other conditions, attributable to a range of air pollutants in 2019 and predicted for 2040, among children, those over 30 years old, over 60 years old, and at all ages. The report is available at the following link:
The Department’s 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government will act to reduce the health harms of air pollution. This includes action to reduce harm from ambient air pollution and tackling poor indoor air by improving the standard of rented homes with relation to damp and mould.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Dft 1-985, what progress she has made towards implementation of targets for Road Safety and the methods for monitoring of these targets in the long-term.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In November 2025, we published research and analysis on “Effectiveness of targets for road safety” which can be found here: Effectiveness of targets for road safety - GOV.UK. The evidence suggests that targets play a role in reducing fatalities, but their impact cannot be separated from wider road safety strategies.
On 7 January 2026 we published our new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all.
The Strategy sets ambitious targets to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65%, and 70% for children, by 2035. This target will focus the efforts of road safety partners across Britain, with measures to protect vulnerable road users, update vehicle safety technologies and review motoring offences.
The Strategy also includes a set of Safety Performance Indicators to provide an understanding of performance against the commitments made in the strategy, including the targets.
All of this will be supported and monitored by a new Road Safety Board which I will chair.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure that bereaved families are treated equitably within the compensation scheme and retain a route to seek recognition of the full extent of injuries suffered by their relatives.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme provides compensation to affected people, who have suffered the impacts of infected blood through their relationship with an infected person. This includes partners, parents, children and siblings.
All eligible affected people receive the Injury, Autonomy, and Social Impact awards. The Injury award compensates for both physical and mental injury, including the death of an infected person or the likely death of a loved one in the future. The Injury award is higher in circumstances where it is likely that the infection had caused or could cause death.
A supplementary route is also available to compensate financial dependents where the infected person has sadly died. Financial dependents include bereaved partners, and children who were under 18 at the time of death.
In its Additional Report, the Inquiry asked the Government to give consideration to there being a supplementary route for affected people, suggesting that this include opening the supplemental award for severe psychological harm to affected people.
The Government has consulted on whether, and how, an expanded supplementary route for affected people could be constructed whilst continuing to allow for timely delivery of compensation within a tariff-based scheme. The Government is considering each response to the consultation with the seriousness the issue deserves, and will publish its response within 12 weeks of the consultation’s closing date.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department plans to promote the National Year of Reading within early years policy and strategy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign aiming to tackle long-term declines in reading enjoyment.
Reading together is one of the most powerful ways to build a child’s language and communication skills, strengthen early bonds, and spark a lifelong love of reading. This is why early years is one of the priority groups for the National Year of Reading.
The ‘Go All In’ campaign positions reading as a powerful way for parents and families to increase quality time with their children and explore shared interests further, rather than reading being seen as a parental obligation.
The National Year of Reading includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.
The government is also investing around £500 million in the national rollout of the Best Start Family Hubs, which includes simple, practical tips to help parents feel confident in sharing stories, songs and books.
Early years settings and all interested parties are encouraged to sign up to www.goallin.org.uk for more information and to receive regular updates.