Written questions by Wrigley.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 34686 on Cars: Lighting, if the Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of LED headlight brightness on (a) older drivers, (b) cyclists, and (c) pedestrians.

All types of road vehicle headlamps, including those using LED technology, are designed, tested and approved to internationally recognised standards to help prevent undue glare on a broad range of roads and environments. Police recorded collision statistics in Great Britain do not show any discernible trend over time that would suggest an underlying road safety issue linked to advances in lighting technology. However, Government recognises increased public concern around headlamp glare and, as noted in my answer to Question 34686, has commissioned independent research. This is measuring light levels experienced by drivers during real driving on UK roads and considers factors like vehicle characteristics, weather conditions and ambient lighting. It also includes a programme of stakeholder engagement to build a comprehensive understanding of the issues. Careful consideration will be given to that work when it reports later this year to determine what future actions may be appropriate to ensure the safety of all road users.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 34686 on Cars: Lighting, what steps her Department is taking to (a) measure the causes of headlamp glare and (b) develop potential countermeasures to headlight glare.

All types of road vehicle headlamps, including those using LED technology, are designed, tested and approved to internationally recognised standards to help prevent undue glare on a broad range of roads and environments. Police recorded collision statistics in Great Britain do not show any discernible trend over time that would suggest an underlying road safety issue linked to advances in lighting technology. However, Government recognises increased public concern around headlamp glare and, as noted in my answer to Question 34686, has commissioned independent research. This is measuring light levels experienced by drivers during real driving on UK roads and considers factors like vehicle characteristics, weather conditions and ambient lighting. It also includes a programme of stakeholder engagement to build a comprehensive understanding of the issues. Careful consideration will be given to that work when it reports later this year to determine what future actions may be appropriate to ensure the safety of all road users.

For what reason the burden of proof in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme is placed on victims.

Given the long-running nature of the infected blood scandal, not all medical records will still be available and, as set out in the regulations, eligibility for compensation will be determined based on the balance of probabilities. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has said that when an individual is invited to make their claim, it will aim to gather some of the information, including medical records and information about an applicant’s condition and severity, from organisations who already have it. This should mean those claiming will be asked for the least amount of information possible. Additionally, IBCA will make a caseworker available for each of these cases, and when I visited IBCA I saw the sympathetic, enabling approach that staff are taking when asking what types of evidence might be helpful and where it could be obtained from.

How infected blood compensation claims involving co-infection with HIV and hepatitis viruses will account for the earlier date of hepatitis infection when calculating compensation.

For people co-infected with HIV and Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C, compensation will be calculated from the date of the first infection. If it is not possible to establish when someone was first infected, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority will use the earliest year the infection could have been contracted unless there is evidence that it must have occurred later.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of local licensing fees for outdoor seating on small hospitality businesses.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 made caps to the fees charged for pavement licences permanent. These caps were designed to allow administration costs borne by local authorities to be recovered whilst ensuring the cost to business is proportionate. They also grant local authorities discretion to align costs to local needs. The Government supports a thriving hospitality sector. In April, we announced the formation of a licensing policy taskforce which aims to create a more enabling and agile approach to licensing with a greater focus on growth. The Government will consider the recommendations of the taskforce and announce any decisions in due course.

Whether he plans to introduce an individual assessment route for the infected blood compensation claims.

The Government recognises that every victim of infected blood will have their own unique circumstances, and experienced devastating losses. To avoid a lengthy, complex and burdensome evidence gathering process, the Government has accepted the Inquiry’s recommendations to take a tariff-based approach to compensation. The principles of a tariff based scheme seek to minimise the amount of information that people applying to the scheme are required to provide and help to ensure that compensation can be awarded more quickly than would otherwise be possible if all applications had to be individually assessed.

When applications for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme will open; and what estimate he has made of (a) what the average waiting time will be for a claim to be processed and (b) when successful applicants will receive payment.

As the Minister responsible, I stand ready to provide all the support I can to speed up payments. I am restless for that speed to increase, while also respecting the Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s (IBCA) operational independence going forward. In terms of the speed of processing and paying claimants, each case is different and some progress quicker than others, but so far IBCA have invited 275 people to start a claim, with 69 people having accepted their offer and received payment.

How many complaints her Department has received on (a) glare and (b) dazzle caused by LED headlights in the last 12 months.

The Department for Transport does not routinely categorise or record the number of cases where correspondence is received complaining about specific issues. However, based on a manual review of records, in the 12 months up to 22 April the department has received 69 items of correspondence citing “glare” from road vehicles and 9 items citing “dazzle” from road vehicles.

If he will take steps to amend the Care Act 2014 to exempt infected blood compensation scheme payments from (a) residential and (b) domiciliary care charges.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, does not consider that the Care Act 2014 needs to be amended to exempt Infected Blood Compensation Scheme payments because, under the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, local authorities must disregard any payments from an approved blood scheme when carrying out a financial assessment relating to charges for residential or non-residential care. An approved blood scheme is a scheme approved by the Secretary of State, or trust established with funds provided by the Secretary of State, to provide compensation in respect of a person having been infected from contaminated blood or blood products. The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme as set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2024 is an approved blood scheme.

If she will hold discussions with the Trussell Trust on her proposed (a) changes to the Personal Independence Payment and (b) other welfare reforms.

We are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do. In the Green Paper, we have announced that we will set up collaboration committees to develop parts of our reforms further. This will involve bringing together disabled people and other experts with civil servants around specific issues to collaborate, provide ideas, challenge, and input into recommendations. We will continue discussions with disability stakeholders including the Trussell Trust on the proposed changes to the Personal Independence Payment benefit and other welfare reforms.

What support his Department is providing to small businesses in (a) Devon and (b) other rural areas.

Last year the Business Secretary announced a new Business Growth Service which will make it easier for businesses across Devon and the rest of the UK and in rural areas, to get help, support and advice to grow and thrive.The South West Growth Hub is where small and medium sized businesses in Devon and the surrounding rural areas can benefit from specialist advice on how to scale up, access new markets and receive financial support through the British Business Bank.Businesses can also access other Government programmes such as the Business Support Service, Help to Grow: Management, the UK Export Academy, International Trade Advisors and the Export Support Service.

Whether she plans to raise the VAT registration threshold in line with inflation to support small businesses.

At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of businesses out of the VAT regime altogether.Any consideration of changes to the threshold would have to carefully balance potential impacts on small businesses, the economy as a whole, and tax revenues. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.

If the Government will establish a supplementary route to claim for autonomy, social impact, and injury awards outside the core route of the infected blood compensation scheme.

The scope of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme’s supplementary route is in line with the recommendations Sir Robert Francis KC made to the Government in August 2024. In his report, Sir Robert discussed the merits of expanding the supplementary route to heads of loss beyond care and financial loss. Sir Robert concluded it would likely be disproportionate for applicants and the scheme to do so and the supplementary route should instead focus on recognising the substantive additional care needs and financial loss of applicants. The Government accepted Sir Robert’s recommendation that, with the exception of autonomy awards to victims of unethical research, supplementary route awards should only be available for care and financial loss.

What steps her Department is taking to reform business rates to reduce the financial burden on small high street businesses in Newton Abbot constituency.

The Government is creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. At Autumn Budget 2024, we took the first step with the announcement of permanently lower tax rates for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties that make up the backbone of our high streets, from 2026-27. Ahead of these changes being made, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025-26. As such, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and we have frozen the small business multiplier.The Budget announcements reflect the Government’s first steps to support the high street. We want to go further to modernise the system, and so, we have published a Discussion Paper setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025.

With reference to the Spring Statement 2025, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of welfare reforms on costs to the NHS.

The Chancellor discussed welfare reforms with Cabinet colleagues in the usual way ahead of the publication of the Pathways to Work Green Paper and Spring Statement 2025. As the Chancellor and the Work and Pensions Secretary have set out, these reforms will make the benefits system more pro work, and putting it on a more fiscally sustainable trajectory so that it can continue to protect the most vulnerable. The Government is committed through its Plan to Change to getting the NHS back on its feet and has prioritised investment into it through a £22.6bn increase in resource spending for DHSC from 23/24 to 25/26.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will implement the provisions of the Environment Act 2021 to establish a due diligence regime for forest risk commodities before COP30.

The UK strongly supports global efforts to protect forests, including advocating for the international commitment to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030, while supporting livelihoods and economic development. We will set out our approach to addressing deforestation in the UK’s supply chains in due course.

With reference to the Spring Statement 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of welfare reforms on demand for food banks.

Since 2021, food bank use has been measured in official statistics by the number of individuals living in families that have used foodbanks in the past 30 days and 12 months. These are published on Stat-Xplore ( https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/), including breakdowns by Economic Status of the Adult, in the Households Below Average Income dataset. The latest statistics were published on 21 March 2025 and are for the financial year 2023/24. We monitor this data closely. We are committed to tackling food poverty and ending mass dependence of emergency food parcels. To inform this work, DWP officials have engaged with a range of organisations to better understand the complex food poverty landscape. We also continue to provide substantial funding to Local Authorities to support those most in need and are extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year until March 2026, providing funding of £742 million in England. This will ensure low-income households can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food.

Whether her Department plans to introduce a £30 cap on school uniform items.

Too many families still tell us that the cost of school uniform remains a financial burden. ​This is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities.The department has no plans to introduce a £30 cap on school uniform items. For schools this would mean having to review uniform policies regularly to ensure the uniform items were still within the cost cap and so lead to more frequent uniform changes. For parents this could increase the overall number of items they have to buy whilst their child is at school, limit the ability to pass items down to siblings or to buy second hand uniform, and reduce choice by increasing reliance on specific suppliers.The department wants to ensure that any action we take to reduce the cost of uniform provides schools and parents with clarity and offers parents choice in how to manage the cost of school uniform. Ensuring parents can buy more items from a range of retailers gives them that flexibility.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) increasing Employment Allowance and (b) reducing National Insurance contributions for small businesses.

The Government has taken necessary decisions to fix the public finances and create long-term stability in which businesses can invest and thrive.The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from the changes to Employer NICs announced at the last Budget by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change. It means employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage without paying employer NICs.

What steps her Department is taking to reform business rates to reduce the financial burden on small high street businesses.

The Government is creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. At Autumn Budget 2024, we took the first step with the announcement of permanently lower tax rates for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties that make up the backbone of our high streets, from 2026-27. Ahead of these changes being made, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025-26. As such, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and we have frozen the small business multiplier.The Budget announcements reflect the Government’s first steps to support the high street. We want to go further to modernise the system, and so, we have published a Discussion Paper setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025.