Written questions by Franklin.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of care provided by care agencies to vulnerable people.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

What steps his Department is taking to improve oversight of care agencies and to enhance enforcement powers against providers who fail to meet required care standards.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

If his Department will take steps to ensure that agency care workers receive appropriate and accredited training to meet the needs of vulnerable service users.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

What steps his Department is taking to prevent care agencies from supplying staff who deliver unsupervised personal care without the required registration with the Care Quality Commission.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

What data his Department holds on the number of healthcare professionals with specialist training in Parkinson’s disease; and whether he considers current data collection sufficient to support workforce planning for Parkinson’s services.

The Department does not collect centralised data on the number of clinicians with specific expertise in Parkinson’s disease. This is because decisions about the staffing, skill mix, and service models required to meet local population needs are made by individual National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards. These organisations are responsible for planning and commissioning services in their areas, and they determine the level of specialist expertise needed within their multidisciplinary teams. As a result, information on specialist Parkinson’s roles is held locally rather than recorded in national workforce datasets.However, we do hold data for the wider specialties central to Parkinson’s care. As of October 2025, there were 2,004 full‑time equivalent doctors in neurology and 6,324 in geriatric medicine working in NHS trusts and other organisations in England. These specialties include clinicians who provide care to people with Parkinson’s.We continue to work with NHS England through programmes such as the Neurology Transformation Programme and Getting It Right First Time to support improvements in access to specialist care. The Department has also established a United Kingdom‑wide Neuro Forum, which brings together the Government, the NHS, the devolved administrations, and neurological alliances across the four nations to share best practice and address system-wide challenges, including workforce needs for conditions such as Parkinson’s.

Whether national guidance permits (a) police forces and (b) local authority Children’s Services to facilitate a material change in a child’s place of residence without prior court authorisation where one parent with parental responsibility has refused consent.

This Government is committed to protecting children from harm. The Children Act 1989 sets out specific duties for local authorities to provide services to children in their area if they are in need and to undertake enquiries if they believe a child has suffered or is likely to suffer significant harm.Under Section 46 of the Children Act 1989, police may only facilitate a change in a child’s place of residence despite the refusal of a parent with parental responsibility if a child is at immediate risk of significant harm, by exercising Police Protection Powers. In this case, police may only remove a child or keep a child in a safe place for a maximum 72 hours before requiring a court authorisation to sustain the separation from their parent with parental responsibility.There are already clear expectations that the local authority brings the matter before the family court within the 72-hour time limit, ensuring judicial oversight of continued change in a child’s place of residence.Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities can also change a child’s place of residence with the consent of all people that hold parental responsibility for that child.Whether an application is made prior to or after a child's change of residence, the Government recognises that involvement in family court proceedings, including when children are moved for safeguarding purposes, can be a distressing experience for the families involved. That is why the Department for Education has funded research, conducted by Birkbeck university, into the experiences of parents, children and special guardians involved in public law family court proceedings, as well as a policy and literature review of advice and information materials available to parties. The report setting out their findings and recommendations can be found here: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/56714/.The Government welcomes this report and takes the experiences of children and families in the family court system seriously.

Whether he has considered introducing a requirement for automatic judicial oversight within a fixed timeframe where state bodies facilitate a significant change in a child’s living arrangements as part of safeguarding practice.

This Government is committed to protecting children from harm. The Children Act 1989 sets out specific duties for local authorities to provide services to children in their area if they are in need and to undertake enquiries if they believe a child has suffered or is likely to suffer significant harm.Under Section 46 of the Children Act 1989, police may only facilitate a change in a child’s place of residence despite the refusal of a parent with parental responsibility if a child is at immediate risk of significant harm, by exercising Police Protection Powers. In this case, police may only remove a child or keep a child in a safe place for a maximum 72 hours before requiring a court authorisation to sustain the separation from their parent with parental responsibility.There are already clear expectations that the local authority brings the matter before the family court within the 72-hour time limit, ensuring judicial oversight of continued change in a child’s place of residence.Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities can also change a child’s place of residence with the consent of all people that hold parental responsibility for that child.Whether an application is made prior to or after a child's change of residence, the Government recognises that involvement in family court proceedings, including when children are moved for safeguarding purposes, can be a distressing experience for the families involved. That is why the Department for Education has funded research, conducted by Birkbeck university, into the experiences of parents, children and special guardians involved in public law family court proceedings, as well as a policy and literature review of advice and information materials available to parties. The report setting out their findings and recommendations can be found here: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/56714/.The Government welcomes this report and takes the experiences of children and families in the family court system seriously.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of safeguarding practices on requiring parents to seek retrospective court remedies.

This Government is committed to protecting children from harm. The Children Act 1989 sets out specific duties for local authorities to provide services to children in their area if they are in need and to undertake enquiries if they believe a child has suffered or is likely to suffer significant harm.Under Section 46 of the Children Act 1989, police may only facilitate a change in a child’s place of residence despite the refusal of a parent with parental responsibility if a child is at immediate risk of significant harm, by exercising Police Protection Powers. In this case, police may only remove a child or keep a child in a safe place for a maximum 72 hours before requiring a court authorisation to sustain the separation from their parent with parental responsibility.There are already clear expectations that the local authority brings the matter before the family court within the 72-hour time limit, ensuring judicial oversight of continued change in a child’s place of residence.Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities can also change a child’s place of residence with the consent of all people that hold parental responsibility for that child.Whether an application is made prior to or after a child's change of residence, the Government recognises that involvement in family court proceedings, including when children are moved for safeguarding purposes, can be a distressing experience for the families involved. That is why the Department for Education has funded research, conducted by Birkbeck university, into the experiences of parents, children and special guardians involved in public law family court proceedings, as well as a policy and literature review of advice and information materials available to parties. The report setting out their findings and recommendations can be found here: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/56714/.The Government welcomes this report and takes the experiences of children and families in the family court system seriously.

Whether the Department plans to consult directly with independent celebrants as part of the development of marriage law reform.

The Government recognises the contribution that independent celebrants make to the wedding industry and will be seeking their views amongst a range of others to inform the consultation paper.As part of the consultation, we will invite views on the introduction of independent officiants and the potential consequences of this. We will encourage everyone to engage with the consultation when published, to help to inform our next steps.

Whether independent celebrants will be explicitly included within the scope of the forthcoming marriage law reform proposals.

The Government recognises the contribution that independent celebrants make to the wedding industry and will be seeking their views amongst a range of others to inform the consultation paper.As part of the consultation, we will invite views on the introduction of independent officiants and the potential consequences of this. We will encourage everyone to engage with the consultation when published, to help to inform our next steps.

What progress has been made in considering the Law Commission’s 2022 recommendation to regulate officiants rather than venues, and how independent celebrants are being considered within that approach.

The Government recognises the contribution that independent celebrants make to the wedding industry and will be seeking their views amongst a range of others to inform the consultation paper.As part of the consultation, we will invite views on the introduction of independent officiants and the potential consequences of this. We will encourage everyone to engage with the consultation when published, to help to inform our next steps.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing the biodiversity net gain de minimis threshold from 0.1 hectares to 0.5 hectares on nature recovery.

The Government recently consulted on options to improve the way Biodiversity Net Gain works for small, medium and brownfield development. This included potential changes to the de minimis exemption threshold, which currently sits at 25 square metres. Since then, the Government has announced its intention to introduce a new area-based exemption set at 0.2 hectares to reduce costs for smaller development while maintaining nature recovery at scale. A full consultation response and impact assessment will be published in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to address period poverty and ensure affordable access to menstrual products.

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.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on safety from overcrowding on Great Western Railway services, including where planned rolling stock capacity is reduced due to engineering works overrunning; and what steps her Department is taking to address those risks before Great Western Railway enters public ownership, including through its contractual and oversight arrangements.

Great Western Railway (GWR) is responsible for the safe operation of its train services at all times, including during times of disruption or following engineering overrun. GWR is also responsible for ensuring deployment of its train fleet to best match demand, but despite this trains can still become very busy at certain peak times or during disruption. Whilst crowded trains can be uncomfortable, they are not necessarily unsafe. The Department monitors train loadings carefully and continues to hold GWR to account against its contractual obligations as the Public Ownership Programme continues. This includes ensuring GWR is appropriately deploying its train fleet and working collaboratively with Network Rail to develop robust plans to support engineering work including mitigations plans for restoring service in the event of an overrun. GWR has experienced an increase in short formations on services across its intercity train fleet in recent periods due to issues with diesel engines. These issues have now stabilised, with a noticeable reduction in recent weeks, and the department continues to monitor this closely.

Communities and Local Government, when he will publish the Community Cohesion Strategy.

The Department published its Pride in Place Strategy in September 2025, setting out this government‘s plan to create safer, healthier neighbourhoods where communities can thrive. It sets out how we will deliver a step change in how we support communities across the country and provide long-term funding to the most doubly disadvantaged areas. As part of this, the Strategy announced the expansion of the Pride in Place Programme – this will provide up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade to 244 places across the UK. Funding will be made available to improve community cohesion.

What steps he is taking to ensure that Child Maintenance Service enforcement action is proportionate in cases involving (a) small and (b) short-term arrears.

In cases where arrears are outstanding, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) proactively seek to negotiate with the paying parent a feasible and affordable repayment plan, taking into account the individual circumstances of each case. For small arrears payments can be spread over an appropriate timescale negating the need for enforcement action. Each enforcement decision and action taken by CMS considers the welfare of all parties, potential financial hardship of paying parents, to ensure any associated charges for the customer are commensurate and not seen as punitive to give the greatest chance of securing money for children. CMS is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.

If he will extend Business Rates reimbursements to Community Pharmacies.

In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and continue prioritising reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of enforcement correspondence issued by the Child Maintenance Service in cases involving very small arrears, including where that correspondence refers to bailiff action, licence removal and imprisonment.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) missed payment and arrears notifications do reference potential enforcement action that can be considered, should a paying parent continue to miss or avoid making child maintenance payments. This is to ensure the paying parent fully understands the potential consequences if their non-compliance persists. The notification also asks the paying parent to contact CMS immediately, so we can work with the parent paying to negotiate a sustainable and feasible repayment plan. For small arrears, payments can spread over an appropriate timescale negating the need for enforcement action. Only, where this is not possible will CMS consider the use of our wider enforcement powers. CMS uses a small‑value threshold (de minimis) before taking certain enforcement actions. This is to make sure any charges to customers are fair and not excessive. Therefore, enforcement action is not likely to be taken against very small arrears.

In what circumstances the Child Maintenance Service ceases to pursue historic child maintenance arrears.

The Child Maintenance’s priority is to collect money owed to children who will benefit today, thereby preventing the build-up of arrears on the CMS. The Child Maintenance Service has powers to write off historic Child Support Agency (CSA) and Child Maintenance Service debt in specific scenarios where it would be unfair or inappropriate to enforce liability, such as if the receiving parent tells us they no longer want us to collect the arrears or the paying parent is deceased and no further action can be taken to recover the arrears from the paying parent’s estate. Powers introduced in 2018 allowed remaining Agency cases to be closed following the collection or write-off of historic arrears, as part of the closure of the scheme. All CSA arrears were at least five years old, with some CSA debt dating back much further. This was a one-off exercise, applying only to Agency debt.

What steps he is taking to prevent enforcement correspondence being issued by the Child Maintenance Service where maintenance has been paid early but outside the Service’s payment window.

Correspondence issued by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) referencing enforcement action as being considered should only be issued if a customer has missed payments due and has fallen into arrears. CMS is currently reviewing its processes to ensure that this principle is consistently applied and that such correspondence is not issued where payments have been made.