Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the recent decision to pass details from a government-commissioned opinion poll of resident doctors by Savanta to The Times newspaper was made by ministers or by civil servants.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government holds contracts with polling companies to conduct research on public opinion. Savanta is a member of the British Polling Council and as such is required to abide by its rules. The results of polling by Savanta of resident doctors are published online and can be found on their website.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the decision was made to pass the results of question 10 of the government-commissioned opinion poll of resident doctors by Savanta to The Times, while withholding the results of question 9.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government holds contracts with polling companies to conduct research on public opinion. Savanta is a member of the British Polling Council and as such is required to abide by its rules. The results of polling by Savanta of resident doctors are published online and can be found on their website.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there is sufficient legal certainty about who is eligible to stand as a candidate in postponed local elections.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Legislation that postpones a council’s elections does not alter the statutory requirements for candidacy; the only adjustment is that the relevant period runs up to the rescheduled election date rather than the original date.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the review of the X social media platform carried out in April 2023 under their SAFE Framework.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Assessments under the SAFE Framework are regularly carried out on channels to ensure compliance. These assessments are not routinely published in the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to carry out their next review of the X social media platform under their SAFE Framework.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Assessments under the SAFE Framework are regularly carried out on channels to ensure compliance. These assessments are not routinely published in the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people opted out of receiving the winter fuel payment for 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Around 50,000 people in England and Wales have opted out of receiving an automatic Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2025/26, although work is still underway to conclude the final position.
The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in developing new registration fee arrangements for early years providers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is reviewing our Early Years Register fees policy. As set out in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Childcare (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, which came into force on 9 June 2025, the department has extended the existing alternative annual fee arrangements until 1 September 2027 as a temporary measure to maintain the status quo while the fees policy is being reviewed and considered as a whole.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to make the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's digital services for drivers available 24 hours a day.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services for driving licence transactions, vehicle licensing and vehicle excise duty enforcement penalty payments are already available 24 hours a day.
Availability of other vehicle related services is scheduled to be extended to 9PM within the next two months. While the DVLA intends to extend these services to 24 hour availability, this requires wider transformational changes to vehicle services which are currently in development.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the social media network X in line with the guidance SAFE Framework: the 4 principles for HMG Brand Safety, and when that assessment was made of X as an appropriate network for government communications.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government Communications Service (GCS) undertakes assessments of platforms, such as X and Bluesky, when there are significant platform updates. The last assessment on X was made in April 2023.
SAFE is the single, comprehensive framework that the government uses for these assessments, providing thorough guidance and processes to ensure appropriate use of digital advertising environments.
The platform X is currently used for non-paid communications activity only (also known as 'organic' activity). There are currently no government or ministerial accounts on Bluesky and no SAFE Framework assessment has been completed.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they use in addition to the SAFE Framework: the 4 principles for HMG Brand Safety to evaluate their use of a social media network for non-paid-for posts.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government Communications Service (GCS) undertakes assessments of platforms, such as X and Bluesky, when there are significant platform updates. The last assessment on X was made in April 2023.
SAFE is the single, comprehensive framework that the government uses for these assessments, providing thorough guidance and processes to ensure appropriate use of digital advertising environments.
The platform X is currently used for non-paid communications activity only (also known as 'organic' activity). There are currently no government or ministerial accounts on Bluesky and no SAFE Framework assessment has been completed.