Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's home-to-school travel policy of the Children's Walking and Cycling Index, published by Sustrans on 26 February 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities already have a duty to promote the use of sustainable travel on journeys to and from places of education in their area. This includes children who are not eligible for free school travel provided by the local authority. Local authorities must publish a ‘sustainable modes of travel’ strategy which sets out their vision for improving the infrastructure for sustainable travel and promoting sustainable travel to places of education. It should aim to provide health benefits for children and their families through active journeys and environmental improvements through reduced congestion and improved air quality. Further information is available in the department's statutory guidance for local authorities, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.
Active Travel England is the government’s executive agency responsible for promoting walking, wheeling and cycling as the preferred choice of travel in England. They support local authorities with grant funding for the development and construction of walking, wheeling and cycling facilities and are responsible for a number of schemes which promote active travel to school. Further information can be found at: https://www.activetravelengland.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support the introduction of the School Streets scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England and the Department for Transport have jointly published School Streets guidance to enable local authorities to deliver effective School Streets. Local authorities can use active travel revenue and capital funding to deliver School Streets, with more than 180 school streets already funded by Active Travel England.
School Streets are one of a range of measures that local authorities can deliver to make it safer and easier for children to walk, wheel and cycle to school. Other interventions supported by Active Travel England include infrastructure improvements on school routes and training and engagement activities such as Bikeability cycle training and Living Streets Walk to School Outreach programme.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the level of profits earned by (a) supermarkets and (b) food multinationals in the last five years.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is not for the Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions taken by businesses.
We continue to monitor all key agricultural commodities. The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade, and recent developments.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce price controls on food.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is not for the Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions taken by businesses.
We continue to monitor all key agricultural commodities. The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade, and recent developments.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate funding for the Great British Energy Community Fund to support all projects currently approved as of 3 April 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the role community groups play in our efforts to tackle climate change and our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
In 2025/26 Community Energy Groups will be able to access a share of £5 million in grant funding through the Great British Energy Community Fund to help communities develop their own clean energy projects. This will continue the work of the Community Energy Fund, which enabled both rural and urban communities across England to access grant funding to develop local renewable energy projects for investment. Once GBE is fully operational it will develop its longer-term support offer for Community Energy Groups as well as for Local and Mayoral Strategic Authorities.
The community energy sector can access further funding support through Ofgem’s Just Transition Fund, which is open to applications from community groups.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average processing times for pension credit applications in each of the last five years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension Credit application Average Actual Clearance Times (AACT) are measured weekly. Please see attached annex for details of Pension Credit applications average processing times back to October 2022. We do not hold this information prior to October 2022.
Please note, The Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown are unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The figures are rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.
DWP currently works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims. The next publication of the Annual Reporting and Accounts will include claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to compel private creditors to participate in debt relief.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK, alongside the G20 and Paris Club, expects creditors, including private creditors, to participate in international debt restructurings on comparable terms.
At this stage, the government is not pursuing a legislative approach that would force private or other lenders to participate in debt restructurings.
Overall, we have seen evidence of private creditors’ willingness to engage and provide debt treatments where needed – though we continue to keep this under review.
The government is focused on delivering a market-based (contractual) approach to private sector participation, including taking the lead in developing Majority Voting Provisions for private group lending, to bind the minority to the terms of a restructuring. These promote more efficient restructurings and reduce the ability for creditors to hold out.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussion he has had with the Circular Economy Taskforce on promoting repair and reuse.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. We have convened a Circular Economy Taskforce, comprising experts from industry, academia, and civil society, to help develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England. The strategy will map our transition to a circular economy, supported by a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis.
Defra recognises that repair and reuse are fundamental tenets of any circular economy, and a successful transition aims to eliminate waste and promote sustainability through reuse and resource efficiency. We will consider the evidence for appropriate action right across the economy as we develop the strategy.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to implement the public service pensions remedy for retired firefighters.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the firefighters’ pension scheme regulations, the firefighters’ pension scheme is locally administered by each individual Fire and Rescue Authority. The regulations governing the McCloud remedy for the firefighters’ pension schemes were made in July 2023.
The Home Office continues to work with the fire sector to support the effective implementation of the McCloud remedy for all affected individuals.
As the designated scheme manager, it is for each Fire and Rescue Authority to determine their administrative timetable, in accordance with the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022, including when remedy payments will be distributed.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support she is providing to families requiring services under the adoption and special guardian support fund.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) provides trauma and attachment related therapy and specialist assessments for children and families where the child has previously been in local authority care and has been adopted or is under a special guardianship order. The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on the allocation of the department’s budget for the next financial year.
To ensure there are no gaps in therapy, ASGSF applications are currently permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years. Where applications are approved, therapy which starts during March 2025 may therefore continue into the next financial year, under previously agreed transitional funding arrangements.