Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 merits of giving pharmacy students studying for MPharm degrees in England access to the NHS Learning Support Fund.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the 2025 to 2026 academic year, the Government extended the Learning Support Fund (LSF) scheme’s Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses provision to pre-registration pharmacy and healthcare science students to ensure they are reimbursed for the additional costs of attending placements. These students cannot currently access other elements of the LSF.
The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review. At all times the Government must strike a balance between the level of support students receive and the need to make best use of public funds to deliver value for money.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she will take to ensure children with Developmental Language Disorder are adequately supported following upcoming reforms to the SEND system.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms are ensuring every child gets the right support at the right time. This includes all of those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We regularly engage with organisations who represent children with SLCN, including DLD, such as Speech and Language UK who are a member of our Complex Needs Group.
Speech and language therapists (SaLTs) break down communication barriers, but too often, children and young people with SEND wait too long for this support.
As part of our new £1.8 billion investment, schools will be able to access support from professionals such as SaLTs through the Experts at Hand offer. They will work directly with school staff to equip them with skills and strategies to better meet need.
We are also investing £15 million to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners in every integrated care board area to support more SaLTs to work with educational settings, upskill speech and language support workers, and promote the SaLT apprenticeship route.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children with Developmental Language Disorder were considered when writing the policy paper entitled SEND reform: putting children and young people first.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms are ensuring every child gets the right support at the right time. This includes all of those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We regularly engage with organisations who represent children with SLCN, including DLD, such as Speech and Language UK who are a member of our Complex Needs Group.
Speech and language therapists (SaLTs) break down communication barriers, but too often, children and young people with SEND wait too long for this support.
As part of our new £1.8 billion investment, schools will be able to access support from professionals such as SaLTs through the Experts at Hand offer. They will work directly with school staff to equip them with skills and strategies to better meet need.
We are also investing £15 million to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners in every integrated care board area to support more SaLTs to work with educational settings, upskill speech and language support workers, and promote the SaLT apprenticeship route.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the criminal liability framework applicable in cases where (a) autonomous and (b) connected vehicles cause (i) death and (ii) serious injury.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
With regard to autonomous vehicles, the Department has undertaken significant work to establish a revised liability framework, as enacted by the Automated Vehicles Act 2024. This Act follows the recommendations of the Law Commissions in 2024 that new legal entities be required to take liability when a vehicle is driving itself. These legal entities and their senior managers will be under a duty of candour requiring honest and transparent disclosures to Government, with failure to comply with this duty constituting a criminal offence (which may be aggravated in the case of death or serious injury).
This approach underpins the regime set out in the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 and consequent regulations. The Department is currently considering responses to the “Developing the Automated Vehicles Regulatory Framework” Call for Evidence, which relates to these regulations.
The facility to communicate beyond the vehicle, as connected vehicles do, does not of itself affect the liability of the driver under existing criminal law.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that all cases of suspected wildlife crimes against birds are fully investigated, in the context of the prevalence of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra wants to see as many cases as possible of suspected wildlife crimes against birds fully investigated. The department supports the National Wildlife Crime Unit which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime and directly assists law enforcers in their investigations
Highly pathogenic avian influenza findings in wild birds can bring challenges where the carcase tests positive but where the bird has died in suspicious circumstances. In some cases, further post-mortem examination may not be possible due to the need to handle carcases at high containment facilities to protect public health and prevent spread of the virus.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) Diseases of Wildlife Scheme (DoWS) works closely with the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) which makes enquiries, where possible, into death or illness of wildlife that may have resulted from pesticide and rodenticide poisoning (including cases with suspected wildlife crime). When dead wild birds are submitted to APHA through the wild bird surveillance scheme and poisoning is suspected, where avian influenza has been negated, the case is subsequently investigated by DoWS in collaboration with WIIS, the police and other agencies as appropriate. In all other instances, further investigation is pursued where it is possible to handle carcases or samples at appropriate biocontainment levels.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support the haulage industry with increases in fuel prices.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport recognises growing concerns around rising fuel and transport costs caused by the conflict in the Middle East. The Department fully recognises the need to maintain the continuity of critical supply chains and is actively monitoring any potential impacts. The Department will continue to work with industry to understand the pressures and options to mitigate any risks.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the level of funding required to improve school food standards.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We are consulting on proposed updates to the School Food Standards in England. Healthier food does not have to mean higher cost. We tested proposals to check affordability and are working closely with the sector.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made on the national roll-out of the Youth Jobs Guarantee.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department recently announced that, for national rollout, eligibility for the Jobs Guarantee will be expanded to include 22-24-year-olds, meaning all eligible 18-24-year-olds across Great Britain will benefit from a fully funded six month guaranteed paid employment opportunity. Once fully rolled out, the scheme is expected to support more than 90,000 young people over the next three years.
We know that young people need support quickly, which is why delivery of Phase One of the Jobs Guarantee will begin from Spring 2026. The grant application window for Phase One has now closed and applications are being assessed, with successful Delivery Organisations to be announced in due course.
This will be followed by national rollout across Great Britain in Autumn 2026. Learning from Phase One will be used to support effective national delivery of the scheme, alongside close working with Delivery Organisations and employers. This will ensure the scheme is delivered as intended for all eligible young people.
Further details on delivery will be set out in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of removing the formula for flood defence and coastal protection in the Local Government Finance Settlement on local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in the government’s response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the Foundation Formula is used to assess relative demand for flood defence and coastal protection, as the government does not consider having a bespoke formula to be proportionate. While expenditure on this service can pose significant revenue costs for a small number of local authorities, nationally this area accounts for less than 1% of total sector expenditure.
We have provided support to local authorities acutely affected by flooding through other measures. In 2026-27, the government will continue to provide targeted support for the local authorities which have experienced the most significant increases in Internal Drainage Board special levies.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what consideration he has made of the potential merits of extending the Adjustment Support Grant in 2027/28.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 9 February, the government published the first multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement in a decade. Following consultation feedback, the final Settlement included an update to how pooling gains are estimated for transitional arrangements. This was the right approach in order to distribute gains more equitably, improving how representative the assumption is of local arrangements.
To help councils adjust for this change, the government provided a one-off Adjustment Support Grant in 2026-27 to authorities who would otherwise see their Core Spending Power reduce in 2026-27, compared to indicative provisional Settlement allocations. The 2027-28 Settlement will be subject to consultation as is the usual process.