Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding to support the growth of innovative UK businesses.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Supporting innovative businesses is a key objective of the government’s growth mission. My department regularly engages with business organisations to understand the needs of their members, and significant support is available through Innovate UK. Over the last six months, Innovate UK has launched £276m of competitions, and annually it supports over 10,000 businesses on their innovation journey. This is in addition to significant work underway to increase the availability of growth capital, which includes increasing the National Wealth Fund’s capitalisation to £27.8bn, reforms to the British Business Bank, and new pension reforms aimed at unlocking £80 billion of investment.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief, (b) Sustainable Farming Incentive and (c) other financial subsidies on the mental health of farmers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to supporting the mental health of those working in farming and agriculture.
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses and fixing the public finances in a fair way. With the reforms, those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.
The Government continues to fund the Farmer Welfare Grant. This currently funds three charities to deliver projects which support mental health and build resilience in local farming communities.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps with her EU counterparts to help (a) improve the accessibility and (b) increase the use of UK blue parking badges in the EU.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has ongoing discussions with individual countries regarding continued recognition of the UK Blue Badge across the European Union (EU).
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 launching newborn screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy alongside the upcoming launch of newborn screening for severe combined immunodeficiency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is working with the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) partnership board to scope out the potential shape of the in-service evaluation into SMA. The partnership board includes clinicians, academics, patient representatives, the National Institute for Health and Research (NIHR), NHS England, and the UK NSC. The final decision on the exact format, scale, and duration will be determined following a successful NIHR tendering process. The timescale for the implementation of the SMA in-service evaluation will not be confirmed until after the 2025 Spending Review.
The UK NSC is aware that screening for SMA and severe combined immunodeficiency uses the same test, and as such there may be saving opportunities through economies of scale, if the two conditions are determined to be suitable for a screening programme. This is still under consideration by the committee.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information the UK National Screening Committee has provided on the (a) format, (b) scale and (c) duration of the upcoming in-service evaluation of newborn screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy in the NHS.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is working with the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) partnership board to scope out the potential shape of the in-service evaluation into SMA. The partnership board includes clinicians, academics, patient representatives, the National Institute for Health and Research (NIHR), NHS England, and the UK NSC. The final decision on the exact format, scale, and duration will be determined following a successful NIHR tendering process. The timescale for the implementation of the SMA in-service evaluation will not be confirmed until after the 2025 Spending Review.
The UK NSC is aware that screening for SMA and severe combined immunodeficiency uses the same test, and as such there may be saving opportunities through economies of scale, if the two conditions are determined to be suitable for a screening programme. This is still under consideration by the committee.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the UK National Screening Committee on timelines for implementing in-service evaluation of newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is working with the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) partnership board to scope out the potential shape of the in-service evaluation into SMA. The partnership board includes clinicians, academics, patient representatives, the National Institute for Health and Research (NIHR), NHS England, and the UK NSC. The final decision on the exact format, scale, and duration will be determined following a successful NIHR tendering process. The timescale for the implementation of the SMA in-service evaluation will not be confirmed until after the 2025 Spending Review.
The UK NSC is aware that screening for SMA and severe combined immunodeficiency uses the same test, and as such there may be saving opportunities through economies of scale, if the two conditions are determined to be suitable for a screening programme. This is still under consideration by the committee.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to prevent overseas private equity investment in Thames Water.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are no plans to introduce any such legislation at this time.
More broadly, the Independent Water Commission is actively considering whether reforms are needed across the water industry, including with respect to economic regulation of water companies. Within this, the Commission is considering regulation of water companies’ financial resilience, investment and competition. The Commission is expected to publish its recommendations, following which the Government expects to bring forward further actions to ensure the water industry is delivering for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what percentage of the new 1,500,000 homes will be (a) social housing and (b) affordable housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has not set an affordable housing target to date, but we are committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
At Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament. Further detail can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 25 March 2025 (HCWS549).
The investment made at Spring statement follows the £800 million in new in-year funding which has been made available for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme and that will support the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being Social Rent homes.
We will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.
The government has also announced the £450m third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund, followed by an uplift of £50m, enabling councils to grow their housing stock.
We also confirmed a range of new flexibilities for councils and housing associations, both within the Affordable Homes Programme and in relation to how councils can use their Right to Buy receipts. Having reduced Right to Buy discounts to their pre-2012 regional levels, we have allowed councils to retain 100% of the receipts generated by Right to Buy sales.
The government recognise that Registered Providers need support to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply. Between 30 October 2024 and 23 December 2024, the government consulted on a new 5-year social housing rent settlement, to give Registered Providers the certainty they need to invest in new social and affordable housing.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 includes a number of changes that make the planning system more supportive of affordable housing, in particular Social Rent homes. These include new Golden Rules for development on the Green Belt. Prior to development plan policies for affordable housing being updated in accordance with the revised NPPF, the affordable housing contribution required to satisfy the ‘Golden Rules’ is 15 percentage points above the highest existing affordable housing requirement that would otherwise apply to the development, subject to a cap of 50%. We estimate that under this model, the median Green Belt local planning authority affordable housing requirement will be 50%.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the impact of cutting weights of Volumetric Concrete Mixers on (a) lorry miles on concrete deliveries, (b) lorry journeys on concrete deliveries and (c) the tonnage of CO2 produced by lorry making concrete deliveries.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department engaged with hon. Members and industry stakeholders through correspondence prior to the announcement. Additionally, industry and interested parties were given the opportunity to present views and evidence on this topic as part of the Call for Evidence between October and December 2023.
The call for evidence sought views on three potential options on weight limits for Volumetric Concrete Mixers (VCMs). The following factors were considered: reduction in payload per journey, increased waste, and increased vehicle mileage. Information received did not provide any compelling evidence for permitting a weight limit exemption specifically for VCMs. As part of its consideration of the evidence, the Department for Transport has assessed the potential environmental impacts in accordance with the Environment Act 2021 which requires Ministers of the Crown to have ‘due regard’ to the environmental principles policy statement when making policy.
Current exemptions to weight limits for VCMs will expire in 2028. This policy is being maintained.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with (a) hon. Members and (b) the trade associations who contributed to the volumetric concrete mixers review prior to announcing the findings.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department engaged with hon. Members and industry stakeholders through correspondence prior to the announcement. Additionally, industry and interested parties were given the opportunity to present views and evidence on this topic as part of the Call for Evidence between October and December 2023.
The call for evidence sought views on three potential options on weight limits for Volumetric Concrete Mixers (VCMs). The following factors were considered: reduction in payload per journey, increased waste, and increased vehicle mileage. Information received did not provide any compelling evidence for permitting a weight limit exemption specifically for VCMs. As part of its consideration of the evidence, the Department for Transport has assessed the potential environmental impacts in accordance with the Environment Act 2021 which requires Ministers of the Crown to have ‘due regard’ to the environmental principles policy statement when making policy.
Current exemptions to weight limits for VCMs will expire in 2028. This policy is being maintained.