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, pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2026 to UIN 10804, when the UK National Screening Committee will next review the evidence for whether screening for Group B Streptococcus should be routinely offered during pregnancy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is nothing to add at this time to the answer cited in the Hon. Member’s question. When there is new information available, the Hon. Member will be updated in the normal way.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on the launch of test and learn pilots for children with parents in prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to improving the recognition and support of children with a parent in prison. Working with the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice announced a test-and-learn pilot programme in July 2026 to test different approaches to recognising and supporting children affected by parental imprisonment and their families.
An Expression of Interest process for local authorities to take part in the pilots ran from 3 September to 1 October 2026. We plan to work with up to 10 local authorities, providing a diverse range of areas and demographics in which to test the approaches. Successful local authorities will be notified shortly, aiming for the focused support offer to be in place in all pilot local authorities by April 2027.
The pilots will test two approaches to recognising children with a parent in prison through data sharing, alongside local authority-led assurance, triage and focused support for them. The learning will build our understanding of what works and inform any future decisions on a national approach.
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 discussions she has had with Thames Water on the implementation of the proposed upgrades at Thame Wastewater Treatment Works.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s Water Delivery Taskforce is holding water companies to account for delivery of their planned investments and upgrades. The Environment Agency regularly engages with Thames Water to monitor delivery of their Water Industry National Programme (WINEP) scheme to reduce phosphorous discharges at Thames Wastewater Treatment works.
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, when he plans to publish the summary of responses to the call for evidence on park home sales commission.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognise that there are longstanding concerns about the requirement to pay site owners a commission upon sale of a park home.
The previous government published a report in June 2022 on the impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission. It can be found on gov.uk here.
On 5 March 2026, my Department published a 12-week call for evidence regarding the rationale for the payment of a commission. It can be found on gov.uk here.
We are currently analysing the feedback received and remain committed to publishing a detailed summary of responses ahead of announcing the government's final position by the end of the year.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance service's enforcement methods.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a strong range of enforcement powers to address non-compliance, including deductions from earnings and bank accounts, the use of Enforcement Agents, disqualification from driving, passport disqualification, and committal to prison in the most serious cases. These are very effective; 7% of all maintenance arranged since the launch of the 2012 scheme remain to be collected through the ‘collect and pay’ service.
But the Government is not complacent and has plans for CMS reform. It has confirmed its intention to remove Direct Pay and move to a single, strengthened Collect and Pay service.
There are also plans to introduce Administrative Liability Orders. These will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order. Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.
These changes combined will enable the CMS to monitor all payments, identify missed or partial payments more quickly, and take faster enforcement action.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Armed Forces are taking to prepare for an increase in requests for military support during (a) floods, (b) wildfires and (c) other extreme weather events.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Wildfire response is the responsibility of local Fire and Rescue Services. In England, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the lead government department for fire and rescue policy, while responsibility in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sits with the devolved governments. Together, these organisations are responsible for assessing wildfire risk, maintaining appropriate levels of capability and readiness at the local level and managing the response to incidents.
Defence continues to assess its own ability to support any wildfire response in line with affordability and overall effectiveness. Defence has a range of capabilities that may be made available through Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA), subject to operational availability and competing Defence commitments. These include personnel, engineering and logistics support, command and control, reconnaissance and specialist capabilities. However, these capabilities are primarily maintained for Defence tasks and not all are held at readiness specifically for domestic wildfire response.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the levels of capability and readiness of the Armed Forces and civil emergency services to respond to wildfires.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Wildfire response is the responsibility of local Fire and Rescue Services. In England, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the lead government department for fire and rescue policy, while responsibility in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sits with the devolved governments. Together, these organisations are responsible for assessing wildfire risk, maintaining appropriate levels of capability and readiness at the local level and managing the response to incidents.
Defence continues to assess its own ability to support any wildfire response in line with affordability and overall effectiveness. Defence has a range of capabilities that may be made available through Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA), subject to operational availability and competing Defence commitments. These include personnel, engineering and logistics support, command and control, reconnaissance and specialist capabilities. However, these capabilities are primarily maintained for Defence tasks and not all are held at readiness specifically for domestic wildfire response.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of current measures that familiarise judges with reports prior to hearings in family courts.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The listing and management of cases, including preparation for hearings in the family court and the Family Division of the High Court, are matters for the independent judiciary. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to assess the effectiveness of the measures used.
The court has an overriding duty under the Family Procedure Rules 2010 to deal with cases justly, including by actively managing cases. This will include timetabling the filing of reports. Supplementing those Rules, Practice Direction 27A provides for the court bundle, which contains the evidence the judge needs to consider, to be filed five days before the hearing. This is intended to give time for the judge to familiarise themselves with reports and other documents.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that repeat litigation is not used maliciously in child arrangement cases.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government recognises that repeat applications, or threats of further applications, to the family court can be used maliciously, and as a method of continuing domestic abuse. This is completely unacceptable.
The family court has clear powers under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 to prevent an individual from making further applications under the Children Act 1989 without the court’s permission.
Section 91A of the Children Act 1989, that was inserted by section 67(3) of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, clarifies that the court can make these orders, either on an application or of its own motion. The circumstances in which the court can make a section 91(14) order, among others, include where further applications for an order under the Children Act 1989 would risk causing harm to a child or relevant adult, particularly where repeated applications could amount to a form of continuing domestic abuse. Where a section 91(14) order is in place, the court must consider whether circumstances have materially changed before granting permission for a new application.
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 has she made of the potential merits of appointing a brain cancer lead in her Department.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Further to the answer provided on 25 June in response to Question 9944, I refer the Hon. Members to the press release published on GOV.UK on 14 October concerning new action the Government is taking to improve the diagnosis and treatment of brain cancer, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/brain-cancer-patients-to-see-faster-development-of-new-treatments