Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the repayment term for post-2012 student loans being set at 40 years on (a) graduates in lower-paid or insecure employment, (b) social mobility and (c) students from lower-income backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The repayment term for Plan 2 loans is 30 years. They were designed and implemented by previous governments. Students in England starting degrees under this government have different arrangements.
The student loan system is designed to protect borrowers, and repayments are determined by income, not the amount borrowed or the rate of interest. Borrowers only start repaying their student loan once earnings exceed the threshold, after which they pay 9% of income above that level. To protect lower earners, if a borrower’s earnings drop, so do their repayments, and if earnings fall below the repayment threshold, then they repay nothing at all.
After 30 years any outstanding loan and interest is cancelled at the end of the loan term, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants. A borrower on Plan 2 entering repayment at age 21 would have any outstanding loan amount written off at age 51. No commercial loan offers this level of protection.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce regulatory barriers for exporting businesses through digitisation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT is taking steps to reduce regulatory barriers for exporting businesses by supporting the uptake of digitalised trade processes. Through the Digital Trade Corridors programme, focused on key European markets such as France and Germany, we are identifying regulatory and policy barriers and encouraging businesses to adopt digital tools. This is complemented by an SME capability programme helping smaller firms benefit from digitalisation. Internationally, the UK works with partners, including through UNCITRAL, the WTO, and the Commonwealth, as well as bilaterally through Trade Committees and Dialogues, to promote legal and regulatory harmonisation.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average time taken to complete earnings assessments for carers in receipt of Carer's Allowance who undertake part-time self-employment; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing monthly online income reporting for self-employed carers to streamline the assessment process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For most self-employed earners the department relies on their accounts to calculate the relevant weekly net earnings figure for Carer’s Allowance (CA) purposes. The modernisation of DWP IT systems will provide the foundation to deliver DWP’s long-term strategy to improve how earnings are treated in CA. This is being explored through discovery work to explore potential solutions including the automation of earnings.
The department does not collect data on the average time taken to complete earnings assessments for unpaid carers in receipt of CA who are self-employed.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what digital resources his Department provides to support small and medium-sized enterprises with exporting.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has integrated its support for SMEs in a single, accessible place – the Business Growth Service – making it easier and quicker for businesses to access the right support at the right time.
Business.gov.uk hosts our online export offer and is the route into DBT’s wider network of export support. Businesses can access a wealth of information on exporting, including advice on paperwork, rules of origin, customs duties, and regulations.
The support available also includes the Business Academy, which offers free online training through webinars to help businesses build market knowledge and export capability.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what level of recurrent funding has been identified to fund new treatments through NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group Prioritisation meeting.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Clinical Priorities Advisory Group is an advisory committee that makes recommendations on the relative priority of treatments to be commissioned subject to the available discretionary funding. It is not a decision-making body and does not allocate funds or have a budget for approving new treatments. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/cpag/
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) total number of full-time equivalent customer service staff employed by HM Revenue and Customs was in each of the last ten financial years and (b) number of these positions that were based in (i) call centres, (ii) face-to-face service locations and (iii) digital support teams.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC operates a flexible resourcing model, meaning staff are deployed across different types of customer service work throughout the year. This approach allows the department to direct people to the areas of highest demand, whether that is helplines, post correspondence, webchat, or other customer contact channels. Because staff move between these activities as demand changes, HMRC does not separate out staffing into specific categories.
However, HMRC can provide overall full‑time equivalent figures for Customer Services from 2019-20 to 2024-25, noting that these staff may work across several frontline customer service functions depending on business need.
HMRC is unable to provide figures prior to 2019-20 because doing so would exceed the cost threshold for answering written parliamentary questions. This is due to the information, where it is available, being held across multiple systems that do not align with current reporting definitions, and producing the data would require significant separate interrogation and analysis.
Average number of frontline customer service staff (000):
Most customers are satisfied with the service they are receiving from HMRC. Satisfaction with phone, webchat and digital services was 80.0% to the end of November 2025-26, meeting their 80% customer satisfaction target. Customer satisfaction with digital services is consistently above 80% (82.9% up to the end of November 2025-26).
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