Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Government’s response of 8 January 2026 to the Pavement parking: options for change consultation, whether the research commissioned by her Department will include (a) measurement of physical damage to footways attributable to pavement parking and (b) an estimate of the annual cost to local authorities of repairing such damage.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The research announced on 8 January 2026 focuses on measuring the current prevalence and impacts of pavement parking, providing a baseline against which the effects of future legislation can be measured.
This study will include a measure of public satisfaction with pavement condition, but not a direct measure of physical damage attributable specifically to pavement parking. We are also working with a sample of local authorities to collect data on the financial impacts to local authorities, including the annual costs of pavement maintenance arising from pavement parking.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what engagements she has had with the Windrush Commissioner since he took up that role.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Independent Windrush Commissioner, since his appointment last year, has engaged regularly with the Minister for Migration and Citizenship and senior Home Office officials and will continue to do so as part of his role in overseeing progress on the Government’s commitments.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of claimants for the Windrush compensation scheme whose applications are being processed.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As of the end of December 2025, the Windrush Compensation Scheme had received 11,133 claims. Of those, 10,696 claims (over 94% of all claims received) had received a final decision, with 9,061 claims fully closed.
The Government remains committed to improving the Windrush Compensation Scheme. To ensure those who wish to apply to the scheme are supported to do so, the Government launched the £1.5 million Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund in 2025, enabling trusted local organisations to help claimants gather evidence and complete applications. The Year 2 funding round opened on 12 January and closed on 6 February, with successful bids to be announced shortly.
Work is also underway, in collaboration with the Windrush Commissioner, to review the scheme’s application process.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Windrush compensation scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As of the end of December 2025, the Windrush Compensation Scheme had received 11,133 claims. Of those, 10,696 claims (over 94% of all claims received) had received a final decision, with 9,061 claims fully closed.
The Government remains committed to improving the Windrush Compensation Scheme. To ensure those who wish to apply to the scheme are supported to do so, the Government launched the £1.5 million Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund in 2025, enabling trusted local organisations to help claimants gather evidence and complete applications. The Year 2 funding round opened on 12 January and closed on 6 February, with successful bids to be announced shortly.
Work is also underway, in collaboration with the Windrush Commissioner, to review the scheme’s application process.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people eligible for compensation under the Windrush compensation scheme that have not made a claim.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As of the end of December 2025, the Windrush Compensation Scheme had received 11,133 claims. Of those, 10,696 claims (over 94% of all claims received) had received a final decision, with 9,061 claims fully closed.
The Government remains committed to improving the Windrush Compensation Scheme. To ensure those who wish to apply to the scheme are supported to do so, the Government launched the £1.5 million Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund in 2025, enabling trusted local organisations to help claimants gather evidence and complete applications. The Year 2 funding round opened on 12 January and closed on 6 February, with successful bids to be announced shortly.
Work is also underway, in collaboration with the Windrush Commissioner, to review the scheme’s application process.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has considered the potential merits of reforming the application process to the Windrush compensation scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As of the end of December 2025, the Windrush Compensation Scheme had received 11,133 claims. Of those, 10,696 claims (over 94% of all claims received) had received a final decision, with 9,061 claims fully closed.
The Government remains committed to improving the Windrush Compensation Scheme. To ensure those who wish to apply to the scheme are supported to do so, the Government launched the £1.5 million Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund in 2025, enabling trusted local organisations to help claimants gather evidence and complete applications. The Year 2 funding round opened on 12 January and closed on 6 February, with successful bids to be announced shortly.
Work is also underway, in collaboration with the Windrush Commissioner, to review the scheme’s application process.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Answer to Question 103509, when he expects Dame Lynne Owens’ independent investigation into the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford on 24th of October 2025 to conclude.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point national action plan to reduce releases in error, which includes strengthening release checks across prisons and commissioning an independent review led by Dame Lynne Owens.
The Deputy Prime Minister has recently received the review and is carefully considering Dame Lynne’s findings and recommendations. The Government will respond shortly.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is required to take before it can commence section 106 of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to commencing section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, requiring registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selections in accordance with regulations.
We are currently exploring when and how to commence the provision under section 106.
We will engage with stakeholders, including political parties, in due course.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of electric vehicle charge-point accessibility for disabled people.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that public charging infrastructure is accessible for all. In November 2025, the British Standards Institution published the results of a review, commissioned by the Government and Motability Foundation, on changes needed to improve uptake of the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 1899:2022 standards for charge point accessibility. The recommendations from this review are now being used to inform revisions to the relevant charge point accessibility standards. We will continue to monitor the adoption of the standards and their impact on accessibility to assess the need for further measures.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve transport accessibility in the East of England.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to improving passenger transport services, so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity, including in the East of England.
Our Bus Services Act 2025 includes a comprehensive package of measures to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of local transport. Through the Act, we are helping authorities to provide safer and more accessible bus stations and stops; mandating more streamlined disability training for bus drivers and frontline staff and requiring local authorities to regularly review the accessibility of their bus networks through the development and publishing of a Bus Network Accessibility Plan.
We are committed to improving the experience for disabled passengers on rail services and that is why we published the Department’s roadmap to an accessible railway. It sets out what we are doing now to improve the day-to-day travelling experience for disabled passengers in the lead up to Great British Railways being established. The Railways Bill will also establish a Passenger Watchdog to protect the rights of disabled passengers by monitoring service delivery, investigating persistent issues, setting minimum standards and advocating for improvements. We are also continuing to install accessible routes at stations through our Access for All programme.
We are also committed to developing an Accessible Travel Charter. The Charter is a commitment to a shared vision for accessible travel. It will set out what disabled travellers can expect from their journeys, share best practice across organisations and create consistency in end-to-end journeys for disabled travellers.