Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
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 including medication for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in the medical exemption scheme.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Broxtowe on 20 January 2026 to Question 106198.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring online retailers to offer a choice of delivery couriers.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The department currently has no plans to require retailers to offer a choice of delivery couriers to consumers. This is a commercial decision for the business to make. Consumers are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions to businesses directly. This encourages businesses to adapt and fairly compete based on demand.
Under consumer legislation, the trader is liable if anything goes wrong with the consumer’s parcel including goods arriving in a damaged condition and late or lost deliveries.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has his department made of the potential impact of access targets on continuity of care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government values continuity in general practice, but this is not inconsistent with efforts to improve access, such as via the 24-hour access target where urgent treatment is required.
In the 2025/26 contract, one of the domains of the Capacity and Access Improvement Payment, worth £29.2 million, incentivises primary care networks to risk stratify their patients in accordance with need for continuity. This allows general practitioners (GPs) to deliver care to meet the specific needs of their patients.
We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, which is the biggest cash increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP Contract in 2025/26 is greater than the 5.8% growth to the National Health Service budget as a whole.
Over ten million more GP appointments have been delivered in the 12 months to September 2025 compared to the same period last year, building capacity for continuity of care and improving access so that patients can be seen when they need to be in primary care. Patient satisfaction with access has improved significantly, rising from 61% in July 2024 to 74% in July 2025, marking a 13-percentage-point increase over the last year.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the plastic bag levy at lowering use; and whether she plans to introduce further measures to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s assessment is that the single-use carrier bag charge has been highly effective in reducing the use of single-use plastic bags in England. Since the charge was introduced in 2015, sales of single-use plastic carrier bags sold by the main supermarket retailers have fallen by almost 98%, a reduction from 7.6 billion bags in 2014 to 164 million in 2024/25.
The charge has also helped reduce the littering of plastic bags. Reports from the Marine Conservation Society indicate a fall from an average of 13 bags found on beaches in 2013 to just 3 in 2021.
In May 2021, the Government increased the minimum charge from 5p to 10p and extended it to all retailers to reinforce this progress and create a level playing field across the sector.
The Government remains committed to moving to a circular economy for plastics and will continue to take a systematic, evidence-based approach to reducing unnecessary single-use plastics and encouraging reuse solutions. We will continue to review the latest evidence on single-use plastic carrier bags.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has considered legislation to limit the sale of e-scooters in the UK.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Private e-scooters are illegal to use on public roads, cycle lanes and pavements. While it is not illegal to sell an e-scooter for use on private land, retailers are breaking the law if they knowingly mislead a buyer or do not make the legal restrictions on e-scooter use sufficiently clear.
Meanwhile, the Government has committed to pursuing legislative reform for micromobility vehicles, which is likely to include e-scooters, when parliamentary time allows. This will provide a proportionate and more agile process for regulating the use of micromobility vehicles.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether access metrics will be reviewed to ensure they support relationship-based care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government values continuity in general practice (GP) and there is an incentive to identify those who would benefit from continuity in the GP contract, but this isn't inconsistent with efforts to improve access, such as via the 24 hour access target where urgent treatment is required.
We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in general practice to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest cash increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP contract in 2025/26 is greater than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole.
Over ten million more GP appointments have been delivered in the 12 months to September 2025 compared to the same period last year, building capacity for continuity of care and improving access so that patients can be seen when they need to be in primary care.
In the 2025/26 GP contract, a new domain was introduced into the Capacity and Access Improvement Payment which incentivises primary care networks to risk stratify their patients in accordance with need including to identify those that would benefit most from continuity of care.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to enable leaseholders to hold management companies to account for service charges.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 4 July 2025 (HCWS780) and 18 December 2025 (HCWS1210).
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to enable homeowners to challenge increases in fees from management companies.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 4 July 2025 (HCWS780) and 18 December 2025 (HCWS1210).
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the importance of the upgrade to junction 10 of the M5 to the Cheltenham Tewkesbury and Gloucester Strategic Local Plan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The deliverability of local plans, including in relation to the provision of essential infrastructure, is tested by Inspectors during local plan examinations. It will be for the inspectors to determine the importance of different infrastructure required to deliver the plan.
In my letter to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate on 9 October 2025, which can be found on gov.uk here, I stressed the importance of Inspectors approaching examinations of plans prepared in the current plan-making system with the appropriate degree of flexibility. Expectations around the evidencing of whether the legal and soundness tests have been met should be proportionate to the context in which plans in the existing system are being prepared.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report by Kalaayan’s entitled 12 Years of Modern Slavery, published on 14 June 2024.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all policies and immigration routes under review. Ministers regularly meet with internal and external stakeholders, including Kalaayan, to discuss a wide range of issues, including the Overseas Domestic Worker route.
The Overseas Domestic Worker visa only grants permission for up to six months and cannot be extended. The Home Office publishes statistics relating to individuals who extend their stay here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables. The number of people extending their stay on the Domestic Worker in a Private Household visa is available from Table Exe_D01 of the Extension data tables (listed as “Overseas Domestic Worker”).