Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The CMS has four official Key Performance Indicators (KPI). These are: Application clearances, change of circumstances clearances, Collect and Pay compliance and assessment accuracy. Each KPI has its own standard measure.
Every quarter, the CMS publishes their data on Application clearances, change of circumstances clearances and Collect and Pay compliance.
This information can be found in the latest CMS statistics with the latest data available to March 2025. CMS statistics for June 2025 are due to be released on Tuesday 30th September 2025 at 09:30am.
Information on the accuracy of CMS assessments, which has a standard level of >99%, is published in the annual CMS Client Funds Account, Child maintenance: client funds accounts - GOV.UK.
Since 2020 CMS has shown a consistent level of 99.4% accuracy increasing for the latest year available (2023/24) to 99.5%.
The CMS continues to monitor and review their KPIs to ensure they are the most appropriate measure to drive performance and improve the customer experience.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve Child Maintenance Service response times.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Service Modernisation and Digital Transformation Programmes, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has made significant improvements to our service to improve response times.
The introduction of online services including ‘Child Maintenance Calculator’, ‘Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance’, ‘Apply for Child Maintenance, ‘Respond to Child Maintenance Application’ and ‘My Child Maintenance Case’ has significantly increased functionality and efficiency for our customers who have access to our online services 24/7 to:
Through My Child Maintenance Case’ the customer now has the ability to process simple changes without the need for caseworker intervention, automatically speeding up the time taken to complete a change which has improved customer outcomes. These changes are a fundamental step towards the CMS modernisation goal of evolving our service to be online and quicker.
Although online communication is the preferred option, the CMS fully recognises digital is not suitable for all customers. We have freed up resources to deliver a more responsive service which allows caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. We have taken steps to make call routing more efficient, resulting in a higher volume of calls being allocated to case-owning teams, supporting customers to receive a more responsive service.
Furthermore, we have taken timely action to review, evaluate, and enhance tools and training material to support staff. We have improved training for new entrant colleagues and caseworkers and upgraded our Operational Instructions with around 90% transformed into Smart Instructions, making them easier and quicker for caseworkers to understand and use.
Through greater use of SMS text and email and an extensive review of letters, making them easier for customers to understand, we can contact customers quicker.
As a result, the use of online services by customers has significantly increased, with more changes being processed quicker, call volumes have reduced and calls received are routed efficiently to caseworker teams who have access to enhanced Operational Instructions, SMS text and email, improving the CMS response times and delivering a quality service to our customers.
CMS is committed to continuous improvement. In July 2025, the CMS launched Customer Connect for income related changes: this new service enables caseworkers to instigate online conversations with customers to proactively gather information and administer their child maintenance case more efficiently. Customer Connect will be expanded to include other types of changes through a phased process. Customers who cannot digitally self-serve will continue to be contacted by phone or letter.
Additionally, as the demand for the service is increasing CMS continuously review our resources to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet demands and maintain our expected service levels. We have an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2025; this will ensure CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted service demand.
The CMS are committed to modernising and improving our service. We will continue to review, evaluate, and enhance our service to meet demand and deliver an efficient customer service. We regularly gather feedback from customers and stakeholders through the Customer Experience Survey; this insight is used to inform ways to improve our service.
Commencement of any additional activity as part of the Service Modernisation Programme will be informed by the value to our customers and the cost to the Department.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to legal aid.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is delivering significant fee uplifts to legal aid, with the first civil fee increases in almost 30 years and up to £92 million extra each year for criminal legal aid. This will support a more stable and sustainable legal aid sector, helping to ensure effective access to justice for some of the most vulnerable in our society.
In December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year, to help support the sustainability of the criminal legal aid sector including prison law. Prior to that, in November 2024, we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation, confirming an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amounted to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers.
In civil legal aid, we recently published ‘Civil Legal Aid: Towards a sustainable future’ confirming that we will increasing fees for all housing & debt, and immigration & asylum legal aid work. This is a significant investment of £20 million a year. Providers will see significant increases in all fees, with the overall spending in these categories increasing by 24% for housing work and 30% for immigration work.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of siting solar farms near Category A prisons on the security of (a) communications, (b) wi-fi and (c) energy supplies.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
No such assessment has been made.
Maintaining security of energy supplies is a key priority and critical energy operators are required to meet a minimum standard of cyber security and resilience, through the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018. The Department works continually with Ofgem and the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure that these regulations continue to capture all the most critical operators of energy generation systems.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with South Western Railway on the potential impact of the removal of the 7.37am service from Worcestershire Parkway to Birmingham New Street on commuters living in Droitwich and Evesham constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
CrossCountry provides train services between Worcestershire Parkway and Birmingham. Officials discussed the operator’s proposal to temporarily withdraw some services to ensure a more reliable timetable can be delivered. The Department agreed to the operator’s proposed timetable changes as it delivered benefits for the majority of passengers. CrossCountry were unable to add a Worcestershire Parkway call on another morning train but two alternative trains from Worcestershire Parkway are both scheduled to arrive at Birmingham before 0900.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) local authorities on the proposed acceleration of (a) Worcestershire Parkway and (b) other housing sites.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The New Homes Accelerator works with Homes England and relevant local partners to unblock and accelerate the delivery of large-scale housing developments that have for various reasons become delayed, or which are not progressing as quickly as they could be.
The Accelerator has already announced 10 sites with capacity to deliver over 35,000 homes that will benefit from government support, including Worcestershire Parkway.
In October last year, I met with you to discuss supporting infrastructure at Worcestershire Parkway.
MHCLG officials and Homes England continue to engage with the relevant local authorities for each of the announced New Homes Accelerator sites, including Worcestershire Parkway.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many planning applications for housing developments in (a) Wychavon District Council and (b) England have the Gardens Trust and Sport England contributed to in their capacities as statutory consultees in the last five years; and how many of these applications (i) passed and (ii) were refused.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 39567 on 27 March 2025 in relation to The Gardens Trust.
In respect of Sport England, available data from 2022/23 and 2023/24 show that they responded to 1,145 and 1,168 applications respectively across England. The government does not hold data on response times or the nature of the responses from statutory consultees broken down by individual local planning authorities.
Statutory consultees do not have a veto on planning applications and therefore cannot pass or refuse an application. It is for the local planning authorities to determine planning applications.
As set out in the Written Minister Statement made on 10 March 2025, the government intend to consult this Spring on the impacts of removing a limited number of statutory consultees, including Sport England and the Gardens Trust. Even if ultimately removed as statutory consultees, both organisations will still be able to submit views on individual planning applications.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the answer of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the urgent question of 14 January 2025 on Drones: High-security Prisons, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the work of the organised crime groups on crime and disorder in the locality of (a) HMP Long Lartin and (b) other affected prisons.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is the responsibility of police, prisons, and the probation service to work collaboratively in order to assess and respond to the threat from Serious and Organised Crime in prison.
Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK and organised crime groups continue to diversify their tactics, exploiting technology and online platforms.
The Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms and ensuring police have the capabilities they need protect communities from harm.
We are delivering the Safer Streets mission to create a safer, fairer country for all and have increased funding for policing by more than half a billion pounds next year, including over £260million for the core grant and additional funding for neighbourhood policing.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the answer of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the urgent question of 14 January 2025 on Drones: High-security Prisons, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using military technology to block drones flying over prisons; and whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence on this issue.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons. We conduct vulnerability assessments across the estate to identify risks, and to develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate them. HM Prison & Probation Service uses targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, netting and grills to stop drones delivering contraband such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons.
We work across government, including with the Ministry of Defence, to examine options to mitigate the threat of drones to prisons. We are also engaging with international counterparts to develop our learning, support our strategy and share best practice. Due to operational sensitivities, we are not able to discuss in detail the tactics used by HMPPS to disrupt drones, including technologies used, however our response must be specific to a prison setting and tailored to individual prisons.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the annual budget for the proposed Office for Value for Money; whether that body will be established in statute; and how its Board will be appointed.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
As the Chancellor laid before the House in her speech, the government has established a new Office of Value for Money, with an immediate focus on identifying areas where we can reduce, stop, or improve the value of spending. The chair of the office will report directly to the Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury who will be appointed in due course.
The office will not be established in statute but will sit within HM Treasury.
Existing departmental resources will be reprioritised to fulfil the needs of the office where possible.