Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 5 February 2026 to Question 108297, whether his Department holds any evidence on rates of neonatal and post-neonatal death, including accidental suffocation and overlaying, associated with parental cannabis use during pregnancy and the postnatal period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) programme is responsible for reviewing stillbirths and neonatal deaths across the United Kingdom to identify causes, improve clinical care, and reduce future preventable deaths. Analysis of MBRRACE-UK data found that between 2014 and 2024, there were 17 neonatal deaths attributed to accidental suffocation, with only one case explicitly linked to cannabis use. There was also one neonatal sudden infant death syndrome case involving maternal cannabis and alcohol history, and one neonatal death where maternal cannabis use was a secondary contributor. There were thus a total of three neonatal deaths linked to cannabis use between 2014 and 2024.
The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) collects and analyses data on the deaths of all children under 18 years of age. The latest data published by the NCMD highlighted that of the deaths reviewed by Child Death Overview Panels between April 2024 and March 2025, substance misuse during pregnancy was identified as a contributing factor in 62 out of 4,035 infant deaths where data was available. The NCMD thematic report on Deaths of children and young people due to traumatic incidents also highlighted that between 1 April 2019 and March 2022, there were 42 deaths as a result of accidental strangulation or suffocation. 13, or 31%, children were aged under one years old, 17, or 40%, were aged one to four years old, and 12, or 29%, were aged five to 17 years old. In total, 18 children died where entrapment or overlay was found to be a significant contributing factor, but the analysis did not look at whether or not there was substance misuse by the parents.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is considering mandating the TechSafe framework as a national safety, competence and assurance framework to support implementation of the Automated Vehicles Act and related vehicle technology regulation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is currently running a public Call for Evidence in support of the regulatory framework for automated vehicles. Responses to this Call for Evidence will inform a public consultation on the proposed regulations later in the year. The Department encourages those with views or evidence on frameworks such as TechSafe to respond to the Call for Evidence.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 105894, what estimate the Department has made of the proportion of efficiency savings attributed to regulated settlements that arise from funding constraints imposed by the Office of Rail and Road rather than from operational productivity improvements.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As set out in Question 105894, the Office for Rail and Road do not set funding constraints as these are determined via the overall funding settlement.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 110095, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the absence of route-level ferry fare modelling risks on consumer price impacts for ferry-dependent communities.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not undertaken route level ferry fare modelling for the UK ETS domestic maritime expansion. This is because, as we set out in the Impact Assessment, operators’ commercial decisions, vessel utilisation and fare structures vary widely. The qualitative assessment indicates that any passthrough to consumers is likely to be modest.
The Government will review the maritime element of the UK ETS in 2028 with further consideration of regional or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Memorandums of Understanding the UK has signed since 5 July 2025, broken down by (a) the countries with which countries they were signed and (b) the policy areas covered by each agreement.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Department has signed a range of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) since 5 July 2025 to help drive economic growth. However, these are not routinely published or notified to Parliament in line with HMG policy on non-legally binding instruments and in some cases to respect the confidentiality requirements of partner countries. It is, therefore, not possible to provide a full list of MoUs by country and subject area as requested.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has assessed the potential impact of the Wheels to Work scheme on youth unemployment; and what steps she is taking to support that scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer the Rt Honourable Gentleman to the answer given on 3 February 2026 to question number 108310.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108309, in which month the upcoming national strategy for integrated transport is expected to be published.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department is committed to publishing the integrated national transport strategy shortly, which will set the long‑term vision for domestic transport across England.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the publication of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Part 1 of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts was published on 9 July 2025, which contained a number of recommendations for structural reform of the criminal courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister set out the reforms Government intends to pursue, alongside investment and modernisation.
On 4 February 2026 Sir Brian Leveson published Part 2 of his report, where he makes 135 recommendations to improve efficiency and modernise the criminal courts. The report is thorough and I welcome his ambition to see real improvements in the system.
We will urgently consider the latest recommendations, alongside Sir Brian’s remaining recommendations from Part 1, and respond to them in the coming months.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average grant-supported cost per bus was under each bus procurement scheme in each of the last five years; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of social value weightings on tendered prices.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department is not responsible for the procurement of buses and so does not hold this information.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 110095, whether the Department plans to publish route-specific or island impact assessments before domestic maritime is brought into scope of the UK ETS in 2026.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Impact Assessment set out that it is not possible to robustly break down compliance costs to the level of individual routes or service types, as ticket prices, fare structures and commercial operating decisions vary widely. The Assessment therefore considers impacts at the sector and scheme level.
The Authority consulted extensively with all operators, including those serving island mainland and shortsea routes, to ensure all perspectives informed policy development.