Fred Thomas MP: written questions
23 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Motability: Attendance AllowanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 1 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 64259More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the eligibility criteria for the Motability Scheme to include Attendance Allowance claimants.
Answer: Attendance Allowance (AA) is a weekly benefit for those over State Pension age who require care or supervision as a result of a physical or mental disability. AA is paid at two rates. A higher rate of £110.40 a week for claimants who need help or supervis...
Answered 10 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordPensioners: DisabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 1 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 64257More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support pensioners who have (a) become disabled after reaching State Pension age and (b) require (i) adapted vehicles and (ii) mobility assistance.
Answer: Attendance Allowance (AA) is a weekly benefit for those over State Pension age who require care or supervision as a result of a physical or mental disability. AA is paid at two rates. A higher rate of £110.40 a week for claimants who need help or supervis...
Answered 10 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordWater Supply: PlymouthDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 1 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 64256More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the resilience of the water supply in the long term in Plymouth.
Answer: The Government and the Environment Agency work with water companies and other stakeholders to monitor and manage water resources in England. Water companies are responsible for ensuring a secure water supply for their customers. Plymouth lies in South Wes...
Answered 8 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordWater Supply: PlymouthDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 1 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 64255More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many water supply outages there were in Plymouth in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, (c) 2024 and (d) 2025.
Answer: Under the Security and Emergency Measures Direction 2022 (SEMD), all water companies must report to Defra any water outages that impact over 5,000 properties or will last over 24 hours. In 2025, one incident affecting Plymouth was reported to Defra. Betw...
Answered 9 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordBus Services: ConcessionsDepartment for TransportTabled 1 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 64254More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with local authorities on the variances in the eligibility criteria for disabled bus passes.
Answer: The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. The disabled eligibility criteria are set out in section 146 of the Transpo...
Answered 7 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Transport: DisabilityDepartment for TransportTabled 1 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 64253More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps her Department has taken to support disabled people using public transport.
Answer: The government is committed to improving public transport services so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity. On 17 December, the government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill to put the powe...
Answered 7 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordMaternity AllowanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 904753More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of Maternity Allowance.
Answer: The Secretary of State is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and the State Pension, including statutory pay. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year. From April 2025 the standard rate ...
Answered 23 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordOffenders: EmploymentMinistry of JusticeTabled 21 May 2025AnsweredUIN 54201More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support individuals with unspent convictions seeking employment.
Answer: We know that finding employment after release reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. That is why the Government’s manifesto commits to break the cycle of reoffending by better supporting prisons to link up with e...
Answered 2 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational NeedsDepartment for EducationTabled 21 May 2025AnsweredUIN 54138More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a levels of Educational Psychologists on EHCP (a) assessment and (b) review waiting times.
Answer: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.Educational psycho...
Answered 6 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordOctopuses: PlymouthDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 14 May 2025AnsweredUIN 52443More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the (a) increase in biomass of Octopus vulgaris and (b) their predation of shellfish in pots at sea on the livelihoods of (i) c
Answer: I recently visited the fishing industry in Plymouth and was made aware of reports of an unusual abundance of octopus in the Southwest including Cornwall. Defra understands this ‘octopus bloom’ is impacting shellfish potting fisheries and causing concern t...
Answered 21 May 2025
Original Parliament recordArmed Forces: Body ArmourMinistry of DefenceTabled 10 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 36920More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on replacing enhanced combat body armour for all deployed armed forces personnel.
Answer: The safety of personnel remains the Ministry of Defence’s top priority and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of our forces and maintain operational readiness. Where it is appropriate, alternative body armour plates have been issued to...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordChild Maintenance Service: FraudDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 21 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32292More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to (a) tackle the fraudulent reporting of earnings to the Child Maintenance Service and (b) ensure that parents are paid the correct amount of maintenance.
Answer: The primary goal of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to ensure that children receive the financial support they are entitled to. To achieve this, the CMS collaborates with HMRC and Benefit systems to accurately calculate maintenance payments. This c...
Answered 27 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordProbation OfficersMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28432More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of probation officers had a caseload of (a) above 30, (b) above 40, (c) above 50 and (d) above 60 in (i) 2010, (ii) 2014, (iii) 2019 and (iv) 2023.
Answer: Caseload data for Probation Officers is unavailable pre-unification of the Probation Service (June 2021). Caseload data for the service as a whole is published for earlier periods (Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK) but is not broken down ...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordProbation Officers: RetirementMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28431More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation officers retired from the service in (a) 2010, (b) 2014, (c) 2019 and (d) 2023.
Answer: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the leaving reasons of probation officers in Table 14b of the quarterly “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics” publication. The latest publication and tables, which covers the year to September 202...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordProbation OfficersMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28430More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of probation officers had (a) less than one years’ experience (b) less than three years' experience and (c) three or more years’ service at (i) 30 June 2010, (ii) 30 June 2014 and (ii
Answer: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the length of service of Probation Officers in Table 4 of the quarterly “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics” publication. The latest publication and associated tables, which cover the year to Sep...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPrison AccommodationMinistry of JusticeTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18273More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the net change in prison places since 5 July 2024.
Answer: The capacity of the prison estate is published weekly and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2024.
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordReoffendersMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17680More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the recall rate was for offenders released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme between October 2023 and June 2024.
Answer: The recall rate for people released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme that have been recalled in the most recent period for which data is available could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.9,782 number of recalls took plac...
Answered 9 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordPrison AccommodationMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17679More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison places have been added to the estate since 5 July 2024.
Answer: 475 places have been delivered as part of the 20,000 place prison programmes since this Government took office on 5 July 2024. We will be publishing a 10 year capacity strategy by the end of the year.
Answered 9 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordPrison Accommodation: CostsMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17678More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the forecasted cost to the public purse was of adding 20,000 places to the prison estate (a) in total and (b) per place in October 2021.
Answer: The Department’s estimate of the total cost of completing the additional 20,000 places to the prison estate at the point of the SR21 settlement was c.£5.2bn and this in turn equated to an average of c.£257k per place.
Answered 6 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordPrison Estate Transformation Programme: ExpenditureMinistry of JusticeTabled 3 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17677More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) total cost and (b) cost for each new prison place was for the Prison Estate Transformation Programme between 2016 and 2019.
Answer: The total cost of the prison places delivered by the Prison Estate Transformation Programme (PETP) was c.£37.4m. The cost per place was c.£182k. This includes some places delivered in 2020 where they relate to the phased delivery of a single project.
Answered 6 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordSubmarinesMinistry of DefenceTabled 8 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 900609More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure the future of the UK's submersible capabilities.
Answer: This Government’s unwavering commitment to the triple lock to our nuclear deterrent is underpinned by major infrastructure programmes underway on the Clyde and in Devonport and the Dreadnought submarine programme in Barrow-in-Furness.Our commitment to SSN...
Answered 14 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordOffice of Government CommerceTreasuryTabled 4 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 7039More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will re-establish the Office of Government Commerce.
Answer: There are no plans to re-establish the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The principal functions of the OGC are being successfully delivered by the Government Commercial Function including the Crown Commercial Service.
Answered 15 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPrimary CareDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 17 Jul 2024AnsweredUIN 900028More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to primary care services.
Answer: Too many patients are finding it impossible to access care. In May, a staggering 1.4 million patients waited for over a month for an appointment. That is why we are committed to: fix the front door to the NHS; bring back the family doctor; and shift the f...
Answered 25 Jul 2024
Original Parliament record
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