Lisa Smart MP: written questions 2025
413 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Foster Care: Registration and RegulationDepartment for EducationTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38412More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has considered alternative models for the (a) oversight and (b) registration of foster carers; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of alternative models on the adeq
Answer: The department is considering the merits of a national register of foster carers. We will continue to review the costs and benefits of a national register versus our other investments into foster care.We recognise that some stakeholders are in favour of a...
Answered 29 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCare Leavers: HousingDepartment for EducationTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38411More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support care leavers after the age of 21 to help ensure that they have stable living arrangements.
Answer: Supporting care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government.Housing and concerns about accommodation rank as one of the highest worries for care leavers, and for professionals trying to support them....
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFoster Care: PaymentsDepartment for EducationTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38410More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) weekly minimum payments and (b) other financial support provided to foster carers.
Answer: The ‘Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards’ set out the expectations that are placed on foster carers and their agencies at standard 28. The department is clear that no one should be financially disadvantaged because of their fostering role, and ...
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordBank Services: Direct DebitsTreasuryTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38409More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2024 to Question 20062 on Bank Services: Direct Debits, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that organisations receiving payments via Direct Debit are held accountable
Answer: Direct Debits are subject to rules made by Pay.UK, a private sector payment system operator that is regulated by the Bank of England and Payment Systems Regulator. In order to receive Direct Debit payments, businesses and other organisations must be ‘spon...
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPrivate Rented Housing: DisabilityMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38408More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support disabled people living in private rented accommodation to secure adaptations to make their homes (a) safe and (b) suitable for thei
Answer: Government recognises how important home adaptations are in enabling disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment. People of all ages and tenures, including in the private rented sector, can apply to their local ...
Answered 19 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDiethylstilbestrolDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38407More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to support people who have reported (a) long-term health and (b) personal impacts due to being prescribed Diethylstilbestrol (DES) between 1950 and 1980.
Answer: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines supplied in the United Kingdom. Our activity spans the whole of a medicine’s lifecycle. Diethylstilboestrol (DES) is an oestrogenic hormone formerly used in the treatment o...
Answered 26 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: BillingDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38406More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Energy Ombudsman on (a) trends in the number of billing inaccuracies and (b) the impact of billing inaccuracies on customers.
Answer: Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: BillingDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38405More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions his Department has had with Ofgem on improving oversight of energy suppliers’ billing practices to help prevent inaccurate estimated billing after actual meter readings have
Answer: Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: BillingDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 12 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 37749More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether their Department has made an assessment of the impact of energy suppliers incorrectly reporting missed payments to credit reference agencies based on erroneous estimated bills on cons
Answer: While this is a commercial matter between suppliers and credit reference agencies, the Government takes the issue of accurate billing very seriously.All suppliers must take the required steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements sent ...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: BillingDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 12 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 37748More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure energy suppliers issue accurate bills based on customer-submitted meter readings rather than estimated usage.
Answer: The Government takes the issue of accurate billing very seriously. All suppliers must take the required steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements sent to customers. This is laid out in Ofgem licence conditions. All energy suppliers m...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordHousing: WarrantiesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 12 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 37747More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of developers (a) failing to rectify defects within the statutory period and (b) those defects being exclude
Answer: The Building Safety Act ensures that those who built defective buildings take responsibility for remedying them. The Building Safety Act extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, which imposes a duty on a person pr...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordHousing: WarrantiesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 12 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 37746More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to prevent developers from deliberately delaying defect rectification until after the statutory liability period has expired.
Answer: The Building Safety Act ensures that those who built defective buildings take responsibility for remedying them. The Building Safety Act extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, which imposes a duty on a person pr...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordNew Homes OmbudsmanMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 12 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 37745More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she will make it her policy to require all housing developers to register with the New Homes Ombudsman Service.
Answer: The government believes that existing redress mechanisms for those buying a new home are inadequate. We are therefore working with the devolved administrations to implement the statutory UK-wide New Homes Ombudsman (NHO) to investigate and resolve complai...
Answered 19 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPrivate Rented Housing: EnergyMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 34984More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether measures are in place to prevent private landlords from inflating the cost of electricity when reselling it to tenants.
Answer: Ofgem’s Maximum Resale Price Guidance protects tenants from being charged inflated electricity costs by their landlord. It sets a maximum price that can be charged for electricity and gas which has already been bought from an authorised supplier.The curre...
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordRented Housing: UtilitiesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 34983More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to (a) issue guidance and (b) strengthen regulations to ensure that landlords provide (i) transparent and (ii) fair billing when reselling utilities
Answer: Measures are already in place to protect tenants from landlords passing on inflated utility bills. Where tenants pay their landlord for their water, rather than paying a water company directly, they are protected by Ofwat’s guidelines on water resale. Thi...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 28 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34666More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered introducing a transitional funding arrangement for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund beyond March 2025 to prevent a gap in therapeutic support for eligible children.
Answer: The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate our budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being considered as ...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 28 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34665More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children currently undergoing therapy funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund do not experience disruption to their care due to uncertainty around th
Answer: The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate our budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being considered as ...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 28 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34664More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund funding not being extended beyond March 2025 on children receiving therapy through that fund
Answer: The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate our budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being considered as ...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordRoad Works: UtilitiesDepartment for TransportTabled 27 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34343More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing increased powers to local councils to help them ensure that utility companies adhere to agreed timescales for completing emergency works on cr
Answer: The Government continues to review how works are planned, managed and communicated and how this can be improved. The Government announced in December that we will be clamping down on disruptive works by doubling fixed penalty notices for utility companies...
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordGovernment: HealthDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 27 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34342More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will encourage the adoption of the Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment toolkit across (a) Government Departments and (b) local authorities.
Answer: We would like the mental health impacts on adults, children, and young people to be considered in all policymaking across Government. We are considering how to support the relevant departments to do this.Mental health cannot just be the responsibility of ...
Answered 5 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Sector: Workplace PensionsTreasuryTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34039More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on ensuring that tax guidance relating to the McCloud remedy is issued in a timely manner.
Answer: HM Treasury and responsible departments are supporting public service pension schemes to ensure they are able to provide a timely remedy to affected members. HMRC has issued a range of tax guidance to assist pension schemes in administering the McCloud re...
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Sector: Workplace PensionsTreasuryTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34038More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and (b) other pension providers have adequate (i) resources and (ii) support to complete the McCloud pension remedy process by 31 March
Answer: HM Treasury and responsible departments are supporting public service pension schemes to ensure they are able to provide a timely remedy to affected members. HMRC has issued a range of tax guidance to assist pension schemes in administering the McCloud re...
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDementia: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34037More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure NHS hospital staff receive adequate (a) training and (b) support to manage dementia patients in general hospital wards.
Answer: Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver the appropriate treatment for patients. Individual trusts are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to carry out ...
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDementia: Care HomesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34036More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in transferring dementia patients from hospitals to social care settings.
Answer: Almost one million people in the United Kingdom are living with dementia, and that figure is expected to rise. Each of those people, alongside their friends, families and carers, have their own unique and important story of living with dementia, and this ...
Answered 7 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDementia: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34035More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to issue updated guidance on the placement of dementia patients in hospital wards.
Answer: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance on dementia states which aspects of care should be expected to ensure quality dementia care in hospital. This includes appropriate admission to hospital, comprehensive assessments, an...
Answered 7 Mar 2025
Original Parliament record
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