Lisa Smart MP: written questions
242 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Social Rented Housing: Hazel GroveMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79021More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase the supply of homes for social rent in Hazel Grove constituency.
Answer: I refer the hon. Members to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771).
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPassportsHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79020More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent applications being delayed due to administrative errors by HM Passport Office.
Answer: His Majesty’s Passport Office is exceeding its performance indicator of 98.5% of standard UK passport applications where no further information is required being processed within three weeks. Performance data can be found in the most recent Transparency D...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordVeterans: Government AssistanceMinistry of DefenceTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79019More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the VALOUR scheme will become available to all veterans.
Answer: VALOUR is a new programme that will give all veterans across the UK easier access to the essential care and support that is available to them, overseen by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs in the Ministry of Defence. It will improve the coordination of ser...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordInfectious Diseases: Disease ControlDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79018More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for possible future pandemics.
Answer: Ensuring the United Kingdom is prepared for a future pandemic is a top priority for the Government, and we are embedding lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in our approach to pandemic preparedness. We aim to have flexible, adaptable and scalable capabilit...
Answered 21 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordDentistry: RecruitmentDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79017More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2025 to Question 72309 on NHS dental professionals, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including areas with no NHS dentists in the Golden H
Answer: The Golden Hello scheme aims to support dental practices in areas that are experiencing significant dental pressures, including areas with no National Health Service dentists.The scheme is designed to encourage relocation to areas with workforce challenge...
Answered 16 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordVisas: GraduatesHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79016More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Graduate visas made from within the UK used (a) the standard service, (b) the priority service, and (c) the super-priority service in the last 12 months.
Answer: Published data on Graduate visa applications can be found here, Visa, status and immigration data: April to June 2025 including data on standard, priority and super-priority applications. Filter 'Graduate' on the 'VSI_01a" tab
Answered 5 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordLow Alcohol Drinks: PricesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79015More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps with industry to reduce prices for alcohol-free beer to improve public health.
Answer: Defra regularly engages with supermarkets and producers on a range of food and drink supply matters. However, it is not for HM Government to set retail food and drink prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions taken by businesses. In the ‘Fi...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordSerbia: Politics and GovernmentForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79014More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking with (a) European and (b) international counterparts to encourage the Serbian Government to (i) investigate ongoing political violence and (ii) take
Answer: The Foreign Secretary and I met Foreign Minister Djuric at the Berlin Process meeting of Western Balkans Foreign Ministers on 9 October, and I met Serbian MPs at the parliamentary meetings of the Berlin Process on 16 October where we discussed a range of ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordSerbia: Politics and GovernmentForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79013More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help prevent further political violence in Serbia.
Answer: The Foreign Secretary and I met Foreign Minister Djuric at the Berlin Process meeting of Western Balkans Foreign Ministers on 9 October, and I met Serbian MPs at the parliamentary meetings of the Berlin Process on 16 October where we discussed a range of ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordElectronic Cigarettes: ChildrenDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 16 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77758More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent children from illegally purchasing vapes.
Answer: Selling nicotine vapes to under 18-year-olds is illegal, yet one in four 11 to 15-year-olds tried vaping in 2023. It is unacceptable that vapes are deliberately branded and advertised to appeal to children.The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will reduce the appeal...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMultiple Myeloma: DiagnosisDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 16 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77757More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the national cancer plan for England will include targets to improve the diagnosis of myeloma.
Answer: It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers such as myeloma, as well as other unstageable cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, in order to improve out...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordArmed Forces Parliamentary SchemeMinistry of DefenceTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77236More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of claims under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
Answer: The Ministry of Defence is committed to improving performance and reducing delays in processing claims under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). To achieve this, the Department has introduced several targeted measures: Flexible resource managemen...
Answered 15 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordCultural RelationsForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77235More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department plans to establish an award scheme to recognise people overseas (a) fostering and (b) strengthening cultural links with the United Kingdom.
Answer: We value the many individuals, both British and foreign, who foster cultural links between the UK and other countries. Exceptional and sustained achievements in this area are already recognised through the UK Honours System, including through regular hono...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordADHD: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77234More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of requiring patients with existing ADHD diagnoses from private providers to undergo repeat diagnostic assessments via the NHS in order to access
Answer: It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment and tr...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordADHD: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77233More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that patients with clinically recognised ADHD diagnoses made by qualified private providers who have commenced treatment under GP-supported shared care agreements
Answer: It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment and tr...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Services: Vulnerable AdultsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 12 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76869More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with local authorities to ensure that social services act quickly following reports of potential grooming of vulnerable adults.
Answer: Any form of abuse or neglect is unacceptable. The Government makes it clear, in the statutory guidance of the Care Act, that local authorities must ensure that the services they commission are safe, effective, and of high quality.Where a local authority h...
Answered 6 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordFinancial Services: EducationDepartment for EducationTabled 10 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76376More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will respond to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People's report, entitled: Laying Firm Foundations: Financial education in schools and colleges across the UK and the op
Answer: Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines the information for England only.The government welcomes the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People to highlight the importance of financial education.Th...
Answered 18 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordMedia: EducationDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76076More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to include media literacy within the English curriculum as part of the ongoing curriculum review.
Answer: The current English language GCSE curriculum equips students with critical reading and comprehension skills. They learn to identify and interpret themes in diverse texts, read for various purposes, draw inferences, support viewpoints with evidence and ide...
Answered 3 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordSuicide: PoliceHome OfficeTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75715More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of (a) 30 April 2025 to Question 46025 and (b) 24 April 2025 to Question 38415, whether her Department has considered aligning the data collection processes of police forces in
Answer: The Home Office does not collect data from police on calls about suicidal ideation or where an apparent suicide is in progress and has no current plans to do so.
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordSuicide: InternetDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75714More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on enforcing the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023 in relation to small-scale online suicide forums (a) through the Small but Risky Taskforc
Answer: Ofcom is the independent regulator of the Online Safety Act and is responsible for its enforcement. Within the first month of the Act’s illegal content duties coming into effect, Ofcom launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment: MisrepresentationDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75713More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to introduce additional safeguards to prevent the mislabelling of jobs as apprenticeships.
Answer: Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an ap...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment: MisrepresentationDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75712More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that individuals who have been paid below the statutory minimum wage in circumstances involving mislabelled apprenticeships are compensated.
Answer: Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an ap...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment: MisrepresentationDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75711More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department plans to strengthen enforcement powers against employers who misrepresent jobs as apprenticeships in order to (a) pay below the National Minimum Wage and (b) use apprentices as c
Answer: Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an ap...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordSexual Offences: TrialsAttorney GeneralTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75710More
Question: To ask the Solicitor General, what guidance her Department has provided to the Crown Prosecution Service on communicating with victims of sexual violence about trial (a) delays and (b) adjournments.
Answer: The Attorney General’s Office does not issue operational guidance to the CPS.The CPS has a specific programme of work dedicated to improving communication with victims of crime which includes the introduction of a new Enhanced Service offer for adult vict...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordSexual Offences: TrialsMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75709More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trials being repeatedly adjourned on the mental health of victims of sexual violence.
Answer: The Government recognises the impact delays to court processes may have on victims of sexual violence. We are committed to tackling the outstanding caseload to improve timeliness - we have already doubled magistrates’ sentencing powers, so that Crown Cour...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament record
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