Steff Aquarone MP: written questions
100 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Children: MaintenanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 13 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 81597More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child maintenance service provides (a) oversight and (b) review mechanisms to help ensure (i) consistency and (ii) accountability in the application of caseworker discretion to arrears repay
Answer: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) adheres to the DWP Quality Framework, which deploys a three-line defence model for all decisions affecting the calculation and payment of maintenance.The Debt Steer provides a policy-based framework for arrears negotiat...
Answered 23 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordChildren: MaintenanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 13 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 81596More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are taken by the Child Maintenance Service to assess the impact on the welfare of children when arrears repayment schedules are extended beyond the two-year debt steer principle.
Answer: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives...
Answered 30 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordChildren: MaintenanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 13 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 81595More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes the Child Maintenance Service has in place to verify claims of financial hardship made by paying parents when arrears repayment schedules are extended beyond the two-year debt steer princ
Answer: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives...
Answered 30 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordChildren: MaintenanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 13 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 81594More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service adheres to its debt steer principle that arrears should be repaid within a maximum of two years.
Answer: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives...
Answered 30 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordBlue Badge SchemeDepartment for TransportTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80074More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that local authorities correctly implement national guidance on Blue Badge eligibility.
Answer: The Department for Transport sets the legislation governing the Blue Badge scheme in England and provides non-statutory guidance to local authorities to help share good practice in administering the scheme. However, it is the local authority who is respon...
Answered 15 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: StaffHome OfficeTabled 11 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76712More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 74527 on Asylum: Staff, how many asylum decisionmakers were employed on 28 April 2025.
Answer: The number of full time equivalent (FTE) asylum caseworkers employed per month until June 2025 is published in the ASY_05(M) tab of the published migration transparency statistics, located here: Immigration and protection data: Q2 2025 (Migration transpar...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordCaravan Sites: Planning PermissionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 11 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76711More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of initiating a formal review of legislation that allows certified exemption of small caravan and motorhome sites from plannin
Answer: Under national permitted development rights, set out in Part 5, Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, land can be used as a caravan site in certain circumstances. The government continues to keep...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordHealth Services: NorfolkDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76442More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support community-based preventative services for older people in Norfolk.
Answer: The NHS is implementing various preventative services to support older people in maintaining their health and independence. These services include:Support for frailty: The NHS Toolkit for General practice in supporting older people living with frailty off...
Answered 16 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordRare Cancers: ResearchDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76441More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the availability of research into less survivable cancers; and what steps his Department is taking to incentivise peo
Answer: The Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).The Government is investing in new lifesaving and life-improving research to support those diagnosed wi...
Answered 6 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordParamedical Staff: FinanceDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75790More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ringfencing funding for cycle paramedic services.
Answer: No such assessment has been made.
Answered 15 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: Dental ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75789More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of NHS tie-in periods for newly qualified dentists on access to NHS dental service.
Answer: It costs £200,000 of taxpayer’s money to train a dentist. We believe it is right and fair to taxpayers to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the National Health Service for at least some amount of time.As announced in the 10-...
Answered 15 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordDental Services: RecruitmentDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75788More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many payments under the dental recruitment incentive scheme have been allocated to North Norfolk constituency.
Answer: Data is not held on how many payments under the Dental Recruitment Incentive Scheme have been allocated at the constituency level. The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to integr...
Answered 25 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordDental Services: NorfolkDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75787More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that dental patients in Norfolk will be included in NHS tie-in periods for newly qualified dentists.
Answer: It costs £200,000 of taxpayer’s money to train a dentist. We believe it is right and fair to taxpayers to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the National Health Service for at least some amount of time.As announced in the 10-...
Answered 15 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordDental Services: East of EnglandDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 8 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75786More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted any regional modelling of dental workforce planning in (a) Norfolk and (b) the East of England.
Answer: NHS England data shows that as of December 2024, 2,810 general dentists were working in the East of England, including 1,108 National Health Service full time equivalent (FTE) general dentists. The vacancy rate for NHS dentists was 17%. On the same date, ...
Answered 15 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: StaffHome OfficeTabled 2 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74527More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's press release entitled We’re recruiting Asylum Decision Makers across the UK, published on 28 April 2025, how many asylum decisionmakers have been hired since 28 Apr
Answer: The Home Office is maintaining sufficient resource in place to clear the Asylum backlog.The number of full time equivalent (FTE) asylum caseworkers employed per month until June 2025 is published in the ASY_05(M) tab of the published migration transparenc...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordCrayfish: Non-native SpeciesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73930More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has considered developing an invasive American signal crayfish eradication strategy in (a) England and (b) Norfolk.
Answer: American signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) are listed as Species of Special Concern and actions such as their commercial use, release into the environment and transport are banned under the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Orde...
Answered 4 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordDriving Licences: GlaucomaDepartment for TransportTabled 22 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 70182More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of visual field testing for driving license holders diagnosed with glaucoma in (a) North Norfolk constituency, (b) Norfolk and (c) England.
Answer: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) vision testing supplier, Specsavers, currently has 360 stores across England that provide visual field testing for DVLA purposes. In Norfolk six stores offer this service with the closest stores to North No...
Answered 2 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordEmergencies: SirensCabinet OfficeTabled 22 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 70179More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to her Answer of 21 July 2025 Question 68537 on Emergencies: Sirens, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that communities in (a) coastal areas and (b) that have limited or no phone signal rece
Answer: The Emergency Alert system is a UK Government capability that allows time critical life saving information to be broadcast to phones within a certain area. This was introduced in April 2023, and has now been used five times. Emergency Alerts are instantan...
Answered 2 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordValuation Office Agency: StandardsTreasuryTabled 16 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 68556More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of case backlog at the Valuation Office Agency; and what steps she is taking to reduce this.
Answer: The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is working as quickly as possible to clear cases, and moving staff to where there is the greatest customer demand. The VOA is focusing on the oldest cases first, and where customers are facing financial hardship. The VOA ...
Answered 21 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordDriving Licences: GlaucomaDepartment for TransportTabled 16 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 68541More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of the availability of glaucoma testing for driving license renewal in (a) North Norfolk constituency, (b) Norfolk and (c) England.
Answer: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not require driving licence holders or applicants to be tested for glaucoma. However, drivers are legally required to inform the DVLA if they have been diagnosed with glaucoma in both eyes, or if they ha...
Answered 21 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordChildren: MaintenanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 68538More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of HMRC confidentiality rules on the ability of the Child Maintenance Service to (a) suspend and (b) revise liability, where possible fraudulent chil
Answer: To qualify for maintenance payments a child must meet the Child Maintenance Service's criteria. They must be:under 20 years of age andin full time non-advanced education or approved training, andeligible for Child Benefit. They must also be habitually res...
Answered 21 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordEmergencies: SirensCabinet OfficeTabled 16 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 68537More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 66761 on Emergencies: Mobile Phones, what steps she is taking to support communities who have (a) no emergency sirens and (b) had their emergency sirens removed
Answer: In the UK, we have a number of public warning and informing mechanisms that can be used in different situations when there is a risk to life. This includes the Emergency Alert system, introduced in April 2023, which has been used five times. Emergency Ale...
Answered 21 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordNeighbourhood Plans: FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 16 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 68536More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 62866 on Neighbourhood Plans: Finance, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this policy on levels of council
Answer: Precept levels are decided by parish councils, considering the needs of their community. The government expects parish councils to consider carefully the burden they are placing on local taxpayers.
Answered 21 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordEmergencies: Mobile PhonesCabinet OfficeTabled 10 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66761More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the publication entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan published on 8 July 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of emergency alert systems in rural areas with
Answer: Emergency Alerts are broadcast through mobile phone masts, and will be received by phones connected to the targeted masts. 95% of the UK landmass has 4G/5G coverage. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is continuing to work with the UK t...
Answered 15 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordSchools: Rural AreasDepartment for EducationTabled 10 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66760More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the funding formula on the viability of small schools in rural areas.
Answer: The government recognises the essential role that small schools play in their communities, many of which are in rural areas. The schools national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through th...
Answered 15 Jul 2025
Original Parliament record
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