Freddie van Mierlo MP: written questions
425 published records · newest first.
Written questions
School Rebuilding ProgrammeDepartment for EducationTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80705More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to ensure that funding through the School Rebuilding Programme is spent in line with (a) net zero standards and (b) sustainability goals.
Answer: The department commits to a wide range of actions in our Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, including a requirement that all new school buildings we deliver are net-zero carbon in operation and are adapted to climate change. The strategy can be a...
Answered 18 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHealth Services: AdvocacyDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80704More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the robustness of protections for patient advocates' (a) personal care interactions with NHS services and (b) their advocacy for patients.
Answer: For people who find it difficult to understand their care or find it hard to speak up, ‘Someone to speak up for you advocates’ are available to act as a spokesperson for them. They can help with a wide range of support needs, including understanding the c...
Answered 23 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordConveyancingMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80703More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve transparency in the purchasing property process.
Answer: On 6 October 2025, the government published a consultation on proposals to improve to the home buying and selling process. It can be found on gov.uk here.The consultation includes proposals to require sellers and estate agents to provide upfront property ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMalicious Communications Act 1988Department for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80702More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the enforcement of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.
Answer: The Online Safety Act introduced a number of communication offences, which were commenced in January 2024, including the false and threatening communications offences. The new communications offences have replaced the equivalent offences in the Malicious ...
Answered 21 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordProperty Management Companies: Repairs and MaintenanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80701More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to assist local planning authorities in holding management companies to account for the maintenance of (a) roads and (b) public spaces under their remit.
Answer: Estate management companies will usually agree standards for maintaining newly built developments with the developer at the time that the site is handed over to them. Where these standards are replicated in the agreement between the estate manager and the...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordProperty Management Companies: Repairs and MaintenanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80700More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that management companies are maintaining newly built developments to agreed standards.
Answer: Estate management companies will usually agree standards for maintaining newly built developments with the developer at the time that the site is handed over to them. Where these standards are replicated in the agreement between the estate manager and the...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPharmacy: FinanceDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80699More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of NHS tariff thresholds on pharmacies' ability to source medicines.
Answer: Evaluations by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) ensure that spend on new medicines represents a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources.NICE thresholds should not have any impact on pharmacies’ ab...
Answered 21 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80698More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to reduce the level of medicine access inequalities in England; and what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on this matter.
Answer: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops authoritative, evidence-based guidance on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England based on an evaluation ...
Answered 24 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80697More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to decrease the level of the impact of medicine shortages on patients.
Answer: The resilience of UK supply chains is a key priority, and we are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. In August, the Government published a policy paper, ‘Managing a...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80696More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure medicine shortages do not impact clinicians' ability to prescribe medicines that are best suited to the patient.
Answer: The resilience of UK supply chains is a key priority, and we are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. In August, the Government published a policy paper, ‘Managing a...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80695More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on (a) the suitability of country-level forecasts of supply needs for medicines up to three years in advance and (b) the steps needed
Answer: Given the inherent global nature of medical supply chains, international collaboration is key to strengthening supply resilience. The United Kingdom is committed to working with international partners to enhance the resilience and security of medical supp...
Answered 23 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80694More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the fortnightly notification provided to medicine suppliers regarding medicine shortages.
Answer: NHS England’s medicines frameworks contain a contractual ask that requires all suppliers to update NHS England on their ability to supply their products to National Health Service hospitals. This information is requested fortnightly and the responses are ...
Answered 21 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNHS: DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80693More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's processes for (a) forecasting, (b) alerting and (c) responding to medicine shortages.
Answer: Medicine supply chains are complex, global and highly regulated and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted – many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and are outside of government control. This includes manufacturing difficu...
Answered 21 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPlanning Permission: OxfordshireMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80692More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on their process for approving a planning application in the case of new development in Oxfordshire that will be
Answer: MHCLG ministers have had no recent discussions with the Environment Agency (EA) in respect of the matter in question.The EA has worked with Thames Water to develop a strategic approach to managing wastewater capacity challenges in Oxford. Working with loc...
Answered 24 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: AppealsHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80691More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding she has allocated to tackle the asylum case backlog.
Answer: The Home Office does not have a separately identifiable budget for tackling the asylum case backlog. All costs involved are scored against Home Office business-as-usual budgets that cover all asylum cases regardless of age. You may find Home Office annual...
Answered 15 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: AppealsMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80690More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Immigration and Asylum Tribunal Judges on the introduction of independent adjudicators to hear asylum appeals.
Answer: It is standard practice not to comment on the specifics of discussions between ministers and the judiciary.As would be expected, the Lord Chancellor has regular meetings with the Lady Chief Justice and other senior judges.In line with constitutional conve...
Answered 15 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: AppealsHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80689More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the appointment of Immigration Adjudicators on the asylum backlog.
Answer: The Home Secretary confirmed in a statement to the House of Commons on 1 September that further information regarding Tribunal system reforms will be provided in due course. The statement can be accessed here: Borders and Asylum - Hansard - UK Parliament.
Answered 15 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordEurovision Song ContestDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80688More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the BBC Board on the UK's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in the context of Israel's participation.
Answer: The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government. Therefore, the Government cannot intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations including on editorial matters.Decisions on who to include in international events and competitions are...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordCerliponase AlfaDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 16 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77949More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on securing long term access to cerliponase alfa.
Answer: Officials in the Department have had a number of discussions with colleagues in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about the ongoing appraisal of cerliponase alfa (Brineura) for the treatment of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis typ...
Answered 14 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordParental LeaveDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 16 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77947More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make it his policy to adopt the recommendations of the Women and Equalities Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2024-25 entitled Equality at work: Paternity and shared parental leave, HC 502
Answer: The Government thanks the committee for its careful consideration of Shared Parental Leave and Paternity Leave and has responded in full to the report. We recognise that more can be done to ensure working families are better supported. That is why on 1 Ju...
Answered 14 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHormone Replacement TherapyDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77387More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2025 to Question 35541 and and the Answer of 12 May to Question 50770 on Hormone Replacement Therapy, (a) what progress has been made and (b) what further steps ar
Answer: The Department is continuing to work closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure safe access to oestrogen and testosterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) implants, which are not licensed in the United Kingdom.T...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordArtificial Intelligence: RegulationDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77386More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of online safety regulations for protecting people against harmful advice provided by AI chatbots.
Answer: Services with AI chatbots regulated under the Online Safety Act have duties to protect all users from illegal content and children from age inappropiate content. This includes harmful advice if it is illegal content or meets the definition of harmful cont...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordInternet: ChildrenDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77385More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help ensure that parents receive adequate information on (a) the use of (i) parental controls and (ii) virtual private networks and (b) other steps to keep c
Answer: DSIT has funded media literacy projects, including Parent Zone’s ‘Everyday Digital’, to help parents understand online safety. On 12 September 2025, DSIT published research exploring what support parents need to keep children safe online. Ofcom has also r...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordTax AvoidanceTreasuryTabled 12 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76915More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will hold discussions with HMRC on the difference between the loan charge settlement terms offered to (a) large companies and (b) other people.
Answer: The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. The Government will respond by Autumn Budget 2025. HMRC applies the law fairly and cons...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordData ProtectionDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 11 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76765More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) websites and (b) organisations on the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answer: Ofcom has conducted an extensive programme of work aimed at facilitating understanding and compliance with the Online Safety Act. This includes a Regulation Checker to help services and organisations identify whether they are in scope of the relevant duti...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament record
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