Rachael Maskell MP: written questions
708 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Public Transport: Crimes of ViolenceDepartment for TransportTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95680More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a standalone offence of assaulting a public transport worker.
Answer: There is no place for abuse or assault of any worker. Public transport workers and the wider public should be assured that where offenders commit acts of violence they will be arrested and brought before the courts. The British Transport Police have a spe...
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Transport: Crimes of ViolenceDepartment for TransportTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95679More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal protections against assaults at work for public transport workers.
Answer: There is no place for abuse or assault of any worker. Public transport workers and the wider public should be assured that where offenders commit acts of violence they will be arrested and brought before the courts. The British Transport Police have a spe...
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordFamily Hubs: Adoption and Kinship CareDepartment for EducationTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95678More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to ensure family hubs are accessible for adoptive and kinship families.
Answer: Best Start Family Hubs (BSFHs) will be open to all families, including adoptive and kindship families. Best Start Family Hubs (BSFHs) are focused on universal, preventative services, targeting disadvantaged families. They can also serve as a non-stigmatis...
Answered 6 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Kinship Care: Mental Health ServicesDepartment for EducationTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95677More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October to Question 78154, how much of the £500 million allocated to local authorities for Family Help services is being allocated to help adoptive and kinship families with post pl
Answer: Family Help reforms are being delivered nationally through the Families First Partnership programme, offering services to all families, including adoptive and kinship families.On 20 November, we announced additional investment of £547 million, bringing to...
Answered 12 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordME/CFS: MalnutritionDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95676More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of patient safety risks, including those relating to malnutrition, among people with severe and very severe ME/CFS in England.
Answer: In July this year, we published the final delivery plan (FDP) for myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which focuses on boosting research, improving attitudes and education, and bettering the lives of people with thi...
Answered 10 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSpeech and Language Therapy: RecruitmentDepartment for EducationTabled 28 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 95405More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures are being undertaken to recruit speech and language therapists.
Answer: The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabil...
Answered 8 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Kinship Care: FinanceDepartment for EducationTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92030More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2025 to Question 78154 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, what steps she has taken to ensure (a) adoptive and (b) kinship families receive appropriate help f
Answer: The department is committed to rebalancing the children’s social care system, which is why we are rolling out the Families First Partnership programme. On 20 November, we announced additional investment of £547 million, bringing the total funding provided...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92029More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to announce the eligibility criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) in 2026-27; whether her Department will provide funding for the ASGSF after April 2027; and, wi
Answer: The government has confirmed the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue in 2026/27 and that applications running into 2026/27 can now be made. Details of the ASGSF from April 2026 will be made available once departmental busi...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92028More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2025 to Question 67594 on Adoption Support Fund, whether the equalities impact assessment was drafted prior to the date of her Department's decisions to amend the Adoption and
Answer: The equalities impact assessment (EIA) was drafted prior to the decisions to amend the adoption and special guardianship support fund. Following the announcement of the changes to the Fund, the EIA was prepared for publication and subsequently made availa...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 18 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 92027More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to assess the impact of the April 2025 changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, including (a) the reduction in the fair access limit and (b) reductions
Answer: The new criteria for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access support. So far this year, over 12,500 applications have been approved, including almost 1,000 applications for special...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordMotabilityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 21 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 906025More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to co-produce policy changes to mobility allowances.
Answer: The PIP mobility element is in scope of the Timms Review, which aims to ensure PIP is fair and fit for the future. We will co-produce the Review with disabled people, and their organisations to ensure lived experience is at the heart of its work. We will ...
Answered 27 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPigs: Animal HousingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76016More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered introducing method of production labelling for pork products to help consumers that are seeking to avoid products from farrowing crates.
Answer: We will consider the potential role of method of production labelling reform as part of the ongoing development of the government’s wider animal welfare strategy. On 12 June 2025, we published the summary of responses and the Government response to the fa...
Answered 8 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPigs: Animal HousingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76015More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to support farmers in Yorkshire to transition to free farrowing systems.
Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the Rt. Hon. Member for Birmingham Northfield, Laurence Turner, on 3 April 2025, PQ UIN 41698.
Answered 23 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordPigs: Animal HousingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76014More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she is having with (a) farming bodies and (b) animal welfare organisations on the potential for phasing out the use of farrowing crates by indoor pig farms.
Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 5 September 2025 to the hon. Member for Ashfield, PQ 73693.
Answered 8 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordFree School MealsDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76013More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of children in families subject to no recourse to public funds provisions that have received the families receiving additional support (FRAS) entitlement for
Answer: Families in receipt of additional forms of support to children in ‘no recourse to public fund’ households have been eligible for the 15-hours entitlement since September 2022.The early years census data collects data on the number of children taking up th...
Answered 23 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordFree School MealsDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76012More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the maximum income threshold for free school meals eligibility for children in families with no recourse to public funds in line with the eligi
Answer: This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September ...
Answered 24 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordFree School MealsDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76011More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in families subject to no recourse to public funds provisions have received the concession on access to free school meals introduced in 2022; and what the breakdown is of those figures by (a)
Answer: This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September ...
Answered 24 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordCrime PreventionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75020More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to publish a community safety strategy.
Answer: The Government’s Safer Streets Mission led by the Home and Plan for Change commitments set out a whole-system approach to reduce serious harm and restore public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system. Central to this is our ambitions to st...
Answered 12 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordFlags and GraffitiDepartment for TransportTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75019More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's proposed disapplication of Section 132 of the Highways Act 1980 on public safety.
Answer: My Department has made no such proposal. It is for local authorities to determine how to use the powers at their disposal, including those within the Highways Act 1980.
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordHate Crime and Racial Discrimination: Flags and GraffitiHome OfficeTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75018More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on trends in the number of (a) hate crimes and (b) instances of racism in communities that have not (i) taken flags down and (ii) removed graffiti.
Answer: The Home Office publishes official statistics on hate crime offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. The latest release, including information on trends, can be found here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UKThe Hom...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordFlagsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75017More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential risks of the unauthorised placing of flags on lampposts; and whether she has issued guidance to local authorities on (a)
Answer: The Government supports the flying of flags across the country. Flags should be an embodiment of bringing our country and our communities together. Guidance exists, such as ‘Flying flags: a plain English guide” - as set out in the Town and Country Plannin...
Answered 12 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordFlags and Graffiti: Local GovernmentMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75016More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support local authorities to (a) remove and (b) protect the safety of staff who are removing (i) graffiti and (ii) flags that have bee
Answer: The Government supports the flying of flags across the country. Flags should be an embodiment of bringing our country and our communities together. Guidance exists, such as ‘Flying flags: a plain English guide” - as set out in the Town and Country Plannin...
Answered 12 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOccupied Territories: ChristianityForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75015More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the protection of the Christian communities in (a) Gaza, (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territories an
Answer: UK officials continue to meet with Church leaders in Jerusalem, and we carefully monitor reports of activity impacting freedom of religion or belief in Gaza and the West Bank. In July, our Consul General to Jerusalem visited Taybeh in the West Bank with c...
Answered 3 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPalestinians: Recognition of StatesForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75014More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to secure a deal with the Palestinian Authorities which recognises a future Palestine without the presence of Hamas or other terrorist organisations.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the announcements made by the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary on 21 September, further details of which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-formally-recognises-palestinian-state.
Answered 3 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordGaza: Humanitarian AidForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 4 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 75013More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Israeli counterpart on allowing the UK to bring aid into Gaza with UN protection.
Answer: The Israeli Government's refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza has caused a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, and the UK has been clear that the latest military operation in Gaza City will only worsen the humanitarian crisis and endanger the lives of...
Answered 3 Oct 2025
Original Parliament record
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