Written Answers
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Department for Business and Trade
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the potential impact of inflationary pressures on the pub industry, including rising energy costs, business rates, supply chain costs, and staffing pressures.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking with regulators to help tackle (a) the use of inflation linked price rises in consumer communications contracts and (b) the advertising of VAT exclusive prices.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to introduce a statutory right to paid menstrual health leave for individuals suffering from (a) endometriosis and (b) adenomyosis.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including measures to require boards to report on cyber resilience in the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with Meta on preventing the sale of illegal e-bikes on their marketplace platform.
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's revised code of practice for services, public functions and associations on the tourism industry.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that national sports governing bodies enforce compliance with statutory safeguarding guidance; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of enforcement mechanisms for failing to act in…
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Department for Education
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of freezing the accrual of interest on student loans for individuals on maternity or paternity leave.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that proposed changes to childcare provision do not undermine the sustainability of private nurseries and childminders.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is her Department's policy to increase the capital budget to schools to support them in implementing the proposed EHRC changes to the Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost of implementing the proposed EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions, and Associations on academies; and whether she has had discussions with academy providers on this issue.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the legal costs of implementing the EHRC’s proposed Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations for schools.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of safeguarding legislation in ensuring that organisations outside of formal education settings comply with statutory guidance.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the role of generative AI in apprenticeship provision.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will commission research into the potential merits of the use of generative AI in apprenticeship provision.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with training providers on the potential adoption of generative AI in education settings.
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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) promote competition and (b) expand consumer choice in the water sector.
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Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require the use of digital watermarking on AI images.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to promote the use of content authentication technologies to help identify AI-generated content online; and if she will consider regulatory intervention to ensure provenance signals are…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to mandate the use of AI labelling tools to differentiate between real and synthetic content.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to prevent children from receiving (a) harmful content and (b) misinformation from chatbots.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure Ofcom requires all user-to-user services to remove child sexual abuse content from their platforms.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle the threat posed by quantum computing to cybersecurity infrastructure.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what (a) guidance and (b) resources he is providing to (i) small and medium enterprises and (ii) other businesses to help (A) prepare for and (B) mitigate quantum cyber risks.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's contingency plans to tackle quantum cyber threats; and if he will conduct a comparative assessment on the effectiveness of these measures compared to those used by his…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) cyber security laws and (b) supporting regulatory guidance in preventing supply chain attacks on critical (i) services and (ii) infrastructure.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will ensure that data centres are (a) secure and (b) resilient.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increased use of AI by (a) cyber-criminals and (b) nation state actors on cyber security risks to the UK.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to include provisions within the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill on requiring regulated organisations to adopt cybersecurity to help tackle AI-enabled threats.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) AI-enabled and (b) other cyber attacks on economic (i) security and (ii) competitiveness.
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Department for Transport
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to review the requirement of local authorities to provide capital funding for fixed speed cameras and that revenue generated from fixed speed camera enforcement is received by HM Treasury.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has considered allowing a proportion of speeding fine revenues to be ringfenced for local authorities for road safety purposes, including the funding of fixed speed cameras.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for local pedestrian safety of encouraging local authorities to prioritise the creation and connectivity of active travel routes in ways that could affect their eligibility for Active Travel…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that accredited rail retailers offer standardised and automated Delay Repay compensation directly to passengers; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of doing so.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the safety risks of in-car devices that can distract drivers.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to remove the requirement to reapply for a Blue Badge for people over the age of 80.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the Road Traffic Act 1991 to include the mandated reporting of cats that are (a) struck and (b) killed by vehicles.
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Department for Work and Pensions
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has considered making a carers allowance supplement payment available to carers in England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce waiting times on her Department's helplines and (b) prevent calls from being cut off after long waiting periods.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help those with (a) severe health conditions and (b) disabilities complete the Personal Independence Payment application process.
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Department of Health and Social Care
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to a) issue guidance or b) take action to prevent excessive charges for privately provided COVID-19 vaccinations.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Autumn 2025 Covid-19 vaccination eligibility criteria on people with asthma; what consideration was given to including asthma as a qualifying condition for free Covid…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targeted support his Department is providing people with asthma during the winter period.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of (a) the sufficiency of the supply of covid-19 vaccines during winter 2025/26 and (b) whether there will be sufficient supply of covid-19 vaccines to meet the expected demand from people eligible for a free NHS…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure parity of pay between staff employed by (a) independent sector providers of NHS services and (b) the NHS.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of private healthcare providers using NHS hospital facilities on NHS waiting lists.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to review approaches to improve the integration of (a) nutritional science and (b) dietetic services into standard patient care pathways for (i) recovery, (ii) managing chronic ailments and (iii) in general.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve catering policies in health services to ensure are they are (a) patient-centred and (b) nutritious.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of using Body Mass Index as a way of measuring childhood obesity through the National Child Measurement Programme.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to accelerate the registration process for overseas-trained dentists to help extend the provision of NHS dental care.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with diabetes are not impacted by the shortage of Ozempic.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) regulate care home fees.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has any plans to introduce legislation requiring alcoholic beverages to display (a) full ingredient lists and (b) nutritional information in line with the labelling requirements for other food and drink products.
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Home Office
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the sale or promotion of merchandise linked to (a) the Wagner Group and (b) other proscribed terrorist organisations on (i) UK-based and (ii) UK-accessible websites; and what enforcement action is…
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Ministry of Justice
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he will take steps to ensure that individuals seeking a divorce are automatically eligible for legal aid in cases where evidence demonstrates that a child of the family has been subjected to abuse.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the financial impact of the Court of Protection’s Deputyship application process on families of disabled children who lack capacity to access Child Trust Funds.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to simplify the Court of Protection’s Deputyship application process for families of disabled children who lack capacity to access Child Trust Funds.
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Treasury
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to review proposals to tax pickup trucks as personal vehicles.
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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to reintroduce measures to increase tax on higher polluting vehicles.
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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will provide an update on when HM Revenue & Customs will restart processing IHT30 clearance requests.
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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to reduce the rate of VAT for the hospitality and tourism sector.
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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase taxation on (a) higher-polluting vehicles and (b) tax pickup trucks used for personal purposes as private vehicles.
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Women and Equalities
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent estimate she has made of the cost of legal advice for small businesses of the proposed changes to the Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions, and Associations by the EHRC.
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