Written Statements

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

Monday 14 September 2026

Speciality Steel UK

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (Blair McDougall)]

I wish to update the House on the position regarding Speciality Steel UK.

SSUK entered liquidation in August 2025, with the independent, court-appointed official receiver managing the liquidation process. Throughout this period, the Government have provided funding to enable the official receiver to carry out his statutory duties, including maintaining site safety, supporting employees and conducting a sales process for the business and its assets.

For more than 12 months, the Government have worked hard to facilitate a private-sector solution, funding the official receiver’s process while interested parties engaged in the sale process.

As part of that process, the official receiver engaged with a number of interested parties seeking to acquire the business and its assets. The final bidder taken forward by the official receiver subsequently sought Government support associated with its proposed acquisition of SSUK. Following extensive engagement with the bidder and its advisers, and detailed consideration of that request, the Government have concluded that they cannot provide support on the terms proposed.

This decision has not been taken lightly. The Government carefully examined the proposal and explored whether an arrangement could be reached that appropriately protected public money while providing a sustainable basis for the future of the business. Despite extensive engagement, material concerns remained regarding the evidence supporting the proposed financing package and the protections available to taxpayers.

The Government’s decision relates specifically to the proposal for Government support that was presented. It should not be interpreted as a broader judgement on the bidder or its wider business activities.

SSUK occupies a unique place in the UK steel ecosystem. Its specialist capabilities have potential applications in advanced manufacturing sectors, including aerospace and defence, while its sites are major employers in communities facing significant economic challenges.

The Government also recognise the significance of the SSUK sites to the employees, local economy and communities it supports. Given the size and complexity of these sites, an official receiver-led closure process could materially reduce future options and create significant uncertainty for workers, communities and local stakeholders.

The communities surrounding SSUK have already suffered a prolonged period of uncertainty. The Government cannot accept the prospect of a prolonged process that will restrict HMG’s aim to create the growth opportunities this area deserves, especially while viable future options remain available for consideration. We are determined to ensure that decisions about the future of SSUK are taken in a way that protects local communities, preserves opportunity and supports economic growth.

The Government will therefore engage with the official receiver’s sale process and develop a proposal for the public acquisition of SSUK. This approach will help preserve control of the sites and maintain strategic optionality while decisions are taken on their longer-term future.

Public acquisition is not an endpoint and does not pre-judge the outcome of this work. It will create the space for a detailed assessment of a sustainable future for SSUK as a speciality steelmaker, regeneration of the sites, or a combination of the two.

The Government will engage closely with local communities, elected representatives, the mayor and relevant experts to determine the most appropriate future for the business and its sites.

All future decisions and spending commitments will be subject to detailed due diligence and funded from existing Government budgets.

The Government will continue to keep the House informed of significant developments.

[HCWS341]

Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator: Statutory Review

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Minister for the Future of Work (Kate Dearden)]

In line with the Government’s regulatory action plan, which seeks to ensure the UK’s regulatory system is targeted, proportionate and supports growth, I am today publishing and laying before Parliament the report on the third statutory review of the pubs code and Pubs Code Adjudicator.

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 provided for the establishment of the pubs code to regulate the relationship between large pub-owning businesses and their tied tenants in England and Wales. The pubs code is found in the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016. It governs the relationship between large pub-owning businesses, who have estates of 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales, and their tied pub tenants.

The code is based on the principles that tied tenants should be treated fairly and that they should not be worse off than they would be if they were free of their tie. The code includes a range of rights and protections for tied tenants in their commercial dealings with their pub-owning business—POB—related to their fair and lawful treatment. The code also gives tenants the right, at certain times, to exercise a market rent only—MRO—option, to change from a tied tenancy to a free-of-tie tenancy, where the rent is set at the market level and the tenant is able to buy products on the open market

The Act requires the Secretary of State to appoint a Pubs Code Adjudicator. The role of the PCA is to enforce the code and to encourage and monitor compliance with its requirements. The PCA can also give advice and guidance, investigate non-compliance with the code, enforce the code where non-compliance is found and arbitrate disputes under the code. Where the PCA finds non-compliance, it can require the publication of information, impose financial penalties or make recommendations.

The Act requires the Secretary of State to review the following every three years: the operation of the pubs code, the performance of the PCA, and the regulations setting the PCA’s costs, fees and financial penalties. This statutory review covers the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025 and draws on publicly available evidence and data published in the Government’s pubs code post-implementation review. It also includes stakeholder views from the Government’s 12-week call for input, which was published on 22 May 2025 and received 36 responses.

This third review found the code to be operating consistently with the two overarching principles set out in the Act: the fair and lawful dealing by pub-owning businesses in relation to their tied pub tenants; and tied tenants not being worse off than they would be if they were not subject to any product or service tie.

While there have been improvements in the professionalisation of support available to tied tenants, the review found that there is some concern with tenants’ ability to access the existing MRO gateways. The review also found that POBs believed MRO hindered their ability to invest and plan for the future of their business.

The Government will therefore develop proposals with stakeholders to introduce additional MRO gateways and further opt-out provisions, with the aim of further strengthening the effectiveness of the pubs code.

With regard to the PCA, the review found the PCA has been broadly effective in enforcing the code over the review period, with particular success in reducing arbitration cases and successfully completing the first investigation under the code. The review however notes that there are areas for improvement. While the Secretary of State does not believe he needs to issue new guidance under the Act, the Government encourage the PCA to act on six areas identified in this statutory review to further improve its effectiveness. As the PCA has now been in existence for over a decade and the current PCA is reaching the end of her second term, the Government will also consider commissioning an independent review of how it protects tied tenants’ rights and fair treatment under the code.

The review further found that no changes were necessary to the related code and PCA fees, costs and penalties as set out in the Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016.

The report on the third statutory review of the pubs code and PCA has today been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

[HCWS339]

Information Commissioner’s Office: Transition to Information Commission

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)]

Today I am pleased to announce that on 30 of September 2026, the Information Commission will take over all the functions and responsibilities of the Information Commissioner’s Office to become the UK’s independent data protection regulator.

This marks an important milestone in the modernisation of the UK’s data protection regulator. In an increasingly data-driven economy, the regulator sits at the heart of the UK’s data and digital landscape, playing a vital role in maintaining public trust, upholding high standards of data protection, and ensuring personal data is used responsibly to deliver economic and social benefits.

The transition to the Information Commission is designed to ensure that the regulator is equipped to meet future challenges and seize opportunities. The ICO currently operates as a corporation sole, with powers and responsibilities vested in one individual, the Information Commissioner. From 30 September, those functions will transfer to the Information Commission, a body corporate with non-executive and executive members, and with collective responsibility for decision making.

This change has purpose and value. The new governance model will bring together a broader range of skills, experience and perspectives at the top of the organisation, strengthening accountability, resilience and decision making, and ensure that the regulator is well placed to navigate rapid technological change, increasingly complex data-driven services, and evolving public expectations around transparency and accountability.

The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 9 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026

To give effect to the transition, the Government have made regulations commencing, on 30 September, the sections of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 that abolish the Information Commissioner’s Office and transfer all its regulatory and other functions to the new Information Commission. In July, the Government announced the appointment of seven new non-executive members to the Information Commission: Laurie Benson, Maggie Carver, Stephen Cohen, Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, Gary Kildare, Hilary Newiss and Scott McPherson. Together with the interim chief executive, Paul Arnold, they will assume their roles on 30 September and lead the organisation into its next chapter.

The new board brings expertise from across business, technology, regulation, governance and public service. It will help shape the commission’s strategic direction, support delivery of its ambitious agenda, and ensure the organisation remains focused on serving in the public interest.

Above all, this transition represents a new beginning for the regulator. The Information Commission must be an organisation that people trust, and trust starts with strong leadership, clear accountability and the right culture. The new governance structure provides strong foundations for an organisation that is open, accountable and resilient, capable of regulating with rigour and independence while building public confidence in the responsible use of data for years to come.

I congratulate all the newly appointed members on their roles. The Government have also launched a public appointments campaign to recruit a new chair of the Information Commission, who will play a vital role in shaping its future direction and ensuring its success.

[HCWS337]

School Food Standards

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Paul Waugh)]

The Government today have published their formal response to the consultation on proposals to improve the school food standards in England.

Ensuring children have access to healthy and nutritious food at school is an important part of giving every child the best start in life. School food plays a vital role in supporting children’s health, wellbeing and readiness to learn. Yet too many children are not getting the nutritious food they need: children consume around twice the recommended amount of free sugars, over 90% consume insufficient fibre, and almost one in four children leave primary school living with obesity. Dental decay remains the leading cause of hospital admissions for five to nine-year-olds. Since the school food standards were last updated, nutritional evidence has evolved. The Government therefore launched a consultation on updating the standards for the first time in over a decade, with the aim of improving the nutritional quality of food and drink provided in schools and supporting healthier eating habits for children and young people.

The consultation ran from April to June 2026 and received 5,216 responses from parents, pupils, schools, caterers, local authorities, health professionals and representative organisations, alongside wider engagement across the education, health, catering, faith, farming and food sectors. Respondents were generally supportive of improving the nutritional quality of school food, particularly proposals to increase fibre, fruit and vegetables, strengthen drinks standards, introduce dedicated breakfast standards and improve school food governance and transparency. They also raised important considerations around affordability, implementation, meal uptake and inclusion. These views have helped to shape the Government’s final decisions and implementation approach.

Having carefully considered the consultation responses, the Government will proceed with many of the proposed reforms, while taking into account stakeholder feedback on the practicalities of implementation. The revised school food standards will strengthen the nutritional quality of food and drink provided in schools by placing greater emphasis on fruit, vegetables, fibre and a wider range of healthy protein sources, while reducing sugar and further restricting foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt. For the first time, dedicated breakfast standards will ensure that food and drink provided before the school day supports a healthier, lower-sugar and higher-fibre offer. The revised standards will also strengthen requirements relating to fruit and vegetables, fibre, protein and healthier drinks, while maintaining access to free drinking water throughout the school day. Some requirements affecting secondary schools, including changes relating to drinks, cheese and pulses, will be introduced on a phased basis to support deliverability and pupil acceptance.

Reflecting the views expressed during the consultation, the Government have refined some of the proposals to support effective delivery. These changes include greater flexibility in how vegetables can be incorporated into meals, adjustments to fibre requirements and wholegrain provision, limited flexibility for processed meat in secondary schools, and the retention of up to two sweetened desserts or baked products each week in secondary settings. The Government have also broadened the range of permitted products in several areas, including plant-based options and drinks, while retaining the overall ambition of improving children’s diets and supporting healthier eating habits.

The Government intend to lay regulations in October 2026, alongside the publication of supporting guidance. During autumn 2026, we will work with schools, caterers and sector partners to co-develop practical implementation materials and ensure that stakeholders across the supply chain are supported to understand and prepare for the revised requirements. This collaborative approach will help ensure that the guidance and supporting resources are practical, deliverable and responsive to operational challenges.

Most of the revised school food standards will come into force from September 2027, providing schools, trusts, caterers, suppliers and local authorities with time to prepare for implementation. A limited number of secondary school requirements, including specified changes relating to drinks, cheese and pulses, will be introduced from September 2028 following a transition period. This phased approach reflects consultation feedback on deliverability, pupil acceptance and meal uptake, while supporting practical implementation across secondary settings.

Alongside the revised standards, the Government will introduce a new national compliance framework from September 2027. This will include strengthening governance and transparency around school food, by expecting every school to appoint a lead governor for school food, and to publish their menus and school food policies online. We will also take forward the development of a national monitoring system on school food. This will form part of a wider package of resources, training and guidance accessible to all schools.

This work sits alongside other measures to ensure children have access to healthy, balanced food. We are rolling out free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary aged pupils in England. We have extended free school meals to all children from households in receipt of universal credit, providing over half a million children from disadvantaged backgrounds with access to a free, nutritious meal every school day, and lifting 100,000 children out of poverty. Together, these measures represent the largest expansion of school food provision in a generation, helping to improve attainment, behaviour and outcomes by ensuring more children have access to nutritious food throughout the school day.

We continue to work alongside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as it develops a new food strategy to ensure the food on children’s plates is good quality, accessible and affordable, as well as sourced locally where possible.

Taken together, these reforms will support healthier food provision across the school day and help ensure that children are well nourished, ready to learn and able to thrive.

A copy of the Government response will be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

[HCWS338]

Covid-19 Inquiry Module 3 Report: Government Response

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

On Thursday 19 March 2026, the covid-19 inquiry published its third report, which focused on the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare systems of the UK and put forward 10 recommendations for the Government to consider. Today, the Government are publishing their response to the report, and setting out the actions we are taking to address its recommendations.

The covid-19 pandemic was one of the most significant public health challenges in recent history, placing extraordinary demands on health and care services and affecting people and communities across the United Kingdom.

Many thousands lost loved ones, often in deeply distressing circumstances, and our thoughts remain with all those affected. We also continue to pay tribute to the health and social care workers across the country who served the public with extraordinary dedication, compassion, and courage in the most challenging of conditions.

The Government are grateful to Baroness Hallett and the UK covid-19 inquiry team for their continued efforts to ensure that we learn all the necessary lessons from this crisis, and we are grateful as well to all those frontline workers and bereaved families who shared often harrowing evidence of their experiences with the inquiry.

The module 3 report is a sobering and important account of the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems across the UK. It recognises both the extraordinary efforts of frontline staff and the profound pressures under which they worked.

It also shows how the pandemic exposed significant vulnerabilities in our health and care systems, including long-standing weaknesses in staffing, capacity and infrastructure, and it sets out the consequences that these had for patient care during a national emergency.

It is vital that the lessons from those failings continue to be learned and embedded to strengthen the future resilience of our health and care systems.

In many areas, that action is already under way. Our 10-year health plan sets out a long-term vision to make the NHS fit for the future, delivering better, faster care, with a workforce that is more empowered, flexible and fulfilled. We are also bringing forward legislation through the Health Bill which is integral to our modernisation agenda to improve patient care, system co-ordination and accountability.

Most importantly, alongside these reforms, our new pandemic preparedness strategy shows how the UK will build on the specific lessons from covid-19, and ensure we are better ready and able to deal with pandemics in the future.

Our response to the module 3 report takes this work further and sets out the actions we are taking to strengthen preparedness for future health emergencies. These include improving infection prevention and control governance, strengthening visiting rights, modernising health data systems through the single patient record and strengthening psychological, emotional and occupational health support for the health and care workforce.

We recognise that meaningful change will require partnership working across all the nations of the United Kingdom, the NHS, local government, and the wider health and care sector. We are committed to working closely with our partners to ensure that the lessons of this report are fully embedded at every level, and in every region. We will continue to work on these issues to turn the lessons identified in the report into lasting change and ensure the country is better prepared for future threats.

While the module 3 report is focused on healthcare systems, teams across health and social care have worked together to strengthen joint working between the two systems, so that people experience more integrated and person-centred care.

The upcoming module 6 report will consider social care in more detail, and those findings will be carefully taken into account as the Government develop their plans for a national care service, and ensure that the social care system in our country gives people the dignity, support and security they deserve.

We owe it to all those who suffered during the pandemic, and all those who served on the frontline of that health crisis, to ensure that the failings of the past have been properly acknowledged and addressed, and that a stronger, more resilient health and care system will be built for the future.

[HCWS342]

Standard of Proof for Unlawful Killing Consultation

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Davies-Jones)]

Today, the Ministry of Justice is launching a public consultation on the standard of proof to be applied to the short-form inquest conclusion of unlawful killing.

This consultation follows the publication on 23 October 2025 of the independent police accountability rapid review, as announced by the Home Secretary in her written ministerial statement which can be found on the UK Parliament website under the number UIN HCWS987.

Commissioned in October 2024 by the then Lord Chancellor and Home Secretary, the review was conducted by Tim Godwin OBE QPM and the right hon. Sir Adrian Fulford, and examined two issues: the threshold for police misconduct proceedings involving use of force, and the standard of proof for unlawful killing inquests.

The Home Secretary accepted the recommendation to revise the threshold for police misconduct proceedings involving the use of force, and amendments to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 were laid on 9 June and came into force on 30 June.

On the issue of the standard of proof for unlawful killing inquest conclusions, the review found a strong case for a return to the criminal standard (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt) reversing the effect of the Supreme Court’s 2020 Maughan judgment, which applied the civil standard (i.e. balance of probabilities) to all short-form conclusions. However, the reviewers also recognised that this issue has broader implications beyond policing, including in healthcare, detention, and workplace settings and that its own engagement was necessarily limited. The review therefore recommended that the Government should undertake a full public consultation before deciding whether to legislate for a change. The Lord Chancellor has accepted this recommendation.

Accordingly, the consultation launched today seeks views from across sectors and communities on whether the current standard remains appropriate. It does not propose a change, nor does it assume that one will be made. The aim is to gather evidence and perspectives to inform future policy development, ensuring that any decision is grounded in transparency, fairness, and public confidence.

The consultation will run for twelve weeks, closing on 7 December 2026, and is available at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/standard-of-proof-for-the-short-form-inquest-concl/

I encourage all those with an interest in the coronial system, public accountability, and access to justice to engage with this important consultation.

For clarity, the issue considered in this consultation relates only to the short-form conclusion of unlawful killing in the coronial jurisdiction. It is not connected with the Government’s recent decision to exclude criminal offences related to unlawful killing such as manslaughter or death by dangerous driving from the Sentencing Act’s progression model.

[HCWS340]

Robert Hamill Inquiry Report

Monday 14th September 2026 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Chris Bryant)]

I am today laying before Parliament the report of the Robert Hamill inquiry, and publishing it in full online.

I acknowledge the significant delay of 15 years between the completion and publication of this report. While necessary to allow legal proceedings to conclude, this prolonged wait has undoubtedly caused Robert’s family deep anguish. I offer my profound sympathies to his family and pay tribute to their dignity throughout this ordeal.

On 27 April 1997, Robert Hamill was violently attacked by a large crowd in Portadown simply because he was a Catholic, dying from his injuries weeks later. His murder was a horrifying tragedy.

The inquiry addressed two primary public concerns regarding the conduct of the Royal Ulster Constabulary: first, whether officers in a nearby Land Rover were responsible for Robert Hamill’s death; and secondly, whether the subsequent investigation was inhibited by wrongful acts or omissions.

The inquiry concluded that officers in the Land Rover were not guilty of any wrongful act or omission directly facilitating the death, though Sir Edwin Jowitt expressed a dissenting view. However, the inquiry made stark findings regarding wrongful omissions during the initial police investigation between 27 April and 7 May 1997, concluding that these omissions severely hindered the investigation.

These omissions included:

Failure to carry out initial debriefings at the scene or at the police station, which was negligent and severely impacted the murder investigation;

failure to carry out a full debriefing once it became clear Robert Hamill’s injuries were life threatening;

wrongful omissions by two officers to supply relevant information regarding an individual seen at the scene, which was negligent in one case and deliberate in the other.

Furthermore, the inquiry found that RUC officer Robert Atkinson committed a deliberate wrongful act by tipping off a suspect, resulting in the destruction of evidence, and subsequently conspired to cover up the call, leading to his conviction for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland will reflect on these findings. The Government remain committed to establishing effective mechanisms that deliver transparency and accountability for legacy cases.

I place on record my gratitude to the current and former chairs and panel members—Sir John Evans, the late Sir Edwin Jowitt, and Reverend Baroness Richardson —for their diligent service in uncovering the truth. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

[HCWS343]