Lord Berkeley

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The House of Commons was fully involved in the evacuation drill. For the purposes of evacuation, the Parliamentary Estate is treated as a single zone. Accordingly, the House of Commons Chamber was also evacuated during a debate.

The London Fire Brigade was informed in advance of the exercise. Its control room was notified and remained in contact throughout the drill. The local Borough Commander and the Station Commander from Soho were also informed. A representative from the London Fire Brigade's Risk Management Team attended and observed the exercise in order to provide feedback. In addition, the Chief Inspector from the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate attended to observe the evacuation.

The evacuation took a total of 15 minutes from commencement of the exercise until all members of the public and staff, excluding security personnel and designated observers, had left the building.

On advice given previously to the House of Commons, the decision was made not to bring a cat on the Estate on the following grounds:

1. The Estate had too much construction activity on site to provide a safe living environment for a free-roaming cat.
2. The risk of self-closing doors leaving a cat trapped without sustenance for significant periods of time.
3. The absence of assured daily arrangements for cat care.

We continue to work with our pest control contractor to implement targeted and effective regimes across the Palace. The Department of Estates and Facilities is in discussion with Churchill Cleaning Services to increase the level of intervention and with a view to this being in place by beginning of the summer recess.

The supply of the Peers Entrance works was competitively procured and benchmarked against other projects within Parliament to provide assurance around value for money.

For security reasons, the Houses do not publish capital expenditure on security mitigating projects as providing this level of detail could enable an individual to infer the extent and nature of the works, and thus the vulnerabilities which they were intended to mitigate.

There is no additional cost to the House in repairing defects with the door, as these defects are covered as part of our supply contracts for the main works. £1,500 in maintenance costs have been incurred for call outs where operator or user error have been the cause.

The House Administration is undertaking urgent work with operational staff and with our contractors to address and resolve the ongoing issues with the door.

The arrangements for All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) are set out in the The All-Party Parliamentary Groups Guide to the Rules. This states that the chair of the relevant APPG is responsible for the publication of certain meetings at least a week in advance in the All-Party Notices. The meetings which require a notice are an annual general meeting; an extraordinary general meeting; or any other meeting where a vote is to be held or a decision taken, or where there is an outside speaker. The notice in the All-Party Notices must include the details of a parliamentary contact and, if relevant, the name of the outside speaker.

The Guide to the Rules was approved by the House of Commons Standards Committee following a resolution of the House of Commons.

Paragraph 10 of the House of Commons Code of Conduct provides that an MP who is the chair and registered contact of an APPG must ensure that the APPG complies with the rules on APPGs. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards may investigate alleged breach of those rules. Members of the House of Lords are not permitted to be named as the chair and registered contact of an APPG but may be an office holder.

There are no plans to amend the name of the Order of the British Empire.

The Government is committed to consulting on employment status as soon as possible. The consultation will seek to address issues with the framework which can enable worker exploitation and leave vulnerable workers without core employment protections, as well as strengthening protections for the self-employed including the right to a written contract and blacklisting protections.

Government recognises that renewable liquid fuels could play a role in meeting Carbon Budgets through a limited role in decarbonising heat for some off‑gas‑grid properties. However, evidence to date has highlighted challenges around affordability and sustainability, including the availability of sustainable feedstocks and the higher cost to consumers compared with other low‑carbon heating options. For this reason, the Government has been clear that further evidence is required before decisions are taken on whether and how such fuels could be supported at scale.

As part of this evidence‑gathering process, the Government recently consulted on the role of alternative clean heating solutions, including renewable liquid fuels such as HVO. A Government Response will be published in due course.

We are currently reviewing evidence from our consultation on alternative clean heat solutions and will publish a government response in due course.

There are no plans for temporary or time-limited exemptions from the UK ETS for English island ferry services.

Any potential impacts of the scheme on ferry services to English islands will be considered in a review of the effectiveness of the maritime regime in 2028.

The Domestic Maritime Final Impact assessment was published on the 25^th November 2025.

The Government has not undertaken route-level, ferry fare modelling. This is because, as set out in the Impact Assessment, operators’ commercial decisions, vessel utilisation and fare structures vary widely. The qualitative assessment indicates that any passthrough to consumers is likely to be modest.

The Government is exempting ferries serving Scotland’s island and peninsula communities because of the unique challenges they face in accessing essential goods, healthcare, education and employment. This is in addition to the legal duties to consider island populations under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.

The Government is applying a 50% deduction in surrender obligation for voyages between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. This removes any disparity between the UK ETS and EU ETS, ensuring equivalent carbon pricing within the Irish Sea.

The Government consulted extensively with the maritime sector, to ensure all perspectives informed policy development.

During consultation, the Government provided bespoke engagement sessions including a roundtable for Northern Ireland stakeholders.

Government officials continue to engage and have subsequently held individual meetings with key stakeholders and industry bodies. Regulators are running a voluntary onboarding period which will help the sector engage with the ETS ahead of July.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Defra have funded a £14.8 million Resilient Coastal Communities and Seas Programme which will fund projects to enhance our knowledge of how to strengthen the resilience, health and wellbeing of UK coastal communities.

UKRI has also invested in the coastal economy, for example through the ECOflow and ECOWind programmes, supporting the rollout of clean energy in offshore wind, and an £11 million programme to build resilience to climate change in coastal communities and support their economic development.

More widely, Defra is working with the sector to help establish support it in the establishment of Marine Science UK (MSUK). MSUK acts as a collective voice for marine science across UK universities and research organisations, to champion the ocean and to communicate robust and coherent marine science evidence to government, industry and the wider community.

The government has a strong track record of supporting marine science, including through the £10 million ‘Biological influence on future ocean storage of carbon’ (BIO-Carbon) programme, funded by UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which aims to better understand the role of ocean life in climate sequestration. NERC also supports and partners with the National Oceanography Centre and other marine delivery partners to underpin the UK’s marine science capabilities.

More widely, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) supports the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, supporting global efforts to tackle the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and food security. DEFRA also works to foster international ocean science co-operation on ocean sustainability issues, and is working closely with our fishing and seafood sectors to ensure they are profitable and sustainable. In addition, the investment provided by the £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund, which will support the next generation of fishermen and coastal communities over the next 12 years.

The Government is considering options for UK access to a satellite-based augmentation system, following our withdrawal from the EU's European Geostationary Navigation Overlay (EGNOS) system. This work is ongoing and no decision has yet been made. The Government engages with the European Commission and European Space Agency on space programmes but has not specifically discussed access to EGNOS.

This Government recognises the importance of Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies for our security and prosperity. We are implementing the Government Policy Framework for Greater PNT Resilience, including developing proposals for a National Timing Centre and enhanced long-range navigation system. The Government is considering options for UK access to a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS). This work is ongoing and no decision has yet been made.

The UK continues to host two Ranging Integrity Monitoring Stations, in Glasgow and Swanwick, that support European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) services. The Government is considering options for future UK access to a Satellite Based Augmentation System such as EGNOS, and no decision has been taken. The Government has not had any discussions with European counterparts on the restoration of EGNOS services.