Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with officials in China regarding potential escalation in Taiwan during the recent visit of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to Beijing.

Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK has consistently been clear on the continued need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. This government has raised this issue with China several times, including at the UK-China Strategic Dialogue earlier this year.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase mandatory random drug testing in prisons in England and Wales, and to expand the range of drugs tested for.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Government is committed to tackling drug use in prisons, which threatens prison safety and security, undermines our work to rehabilitate prisoners and drives reoffending. We therefore need to have a multi-pronged approach that tackles the supply of drugs, drives down demand and supports recovery – drug testing plays an important role in delivering this.

Random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) forms one part of our wider approach to tackling drug use in prisons. In custody, we also conduct more targeted testing, such as suspicion-based testing, when staff have reason to believe an individual has used drugs illicitly, as well as voluntary testing, which forms part of our approach on our Incentivised Substance Free Living Units, where prisoners sign a compact to remain drug free, receive access to improved conditions compared to a standard wing and are regularly tested. In probation settings, we are expanding our drug testing powers through the Sentencing Bill, meaning that any offender on licence can be tested.

We test for a wide range of substances and keep this under regular review to ensure we identify emerging trends to keep both staff and prisoners safe. Our new drug testing contract supports this by giving us greater flexibility to identify areas for improvement in our drug testing capabilities, ensuring we can keep pace with changing patterns of drug use and target support where it is most needed.

In recent years, levels of rMDT have fallen short across the estate because of staffing constraints, and as a result, volumes have not been sufficient nor consistently high enough to produce publishable data – though results are still used as part of adjudication proceedings. There has been some encouraging progress made in recent months to increase levels, and we will continue to keep performance under close review.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they will provide for the Emergency Alerts service once its initial three-year funding comes to an end.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As set out in the 2025 Resilience Action Plan, the Emergency Alerts system is one of many public warning and informing capabilities that the UK Government, Devolved Governments and Category 1 responders have at their disposal. It is an integral part of keeping the public safe as it allows for quick sharing of life-saving information.

Since the launch of Emergency Alerts in 2023, the system has been activated five times, in conjunction with other local warning methods, during emergencies to minimise risk to life.

On Sunday 7th September at around 3pm tens of millions of phones across the country received the test message, marking the largest simultaneous public communications event since the Second World War.

The UK Government will continue to ensure that Emergency Alerts capability is maintained and it is expected that the funding of the system will continue through routine departmental spend.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much the continuity of education allowance has increased since January and whether they plan to increase it further.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) helps Service families to provide stability in their children’s schooling where mobility might otherwise cause disruption. The Ministry of Defence engages with Service families through the Families Federations, the chain of command and Pay Colonel teams, who ensure that their views are represented in policy discussions.

With regards to allowance calculations, I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given by the then Minister for Veterans on 9 July 2025 to question 66168.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Armed Forces families and representatives since January regarding the continuity of education allowance.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) helps Service families to provide stability in their children’s schooling where mobility might otherwise cause disruption. The Ministry of Defence engages with Service families through the Families Federations, the chain of command and Pay Colonel teams, who ensure that their views are represented in policy discussions.

With regards to allowance calculations, I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given by the then Minister for Veterans on 9 July 2025 to question 66168.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the estimated cost to the state of educating children who have entered the state sector from independent schools since January.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

HM Treasury published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) on applying VAT to independent school fees. The TIIN estimates that accounting for the spending implications of any pupil movement into the state sector, the policy will raise £1.7 billion per annum by 2029/30.