Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what financial support is available for the installation of solar panels in UK domestic settings.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Solar is an important part of the Government’s strategy for increasing energy performance of buildings and contributes to meeting the government’s fuel poverty targets.
The Warm Homes Plan will deliver £15 billion of public investment helping households take up measures like solar panels, heat pumps, batteries and insulation. Homeowners will soon be able to apply for government-backed, low and zero interest loans to assist with upfront costs for solar.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions there were for the use of a mobile phone while driving in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of criminal offences including using a mobile phone when driving in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool.
This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding provision for the police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales.
This is an increase of up to £1.3 billion compared with the 2025–26 settlement, representing a 6.7% cash increase and a 4.4% real terms increase. Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.5% cash increase and a 2.3% real terms increase in funding.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of vaccine uptake in schools.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors uptake of childhood and adolescent vaccinations via the school-based programmes and publishes this in annual coverage reports. Uptake across the programmes has shown a decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, with some evidence of stabilisation during the academic year 2023/24. The reports are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake
NHS England, in conjunction with regional colleagues, has produced a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination school-aged immunisation improvement and uptake plan for internal operational National Health Service use, as part of their commitment to improving vaccine coverage.
In addition, NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and has improved access to the HPV vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were entitled to free school meals in each of the last three years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department publishes data on free school meal (FSM) eligibility and the number of eligible pupils taking FSMs on school census day in the annual Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics accredited official statistics, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.
The latest figures were published in June 2025, and the next figures will be published in summer 2026.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of further and higher education funding.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has increased investment in 16-19 education by £400 million in the 2025/26 financial year. From the Spending Review, we will invest nearly £800 million extra in 2026/27, including and fully consolidating the £190 million boost to 2025/26 funding provided in May.
The department is investing in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), spending £1.4 billion in the 2025/26 academic year. The ASF fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
To support long‑term stability in higher education, the department is increasing maximum tuition fees in line with inflation, by 2.71% in 2026/27 and 2.68% in 2027/28, in addition to the 3.1% increase delivered for the current academic year. The government provides £1.31 billion in Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) funding for the 2025/26 academic year to support teaching, high‑cost subjects and disadvantaged students, and we are working with the Office for Students to reform the SPG to better target priority skills needs and access and participation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants were overpaid cost of living payments in 2025; and what is the total amount of the overpayments identified in 2025.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes fraud and error statistics annually and the data for FYE 2025 can be found here: Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure additional funding for community pharmacies to meet demand.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework increased to £3.073 billion for 2025/2026. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This shows a first step in delivering stability for the future and a commitment to rebuilding the sector.
The 2026/27 national community pharmacy funding arrangements will be subject to consultation with Community Pharmacy England, which will commence shortly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms have experienced TB outbreaks in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the 12 months to September 2025, the number of new TB herd incidents was as follows:
England | 2,307 |
Wales | 595 |
Scotland | 29 |
New herd incidents are the number of herds which were previously Officially TB Free but either had cattle that reacted to an official TB test or had a tuberculous animal disclosed by routine meat inspection at slaughter, during the period shown.
In Northern Ireland, the number of new reactor herds in the 12 months to September 2025 was as follows:
Northern Ireland | 2,281 |
In Northern Ireland, new reactor herds refer to the number of herds during the period shown that were previously Officially TB Free but have had cattle that tested positive to the tuberculin skin test.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that child sex offenders are separated in prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Safety in prisons is a key priority. We are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible for those who live and work in them. Safe prisons are vital to enable prisoners to engage in rehabilitative activities that reduce re-offending. Staff are trained to identify where a prisoner may be at risk, and to be able to take appropriate action in response.
A number of reception prisons have specific units for people convicted of sexual offences. In addition to this, a number of other prisons have particular arrangements for vulnerable prisoners – a category which includes, but is not limited to, people convicted of sex offences.