Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her department has made of the potential impact on schools of ongoing uncertainty around future national funding for physical education and school sports.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Manchester Rusholme, to the answer of 03 March 2026 to Question 115304.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of reductions to levels of spending on Official Development Assistance one year-on from when those reductions were announced.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

An Equalities Impact Assessment was published in September 2025 relating to Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations in 2025/26. We will soon publish the multi-year ODA allocations for the period from 2026/27 to 2028/29, informed by internal and external consultation and further impact assessments.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce a cap on individual political donations to political parties.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 97817 on 11 December 2025.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support customers with the cost of their energy bills.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

At the Budget we committed to taking money off energy bills and we have. Ofgem has confirmed that the price cap will fall by 7% or £117 annually for the period covering April to June. The price cap for that period is fixed and will not change.

In addition to this, around 6 million families are benefitting from the expansion of the £150 Warm Home Discount, and through the Warm Homes Plan the Government is delivering the biggest investment in home upgrades in British history.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chevening scholars have claimed asylum in the UK in each of the last ten years by nationality.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum claims by nationality and the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01 and Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued, broken down by nationality, is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.

The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of workforce retention at Royal Mail since 2022.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I have been clear that Royal Mail’s recent delivery performance has not been good enough. Workforce retention plays an important role in quality of service, as Royal Mail has said itself in the past in response to Ofcom investigations.

I met Ofcom on 11 March and raised concerns about Royal Mail’s quality of service. Ofcom is explicit that Royal Mail must publish and deliver a credible improvement plan that results in significant and continuous progress. Royal Mail has committed to do so as soon as possible after its discussions with the Communication Workers’ Union conclude.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the prevalence of child morning hunger in (a) early years, (b) primary and (c) secondary school settings in England on school (i) readiness and (ii) attendance.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department appreciates the publication of the report and look forward to giving it our full consideration. This government is committed to tackling child poverty and delivering meaningful action to support children and families. The removal of the two child limit on Universal Credit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Child Poverty Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

We recognise the importance of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day for pupils and the impact this can have on attendance and readiness to learn. This is why we are rolling out free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England, so that all children can have the best start in life. Since April 2025, the programme has delivered seven million meals to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.

Found: 2026 3.15 pm Watch the meeting Members present: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Chair); Baroness Hamwee; Afzal Khan

Found: 2026 2.20 pm Watch the meeting Members present: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Chair); Baroness Hamwee; Afzal Khan