Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase the transparency of fees on online fundraising platforms.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Fundraising platforms are commercial organisations that provide an important service to charities and donors. Most platforms are registered with the Fundraising Regulator, which is the independent, non-statutory regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Fundraising Regulator’s new Code of Fundraising Practice, which will come into force on 1 November 2025, includes requirements for fundraising platforms to include information for donors about how fees, including any voluntary tips, are calculated. The information must be easy to find, and include details on how voluntary tips can be amended or removed altogether in a straightforward way.

DCMS meets with the Fundraising Regulator regularly to discuss a range of issues and will continue working with them as well as charities and online giving platforms to support best practice across all forms of charitable fundraising.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Fundraising Regulator on the transparency of fees on online fundraising platforms.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Fundraising platforms are commercial organisations that provide an important service to charities and donors. Most platforms are registered with the Fundraising Regulator, which is the independent, non-statutory regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Fundraising Regulator’s new Code of Fundraising Practice, which will come into force on 1 November 2025, includes requirements for fundraising platforms to include information for donors about how fees, including any voluntary tips, are calculated. The information must be easy to find, and include details on how voluntary tips can be amended or removed altogether in a straightforward way.

DCMS meets with the Fundraising Regulator regularly to discuss a range of issues and will continue working with them as well as charities and online giving platforms to support best practice across all forms of charitable fundraising.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of compliance by social landlords with guidance that service charge increases are restricted in line with rent increases.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government does not regulate the level of service charges for social housing tenants.

Our policy statement on social housing rents states that Registered Providers of social housing should endeavour to keep any service charge increases for tenants within the limit on rent increases, to help keep charges affordable.

Registered Providers are expected to set reasonable and transparent service charges for tenants which reflect the service being provided, and tenants should also be supplied with clear information about how service charges are set.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that UK visitors to malaria-infected countries are aware of the need to take chemoprophylaxis effectively.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency undertakes proactive communications with the public to raise awareness of the risk of malaria and to promote consultation with an appropriate healthcare professional before travel. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/travel-associated-infections-approaching-pre-pandemic-levels

Travellers to malaria-endemic areas are encouraged to have a pre-travel consultation with a healthcare expert in travel health. This enables an individualised risk assessment and personalised advice to be given on measures to reduce the risk of malaria and other health risks.

The National Travel Health Network and Centre provides information for United Kingdom travellers on safe and healthy travel and effective strategies to prevent infection, including chemoprophylaxis. Further information is available at the following link:

https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/factsheet/52/malaria

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many admissions there have been to hospital due to (a) tuberculosis and (b) complications from tuberculosis in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those admissions were due to tuberculosis contracted outside of the UK.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

This information is not held centrally. NHS England collects and publishes data on the causes of hospital admissions, however there is no routine reporting on tuberculosis admissions. NHS England makes hospital admission data available in the National Health Service’s Hospital Episode Statistics publication, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/hospital-episode-statistics

The UK Health Security Agency uses epidemiological tools, such as whole genome sequencing, to better understand the transmission of tuberculosis. However, it is not possible to determine the proportion of the individuals admitted to hospital who contracted tuberculosis outside of the United Kingdom.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many admissions there have been to hospital due to (a) malaria and (b) complications from malaria in each of the last five years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) holds data on all malaria cases diagnosed in the United Kingdom by the Malaria Reference Laboratory and Public Health Scotland. The UKHSA publishes malaria statistics in an annual report, the latest version of which, covering 2023, is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/malaria-in-the-uk-annual-report/malaria-imported-into-the-uk-2023

The UKHSA does not routinely publish data on hospital admissions due to malaria or complications from malaria.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many admissions there have been to hospital due to (a) treatment-resistant tuberculosis and (b) complications from treatment-resistant tuberculosis in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those admissions were due to tuberculosis contracted outside of the UK.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes in the Hospital Episode Statistics database that would allow treatment-resistant tuberculosis and complications from treatment-resistant tuberculosis to be identified. ICD-10 codes are used to classify and identify diagnoses.

The UK Health Security Agency uses epidemiological tools, such as whole genome sequencing, to better understand the transmission of tuberculosis. However, it is not possible to determine the proportion of the individuals admitted to hospital who contracted tuberculosis outside of the United Kingdom.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that opportunities to talk about future travel plans are being taken up with people potentially susceptible to contracting malaria (a) at new patient checks, (b) at childhood immunisation appointments and (c) outside a specific travel health consultation.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency publishes malaria-specific migrant health guidance for healthcare practitioners. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/malaria-migrant-health-guide

This calls for all practitioners to raise awareness of the risk of malaria by asking non-United Kingdom born patients from malarious countries whether they will be returning home to visit friends and relatives, and to advise how and when they should seek travel advice. The guidance reinforces that anyone visiting a malarious area can become infected regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or country of birth, and that malaria is particularly dangerous for pregnant women.

Travellers are advised to get advice before they travel to areas where malaria is found. Pre-travel health services are available from private travel clinics, pharmacies, and some general practices. Further information on the pre travel health services that are available can be found at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/gps/gp-mythbusters/gp-mythbuster-107-pretravel-health-services

There are no current plans to ensure that opportunities to talk about future travel plans are being taken up with people that are potentially susceptible to contracting malaria at new patient checks or childhood immunisation appointments, or outside of specific travel health consultations.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure the full amount of Gift Aid claimed by online fundraising platforms reaches charities.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises the vital role played by the charity sector and the generosity of the British public. We support charitable giving with over £1.6billion in Gift Aid each year.

Charities have the flexibility to decide on their own strategy for fundraising and are free to partner with other organisations to process their Gift Aid claims. It will ultimately be a commercial decision on the part of a charity to work with a fundraising platform. If they do, any fee paid to the platform for processing gift aid claims may be calculated by reference to the amount claimed but is not itself gift aid.

Fundraising platforms do not receive financial support from the government and their profits are taxable.

Many of the fundraising platforms are voluntarily registered with the Fundraising Regulator which is the independent, non-statutory regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Fundraising Regulator can act if it believes standards have been breached.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that malaria cases reported to the Malaria Reference Laboratory are also notified to a proper officer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Malaria is designated as a notifiable disease under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010, which places a statutory duty on all registered medical practitioners in England to notify a proper officer if they treat a patient they know, or suspect to be, infected with malaria. Further information on the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 is available at the following link:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/659/contents

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) produces guidance for medical practitioners to support their compliance with these regulations, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notifiable-diseases-and-how-to-report-them

A malaria-specific report form is used by health professionals to refer suspected cases to the Malaria Reference Laboratory at the UKHSA. The UKHSA acts as the proper officer for receiving notifications of suspected and confirmed malaria cases in England. Equivalent notification regulations are in place in the devolved administrations, with further information on the notification regulations for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland available, respectively, at the following three links:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2008/5/schedule/1

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2010/1546/contents

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2022/181/made

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the value for money of the Energy Company Obligation scheme.

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

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) requires energy suppliers to fund energy efficiency and heating upgrades in eligible homes, with costs recovered through consumer bills. Since 2013, 4.2 million measures have been installed in 2.5 million homes. ECO4’s final impact assessment projected a positive net present value of £0.8 billion, underscoring the strong social impact and economic value of ECO.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating patients who have contracted tuberculosis in each of the last five years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

This information is not held centrally. NHS England captures and publishes aggregated costs, namely the average unit cost of providing defined services to NHS patients in England, and patient-level costs/PLICS, a cost based on the specific interactions a patient has, and the events related to their healthcare activity, which are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/costing-in-the-nhs/national-cost-collection/

This provides cost information about patients who have been admitted to a hospital for treatment with a primary diagnosis of tuberculosis, rather than patients who have contracted tuberculosis in the last five years.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of online fundraising platforms' use of tipping sliders.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS has not made an assessment at this time on the potential impact of online fundraising platforms' use of tipping sliders. DCMS will continue working with the Fundraising Regulator, charities, and online giving platforms to support best practice across all forms of charitable fundraising.

Fundraising platforms are commercial organisations that provide an important service to charities and donors. Most platforms are registered with the Fundraising Regulator, which is the independent, non-statutory regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Fundraising Regulator’s new Code of Fundraising Practice, which will come into force on 1 November 2025, includes requirements for fundraising platforms to include information for donors about how fees, including any voluntary tips, are calculated. The information must be easy to find, and include details on how voluntary tips can be amended or removed altogether in a straightforward way.