Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85294 on Public Sector: Sign Language, which public services have approached the Government Digital Service to seek advice on the (a) development and (b) application of AI British Sign Language content.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government Digital Service does not record enquiries at this level of granularity.
Depending on the service type, it is likely the service team will both consult with the Service Manual and the Technology Code of Practice - covering the standards services need to meet - and go through a service assessment in order to receive a GOV.UK web address.
The assessment will check compliance with the Service Standard, including assessing evidence it complies with accessibility regulation and avoid excluding any groups within the audience they’re intended to serve.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85294 on Public Sector: Sign Language, what expertise does the Government Digital Service have in British Sign Language to provide support to public services on the (a) development and (b) application of AI British Sign Language content.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government Digital Service (GDS) provides service teams across the public sector with guidance on accessible design, use of AI and requirements under the WCAG regulations.
GDS does not provide BSL expertise. Service Owners must conduct research with disabled people, including Deaf users and where appropriate to the service provision, those who use sign language or a sign language interpreter to interact with the service. Services must seek expertise where appropriate from the BSL community and specialist Deaf-led agencies to test their products.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the percentage of doctoral loans used by students to cover the costs of childcare.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Doctoral loans are intended to contribute to the cost of study, rather than to specifically cover tuition fees or livings costs, which provides flexibility to the student. The department does not hold any information on the proportion of doctoral loan funding that is spent on childcare.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number and percentage of a) undergraduate and b) postgraduate students who are parents with caring responsibilities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. This data is shared with the department and includes a wide range of information on students studying at UK HE providers.
However, information on students who are parents with caring responsibilities is not collected, and therefore numbers and percentages of students in this position cannot be identified by the department.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that importers ensure that their goods are free from forced labour.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to tackling forced labour in UK and global supply chains and ensuring that UK businesses are not complicit in human rights abuses. A range of existing measures already support this, including the Procurement Act 2023, Overseas Business Risk guidance, and the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The review launched in the Trade Strategy into the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct focuses on tackling human rights and labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains. It will assess effectiveness of the UK’s current regime and the merits of alternative measures to support responsible business practices.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will list the companies that will receive 90 per cent discounted network charging costs under the proposed Network Charging Compensation scheme from 1 April 2026.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Network Charging Compensation (NCC) Scheme is one of the three components making up the British Industry Supercharger (the Supercharger). The other two components are the GB Capacity Market Exemption and Energy Intensive Industries Exemption Scheme. The most current list of recipients of Supercharger support, and therefore NCC Scheme support, can be found at the following link: Contracts for Difference (CfD) and renewables obligation (RO): list of companies awarded an exemption - GOV.UK. These recipients, and future Supercharger recipients, will benefit from 90% compensation from network charges from 1 April 2026.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, what comparative analysis she has undertaken on the impact of the uptake of EVs of the introduction of pay-per-mile schemes in other jurisdictions including Iceland and New Zealand.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that electric vehicles (EVs) contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.
The Government considered the wider EV take-up landscape from examples in other countries. The impact of the introduction of similar taxes in other countries is not directly comparable, as in most international examples, the announcement coincided with the reduction or removal of government support for consumers to buy EVs. In contrast, the UK government has taken action to ensure that driving an electric vehicle is an attractive choice for consumers, and rather than reducing up-front incentives for EVs, 80% of eVED revenue from the first three years is being reinvested to extend support for EVs and the auto manufacturing industry.
In addition, the eVED rate for electric cars (3 pence per mile) will be set at half the fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel car driver, which is substantially lower than the rates set for schemes in New Zealand and Iceland (equivalent of more than 5 pence per mile).
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what data her Department holds on the breakdown by age of the impact of changes in levels of overseas development aid.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are an essential part of how we make decisions on Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations. The 2025/26 EIA, as published on gov.uk captures the impacts on children where these were reported at programme level. We will continue to track spend on equalities and plan to improve the availability and use of data. As part of this, we will consider how we measure impacts on relevant age groups, as this is not something we have done previously.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Police Forces in England are meeting service levels on processing times for DBS checks, and which are not.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
For certain ‘Enhanced’ level applications (‘Basic’ and ‘Standard’ level checks are not sent to local police forces), the DBS will check with local police forces whether they hold any information that is considered relevant to the individual’s application.
There is a 60-day Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place between the DBS and police forces to complete this work. Out of the 52 independent Police Disclosure Units carrying out these checks (across local police forces and other law enforcement agencies) 8 are currently unable to meet the 60-day SLA: Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Sussex, Thames Valley, Dyfed Powys, Durham, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the Corporate Power Purchase Agreements system as it applies to automotive manufacturing.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) allow businesses to enhance competitiveness by securing stable, competitively priced electricity.
The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy committed to issue a call for evidence on how the British CPPA market can be improved for industry. The call for evidence, run by DBT and DESNZ, was launched on 9 January and closes 6 March. Ideas generated will be carefully reviewed to inform future policy development.
Future policy will complement existing support for the automotive sector including the DRIVE35 initiative, an additional 1.3bn in the Electric Car Grant and increased funding for charging infrastructure.