Ben Lake

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The Department for Business and Trade has not, to date, compiled data on Horizon-related claims by the UK’s constituent countries; however, we intend to include this breakdown in a future publication. Overall, across the UK, as of 28 November 2025, approximately 10,000 claims have been settled under the Horizon redress schemes, while around 2,600 received claims remain unsettled.

The UK Government has committed up to £2.5 billion to support the steel industry, which is being delivered in part through the National Wealth Fund. This is in addition to £500 million towards Tata’s transformation of Port Talbot steelworks. The National Wealth Fund, which is operationally independent, is already engaging with companies across the UK on projects that meet its investment principles.

The Welsh Government is represented on the Steel Council, which is a key body for developing our Steel Strategy, to be published later this year.

Many of the impacts experienced by family members of affected postmasters will already be compensated for under the relevant scheme in which postmasters are seeking redress. For example, there will be full compensation paid to the affected postmaster for joint losses such as where a family home has been lost, and this will take account of the financial impacts on family members.

The Government is however considering whether to extend additional redress to members of postmasters’ families who were affected by the scandal and will provide an update in due course.

The Department does not produce bespoke estimates of the number of domestic properties using oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for heating by parliamentary constituency. Information on the heating fuels used by households is published by the Office for National Statistics and the devolved administrations.

Thanks to decisions in the recent Budget, an average of £150 of costs will be removed from household energy bills from April. The actions at budget also make electricity cheaper, meaning everyone will benefit and the transfer of the Renewables Obligation to public expenditure is a significant step towards rebalancing levies away from electricity.

What individual households actually save will depend on their specific energy use. Households with bigger electricity bills could save more than £150.

In addition, the Budget significantly increased the capital budget for home insulation through the Warm Homes Plan by £1.5bn to almost £15bn. This is the biggest public investment ever to upgrade homes with insulation and clean tech like solar panels and heat pumps.

The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future. We will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants to property owners, including holiday lets, to enable them to transition away from fossil fuel to low carbon heating.

Advice for energy efficiency support in Wales is available at: https://www.gov.wales/home-energy-fuel-poverty

Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.

The energy price cap will rise for the period 1 April to 30 June 2025 due to an increase in international gas prices.

The Government believes the only way to protect consumers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.

We continue to monitor energy prices and the price cap and are working to ensure bills are affordable for consumers in the long-term, including through our work with Ofgem to reform standing charges, and through our Warm Homes Plan which will upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK

The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the copper based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK, including rural communities. In 2024/25, there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers.

In November 2024, the Government secured additional safeguards from the telecoms industry. These include the provision of free battery back-ups for vulnerable and landline dependent customers to ensure access to emergency services for at least one hour in a power outage. Many communication providers have gone further, providing battery back-ups of 4-7 hours.

In March 2026, the Government and industry agreed a new Fixed Telecoms Charter to extend these safeguards to all future fixed telecoms modernisation programmes.

We have now launched our consultation on children’s use of technology and social media. This is a short, swift consultation which allows the different voices within the debate to be heard. The consultation will close on the 26^th May . The government is planning to respond in the summer.

The consultation is backed by a national conversation about the impact of technology on children’s wellbeing. Ministers have already been hearing the views of parents, children and civil society through nationwide events.

The Government has been clear that non-consensual intimate images are reprehensible and no service should allow their creation and distribution.

The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to prevent such content appearing on in-scope services and to remove it swiftly when it does. Where they fail to do this, Ofcom has robust enforcement powers - including fining 10% of global revenue

Furthermore, the offence of creating intimate images without consent was signed into force last week. The Secretary of State announced it will be made a priority offence under the Online Safety Act – delivering the strongest protections in the Act for users from such content.

The government is clear that no one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate images of themselves online.

There are no excuses not to act, and services must deal with this urgently. Ofcom are looking into this as a matter of urgency, and they have the government’s full backing to take any necessary enforcement action.

Services and operators have a clear obligation to act appropriately. This is not about restricting freedom of speech but upholding the law.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.

In July, we published our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices.

In the draft Statement we also set out the importance of continued investment, competition and fair pricing. The government is considering consultation responses, market development and the economic context before the final version is published.

The Government is leading a project to assess the future of TV distribution beyond 2034 and is committed to maintaining access for audiences in all parts of the UK. The project is engaging with devolved governments and audience groups representing the interests of Welsh audiences such as the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, the Rural Services Network, and S4C. Before any decision is made close consideration will be given to how any changes would impact Welsh audiences, including those in rural communities.

The BBC Charter Review was officially launched on 16 December with the publication of the Terms of Reference and Green Paper. The Charter Review is looking at a range of issues to make sure the BBC truly represents and delivers for every person in this country, including the broadcast technologies the BBC should use to deliver its services. The Government is now considering responses to the public consultation, and these will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter. Decisions will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.

The White Paper will also be informed by the Government’s project to assess the future of TV distribution. Once the Government’s approach to the future of TV distribution has been decided in consultation with the public, we will need to consider how the BBC’s obligations might need to change, and how the BBC can make sure that no one is left behind in any transition to online viewing by centering digital inclusion in its services and activities.

The BBC Charter Review was officially launched on 16 December with the publication of the Terms of Reference and Green Paper. The Charter Review is looking at a range of issues to make sure the BBC truly represents and delivers for every person in this country, including the broadcast technologies the BBC should use to deliver its services. The Government is now considering responses to the public consultation, and these will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter. Decisions will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.

The White Paper will also be informed by the Government’s project to assess the future of TV distribution. Once the Government’s approach to the future of TV distribution has been decided in consultation with the public, we will need to consider how the BBC’s obligations might need to change, and how the BBC can make sure that no one is left behind in any transition to online viewing by centering digital inclusion in its services and activities.

The Government understands the importance of everyone being able to access information in times of national emergency. Both television and radio play a vital role in providing such access for a range of different emergency scenarios, including scenarios where other communications may be disrupted.

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications in a range of scenarios.

The Government’s project looking into the future of TV distribution is considering a range of relevant factors, including the future resilience requirements for broadcast networks. It is important that audiences continue to receive consistent levels of service regardless of how they receive their television, and ensuring that this can happen will be a priority for the project.

The Government’s project on the future of TV distribution is seeking to understand how people receive their television now and in the next decade. As part of this process, a wide range of views are being sought. Membership of the Stakeholder Forum includes a range of broadcasters active in Wales, including the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, the BBC and ITV. The forum also benefits from the perspectives of a number of groups representing the interests of Welsh and UK-wide audiences, such as Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Digital Poverty Alliance and Silver Voices.

The Innate Health Assessment tool has been created by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare to tackle suffering caused by extreme physical body shapes in dogs. This voluntary tool can be used by breeders, dog owners or prospective dog owners to check any dog’s innate health characteristics and their suitability to breed and/or acquire, regardless of breed or type.

The Government published its Animal Welfare Strategy on 22 December 2025, outlining plans to take coordinated action to improve the welfare of pets. This includes the commitment to end the low welfare breeding of dogs and to launch a consultation on dog breeding reform.

Defra recognises the importance of genetic health in dogs and supports education of owners and breeders to promote responsible breeding.

In January 2025 the Environment Agency commissioned an independent review of Property Flood Resilience (PFR). The review identified gaps and opportunities to grow the PFR market, resulting in a new action plan for all relevant parties to take forward.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) representing 600 housing associations who provide nearly 2.7 million homes formed part of the review’s Leadership Group.

The review found that there is growing awareness among housing associations of the increasing flood risk and noted they already have access to a comprehensive Flood Toolkit. Social landlords however face several challenges including data gaps, securing temporary accommodation and ensuring residents have access to the right advice and support.

The review recommended that social landlords develop clear and coordinated strategies to prepare for and mitigate flood risk for their tenants and homes aligning PFR measures with wider work to improve energy efficiency, building safety and decency. The NHF has committed to delivering several actions over the next five years to strengthen members’ flood readiness.

The Government recognises the importance of engaging with Devolved Governments on a regular basis. Defra officials hold regular monthly meetings with Welsh Government to discuss improvements to equine identification and traceability; there is also an open channel of communication between officials to deal with shared issues in a timely manner.

The table below contains the number of Export Health Certificates (EHC) dispatched for the export of Equidae from 22/07/2024 to date.

Each EHC issued is for the export of one equine. The point of exit and purpose of movement are not recorded as the Export Health Certificate Online System (EHCO) does not capture that information.

Defra does not collect its own data on the cost of dog attacks on farm animals to farmers. However, the National Farmers’ Union approximates that UK farm animals worth an estimated £2.4million were severely injured or killed by dogs in 2023.

The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers. We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area to ensure that livestock are suitably protected.

The Government does not operate a mandated or voluntary lorry parking security accreditation system. Trucks stops and Motorway Service Areas set their own security standards unless they voluntarily join a private accreditation scheme. Therefore, the Department for Transport does not hold this information.

The total amount of government funding contractually committed to improvement projects for the HGV Parking Matched Funding Grant Scheme, as of 19 March 2026, is £13,599,303.45.

The scheme held three application windows. The table below sets out awards and spending to date per window as of 19 March 2026. Projects that were cancelled by operators after notification of an award are not included in these figures.

There are no plans for further windows of the HGV Parking and Driver Welfare Matched Funding Scheme.

Funding for further lorry parking improvements is planned for the third road investment strategy (RIS3) as part of the Customer and Community Designated Funds, subject to confirmation of the National Highways RIS3 settlement.

On 7 January 2026 the Department for Transport published the Government’s new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all. The Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035.

The Government expects the employers or engagers of anyone driving or riding for work to ensure that they are as safe as possible on the roads. Working with industry we will pilot a National Work-Related Road Safety Charter for businesses that require people to drive or ride for them, including considering the use of HGVs. The Charter will aim to help employers to reduce work-related road risk and improve safety for all road users by promoting good practice, and to improve compliance with current legislation and guidance.

The Department for Transport has not had discussions with Tesla specifically regarding potential child safety implications of vehicle-integrated artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

Many manufacturers use AI tools and techniques to develop and optimise various aspects of vehicles, including their safety systems. For those aspects covered by vehicle technical regulations, the systems are required to be fixed (i.e. they are no longer permitted to evolve) before they are placed on the market and subject to objective testing to verify their performance.