Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85812, whether he plans to introduce his Department's proposed reforms to alcohol licensing through (a) legislative changes to the Licensing Act 2003 or (b) regulatory guidance.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government is undertaking activity to implement the initial announcements made by the Chancellor on 26 November. Those include a guidance document (the National Licensing Policy Framework) which is already available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-licensing-policy-framework-for-the-hospitality-and-leisure-sectors and taking forward legislation to reform the Temporary Event Notices available to on-trade licensed premises. In addition, plans are being developed to assess the remaining recommendations made by the Taskforce and in relation to these the need for further legislation and guidance will be considered in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Questions 85811 and 85813, if he will publish all evidence received by the Licensing Taskforce (a) during meetings and (b) through written evidence or other stakeholder engagement.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government is undertaking activity to implement the initial announcements made by the Chancellor on 26 November. Those include a guidance document (the National Licensing Policy Framework) which is already available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-licensing-policy-framework-for-the-hospitality-and-leisure-sectors and taking forward legislation to reform the Temporary Event Notices available to on-trade licensed premises. In addition, plans are being developed to assess the remaining recommendations made by the Taskforce and in relation to these the need for further legislation and guidance will be considered in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85808, if he will publish all responses received to the call for evidence on proposed licensing reforms.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

On 26 November an initial analysis of responses to a number of the Call for Evidence questions was published, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system. We will be publishing a summary of responses received to all of the call for evidence on proposed licensing reforms in the New Year.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85806, on what evidential basis his Department chose to issue a call for evidence rather than a consultation.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government invited views and evidence to inform the development of a modern, proportionate and enabling licensing system. A Call for Evidence ran for four weeks, primarily via an online survey, and this attracted a significant number of responses. Alongside discussions were held with key stakeholders to supplement the evidence we received. This process enabled us to elicit views and draw on evidence in relation to the key recommendations of the Licensing Taskforce.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will visit Dr Sophie Nightingale at Lancaster University and her specialist lab investigating generative AI and its use to create sexual digital forgeries to discuss the contribution of that research to the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government recognises and shares concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of sexual forgeries, including deepfake non-consensual intimate images (NCII).

The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual

Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of

an intimate deepfake without consent (or reasonable belief in consent).

In addition to this offence, the Government announced that it will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic NCII to stop victims’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent. This was announced in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse: Cross-government Strategy to Build a Society for Women and Girls, which was published on 18 December.

The Home Office introduced world-leading measures, making the UK the first country to outlaw the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools. We have also introduced an AI testing defence to help strengthen safeguards against AI models being used to create sexual digital forgeries.

We recognise the important role of academics in this space, including Dr. Sophie Nightingale, with whom Government officials have engaged. We look forward to continuing this engagement to combat and prevent AI-enabled harms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of research by Dr Sophie Nightingale at Lancaster University into generative AI and its use to create sexual digital forgeries.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government recognises and shares concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of sexual forgeries, including deepfake non-consensual intimate images (NCII).

The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual

Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of

an intimate deepfake without consent (or reasonable belief in consent).

In addition to this offence, the Government announced that it will ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic NCII to stop victims’ images being tampered with and exploited without their consent. This was announced in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse: Cross-government Strategy to Build a Society for Women and Girls, which was published on 18 December.

The Home Office introduced world-leading measures, making the UK the first country to outlaw the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools. We have also introduced an AI testing defence to help strengthen safeguards against AI models being used to create sexual digital forgeries.

We recognise the important role of academics in this space, including Dr. Sophie Nightingale, with whom Government officials have engaged. We look forward to continuing this engagement to combat and prevent AI-enabled harms.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions were issued for each drug categorised under the (a) (i) clonazepam and (ii) other benzodiazepines, (b) z-drugs, (c) antidepressants, (d) opioids, (e) pregabalin and (f) gabapentin drug groups in the last 12 months and the total number of unique identified patients for each drug.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHSBSA holds patient identifiable information for the number of items dispensed and claimed for reimbursement. The following table shows the total number of prescription items for clonazepam and other benzodiazepines, z-drugs, antidepressants, opioids, pregabalin, and gabapentin drug groups, as well as the percentage and number of unique identified patients for those drug groups for 2024/25:

Notes:

1. for the clonazepam and other benzodiazepines drug groups, the figures represent patients who have received any combination of clonazepam and/or other benzodiazepines, as no patient is counted twice within this row, even where multiple medications have been received; and
2. for the pregabalin, and gabapentin drug groups, please note these figures refer to the combined category of gabapentinoids.

Patient count totals included in the table should not be aggregated.

British forces on the front line in Afghanistan

Habitat regulations

UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

Five-year indefinite leave to remain pathway for Skilled Worker visa holders

Hunger strike by pro-Palestinian activists

Parliamentary screening of The Removed and historic forced adoptions

10th anniversary of Boxing Day floods

Buying community energy locally

Armed exports to the United Arab Emirates and the situation in Sudan

Higher education pension cuts

Supporting shopworkers

Palestine Action hunger strike

Fireworks anti-social behaviour and regulation

Thanking postal workers

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