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 help ensure that an accurate record exists of which homes are reliant on Home Heating Oil for heating.

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

Information on the heating fuels used by households is published by the Office for National Statistics and the Devolved Administrations. For more information, please see here - Constituency data: Households off the gas grid - House of Commons Library

The Government has made £53 million of additional support available to help low-come households who use heating oil. In England this has been allocated to Local Authorities via the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). Households should apply to their local authority and provide any evidence that is requested.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of court cases delayed in 2025 as a result of the failure of custody transport services to deliver the defendant at the correct time.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Data on the number of trials declared ineffective due to the non-production of defendants can be found here: Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK (trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool).

In 2025, the non-production of defendants by the Prisoner Escort Custody Service (PECS) accounted for 176 (2%) of ineffective trials in the Crown Court and 885 (4%) of ineffective trials in the magistrates’ courts.

Sir Brian Leveson made a number of recommendations to address the late arrivals of prisoners to court in his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. We recognise the problems we inherited in prisoner transfer with delays occurring at prisons, en route between prison and court, and at courts themselves in bringing prisoners to the dock. We are gripping this – along with the Minister for Prisons, I am establishing an oversight body to review prisoner transfer from end to end. This will monitor and drive performance improvements in prisoner transfer across the country.

We are also working with the Department for Transport and local authorities to expand the number of areas where PECS vans can use bus lanes to reduce traffic delays, and in London we are working with Transport for London to retime the traffic signals to prioritise PECS vans so they are more likely to receive a green light.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what is her estimate of the number of days of education lost during 2025 as a result of water leaks in school buildings.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Schools and their responsible bodies are not obliged to report school closures to the department and therefore the department does not hold the information requested. Many responsible bodies manage school closures locally and without central government support.

Where the department is notified of a significant event or issue with a school or college building that cannot be managed with local resources, we consider additional support on a case-by-case basis. We work closely with these responsible bodies and schools to minimise the impact of any closures and ensure continuity of education for pupils.

Effective and proactive estate management is key to maintaining a high-quality estate and preventing issues materialising that can disrupt education, like leaks. We already set out clear expectations in our School Estate Management Standards and, in February, launched a new digital service to bring together estates-related guidance, data, tools, programmes and funding in one place. From this autumn, we will ask responsible bodies to make an annual return to confirm they are meeting those standards. For those that are not, we will put in place an estate management capability support plan in agreement with the responsible body.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps with relevant stakeholders to help reduce the number of leaks in school buildings.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Schools and their responsible bodies are not obliged to report school closures to the department and therefore the department does not hold the information requested. Many responsible bodies manage school closures locally and without central government support.

Where the department is notified of a significant event or issue with a school or college building that cannot be managed with local resources, we consider additional support on a case-by-case basis. We work closely with these responsible bodies and schools to minimise the impact of any closures and ensure continuity of education for pupils.

Effective and proactive estate management is key to maintaining a high-quality estate and preventing issues materialising that can disrupt education, like leaks. We already set out clear expectations in our School Estate Management Standards and, in February, launched a new digital service to bring together estates-related guidance, data, tools, programmes and funding in one place. From this autumn, we will ask responsible bodies to make an annual return to confirm they are meeting those standards. For those that are not, we will put in place an estate management capability support plan in agreement with the responsible body.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to eliminate sewage overflow releases into (a) the River Loddon and (b) other protected chalk streams.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme, the Environment Agency (EA) is driving improvements at sewage treatment works including in the Loddon catchment. These include upgrades to deliver against the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan and other investigations and improvement schemes which Thames Water are required to complete.

The EA has inspected all Thames Water sewage treatment works within the River Loddon catchment. Any permit breaches it identifies are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and any confirmed serious breaches are investigated and enforced against in line with the EA’s enforcement and sanctions policy.

Across England, over £10 billion is being invested to improve about 2,500 storm overflows by 2030, with upgrades prioritised at high priority sites including chalk streams.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2026 to Question 110574 on Vitamin D: Deficiency Diseases, what his planned timeline is for the rapid review by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition of vitamin D requirements for people with higher melanin concentration; and whether he plans to issue interim guidance to at-risk populations.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) is currently conducting a rapid review of whether current vitamin D recommendations for vitamin D intake and status are adequate for people with higher melanin concentrations. The vitamin D working group is reviewing relevant evidence and discussions are ongoing. In line with the usual SACN process, minutes of the SACN vitamin D working group meetings, along with minutes of all SACN meetings, are published on the SACN’s website. The SACN aims to publish conclusions of the review later in 2026. Ministers are informed of SACN publications and risk assessments and receive separate advice on potential subsequent policy options.

For people at risk of not receiving enough vitamin D during the summer months we recommend they consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year. Advice is available on the National Health Service website for everyone, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter. Our focus is on ensuring that vitamin D policy prioritises interventions with the greatest public health impact. We have therefore not assessed the merits of workplace-based vitamin supplementation programmes and are not currently planning any additional action to introduce targeted vitamin D supplementation programmes. Any further risk management approaches will be considered once SACN has completed reviewing the evidence and made recommendations for people with higher melanin concentrations.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey is designed to provide data on the diet and nutrition of the general United Kingdom population. The survey design means that oversampling of ethnic minority groups is challenging. However, a recent increase in the number of blood samples collected annually in the survey means we expect to be able to analyse and report vitamin D status by ethnicity by combining data collected from 2024 to 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2026 to Question 110577 on Vitamin D: Dietary Supplements, whether he plans to introduce targeted oversampling of Black and Asian populations to allow accelerated analysis by ethnicity of groups at higher risk of Vitamin D deficiency.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) is currently conducting a rapid review of whether current vitamin D recommendations for vitamin D intake and status are adequate for people with higher melanin concentrations. The vitamin D working group is reviewing relevant evidence and discussions are ongoing. In line with the usual SACN process, minutes of the SACN vitamin D working group meetings, along with minutes of all SACN meetings, are published on the SACN’s website. The SACN aims to publish conclusions of the review later in 2026. Ministers are informed of SACN publications and risk assessments and receive separate advice on potential subsequent policy options.

For people at risk of not receiving enough vitamin D during the summer months we recommend they consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year. Advice is available on the National Health Service website for everyone, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter. Our focus is on ensuring that vitamin D policy prioritises interventions with the greatest public health impact. We have therefore not assessed the merits of workplace-based vitamin supplementation programmes and are not currently planning any additional action to introduce targeted vitamin D supplementation programmes. Any further risk management approaches will be considered once SACN has completed reviewing the evidence and made recommendations for people with higher melanin concentrations.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey is designed to provide data on the diet and nutrition of the general United Kingdom population. The survey design means that oversampling of ethnic minority groups is challenging. However, a recent increase in the number of blood samples collected annually in the survey means we expect to be able to analyse and report vitamin D status by ethnicity by combining data collected from 2024 to 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2026 to Question 110574 on Vitamin D: Deficiency Diseases, whether the rapid review by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition will assess optimal vitamin D dosing levels for people with higher melanin concentration.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) is currently conducting a rapid review of whether current vitamin D recommendations for vitamin D intake and status are adequate for people with higher melanin concentrations. The vitamin D working group is reviewing relevant evidence and discussions are ongoing. In line with the usual SACN process, minutes of the SACN vitamin D working group meetings, along with minutes of all SACN meetings, are published on the SACN’s website. The SACN aims to publish conclusions of the review later in 2026. Ministers are informed of SACN publications and risk assessments and receive separate advice on potential subsequent policy options.

For people at risk of not receiving enough vitamin D during the summer months we recommend they consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year. Advice is available on the National Health Service website for everyone, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter. Our focus is on ensuring that vitamin D policy prioritises interventions with the greatest public health impact. We have therefore not assessed the merits of workplace-based vitamin supplementation programmes and are not currently planning any additional action to introduce targeted vitamin D supplementation programmes. Any further risk management approaches will be considered once SACN has completed reviewing the evidence and made recommendations for people with higher melanin concentrations.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey is designed to provide data on the diet and nutrition of the general United Kingdom population. The survey design means that oversampling of ethnic minority groups is challenging. However, a recent increase in the number of blood samples collected annually in the survey means we expect to be able to analyse and report vitamin D status by ethnicity by combining data collected from 2024 to 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has assessment the potential merits of workplace-based vitamin D supplementation programmes as a mechanism to reach populations at higher risk of deficiency.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) is currently conducting a rapid review of whether current vitamin D recommendations for vitamin D intake and status are adequate for people with higher melanin concentrations. The vitamin D working group is reviewing relevant evidence and discussions are ongoing. In line with the usual SACN process, minutes of the SACN vitamin D working group meetings, along with minutes of all SACN meetings, are published on the SACN’s website. The SACN aims to publish conclusions of the review later in 2026. Ministers are informed of SACN publications and risk assessments and receive separate advice on potential subsequent policy options.

For people at risk of not receiving enough vitamin D during the summer months we recommend they consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year. Advice is available on the National Health Service website for everyone, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter. Our focus is on ensuring that vitamin D policy prioritises interventions with the greatest public health impact. We have therefore not assessed the merits of workplace-based vitamin supplementation programmes and are not currently planning any additional action to introduce targeted vitamin D supplementation programmes. Any further risk management approaches will be considered once SACN has completed reviewing the evidence and made recommendations for people with higher melanin concentrations.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey is designed to provide data on the diet and nutrition of the general United Kingdom population. The survey design means that oversampling of ethnic minority groups is challenging. However, a recent increase in the number of blood samples collected annually in the survey means we expect to be able to analyse and report vitamin D status by ethnicity by combining data collected from 2024 to 2029.

New Special Educational Needs and Disabilities provision in Wokingham

Visa concessions for sheep shearers (No. 2)

15th anniversary of Non-League Day 2026

Blackdown Support Group's 35 year anniversary

Kirkliston and South Queensferry Libraries recognised at The British Book Awards 2026

Newbury Fire Station’s fundraising efforts

Waste crime

Short breaks provision and support for carers in Surrey

Heating oil financial support

Rural postal services

Retirement of Martock's Postmaster Jim Gordon

Closure of Gould’s Butchers in Martock

Pip Atkinson's contributions to women's rugby

Royal Mail's performance

Online abuse and exploitation of Ukrainian refugees

Outdoor learning specialist apprenticeships

Water sector reform

Stans of St Martins

Ané Kritzinger Physics Gold Medal at STEM for BRITAIN Awards

Sign Language Week

NHS funding for mental health services

25th anniversary of the Voluntary Initiative

St Neots Walk and Talk 4 Men 5th anniversary

Cyprus and UK Sovereign Base Areas

Coniston Hydro

Historical building safeguarding in Scotland

Windermere

Fife Best Bar None Awards

Funding for rural Britain

Conflict in Lebanon

LGBTQ+ veterans

Inverness City of Culture