Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answered of 27 May 2025 to question 53743 on Taxation: Overpayments, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of improving HMRC’s data collection systems to record more detailed information on enquiries received from hon. Members, including whether those enquiries (a) related to overpaid or overcharged tax and (b) resulted in repayment.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure a sustainable funding settlement for hospice and palliative care in (a) Herefordshire and (b) the country.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.   St Michael’s Hospice in Hereford is receiving £667,020 from this funding. We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of medically fit patients occupying hospital beds due to delayed discharges.

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

The Government is committed to tackling delayed discharges.

The policy framework for the £9 billion Better Care Fund, published in January 2025, gives the National Health Service and local authorities accountability for setting and achieving joint goals for reducing discharge delays and preventing avoidable emergency admissions and care home admissions. Some areas are receiving targeted support from the Better Care Fund support programme.

The Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 sets as a priority that hospitals should tackle the delays in patients waiting to be discharged. They should eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, and work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will publish an update on the status of the Universal Service Obligation consultation which closed on 27 November 2023; and what assessment she had made of the potential merits of increasing the 10mbps threshold of decent broadband.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Due to the change in government in 2024, we do not expect to publish a government response to the 2023 public consultation on reviewing the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). However, the information gathered through this is being used to inform ongoing policy development.

Ofcom's December 2024 Connected Nations reporting confirmed that the legislated trigger point to review the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) had been reached and we are continuing to work with Ofcom to commence a review of the Broadband USO in due course. Assessment of the potential merits of increasing the speed threshold will be considered as part of this review and in any following policy development.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March to Question 39828, how many properties in the North Herefordshire constituency have been identified as very hard to reach by Project Gigabit; and what alternative connectivity options are available to ensure that people in these (i) properties and (ii) communities have the connectivity they require to access online services.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

BDUK’s May 2025 Open Market Review identified approximately 5,100 premises in North Herefordshire with no current or planned gigabit-capable infrastructure. Approximately 3,050 premises are now included in Project Gigabit contracts. Work is ongoing to finalise how many premises might remain outside of any plans, some of which may be very hard to reach.

Alternative connectivity can be obtained through technologies such as fixed wireless access (for example from Vodafone, Three, EE and Airband) and satellites. We continue to consider what the government can do to further enable these fibre alternatives for premises and communities located in very hard to reach areas.

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 merits of distributing grassroots sports funding through local authorities for leisure centres and swimming pools.

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

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to sports facilities, including leisure centres and swimming pools, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities right across the country.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, and the Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve.

In June, the Government announced that £400 million will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sports facilities over the next four years. We want to ensure that our future funding plans take a place-based approach, and we are working in collaboration with local authorities and the sports sector to understand the demand for facilities in each area of the UK. Plans for future funding programmes will be confirmed in due course. This funding is on top of the £250 million that our arm’s length body, Sport England invests every year in grassroots sport in England.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to WPQ 80434 answered on 17 October 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the proposals on the (a) minimum share rule, (b) upper limit on relief and (c) transferrable allowance in that report.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.

As announced at Budget 2025, any unused £1 million allowance for the 100% rate of agricultural property relief and business property relief will be transferable between spouses and civil partners, including if the first death was before 6 April 2026.

The report by the independent Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) sets out its other potential amendments to the policy are not, in its own words, a “silver bullet”. For example, CenTax acknowledge the proposal for a minimum share test is less effective than the Government’s reforms in raising revenue from the wealthiest estates, could be exposed to tax planning opportunities, would not necessarily prevent wealthy individuals buying land for inheritance tax purposes, and would mean double the number of estates being affected by the reforms (and largely estates below £2 million).

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Women’s Environmental Network's report entitled Blood, Sweat and Pesticides, published in May 2025; and what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent the use of glyphosate in tampons.

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

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.

MHRA has not evaluated this report, as period products are not regulated as medical devices and consequently fall outside of MHRA’s remit. Rather, they would fall under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, which are within the remit of the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Information on how these are regulated is available at the following link:

https://www.ahpma.co.uk/tampon_code_of_practice/

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of pupils from primary schools in North Herefordshire can (i) swim 25m (ii) self-rescue as reported through the online reporting tool.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The department is processing the information received through the Digital Expenditure Reporting Return and will publish a summary of quality assured data in the new year.

UK participation in Eurovision Song Contest 2026

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

Jury trial rights

Political prisoners in Bangladesh

Palestinian children in Israeli military detention

Russian shadow fleet

Habitat regulations

Domestic Energy Efficiency (Call for Evidence) Bill

Palestine Action hunger strike

Repression following the Iran-Israel war

International Day of People with Disabilities

Occupational Therapist Week

Football Supporters’ Association’s Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025

Reduction to UK Official Development Assistance

National Tree Week 2025

Local authority funding (No. 2)

Fly-tipping and illegal waste dumping by criminal gangs

Funding for medical students in their final years of study

Access to banks

Gambling executives' profits

Higher education funding

Neurodivergent service personnel in the armed forces

Small Business Saturday and support for SME apprenticeships

Bank closures, digital exclusion and cyber risks

25th Anniversary of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000

Israel’s use of cluster munitions

National ban on street-racing