Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming a UK State Pension whilst living abroad by the country they are living in.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

There were around 1.1 million recipients of the UK State Pension living overseas outside the United Kingdom as of the quarter ending August 2025. DWP Stat-Xplore. A full breakdown by country of residence is also available via Stat-Xplore.

These figures relate to State Pension cases paid outside the UK, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and cover State Pensions accrued in Great Britain only. State Pension cases administered separately in Northern Ireland by the Department for Communities are not included.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) methodology and (b) data the Department uses to (i) calculate and (ii) compare the average cost of maintained special school placements and independent school placements.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

For maintained special schools and special academies, the department uses local authorities’ actual expenditure on high needs top-up funding, to which is added the £10,000 per place funding using pupil numbers from the January school census, divided by those pupil numbers to produce an average placement cost.

For independent special schools (ISS), the department cannot disaggregate this expenditure from that including non-maintained special schools (NMSS), so creates a combined average placement cost by adding spending on ISS fees, top up funding for NMSS and the total £10,000 per place funding for NMSS (using the number of pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans at NMSS), and dividing by the number of pupils with EHC plans at both ISS and NMSS.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average cost was of an inquiry into (a) NHS trust and (b) care trusts in the last 12 months.

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

There were three statutory and non-statutory inquiries into National Health Service trusts and care trusts commissioned by the Department in the 2025/26 financial year. The average cost per inquiry over this period is approximately £4.3 million.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether comparisons of the cost of maintained and independent special school placements take account of differences in (a) pupil needs, (b) placement complexity, and (c) length of placement.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Comparisons of the average cost of placements in different types of special school can be made at national level. The data collected on relevant local and central government expenditure is not differentiated on the basis of pupil needs, placement complexity or length of placement.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the increased cost to businesses as a result of the expansion of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), including directly through paying the increased SDIL and indirectly through the demand of product reformulation.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The changes to SDIL announced at Budget 2025 were confirmed following extensive industry engagement through the ‘Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy’ consultation, which was open from 28 April to 21 July 2025. Representations from businesses, and the trade bodies representing them, were received and considered as part of this process.

On 25 November 2025, the government published its summary of responses to the consultation. An assessment of impacts – including economic impacts for businesses – of the announced policy changes can be found within the Summary of Responses document here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/strengthening-the-soft-drinks-industry-levy/outcome/strengthening-the-soft-drinks-industry-levy-summary-of-responses#assessment-of-impacts

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Arts Council has provided in grants for a) opera and b) brass bands in each of the last three years.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The tables in the attached PDF set out Arts Council England grants which support a) opera and b) brass bands for the years 2022/2023, 2023/2024, and 2024/2025. Please note that the distinction between Primary and Non-Primary Subclassifiers is important. It clarifies the difference between organisations primarily focused on opera or brass bands, and those for whom the disciplines form only part of their wider work.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual budget for each individual NHS care trust was in each of the last five years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The trust accounts consolidation data publications for National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts include total operating income and expenditure, and are available for the last five financial years. Data for 2024/25 is currently being finalised for publication. This information is publicly available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/financial-accounting-and-reporting/nhs-providers-tac-data-publications/

NHS England does not set annual budgets for individual trusts. Trusts earn income from their NHS commissioners for the clinical services they provide, as well as local authorities, private patient work, research, and other sources such as car parking. Trusts submit financial plans to NHS England for agreement that will reflect their planned income and expenditure, and performance against the plan is then monitored through the course of the financial year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the bed capacity was in each NHS care trust in each of the last five years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England publishes data on general and acute bed occupancy and capacity. The data can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he expects to bring forward legislation to strip Lord Mandelson of his peerage.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government will provide further details about legislation to create a system to remove peerages from peers in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of mental health patients per caseworker across the country.

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

The information is not held in the format requested.

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 18 December 2025 to question 98754, what his planned timetable is for publication of the packaging change report.

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

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published an overview of the completion of the work by the expert working group (EWG) and subsequent advice from the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) in December 2025 on the MHRA website.

The MHRA has been working with healthcare partner organisations to take forward the recommendations of the EWG and the advice of the CHM. This includes seeking the views of patients with a range of mental health conditions on the proposed updates to the regulatory position for the 28 antidepressants involved in the review in relation to the warnings on suicidal behaviour. The MHRA is ensuring that those who take part receive appropriate safeguarding and signposting, which is required to support their involvement in this work. It is estimated that this user testing will be completed within three months.

It is not possible to confirm the timetable for the publication of the public assessment report until the regulatory position is finalised.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assistance her Department will offer to parents at independent schools that are closing to help them take over the running of the school.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

It is for private schools, as private businesses, to manage their operations and take decisions on closure. All children of compulsory school age are entitled to a state-funded school place, should they need one. The department continues to support local authorities to ensure sufficient places for pupils.

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 13 February 2026 to Question 111118 on Coronavirus: Research, what is the definition of the word “routine” in this context.

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

In the context of the answer to Question 111118 of 13 February 2026, “routine” refers to the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority standard practice on publications of audit outcomes.