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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prevent funding gaps during the transition from the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund.

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

The Places of Worship Renewal Fund will provide an equivalent overall level of financial support to that provided by the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, £23 million per annum.

The new Places of Worship Renewal Fund is a capital fund providing grants upfront, which in some cases, may award a greater proportion of the project costs than what would have previously been received through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

We are aware of concerns regarding the transition between the two schemes. Guidance, including eligibility criteria and application process on the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund, will be published in due course.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Places of Worship Renewal Fund will provide (a) equivalent to and (b) greater financial support than the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; and what steps she is taking to ensure transitional funding for places of worship.

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

The Places of Worship Renewal Fund will provide an equivalent overall level of financial support to that provided by the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, £23 million per annum.

The new Places of Worship Renewal Fund is a capital fund providing grants upfront, which in some cases, may award a greater proportion of the project costs than what would have previously been received through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

We are aware of concerns regarding the transition between the two schemes. Guidance, including eligibility criteria and application process on the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund, will be published in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish timelines for (a) asylum housing pilots and (b) funding to trial local delivery of housing for people seeking asylum.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

We have committed to closing every asylum hotel, and work is well underway, with more suitable sites, including military bases, being brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Home Office are exploring options for a new, more sustainable accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities and devolved partners. This would complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate to end the use of hotels.

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 ensure that overseas visitor charging regulations are applied uniformly across NHS trusts.

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

The overseas visitor charging regulations apply to all National Health Service trusts in England. The Department is working closely with NHS England to ensure the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 are applied fairly and consistently across all NHS trusts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to to the answers of 5 and 17 October 2025 to Questions 77387 and 86538, what progress he has made on ensuring a reliable supply of testosterone and oestrogen HRT implants.

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

We are continuing to work closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure safe access to these products. We have reached out to Specialist Importers who can source unlicensed medicines in order to find alternative sources of both oestrogen and testosterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) implants, which are not licenced in the United Kingdom. We are engaging with companies globally to source supplies of HRT implants for UK patients. We are aware of a Specialist Importer who is able to source unlicensed testosterone implants. The decision to prescribe an unlicensed imported medicine sits with the prescriber.

We are also engaging with companies globally to source supplies of HRT implants for UK patients. The MHRA has been working closely with current importers of the product and are also looking to encourage other applications for a licenced medicinal product. As oestrogen and testosterone HRT implants are not licenced in the UK, the MHRA is encouraging applications to supply products through the licenced medicines route.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to ensure that the (a) psychological, (b) social and (b) financial impacts of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease are accounted for as part of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence methods for evaluating novel treatments.

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

In developing its recommendations, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) takes into account all health-related costs and benefits for patients and caregivers, in line with its established methods and processes.

In 2022, NICE undertook a detailed review of whether it should broaden the perspective it uses in its economic evaluations, including consideration of wider societal impacts. NICE found that robust methods for quantifying wider societal effects are not yet sufficiently developed, and that evidence on the wider societal benefits of interventions, and of the services that might be displaced, is limited. NICE has also noted that expanding assessments to capture socioeconomic impacts could introduce ethical challenges, such as advantaging interventions for populations with higher workforce participation over those for children, older adults, or people unable to work.

Following this review, and after examining both international comparisons, and the significant methodological and ethical challenges involved, NICE’s Board concluded that it should retain its current approach of using a health-sector perspective routinely but with the flexibility to include wider societal benefits when they are especially relevant.

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 19th January to question 105612, to ask what role the Department for Health and Social Care will have in drug price negotiations following the abolishment of NHS England.

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

The target operating model for the integration of NHS England operations into the Department has yet to be finalised. However, drug-price negotiations will continue uninterrupted up to and beyond April 2027, when NHS England will cease to exist as a separate entity.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) what estimate she has made of the proportion of the £104 billion investment package that will be funded through higher customer bills rather than through water company capital investment and (b) what safeguards will be put in place to protect consumers from bill increases linked to the £104 billion investment programme.

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

The Government has secured a record £104 billion investment package to upgrade England’s water infrastructure by 2030. This investment will be funded through a combination of water company capital investment and customer bills, but the precise split cannot yet be confirmed. Affordability must be at the core of any future investment plans, and proposed bill impacts will be assessed through the statutory impact assessment for the Water Reform Bill.

The Government have already taken action to protect customers. Funding for vital infrastructure is now ringfenced so it can only be spent on upgrades that benefit consumers and the environment. Where companies fail to deliver promised investment, they will be required to return money to customers through lower bills.

Alongside this, we are strengthening safeguards for households, including reforms to WaterSure, expanding social tariff support, and introducing a new independent Water Ombudsman to ensure complaints are resolved quickly and fairly.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her department will confirm plans for the Environment Agency to hold a separate, stand alone bridges construction and maintenance budget to run alongside budgets for Locks & Weirs.

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

Environment Agency owned bridges along the non-tidal Thames are part of the overall Navigation infrastructure.

Construction and maintenance allocations for the Environment Agency’s Navigation assets has already been set for the current Spending Review period. This includes Locks, Weirs, Bridges and their associated assets. The Environment Agency is also developing a partnership funding mechanism to accelerate specific bridge refurbishment projects. This will increase the overall amount of bridge construction and maintenance that the Environment Agency can deliver and help towards creating a sustainable Navigation service.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of setting a maximum settlement reduction of £70,000 under the revised loan charge settlement arrangements.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to bring the matter to a close for those affected, ensure fairness for all taxpayers and ensure that appropriate support is in place for those subject to the loan charge.

Because of the decisions the Government has taken, around 30 percent of people within scope of the review could have their liabilities removed entirely. Most other individuals will see their liabilities reduced by at least half.

The most serious cases within scope of the Loan Charge review include instances where an individual has avoided more than £5 million of tax through disguised remuneration use. The Government does not believe it is right to offer this group further substantial reductions to their liabilities. The £70,000 cap was introduced to ensure fairness for all taxpayers, including the vast majority who have never used disguised remuneration schemes.

Over 80% of individuals that are within scope of the settlement opportunity will not be affected by the cap.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the (a) current planned deadlines are for new applications to the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, and (b) whether any changes to those deadlines are under consideration.

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

The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) will come to an end on 31 March 2028. The following deadlines will apply to meet this closure date:

• 31 August 2026 – New voucher project submissions.
• 31 March 2027 – Vouchers issued. Vouchers requested but not validated and issued by 31 March 2027 will be cancelled.
• 31 March 2028 – Voucher claims submitted.

These dates remain subject to change in advance of the March 2028 GBVS closure, in line with the GBVS Supplier Terms and Conditions.

Building Digital UK (BDUK) is willing to consider any further proposals for voucher projects from suppliers that can be delivered within the remaining timetable for the scheme. The voucher scheme is just one part of Project Gigabit, and BDUK will aim to cover as many as possible of the remaining non-gigabit premises through the Project Gigabit contracts.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of transits by sanctioned Russian‑linked vessels through the Channel on national security.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The UK Government constantly monitors UK waters to ensure the safety of mariners, protect the marine environment and uphold the UK’s national security, which includes monitoring sanctioned tankers.

The Department for Transport is continuing to increase scrutiny of these vessels as they transit through the Channel through our Voluntary Insurance Reporting Mechanism introduced in October 2024.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish draft regulations relating to surplus extraction under the Pension Schemes Bill; and whether he plans to publish these before the Bill completes its passage through Parliament.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Pension Schemes Bill will enable more trustees of well-funded defined benefit pension schemes to share surplus with employers and deliver better outcomes for members. Trustees, working with the sponsoring employer, will be responsible for determining how members may benefit from any release of surplus.

The choice to release surplus is underpinned by strict safeguards, including the requirement for a prudent funding threshold, actuarial certification and member notification. Employers will not have direct access to surplus funds, with any surplus release having to be agreed by trustees.

The surplus release provisions, introduced by the Pension Schemes Bill, will rely on trustees exercising their powers appropriately and in accordance with their trust law duties. If trustees breach these requirements, the Pensions Regulator has powers to take action.

We will consult on the surplus release draft regulations once the Pension Schemes Bill has received Royal Assent. We look forward to receiving the responses on the proposals.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for her policies of the role of (a) trustees and (b) sponsoring employers in decision‑making on surplus extraction in defined benefit pension schemes.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Pension Schemes Bill will enable more trustees of well-funded defined benefit pension schemes to share surplus with employers and deliver better outcomes for members. Trustees, working with the sponsoring employer, will be responsible for determining how members may benefit from any release of surplus.

The choice to release surplus is underpinned by strict safeguards, including the requirement for a prudent funding threshold, actuarial certification and member notification. Employers will not have direct access to surplus funds, with any surplus release having to be agreed by trustees.

The surplus release provisions, introduced by the Pension Schemes Bill, will rely on trustees exercising their powers appropriately and in accordance with their trust law duties. If trustees breach these requirements, the Pensions Regulator has powers to take action.

We will consult on the surplus release draft regulations once the Pension Schemes Bill has received Royal Assent. We look forward to receiving the responses on the proposals.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will implement safeguards to ensure that release of surplus from defined benefit schemes does not adversely impact the security of accrued benefits.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Pension Schemes Bill will enable more trustees of well-funded defined benefit pension schemes to share surplus with employers and deliver better outcomes for members. Trustees, working with the sponsoring employer, will be responsible for determining how members may benefit from any release of surplus.

The choice to release surplus is underpinned by strict safeguards, including the requirement for a prudent funding threshold, actuarial certification and member notification. Employers will not have direct access to surplus funds, with any surplus release having to be agreed by trustees.

The surplus release provisions, introduced by the Pension Schemes Bill, will rely on trustees exercising their powers appropriately and in accordance with their trust law duties. If trustees breach these requirements, the Pensions Regulator has powers to take action.

We will consult on the surplus release draft regulations once the Pension Schemes Bill has received Royal Assent. We look forward to receiving the responses on the proposals.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Lord Williams’s School

West Berkshire Community Champion Awards 2026

90th anniversary of the Spitfire

Playing fields

Financial Support for the Music and Dance Scheme

Grey belt policy and the impact on villages and rural communities

Refugee homelessness and the asylum move-on period

Community sport spaces and Sport England

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

Community spaces

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026

Child protection from illicit vapes

National Lottery Funding for Digital Kindness

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund 2026-27

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

High street bank closures

Business rates reform and revaluation

Ellen Roome and the Jools’ Law campaign

Recognition of Ukrainian driving licences

New US sanctions on Cuba

Dual nationals without British passports

UK digital sovereignty strategy

Review of the student loan system

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor