Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of banking hubs that will be operational at the end of each year to 2028.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Currently there are 190 banking hubs operational and Cash Access UK, who oversee banking hub rollout, expect 200 to be operational by the end of 2025. The UK banking sector has publicly committed to delivering 350 banking hubs by the end of this Parliament.

As the timing of the roll-out of banking hubs is industry-driven, the Government does not make year-on-year estimates.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who enquired about her Department's free e-learning training on female genital mutilation subsequently declined to complete the course in each of the last two years.

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

Frontline professionals and agencies with statutory safeguarding responsibilities are crucial to protecting survivors and those at risk of FGM.

We have issued a range of materials to support professionals to help them understand FGM, spot the signs, and support victims and survivors. This includes making available free e-learning for all frontline staff for example in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.

From 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024, 121,773 people registered for the free e-learning module on FGM. This can be broken down as:

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the policing of non-contentious parades in central London.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government continues to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to ensure parades, protests and assemblies can take place whilst maintaining public safety.

Operational matters are for individual forces, and Government ministers do not intervene in how the law is applied.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to help eradicate polio in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Pakistan.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to question 76022 on 17 September 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question 51109 on UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland, how many species are scheduled to have their prohibition lifted by 31 December 2025.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has submitted technical dossiers to the European Commission seeking derogations for 45 species of plants from the EU's prohibitions on entry for high-risk plants. 35 of these have been successful to date, subject to specific conditions being met. The remaining 10 applications are under review by the Commission. Their up-to-date status can be found here: Export of high risk plants to the EU - UK Plant Health Information Portal

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many complaints have been received from hon. Members relating to (a) laptops, (b) other IT equipment supplied under the Hardware Refresh programme and (c) access to MemberHub since 1 January 2025.

Answered by Nick Smith

The Parliamentary Digital Service has a formal complaints process in place for Members to raise concerns about their services. This sits alongside our Member Services team, 24/7 support desk and other support channels, which are available to assist Members and their offices with any issues they may experience.

Since 1 January 2025 the Parliamentary Digital Service has received one complaint from a Member under the formal complaints process which related to all three categories of (a) laptops (b) other IT equipment supplied under the Hardware Refresh programme, and (c) access to MemberHub. No other formal complaints were received from any Members in any of these categories.

In addition, we hold data on the number of incidents Members have raised to the Digital Support Desk in relation to the three categories. These incidents cover technical faults as well as queries on functionality, process or the status of orders.

For each category the number of incidents reported by Members is provided below since 1 January 2025. The percentage in brackets shows the proportion this category represents of overall incidents reported by Members:

233 related to laptops (11%)
769 related to hardware more generally (38%)
16 related to MemberHub (<1%)

It is not possible to separate out issues raised by the hardware refresh programme in this data.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the Director General of the BBC on allegations of mis-editing of President Trump by Panorama.

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

Senior officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have received a copy of the dossier containing these allegations and have been assured by the BBC that they are examining the issues raised in the report. The Culture Secretary is being kept updated on these developments.

Because the BBC is independent of government, it is for the Corporation to respond to questions about their editorial decisions. It is crucial the BBC upholds the highest standards of reporting and impartiality, so they are trusted as the national broadcaster and the Government therefore expects the BBC to consider feedback they receive seriously and carefully.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to encourage people aged under 30 to (a) save and (b) invest for retirement.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment to help people save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience and to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save.

The Lifetime ISA is designed to encourage younger people to get into the habit of saving for the longer term. The Help to Save scheme also supports low-income working households to start a long-term savings habit.

The government encourages pension saving through generous tax relief on pension contributions and investment income and growth. These reliefs were worth £78.2bn in 2023/24. Individuals can also save in a range of Individual Savings Accounts each year, such as cash and stocks & shares and any savings income within it is tax free.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 85702 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, what information his Department holds on whether the 127 additional electric vehicle charging points will be (a) publicly available and (b) implemented during the four year period.

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

The On-Street Residential Charging Scheme funds publicly available chargepoints. Installation timescales will be agreed between the funded councils and their appointed chargepoint operator.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the number of Advanced Modular Reactors that will be functional and fully operational by 2035.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) have the potential to provide reliable, low-carbon energy for electricity generation and energy uses beyond baseload power.

At the Spending Review, the government committed to provide a pathway for privately-led advanced nuclear technologies. Great British Energy – Nuclear has been tasked with assessing proposals within a new framework, with the National Wealth Fund exploring potential investment opportunities and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero exploring revenue support for viable projects. The new framework will be published shortly.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will hold discussions with Innovate UK on holding Innovate Local events in the north west of Northern Ireland.

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

The Innovate UK Local’s programme of events are designed to take a roadshow of funding opportunities into regions across the whole of the UK. Innovate UK is committed to engaging with innovative businesses in Northern Ireland and is consulting with Invest Northern Ireland on where to hold events over the next year. This will ensure there is strong local input on how best to serve Northern Irelands vibrant business communities.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will review the selection process for Oral Questions to identify ways to minimise the grouping of identical Questions.

Answered by Nick Smith

It is for Members themselves to determine what Questions they submit for any given Oral Question time. The Table Office runs an electronic “shuffle” to randomly select the relevant number of Questions that are then listed on the Order Paper for the relevant Oral Question time. Requests from Ministers for the grouping of similar Questions, with the permission of the Speaker, enable a single response to be given on a substantive Question and related supplementary Questions to be taken all together.

The Table Office keeps under review its internal processes relating to Oral Questions and any procedural change would be a matter for the House. The Procedure Committee keeps Parliamentary Questions under review and representations could be made to them on any procedural proposals.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to improve its search procedures, in the context of the research and analysis entitled Security Investment Programme Evaluation, published by his Department on 5 September 2024.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

A full evaluation of the £100 Security Investment Programme, aimed to reduce crime in prison including reducing smuggling of drugs, was published on 5 September 2024 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/security-investment-programme-evaluation.

Airport-style enhanced gate security, comprising of metal detectors and X-ray baggage scanners, is used in 54 high-risk prison sites (both private and public sector), enabling routine searching of prison officers. In addition, local security strategies allow for routine and random rub-down searches of prison officers and other staff upon entry to, or within, prisons.

This year, we are investing over £40 million in physical security across 34 prisons to further prevent contraband entering prisons.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on the level of risk of vaping on (a) fertility and (b) pregnancy.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The current evidence is clear that vaping is safer than smoking, including the impact on fertility and pregnancy. Smoking affects the ability to conceive for both men and women, with all stages of reproductive function affected by tobacco toxicants. Pregnant women are especially advised to quit smoking, due to the two-fold increased risk of low birthweight, 27% increase in premature birth, 32% increase in miscarriage, and 47% increase in stillbirth.

Whilst research in this area is limited, a study funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research found that vaping can be a more effective cessation aid for pregnant women than traditional nicotine replacement therapies, with almost twice as many women in this study quitting smoking with vapes rather than with nicotine patches. Importantly, this study concluded that the safety of vapes for use during pregnancy was similar to that of nicotine patches.

However, the long-term harms of vaping are not fully known. Therefore, non-smokers should not vape.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what changes have been made in the past twelve months to the monitoring of animal health disease under the Animal Health and Welfare Framework.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Animal and Plant Health Agency leads the Government’s monitoring of animal disease control and carries out routine surveillance of disease risks in the UK and globally, to help the Government anticipate future threats to animal health.

We remain vigilant to changes in risk and continue to use our established systems to monitor for new and emerging threats to our biosecurity through our Veterinary Risk Group and the Human and Animal Infections Risk Surveillance Group.

The Animal Health and Welfare Common Framework (Provisional Framework Outline Agreement and Concordat), published as a Command Paper in 2022, has been produced to explain how the UK Government and devolved Governments propose to work together in key areas of animal health and welfare law and policy. It explains how the principles of devolution continue to apply to animal health and welfare policy after the UK’s exit from the EU.

The separate Animal Health and Welfare Framework published in 2018 has been produced to help county councils, unitary authorities and metropolitan boroughs in England deliver their statutory duties in relation to the health and welfare of farmed animals.

Neither Framework in its own right establishes nor introduces any changes to the monitoring of animal health.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether all 48 F-35 aircraft ordered from Lockheed Martin under Tranche 1 been delivered.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

To date, 41 aircraft have been delivered.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people aged 75 years and over have requested a bowel screening kit by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline in the last two years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service bowel cancer screening programme’s published data for 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024 shows that 396,325 people self-referred or opted back into the programme within the year. This includes ‘over-age self-referrals’, those aged 75 years old and over who are not invited routinely, and also ‘late responder self-referrals’ who have not responded to the initial invitation but have later chosen to participate. This data cannot be disaggregated into each of the categories listed. This data is provided in the Bowel cancer screening standards data report 2022/23 and the Bowel cancer screening standards data report 2023/24, which are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-annual-report-2022-to-2023/bowel-cancer-screening-standards-data-report-2022-23

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-annual-report-2023-to-2024/bowel-cancer-screening-standards-data-report-2023-24

Additional unpublished data available to the programme shows that for this time period, from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024, 224,665 requests were made for self-referrals from individuals who are aged 75 years old and over. We are unable to identify if all of these requests were made via the bowel screening helpline. The total number of people aged 75 years old and over is 5,736,072, sourced from the Patients Registered at a GP Practice, October 2025 dataset, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/patients-registered-at-a-gp-practice/october-2025

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 87001 on Female Genital Mutilation: Training, what categories of reasons were allocated to the people who registered but did not attempt the free e-learning training on female genital mutilation.

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

We have issued a range of materials to support professionals to help them understand Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), spot the signs, and support victims and survivors. This includes making available free e-learning for all frontline staff for example in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.

From 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024, 121,773 people registered for the free e-learning module on FGM. Of that number, there were 17,999 ‘Not attempted’. As this is a free e-learning module and not mandatory, we do not hold information regarding reasons for not attempting or completing the module.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner on responding to an inquiry by the hon. Member for East Londonderry on a parade in Central London on 20 September 2025.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is committed to working with the Metropolitan Police to ensure that the right to protest, including in parades, is balanced with the protecting communities from serious disruption or harm.

Government ministers do not intervene in how the police applies laws relating to protest, which are matters reserved for operational forces.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the reduction in the qualifying age for bowel cancer screening on detection rates in the past five years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The final roll out of this policy only concluded in April 2025. As such, NHS England has not yet made any formal assessment of the impact of lowering the age for bowel cancer screening down to 50 on detection rates.

However, when making the recommendation to extend the screening age, from 60- to 74- year olds to 50- to 74- year olds, and to replace the faecal occult blood test with the faecal immunochemical test at the current test sensitivity threshold of 120 micrograms of haemoglobin per gram of faeces, these two activities combined were estimated to nearly double the number of colorectal cancer incidences detected and mortality reduced.

Phenylketonuria awareness and access to treatment

Sara Cox’s challenge for Children in Need

Irish Sea herring quotas

Houses of Parliament Shop deliveries to Northern Ireland

Movember

International Men’s Day and prostate cancer

Found: Maskey MP Sinn Féin East Antrim Sammy Wilson MP Democratic Unionist Party East Londonderry Gregory Campbell

Found: Maskey MP Sinn Féin East Antrim Sammy Wilson MP Democratic Unionist Party East Londonderry Gregory Campbell