Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of vehicle registrations sold at DVLA auctions being immediately resold for profit; what safeguards are in place to prevent speculative purchasing; and if she will consider restricting DVLA sales to individuals with a requirement that the purchased registration be assigned to a vehicle registered in the buyer’s name within a set period or otherwise returned.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The personalised registrations scheme has been operated by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) since 1989 and has raised more than £3 billion for HM Treasury. The scheme is operated in line with the law and established terms and conditions, with the primary purpose of maximising returns for the Exchequer.

No specific assessment of trends relating to the immediate resale of registration numbers purchased from auctions has been carried out. Around 30 per cent of registration numbers are purchased by companies who trade in the resale of registration numbers.

Registration number auctions are fair and transparent open market sales. Once a registration number has been purchased, the buyer has the legal right to display that registration number on a vehicle subject to the rules governing the conditions of transfer, retention and assignment of a registration number to a vehicle.

There are no plans to restrict speculative purchasing or the subsequent resale of registration numbers as these activities are lawful and consistent with the nature of an open auction process.

There are also no plans to restrict sales of registration numbers to individuals with a requirement that is assigned to a vehicle registered in the buyer’s name and within a set period of time or otherwise returned. Such a change would represent a significant departure from the current market-based approach and have a significant impact on a well-established number plate market, which includes small and medium enterprises and individuals who wish to sell the rights to their registration number.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 20 May 2024, what information his Department holds on whether the use of haemophilia patients and their families for research has ceased.

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

Medical research was an important area examined in the inquiry, with it concluding that ‘the value of such research to society is enhanced rather than undermined by undertaking research in an ethical and moral way’.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care.

In January 2026, the NIHR published the attached report, From subject to participant and partner, on its website, summarising the concerns raised in the inquiry report, as well as a summary of the research governance changes since and a synthesis of an in-person workshop. The NIHR and partners who attended the workshop are committed to upholding the highest standards of research governance to drive better inclusivity in the evidence base for care, working with those who use, manage, or work in health and care services to share learning and drive improvement. The NIHR requires all applicants to demonstrate how their research will address existing inequalities in health and social care as a condition of funding.

The NIHR was created in 2006, many decades after individuals received infected blood in the United Kingdom. The NIHR did not therefore fund any clinical trials or research where individuals received infected blood. The NIHR has strong ethical, safety, and legal governance arrangements, including processes to ensure informed consent for those participating in research, and includes parental and guardian consent for children involved in research.

The NIHR funds a wide range of research relevant to the Infected Blood Inquiry. Work includes making blood donation and transfusion safer by improving transfusion practice, reducing variation in practice and ensuring greater resilience and efficiency throughout the blood supply chain.

This includes research on improving the safety of blood transfusions and blood products, and research to improve better detection and treatments for blood borne infections, including through opt out testing in accident and emergency departments for HIV, and Hepatitis B and C.

Heating oil prices

PANS+ Scotland

Palantir and the NHS

Conduct of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

90th anniversary of the Spitfire

Funding for rural fire and rescue services

Cardiac risk in the young

New US sanctions on Cuba

Protections for the welfare of wild animals in tourism

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

Relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Scientific hearing on animal experiments

Climate and Nature Bill

Farmers, growers and the supermarket supply chain

Naloxone

Cumulative disruption proposals and the right to protest

Nuclear Regulatory Review and habitats regulations

UK digital sovereignty strategy

Public inquiry into Epstein links

British couple detained in Iran

Found: 4DF T: +44 (0) 3459 335577 E: correspondence.section@defra.gov.uk W: gov.uk/defra Jamie Stone

Found: Yours sincerely, Jamie Stone MP Petitions Committee Chair

Found: London, NW4 2BZ www.thejlc.org @jlc_uk @jlc.uk JewishLeadershipCouncil Jamie Stone