Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to include experiments inducing sepsis in animals in her strategy on phasing out animal testing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 December 2025 to Question UIN 94115.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what guidance her Department has issued to fire and rescue services on safety standards in relation to 5G masts.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has not issued guidance on fire safety standards for 5G masts and does not have responsibility for setting such standards. Mobile network operators are responsible for the operation, maintenance and safety of their infrastructure. The Department engages regularly with mobile network operators in relation to resilience of network infrastructure.
Rules relating to fire risk and 5G infrastructure is covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of fire safety standards for 5G masts.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has not issued guidance on fire safety standards for 5G masts and does not have responsibility for setting such standards. Mobile network operators are responsible for the operation, maintenance and safety of their infrastructure. The Department engages regularly with mobile network operators in relation to resilience of network infrastructure.
Rules relating to fire risk and 5G infrastructure is covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to enable parents the right to access their deceased child’s social media data.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The government is committed to ensuring families feel that the system is on their side when tragedies happen. In these cases, the Online Safety Act provides for Ofcom to require information from services on a child’s online activity at a coroner’s request. To strengthen this, the Data (Use and Access) Bill seeks to establish a data preservation process requiring companies to preserve such relevant information at a coroner’s request.
The Online Safety Act will also require categorised services to be transparent with parents regarding a company’s data disclosure processes, following the death of a child.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether it is his policy to allow the Research Excellence Framework people, culture and environment pilot to go forward.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Research England has notified the Department about their plans for developing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029, which includes the People, Culture, and Environment pilot. This pilot aims to assess the feasibility and practicality of incorporating this element into the REF. The findings will guide future developments of the REF. Final decisions on the REF's structure will be made after the pilot concludes and further engagement with the sector.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when Research England informed his Department of their plans for the (a) Research Excellence Framework 2029 and (b) people, culture and environment pilot.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Research England has notified the Department about their plans for developing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029, which includes the People, Culture, and Environment pilot. This pilot aims to assess the feasibility and practicality of incorporating this element into the REF. The findings will guide future developments of the REF. Final decisions on the REF's structure will be made after the pilot concludes and further engagement with the sector.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to accept Research England’s proposed changes to the research excellence framework.
Answered by Feryal Clark
Research England has notified the Department about their plans for developing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029, which includes the People, Culture, and Environment pilot. This pilot aims to assess the feasibility and practicality of incorporating this element into the REF. The findings will guide future developments of the REF. Final decisions on the REF's structure will be made after the pilot concludes and further engagement with the sector.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many letters his Department has responded to from the Centre for Media Monitoring since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark
There has been no correspondence from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology to the Centre for Media Monitoring since 4 July 2024.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many times his Department has invited the Centre for Media Monitoring to official events since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has not invited the Centre for Media Monitoring to official events since 4 July 2024.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many times his Department has met with representatives from the Centre for Media Monitoring since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has not met with representatives from the Centre for Media Monitoring since 4 July 2024.