Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of pavement delivery robots on pedestrian safety, accessibility, and the overall use of public footways, particularly for people with disabilities, older residents, and those using pushchairs or mobility aids.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Advances in technology have the potential to boost our economy and undertake dangerous jobs such as highways maintenance, but it is important the safety of pedestrians and vulnerable road users is put first.

We have announced that we intend to trial pavement robots using powers the Government is seeking through the Regulating for Growth Bill. A key part of the trial will be understanding the impact on pedestrians, particularly the most vulnerable groups.

No permanent regulations will come into force without detailed public consultation and a full assessment of the impacts.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the review of AI deployment in electricity networks will include an assessment of the net effect on electricity demand of (a) AI-enabled grid efficiencies and (b) data-centre consumption.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Review’s Terms of Reference state that consideration of data centre energy usage is out of scope for the purposes of the review.

The Terms of Reference also state that the review will "assess the potential system benefits of AI including for affordability, energy security, flexibility, and decarbonisation, and the potential risks and challenges that could undermine delivery of these benefits".

Any recommendations to emerge from the review would be subject to their own assessments by Government, including the consideration of net impacts to electricity demand.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of requiring as-built specifications to be lodged as a condition of building control completion for new homes.

Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

For buildings below 18m, the Building Regulations 2010 already take a proportionate approach to requirements for as-built specifications. Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires that a person carrying out building work involving the erection or extension of a building to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies must handover relevant fire safety information to the responsible person for the building. The requirements of regulation 38 must be satisfied before a completion certificate can be given. The Government recently closed a consultation on requirements for plan approval in new dwellings, but this did not include consideration of extending regulation 38 or requiring full as-built plans for new dwellings. A response will be issued later this year.

For residential buildings that are 18m or above, the client must provide information to the Building Safety Regulator as part of their completion certificate application. Completion certificate applications must include documents that reflect the ‘as-built’ building together with confirmation that the building work complies with building regulations. This includes drawings and plans of the as-built building. This information forms part of the ‘golden thread’ must be maintained throughout design and construction and handed over to the building owner to help them manage building safety risks when the building is in use.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the compatibility of Government support for carbon capture and storage projects associated with new gas-fired power stations with the UK's net zero commitments.

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

CCUS will decarbonise industry and power in a way that drives growth, supports high productivity jobs and accelerates towards net zero. Through CCUS we can produce flexible, low-carbon power which will displace the use of unabated gas when renewable energy sources like solar and wind are not available. CCUS will be essential to meeting our climate commitments, with the Climate Change Committee (CCC) saying they “cannot see a route to Net Zero that does not include CCS.” Our modelling shows that CCUS forms part of the lowest-cost pathway to meeting carbon budgets and net zero.

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 declassifying First Class accommodation on Great Northern and Thameslink services serving Cambridge on passenger capacity and crowding levels during peak periods.

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

Decisions on how First Class accommodation is used during peak periods are operational matters for the relevant operator, which keeps capacity and passenger demand under review. While declassifying First Class can help relieve crowding on individual busy services, it does not increase overall train capacity. GTR has increased peak-time capacity between Cambridge, Letchworth and London through the December 2025 timetable changes, providing additional space for passengers. Staff may declassify First Class where services are exceptionally busy, and the rear First Class compartment on Class 700 Thameslink trains is already permanently declassified.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment they have made of whether the UK's Sovereign Tech and Sovereign AI funding programmes are adequately supporting the UK's digital sovereignty; and what criteria are used to assess applications to those programmes.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)

The Sovereign AI Fund, backed by £500 million, seeks to grow and anchor strategically important UK AI companies, helping them scale in the UK while supporting economic resilience, high-quality jobs and growth. Alongside direct equity investment, Sovereign AI can help companies access public compute, R&D funding, talent support, procurement opportunities and wider government support.

The Fund focuses on areas where the UK has existing underlying strengths and government action can materially improve scaling outcomes; These areas include compute and infrastructure, foundation models, AI for life sciences, AI for scientific discovery, and AI assurance. Applications are assessed against published written criteria and the Fund’s broader strategic objectives.

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World Suicide Prevention Day 2026

Support for hospices

Found: Pippa Heylings MP for South Cambridgeshire457 (REP-05) 18.74 There is an urgent imperative to deliver