Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce annual increases in household energy bills in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

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

Tackling the affordability crisis is Government’s number one priority. Energy bills remain too high – that is why we are acting to bring bills down now and for the long term. At the last Budget, we took an average of £150 of costs off energy bills from this coming April. On top of this around six million households will receive the £150 Warm Home Discount, after we expanded the scheme for this winter.

In addition, the Government’s Warm Homes Plan is the biggest investment in home upgrades ever, with £15 billion of investment to cut energy bills, bring households out of fuel poverty, increase our energy security and make our homes warmer and more efficient. The £15 billion total includes £5 billion directed towards low income and fuel poor households, helping to lift up to one million households out of fuel poverty by 2030.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of Dating Scam Fraud were reported in 2025; and what the financial loss was.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Home Office does not collect information on Dating Scam Fraud. City of London Police are the national lead force for fraud and operate the Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) reporting service which collects data on Dating Scam Fraud. The below data was collected from the reports made to Action Fraud (now Report Fraud) that amounted to a crime under the Home Office crime recording rules.

In the first 10 months of 2025, there were 9,305 dating scam reports to Action Fraud (now ‘Report Fraud’). Losses for these reports totalled £90.9m. Source: Report Fraud Analysis Services (Public)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of Grey Belt policy on speculative development proposals on village edges in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 98288 on 5 January 2026, UIN 105177 on 20 January 2026, and UIN 106373 on 26 January 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the quarterly instalment payment regime on companies that realise large but infrequent capital gains, particularly in cases where tax liabilities cannot be known at the point quarterly payments fall due.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

If a company or a group's annual profits exceed £1.5 million, they will be classed as ‘large’ and will be required to pay their Corporation Tax in quarterly instalments. This long-standing regime ensures that larger companies pay their Corporation Tax bill closer to the point at which they make a profit, which is in line with other G7 countries.

Companies must self-assess whether they are in the regime and pay accordingly. Where liabilities may be difficult to predict, including from capital gains, companies should make their best estimate of instalment payments based on the information available at the time. Payments can be adjusted up or down as the final liability becomes clearer, and if they prove to be excessive a repayment can be claimed.

As always for late paid tax, interest is charged to reflect the time value of money. Recognising the estimated nature of the instalments, special rates of interest apply which charge less for late payment, and pay more for overpayment, than the normal rates.

The Government keeps the impact of the quarterly instalment payment regime, including associated interest rules, under review.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of interest charges on companies that are unable to estimate quarterly instalment payments accurately due to the unpredictable timing and size of capital gains.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

If a company or a group's annual profits exceed £1.5 million, they will be classed as ‘large’ and will be required to pay their Corporation Tax in quarterly instalments. This long-standing regime ensures that larger companies pay their Corporation Tax bill closer to the point at which they make a profit, which is in line with other G7 countries.

Companies must self-assess whether they are in the regime and pay accordingly. Where liabilities may be difficult to predict, including from capital gains, companies should make their best estimate of instalment payments based on the information available at the time. Payments can be adjusted up or down as the final liability becomes clearer, and if they prove to be excessive a repayment can be claimed.

As always for late paid tax, interest is charged to reflect the time value of money. Recognising the estimated nature of the instalments, special rates of interest apply which charge less for late payment, and pay more for overpayment, than the normal rates.

The Government keeps the impact of the quarterly instalment payment regime, including associated interest rules, under review.

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 potential impact of making the testing of AI models a legal requirement on the use of AI systems to create child sexual abuse material.

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

The government is committed to tackling the creation of this atrocious material. Creating, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content.

We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators, and to ensure AI developers can directly test for and address vulnerabilities in their models which enable the production of CSAM.

The Government is clear: no option is off the table when it comes to protecting the online safety of users in the UK.

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 introduce a statutory right to access free period products.

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

The Government recognises the importance of women and girls being able to access the care they need for their reproductive health, including period products.

We know that poverty doesn’t recognise gender, and that women and girls may suffer given the cost of period products. However, we know that period poverty reflects wider cost-of-living pressures, which is why the Government is tackling the root causes of poverty, through measures to make work pay, boosting the living wage, and investing in public services, so no one has to go without the essentials.

There are a number of schemes across the Government which ensure that those who are most vulnerable can access the products they need. The Department for Education’s Period Products scheme launched in 2020 and provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study so that nobody misses out on education because of their period. Similarly, all women and girls being cared for by the National Health Service are entitled to be given, upon request, appropriate period products free of charge.

We are also taking steps to ensure that products are as affordable as possible, as the tax on period products has been zero-rated since 2021, and in 2023 this was extended to include reusable period underwear.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that free period products are accessible to everyone who needs them in schools, workplaces, and public facilities.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Nobody should have to miss out on education because of their period, which is why the department provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study through the period products scheme. The scheme aims to remove periods as a barrier to accessing education and addresses pupils being unable to afford period products.

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 potential merits of making the testing of AI models a legal requirement to help prevent AI systems from being used to create child sexual abuse material.

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

The government is committed to tackling the creation of this atrocious material. Creating, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content.

We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators, and to ensure AI developers can directly test for and address vulnerabilities in their models which enable the production of CSAM.

The Government is clear: no option is off the table when it comes to protecting the online safety of users in the UK.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of funding the full cost of specialist palliative care delivered by hospices.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.

Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.

The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that ICBs should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.

Hospices provide both core and specialist palliative care. Whilst acknowledging that not everyone will need specialist palliative care, we must ensure is that there is equitable and timely access to these services, whether they are provided by hospices or the National Health Service.

While no specific assessment has been made of the cost of changes in the levels of funding to hospices on the wider healthcare system, as part of our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government will shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community. We recognise that it is vital to include palliative care and end-of-life care, including hospices, in this shift.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the cost of changes in the levels of funding to hospices on the wider healthcare system.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.

Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.

The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that ICBs should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.

Hospices provide both core and specialist palliative care. Whilst acknowledging that not everyone will need specialist palliative care, we must ensure is that there is equitable and timely access to these services, whether they are provided by hospices or the National Health Service.

While no specific assessment has been made of the cost of changes in the levels of funding to hospices on the wider healthcare system, as part of our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government will shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community. We recognise that it is vital to include palliative care and end-of-life care, including hospices, in this shift.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of State Pension age changes for 1950s-born women living in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

All women born since 6 April 1950 have been affected by changes to State Pension age.

Estimates can be made with ONS 2022 Census Data of how many women born in the 1950s were resident in each constituency in that year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what timeline her Department has for introducing regulations that ensure generative AI cannot be misused to create extreme sexual abuse material involving children.

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

The Government recognises the serious and evolving threat posed by AI being misused to create child sexual abuse material. We know offenders will seek to exploit emerging technologies for their own sexual gratification.

AI-generated child sexual abuse is not a victimless crime. The material often includes depictions of real children, escalating the risk of contact abuse. The volume and realism of this material can make it increasingly challenging for safeguarding partners to identify and protect children. Offenders can also use these images to groom and blackmail children.

That is why this Government has introduced a measure within the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise AI models that have been developed to create child sexual abuse material. These optimised models produce hyper-realistic indecent images that often contains the likeness of real children. This offence will carry a sentence of up to five years. To further ensure that generative AI models are not misused to create extreme child sexual abuse material, this Government has also sought to update the existing law criminalising ‘paedophile manuals’ to cover AI as well. Manuals which provide guidance on how to use AI to create child sexual abuse material will be punishable by up to three years in prison.

The Crime and Policing Bill is currently at the Lords Committee stage. Subject to parliamentary approval, the Crime and Policing Bill – and thus these two crucial measures to criminalise AI-generated child sexual abuse material – is expected to secure Royal Assent by the Spring of 2026.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what proportion of a) government departments b) critical public services and c) critical national infrastructure rely on US-owned cloud infrastructure; and what assessment her Department has made of the risks to UK data sovereignty and service continuity this poses.

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

Survey results in the State of Digital Government Review state that around 55% of central government organisations reported that over 60% of their estate is now on the cloud. All survey participants indicated that they use one of two leading cloud providers, both of whom are US based.

Critical public services, including those delivered by arm’s length bodies and local authorities, operate under a range of governance and assurance arrangements. Responsibility for digital infrastructure decisions rests with the relevant accountable bodies, and there is no centralised record of the proportion of such services that use US-owned cloud infrastructure.

The government works closely with critical national infrastructure operators alongside our national technical authorities and industry partners. The government does not generally comment on national security or commercial matters related to CNI, including the use of individual suppliers.

‘Data sovereignty’ could cover numerous UK interests, including but not limited to economic, security, resilience, privacy, and diplomatic considerations. We will continue to seek to balance these objectives in our approach, to ensure the robustness of our digital services. UK public sector buyers of cloud services are advised to review their technology requirements against the Technology Code of Practice and consider the specific risk management and controls they need when procuring those services.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure the 30 by 30 on land in England nature recovery target is met.

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

The UK Government is committed to protecting 30% of land and sea in the UK by 2030 (30by30). Progressing this target on land in England means ensuring that our most important and wildlife-rich habitats are benefiting from effective, long-term conservation and management.

In October 2024 we set out our vision for progressing 30by30 on land in England and the criteria for land and inland water areas which can count towards this target. Our 30by30 Delivery Plan will set out how we will lead, support, and inspire action across England to deliver this vision. We will publish the 30by30 Delivery Plan later this year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to publish an equalities impact assessment of the Child Poverty Strategy, including its impact on groups at highest risk of poverty.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.

The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether passenger demand forecasts for Thameslink services have been updated to reflect the approved expansion of London Luton Airport, planned housing growth along the route and the proposed Universal Studios development in Bedfordshire; and how those factors are being incorporated into long-term capacity planning for the Thameslink corridor.

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

Govia Thameslink Railway has shared demand modelling with the Department which does include projections for planned developments along the Thameslink network. The Department requires all operators to plan future timetables that reflect expected demand and provide value for money for the taxpayer. In the longer term, under Great British Railways’ directing mind, timetables and services will be optimised to drive up network performance and improve passenger journey experience.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the EU’s proposed restrictions of PFAS.

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

As set out in the PFAS Plan published on 3 February 2026, this Government will consider our approach towards further UK REACH restrictions. The Government will reform UK REACH to enable protections that address chemical pollution to be applied more quickly, efficiently and in a way that is more aligned with our closest trading partners, especially the EU, by December 2028.

It is not yet clear what the EU’s final proposed more comprehensive restriction of PFAS will cover. Several stages remain before an EU restriction is adopted, including a further consultation period and provision for derogations.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle the decline in the numbers of British birds.

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

We are committed to delivering our statutory biodiversity targets which will support the recovery and conservation of native wild birds.

Nationally, government actions to restore and create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat by 2042, along with projects funded through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme, will support the conservation and recovery of a wide range of bird species. Within the farmland environment, Environment Land Management schemes include actions that provide food, shelter, and nesting habitat for a range of bird species.

In addition, to support delivery of our statutory species targets, Defra is developing a detailed Threatened Bird Recovery Plan which aims to improve coordination, and drive the delivery, of actions to recover our most threatened bird species.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle the decline of British birds.

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

We are committed to delivering our statutory biodiversity targets which will support the recovery and conservation of native wild birds.

Nationally, government actions to restore and create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat by 2042, along with projects funded through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme, will support the conservation and recovery of a wide range of bird species. Within the farmland environment, Environment Land Management schemes include actions that provide food, shelter, and nesting habitat for a range of bird species.

In addition, to support delivery of our statutory species targets, Defra is developing a detailed Threatened Bird Recovery Plan which aims to improve coordination, and drive the delivery, of actions to recover our most threatened bird species.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of climate change on UK wildlife.

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

Under the UK Climate Change Act 2008, the Government must complete a Climate Change Risk Assessment every five years, followed by a National Adaptation Programme outlining how identified risks will be addressed. The fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment will be published in 2027, informed by the independent assessment and advice provided by the Climate Change Committee. This will include a Technical Report outlining UK climate risks, including risks to terrestrial, coastal, freshwater, marine and soil ecosystems, and a Well-Adapted UK Report that will advise on how to address them.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle barriers to work for disabled people in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.

Disabled people are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in Primary Care and WorkWell. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.

DWP is working with the NHS and Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) as part of the Get Hertfordshire Working strategic plan. DWP and the NHS co-chair the Work and Health subgroup of the plan. This group is working with local employers and key partners from the statutory, education and voluntary sectors, to support residents with health conditions to both stay in and return to work through a range of activities such as employment and skills training and providing support in managing their health conditions. The group is also developing employment pathways such as work experience, internships, and apprenticeships with partner agencies.

DEAs in the Jobcentres supporting the constituency hold in-depth Work Ability conversations that focus on strengths, suitable work options, workplace adjustments and confidence building. There is a Weekly Wednesday Job Club for Berkhamsted customers. As part of the Pathways to Work initiative DEAs work in collaboration with HCC to deliver joined up services for residents by supporting disabled people into employment through our Connect to Work programme, referrals to Employment Advisors in Talking Therapies and IPS.

We set out our plan for the Pathways to Work Guarantee in our Pathways to Work Green Paper and are building towards our guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for disabled people and people with health conditions on out of work benefits. The guarantee is backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by the end of the decade. We anticipate the guarantee, once fully rolled out, will include: a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement, and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan also states the Government’s intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the amount of technology required by state schools in England.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department monitors the level of technology required by state schools in England through the Technology in Schools Survey 2025, which captures evidence on digital infrastructure, devices and connectivity.

To support schools, the department has published clear digital and technology standards, covering broadband, wireless networks, filtering and monitoring, cyber security, cloud storage, devices and digital leadership. These standards help schools make informed decisions about the technology required for safe and effective teaching.

We continue to invest in programmes such as Connect the Classroom and the Plan Technology for Your School service to ensure all schools can meet these expectations by 2030.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK technology company acquired by foreign buyers were of (a) pre-revenue startups and (b) companies with revenues (i) under £10 million, (ii) between £10-50 million and (iii) £50 million in the last three years; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of UK scale-ups being acquired before reaching their full growth potential.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The statistics requested are not readily available. The Department for Business and Trade is supporting the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups, aiming to create the UK’s first trillion-dollar technology business by 2035. The Industrial Strategy and Digital & Technology Subsector plan set out how we will achieve this. They set out a whole-of-government approach to the sector, reforming the business environment for digital and technology companies and addressing their needs for greater investment, skills, infrastructure, regulation and access to international markets.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK technology startups and scale-ups were acquired by foreign companies in each of the last three years; and what the total value of those acquisitions was in each of the last three years.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The statistics requested are not readily available. The Department for Business and Trade is supporting the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups, aiming to create the UK’s first trillion-dollar technology business by 2035. The Industrial Strategy and Digital & Technology Subsector plan set out how we will achieve this. They set out a whole-of-government approach to the sector, reforming the business environment for digital and technology companies and addressing their needs for greater investment, skills, infrastructure, regulation and access to international markets.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure AI companies embed safety-by-design principles in generative AI products.

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

The Online Safety Act places duties on many AI services to make them more responsible for their users’ safety. The Secretary of State tasked officials to review how the Act covers chatbots and has said government will act to fill any gaps in the Act.

The AI Security Institute works closely with AI developers to understand potential risks from AI and develop mitigations. The Institute’s research is making AI models safer, with findings being used by industry to strengthen AI model safeguards.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason business rates treatment is different for community pharmacies and (a) GP and (b) NHS dentist surgeries; and whether his Department plans to extend business rate reimbursements to community pharmacies.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Community pharmacy, general practice and National Health Service dental surgeries all play a vital role in delivering our Neighbourhood Health Service offer for communities across the country. They are treated differently in relation to business rates because GP practices and most NHS dental services have their premises costs reimbursed under NHS contracts, whereas community pharmacies are treated as retail businesses and do not have a comparable, automatic reimbursement mechanism for business rates.

That difference in this treatment is rooted in how each service is commissioned, contracted, and classified. Community pharmacy have been afforded support through the business rates relief for retail, hospitality or leisure which is not provided for general practice or dental surgeries. From 2026, this relief is being replaced by two lower business rates multipliers for properties with a rateable value below £500,000.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the education system distinguishes between children with short-term speech and language delays and lifelong communication needs.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

We know that continuing to build the pipeline of speech and language therapists is essential. This is why the department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

We also know that effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings and announced a new training package, backed by £200 million of new funding, to ensure that every teacher, teaching assistant and leader can be trained to support pupils with SEND.

We will set out our proposals for SEND reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper and will consult widely on these proposals, continuing to work with a wide range of partners to refine and deliver them.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026

Grey belt policy and the impact on villages and rural communities

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Health and Care Worker visas

Review of the student loan system

Palantir and the NHS

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

The Chilterns National Landscape boundary review

Chalk stream river protection

Public inquiry into Epstein links

St David’s Day (Dydd Gwyl Dewi)

Dolly Parton's birthday

UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

Sinking of SS Tilawa

Artificial Intelligence chatbots

Public toilet provision