Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many online child sexual abuse offences have been recorded in England and Wales in the last 3 years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Online child sexual abuse offences are captured in police recorded crime via an online crime flag being applied to a series of offences deemed most likely to be child sexual abuse. This includes contact sexual offences and obscene publications offences which act as a proxy for indecent images of children (IIOC) offences.
In April 2015, it became mandatory for all forces to return quarterly information on the number of crimes flagged as being committed online as part of the Annual Data Requirement (ADR). Since April 2024 this has been supported by the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) which aims to improve the quality and consistency of flagging. Data released prior to 2024 are not directly comparable due to the move to NDQIS.
The online crime flag refers to any crime committed either in full, or in part, through use of online methods or platforms. The online crime flag helps provide a national and local picture of how internet and digital communications technology are being used to commit crimes, and an understanding of the prominence of certain crimes that are happening online, compared to offline.
An offence should be flagged where online methods or internet-based activities were used to facilitate the offence (e.g. through email, social media, websites, messaging platforms, gaming platforms, or smart devices). In April 2024, recording guidelines were amended to clarify that offences committed via SMS text messages or online-platform-enabled phone calls should also be flagged.
These data are published quarterly via the Office for National Statistics (ONS), originally in ‘Other related tables’ and now in ‘Appendix tables’ as per links below.
Child sexual offences | Proportion | Obscene publications offences | Proportion | |
Year to September 2025 – Appendix Table C5 | 14,515 | 23% | 32,191 | 75% |
Year to September 2024 – Appendix table C5 | 13,987 | 23% | 28,269 | 71% |
Year to September 2023 – Other related tables, F11 | 12,568 | 20% | 26,024 | 64% |
Note: Data across the year are not comparable due to continued improvements to the processing of online flags.
The Government is committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation and is committed to taking robust action to better safeguard children, ensuring victims and survivors receive appropriate care and support and pursuing offenders and bringing them to justice.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of applying an interest rate of RPI plus 3% to Plan 2 student loans for graduates earning over £50,270 on the disposable income of those graduates.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plan 2 student loans were designed and implemented by previous governments. Students in England starting degrees under this government have different arrangements.
Plan 2 loans interest rates are applied at the Retail Price Index (RPI) only, then variable up to RPI +3% depending on earnings. Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers, which stay at a constant rate of 9% above an earnings threshold to protect lower earners. If a borrower’s salary remains the same, their monthly repayments will also stay the same. Any outstanding loan and interest is written off at the end of the loan term, and debit is never passed on to family members or descendants.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the decision not to temporarily exempt the Isle of Wight from the maritime expansion of the Emissions Trading Scheme on the cost of Isle of Wight ferries.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government assessed the expansion of the United Kingdom Emissions Trading Scheme to domestic maritime on a scheme wide basis rather than for individual routes.
The Impact Assessment concluded that the policy is not expected to materially affect the competitiveness of ports or operators, and that applying the scheme consistently to domestic voyages and at berth emissions does not create a credible incentive for traffic diversion.
The Government recognises the importance of ferry services to the Isle of Wight. Any potential impacts of the scheme on these services will be considered in a review of the UK ETS Maritime regime in 2028.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 industrial electricity prices.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our mission for Clean Power by 2030 will get us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices, to cut bills for businesses and households for good.
The Government remains committed to supporting industrial electrification and addressing barriers to investment, as highlighted in the 2023 call for evidence on enabling industrial electrification.
We are continuing to develop policies to bring down electricity costs relative to gas for the non-domestic sector and intend to consult on options to reduce costs and make low-carbon heat the economically rational choice. Stakeholders will therefore have a voice in shaping future electrification policy.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism on the costs of installing new gas boilers.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Clean Heat Market Mechanism does not require a change in the price of fossil fuel boilers.
The Government took steps to change earlier proposals for the design of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism ahead of its launch in April 2025 to reduce the potential impact on boiler manufacturers and provide them more time to scale up supply chains.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance is provided to Personal Independence Payment assessors on considering the effects of active medical treatment on claimants’ functional ability.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments focus on the functional impact of a claimant’s health condition, rather than diagnosis or treatment alone. At assessment, Health Professionals (HPs) gather information on any past, current and ongoing medical treatment related to conditions that impact function, including medication, therapy, monitoring, side effects and effectiveness. Where necessary to properly inform their advice, HPs should and routinely do seek additional evidence from treating health professionals or other appropriate sources.
Medical treatment is covered throughout training and guidance, and HPs routinely consider the effects of ongoing medical treatment on functional ability when advising on appropriate descriptors. This includes both positive effects, where treatment enables activities to be completed more reliably, and negative effects, such as side effects or symptom fluctuation. These factors are particularly important when applying the reliability criteria, including whether an activity can be carried out safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time. The impact of treatment is also assessed directly within activity 3, which relates to managing therapy or monitoring a health condition.
Where symptoms fluctuate, including because of treatment variability, HPs assess functional impact over a 12-month period to reflect good and bad days and determine how descriptors apply on the majority of days. HPs also consider what medical treatment is being undertaken when advising on a recommended review date, aligning this with the point at which an individual’s functional needs could reasonably be expected to change, for example following recovery or changes to treatment. Claimants are also expected to notify the Department directly of any changes in their condition or circumstances, so that their award can be reviewed where appropriate.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how ongoing medical treatment is taken into account within Personal Independence Payment assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments focus on the functional impact of a claimant’s health condition, rather than diagnosis or treatment alone. At assessment, Health Professionals (HPs) gather information on any past, current and ongoing medical treatment related to conditions that impact function, including medication, therapy, monitoring, side effects and effectiveness. Where necessary to properly inform their advice, HPs should and routinely do seek additional evidence from treating health professionals or other appropriate sources.
Medical treatment is covered throughout training and guidance, and HPs routinely consider the effects of ongoing medical treatment on functional ability when advising on appropriate descriptors. This includes both positive effects, where treatment enables activities to be completed more reliably, and negative effects, such as side effects or symptom fluctuation. These factors are particularly important when applying the reliability criteria, including whether an activity can be carried out safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time. The impact of treatment is also assessed directly within activity 3, which relates to managing therapy or monitoring a health condition.
Where symptoms fluctuate, including because of treatment variability, HPs assess functional impact over a 12-month period to reflect good and bad days and determine how descriptors apply on the majority of days. HPs also consider what medical treatment is being undertaken when advising on a recommended review date, aligning this with the point at which an individual’s functional needs could reasonably be expected to change, for example following recovery or changes to treatment. Claimants are also expected to notify the Department directly of any changes in their condition or circumstances, so that their award can be reviewed where appropriate.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how fluctuating symptoms are taken into account within Personal Independence Payment assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments focus on the functional impact of a claimant’s health condition, rather than diagnosis or treatment alone. At assessment, Health Professionals (HPs) gather information on any past, current and ongoing medical treatment related to conditions that impact function, including medication, therapy, monitoring, side effects and effectiveness. Where necessary to properly inform their advice, HPs should and routinely do seek additional evidence from treating health professionals or other appropriate sources.
Medical treatment is covered throughout training and guidance, and HPs routinely consider the effects of ongoing medical treatment on functional ability when advising on appropriate descriptors. This includes both positive effects, where treatment enables activities to be completed more reliably, and negative effects, such as side effects or symptom fluctuation. These factors are particularly important when applying the reliability criteria, including whether an activity can be carried out safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time. The impact of treatment is also assessed directly within activity 3, which relates to managing therapy or monitoring a health condition.
Where symptoms fluctuate, including because of treatment variability, HPs assess functional impact over a 12-month period to reflect good and bad days and determine how descriptors apply on the majority of days. HPs also consider what medical treatment is being undertaken when advising on a recommended review date, aligning this with the point at which an individual’s functional needs could reasonably be expected to change, for example following recovery or changes to treatment. Claimants are also expected to notify the Department directly of any changes in their condition or circumstances, so that their award can be reviewed where appropriate.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 January to Question 101203, on Latex: Allergies, if he will place a copy of the Expert Advisory Group on Allergy's December 2025 minutes in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Terms of Reference for the Expert Advisory Group on Allergy, which is overseen and supported by external stakeholders, states that the meetings are confidential. Therefore, the meeting minutes are not shared publicly.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) accessibility and (b) availability of functional MRI scans.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can be taken on standard clinical MRI machines. However, whilst functional MRI requires specialised software to detect blood flow changes, the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal, and sometimes extra equipment for stimuli, for instance goggles, it uses the same scanner hardware as structural MRI.
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services, including MRI scanners.
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective, and urgent care capacity. This includes £600 million in capital funding for diagnostics in 2025/26 to support delivery of the NHS performance standards. This funding will deliver replacement of the oldest MRI scanners in community diagnostic centres and acute hospital settings, as well as delivering MRI acceleration software. Business cases for the locations of these are being considered for approval.
Capital investment will be targeted to locations where it will enable the additional activity required to deliver the return to referral to treatment and cancer constitutional standards promised, as well as considering local levels of deprivation so that investment supports efforts to reduce health inequalities.