Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to HCWS1271 on Improving Cancer Care and Early Diagnosis, which early cancer detection technologies NICE is currently assessing; what timelines apply to NICE's decisions to approve those technologies; whether funding has been allocated to adoption of approved early cancer detection technologies; what steps he is taking to help ensure that there is equitable access to early cancer detection technologies across the regions; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that innovation in early cancer detection technologies does not widen health inequalities.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently assessing a number of technologies relevant to earlier cancer detection. These include capsule sponge tests to support detection of oesophageal cancer in primary care settings, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist clinicians in identifying prostate and breast cancers from imaging. NICE is also considering potential evaluations, subject to evidence readiness and prioritisation, for technologies aimed at improving detection of endometrial cancer, and for AI-derived software to analyse chest x-rays for suspected lung cancer.
Timelines vary depending on the NICE programme through which a technology is assessed. For technologies evaluated through the Technology Appraisal programme, a positive recommendation creates a statutory funding requirement for National Health Service commissioners to make the treatment available within 90 days of final guidance publication.
NHS England is working closely with NICE and the Department to support the prioritisation for the Technology Appraisal programme. Should NICE recommend use after a Technology Appraisal, NHS England will support adoption and implementation through funding allocated across the multi-year Spending Review.
The Government is clear that innovation must narrow, not widen, health inequalities. Access to NICE-recommended technologies is a national entitlement, and where the statutory funding requirement applies it operates consistently across England, regardless of geography or care setting. NICE’s methods require consideration of equality impacts, and implementation support is designed to ensure that new detection technologies reach underserved groups and do not exacerbate existing disparities.
More broadly, the Government is taking a range of steps to ensure equitable access to earlier diagnosis. Our National Cancer Plan will drive up standards across England and tackle health inequalities head on. New cancer manuals will set out what good care looks like, with regional partnerships of health leaders and clinicians using data to drive improvements where services are falling short. The plan will also see new national standards, designed by clinicians, and better data, to inform and drive changes where they are most needed.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of proposals to shift from analogue to digital announced in the 10-year Health Plan for England, what provisions will be established to ensure digital exclusion does not exacerbate any existing inequalities...
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service organisations must ensure that all patients have equitable access to care, and that decisions or policies do not unfairly disadvantage people or lead to an increase in inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate against patients or staff.
This means that a non-digital solution should be available for those patients who cannot or do not wish to engage digitally, and these non-digital routes must be available for all services provided by NHS organisations.
Aligned to the Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Social Care Act 2012, each 10-Year Health Plan policy, proposition, programme, proposal, or initiative in scope of public sector equality duties will undergo an Equality Impact Assessments and Equality and Healthcare Inequalities Impact Assessments.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps Arts Council England is taking to ensure that its endorsement criteria for the global talent visa comply with the provisions relating to disability in the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This data is not held by the Home Office or Arts Council as information regarding disability is not requested by the Home Office as part of the application process.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number and administrative cost of applications for leave to remain per annum that will result from the earned settlement proposals.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The public consultation on ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’ ran for 12 weeks and closed on 12 February 2026. We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both an economic impact assessment and equality impact assessment.
The Home Office publishes the fees charged and the estimated unit cost of processing immigration and nationality applications on Gov.UK. This can be reviewed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-fees-transparency-data.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of its earned settlement proposals on the number of children who will be born in the UK without British citizenship; and the number of such children whose entitlement to British citizenship will require a formal application for their registration.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The public consultation on ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’ ran for 12 weeks and closed on 12 February 2026. We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both an economic impact assessment and equality impact assessment.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, published on 28 November 2025, whether accrued lawful residence under Appendix Long Residence will be recognised for those already close to settlement; and what transitional arrangements will apply to long-term residents already on the Long Residence Route who are close to qualifying for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, announced changes to the mandatory requirements and qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. A public consultation ran for 12 weeks and closed on 12 February 2026. We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model.
The consultation sought views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will now be finalised, following the consultation.
The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed retrospective changes to settlement requirements for European Communities Association Agreement visa holders on levels of migration for each of the next five years.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ’A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was subject to a 12 week public consultation, which closed on 12 February 2026.
The consultation sought views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement, such as those currently on European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) visas. In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the ECAA route will continue to apply. We will continue to meet our international obligations.
Details of the earned settlement model will now be finalised following the consultation and will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the economic contribution to the UK of (a) holders of European Communities Association Agreement Turkish Businessperson visas and (b) their businesses in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ’A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was subject to a 12 week public consultation, which closed on 12 February 2026.
The consultation sought views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement, such as those currently on European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) visas. In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the ECAA route will continue to apply. We will continue to meet our international obligations.
Details of the earned settlement model will now be finalised following the consultation and will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what standards her Department sets for the ethical and technical assurance of AI systems used in law enforcement.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Although ethical decisions around AI are the responsibility of individual Chief Constables and heads of law enforcement agencies, the Home Office is taking steps to ensure these decisions are evidence-based and transparent.
The Covenant for Using Artificial Intelligence in Policing provides a high-level framework for AI adoption by police forces. It sets out clear principles for the development and deployment of AI in policing, including lawfulness, fairness, transparency, explainability, accountability and robustness. These principles operate alongside existing statutory obligations, including the Equality Act 2010 and data protection legislation, and are supported by published guidance from the College of Policing and local governance and ethics arrangements within forces. We expect all law enforcement agencies to work within the current laws.
In January 2026 the Police Reform White Paper set out plans to establish a new national centre for AI in policing which will be tasked with accelerating the rapid and responsible adoption of AI across forces. It will centralise the development, testing and evaluation of AI tools, support consistent application of assurance standards before deployment, and promote transparency through a public-facing registry of police AI use. It will move into the National Police Service.
In addition, the Home Office launched a public consultation last year on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. The consultation sought views on when and how these technologies should be used and what safeguards and oversight are needed. The consultation has now closed, and the responses received will inform the scope and content of future legal changes.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of cybersecurity legislation for AI-associated cyber threats; and what steps they are taking to improve legislation to address those threats.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A range of existing rules already apply to artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as data protection, competition, equality legislation, and online safety. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), in close collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), has created a voluntary Software Security Code of Practice which enables software vendors to secure software at all stages of their lifecycle.
As a government, we have also committed through the AI Action Plan to work with regulators to boost their capabilities, and DSIT and NCSC have taken a leading role in the development of the world's first published global standard for AI cyber security in ETSI (EN 304 223), which sets minimum-security requirements to help secure AI models and systems.
The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill does not specifically bring large language models or AI companies into scope. However, where organisations in scope of the Bill use AI models and systems, that organisation will need to take appropriate and proportionate steps to manage the risks to these from hackers. This would include large language models which are used as part of the day-to-day software available to staff in a hospital.
The practices recommended to protect against AI-driven cyber threats are essentially the same as those recommended for protecting against “traditional” cyber threats, which are to get good cyber hygiene measures in place, such as using the government’s Cyber Essentials scheme, and managing digital risks by using the Cyber Governance Code of Practice.