Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for statutory levy funding on the financial resilience of organisations operating within the gambling harm prevention sector.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise the concerns raised by some organisations about funding uncertainty and the impact this can have on their financial resilience and day-to-day operations. We are taking steps to ensure that valuable knowledge, skills and expertise are retained across the gambling harms prevention system during the transition to the statutory levy.
Working with commissioners, we have engaged closely with GambleAware, which is continuing to provide funding to relevant voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations until April 2026. This includes transitional funding to help stabilise prevention-focused organisations that sit outside GambleAware’s routine commissioning activity.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has now launched the application process for its Gambling Harms Prevention: Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise grant fund. This follows extensive market engagement to provide timely updates, manage provider expectations around future funding processes and timescales, and support greater stability across the system. The application window will close on 6 February 2026, with funding released from April 2026. Devolved governments are responsible for delivery of the prevention programmes in Scotland and Wales and work is progressing to support organisations there.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of social media use on children’s mental health.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I share the worries of parents and many of those in the medical profession; the question is not whether the government will act, but how. These are nuanced issues on which there are a diverse range of views; that is why we are launching a consultation and national conversation on next steps. We are also working closely across government on these topics, with DHSC, as well as Ofcom, DfE, and the Home Office. Furthermore, the Department for Education will be producing guidance on screentime.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
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 social media on young people’s wellbeing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I know parents are worried about how social media impacts children's wellbeing.
Two weeks ago, we published a study led by Professor Amy Orben which reviewed recent causal research on this issue and found it to be inconclusive. There is more to be done, which is why we announced a swift consultation, backed by a national conversation.
We will gather the evidence necessary to identify next steps and give children the childhood they deserve.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on media literacy and citizenship education of the findings of the report by Resilience and Reconstruction entitled Disinformation, UK Democracy, and Attitudes toward Ukraine & Russia in the UK, published in January 2026, on passive exposure to misinformation via social media.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Improved media literacy builds resilience to misinformation and disinformation and fosters critical thinking. The government is improving media literacy through coordinated cross-government work, including funding innovative community-based interventions and launching an awareness campaign to build digital resilience and critical thinking skills online. The Online Safety Act updated Ofcom’s statutory duty to promote media literacy. This includes raising the awareness and understanding of misinformation and harmful content, especially where it affects vulnerable groups.
The government’s independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, published on 5 November 2025, emphasised the value of secure knowledge, the process of questioning and critical enquiry and weighing up evidence across information and sources. The government’s response to the review committed to strengthening media literacy content in the curriculum to ensure vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy are embedded into the revised curriculum, that subject-specific disciplinary skills including critical thinking and problem solving are clearly articulated in the refreshed programmes of study.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025, to Question 93745, on Cabinet Office: Social Media, if he will name the specific social media influencers who were paid to advertise the government in relation to the (a) Free School Breakfast Club, (b) National Living/Minimum Wage, (c) Warm Homes, (d) Audacious Kingdom and (e) Greater Together campaigns.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
These campaigns are used to raise awareness about government schemes and initiatives and promote the UK internationally.
The government recognises content creators as an important way to reach and engage audiences online.
Please note, some data has been withheld due to commercial and wider sensitivities.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025, to Question 93745, on Cabinet Office: Social Media, what is the nature of the data withheld due to commercial and wider sensitivities.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Disclosing specific contract details is likely to damage international relations and compromise the UK's interests abroad, and could prejudice commercial interests.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when his Department will launch its consultation on children's social media use.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government’s consultation on the children’s use of technology and social media will be launched in the coming weeks. This will be a short, swift consultation of three months, with the government planning to respond in the summer.
The consultation will be backed by a national conversation about the impact of technology on children’s wellbeing. Ministers are already hearing the views of parents, children and civil society through nationwide events.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of blood donation events.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England. In the last financial year, NHSBT delivered over 700 donor recruitment events, resulting in 17,000 new registrations and more than 8,000 blood donation appointments booked. Current activity to raise awareness of donation opportunities across England includes:
- high-profile campaigns aligned with events such as National Blood Week, World Blood Donor Day, Black History Month, Pride, and University Freshers’ Fairs. These are supported by radio, social media, billboards and bus stops, as well as through partnerships with commercial organisations, charities, and the public sector. NHSBT is also piloting advertising on TikTok to reach younger audiences who are under-represented in the donor base;
- targeted activities, including local donor recruitment events, community television, and radio advertising, and the Community Grants Programme which funds trusted local organisations to engage with communities where specific blood types are most needed. Further information on the Community Grants Programme is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-help/get-involved/community-grants-programme/;
- direct marketing to previous donors, including phone calls, emails, and text messages, to raise awareness of local sessions and to encourage them to book appointments and return to donate; and
- a recent partnership between the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and NHSBT to encourage learner drivers, especially much needed younger people, and motorists renewing their driving licences to sign up and become regular donors.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 trends in the level of non-explicit sexual content and promotional material for adult services on social media platforms; and what steps she is taking to help reduce associated risks, particularly for children and young people.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, services likely to be accessed by children are required to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children encountering pornography. Ofcom acknowledge in their guidance that suggestive content of a kind that might be expected to feature in an advertisement, may not be pornographic, but still may be inappropriate for children of certain age groups and require protections for them.
The Advertising Standards Authority requires the content of adverts to be socially responsible, to ensure vulnerable people, including children and young people, are protected. The UK Non-Broadcast Advertising Code specifies that adverts for age-restricted products are not targeted at children.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the benefits to educational outcomes of regular physical activity.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Physical education (PE) and sport are vital elements of a rounded and enriching education that every child deserves. As outlined in the government's response to the curriculum and assessment review recommendations, the department will be strengthening the national curriculum for PE, recognising its role in supporting pupils’ wellbeing and educational outcomes.
We have also made a commitment to set out a core enrichment offer that every school and college, in every community, should aim to provide for all children beyond the statutory curriculum. Our ambition is that all schools should provide an offer to all pupils that meets the new benchmarks. This includes access to sport and physical activities, civic engagement, arts and culture, nature, outdoor and adventure, and developing wider life skills.
As announced last June by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, the department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to develop a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network which aims to support schools to ensure all children and young people have equal access to high quality PE and extracurricular sport.