Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2026 to Question 122543 on Driving Tests: Recruitment, what data the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency collects on the source of applications for driving examiner roles at the point of application submission.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All driving examiner (DE) applications are made through Civil Service Jobs on GOV.UK. At the point of submitting an application on Civil Service Jobs no applicant source information is recorded.
Answer to Question 122526, 20 March 2026, provides details of subsequent surveys that might be completed by applicants.
Answer to Question 122526, 20 March 2026, also provided information on click through rates, but notes that it is not possible to say what number of these click throughs resulted in completed applications.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what oversight mechanisms are in place to monitor the use of ACS and APS tools; and whether any independent audits have been (a) conducted and (b) planned.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
All members of the Department were required to complete a mandatory 'AI for all' learning package in 2025. All caseworkers were given comprehensive training on the use of APS before it was operationalised. Both ACS and APS underwent user acceptance testing and evaluation was conducted following pilots of both tools.
A specific inbox was set up for Decision Makers to feed back any issues found with the tool. All questions asked of the tool, have and will be logged, and are auditable. Subject Matter Expert (SME) testing continues after operationalisation, in conjunction with the CPIT (Country Policy & Information Team) for APS.
ACS has not yet been operationalised, but our Analysis and Insight team plan to conduct further follow up evaluations in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training has been provided to caseworkers on the use of AI-supported tools during the pilot phase of ACS and APS.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
All members of the Department were required to complete a mandatory 'AI for all' learning package in 2025. All caseworkers were given comprehensive training on the use of APS before it was operationalised. Both ACS and APS underwent user acceptance testing and evaluation was conducted following pilots of both tools.
A specific inbox was set up for Decision Makers to feed back any issues found with the tool. All questions asked of the tool, have and will be logged, and are auditable. Subject Matter Expert (SME) testing continues after operationalisation, in conjunction with the CPIT (Country Policy & Information Team) for APS.
ACS has not yet been operationalised, but our Analysis and Insight team plan to conduct further follow up evaluations in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2026 to Question 122545 on the Vehicle Certification Agency: Fees and Charges, whether her Department has produced internal estimates of the additional annual revenue expected from the proposed fee increases.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) recently consulted on changes to certain fees. As part of the fee setting process the government considers all the evidence provided as well as long standing principles included in Managing Public Money. Any fee changes require the consent of this House through a fee order. As is the standard practice, I will update the House in due course
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
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 support the decarbonisation of non-domestic buildings.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is supporting public sector organisations in England to install low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures across their estates up until 2028. The Department is also working with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), which is leading cross-Whitehall work on the potential role for private finance to support public sector decarbonisation.
Through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, commercial, public and voluntary sector buildings can receive £7,500 for heat pumps and £5,000 for biomass boilers. The Department also helps fund the UK Business Climate Hub, an online resource supporting SMEs identify and implement changes to their energy use.
The department also consulted strengthening non-domestic minimum energy efficiency standards to EPC B and will publish its government response in due course.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled New radar systems to unlock offshore wind, published on 20th March 2026, what monitoring arrangements will be put in place to ensure that the radar upgrades deliver the expected increase in offshore wind deployment.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will continue to work closely to ensure that proposed wind farms can operate at their design capacity and for which MOD consent has been granted. Any necessary contingency measures are incorporated within the bilateral agreements between the MOD and offshore wind developers. Ongoing collaboration between DESNZ, MOD, and developers, provides robust oversight of the overall delivery of offshore wind capacity, with the radar upgrades forming a key part of the wider enabling infrastructure to facilitate increased offshore wind deployment.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled New radar systems to unlock offshore wind, published on 20th March 2026, what contingency plans are in place if the radar upgrades do not unlock the full 10 GW of offshore wind capacity anticipated.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will continue to work closely to ensure that proposed wind farms can operate at their design capacity and for which MOD consent has been granted. Any necessary contingency measures are incorporated within the bilateral agreements between the MOD and offshore wind developers. Ongoing collaboration between DESNZ, MOD, and developers, provides robust oversight of the overall delivery of offshore wind capacity, with the radar upgrades forming a key part of the wider enabling infrastructure to facilitate increased offshore wind deployment.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the UK-EU Summit - Common Understanding on linking the Emission Trading Systems of the European Union and the United Kingdom, of December 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the proposed reform of the EU Emissions Trading System.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK and EU agreed to work towards linking their respective emissions trading schemes at the May 2025 Summit and linking negotiations to that end are underway.
The EU Emissions Trading System is undergoing review currently and proposals emanating from that review are expected to be issued this summer.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many people in each local authority area contacted Citizen’s Advice for help on issues relating to energy provision in each January between 2020 and 2026.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Citizens Advice is not a Government body but a network of independent registered charities. DESNZ therefore does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the reasons that females have a longer average lifespan, and shorter average health span, than males.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that women live longer but spend more years in poor health than men, often due to conditions that are misdiagnosed, undertreated, or under-researched.
Healthy life expectancy measures health-related wellbeing by measuring the difference between mortality and the average time someone is expected to remain in self-reported “good” health.
In 2022 to 2024, males in England could expect to spend 60.9 years, or 77% of their life, in “good” general health, compared to 61.3 years, or 74%, for women. While there has been a reduction for both men and women from 2019 to 2021, and this reduction has been larger for women, at 2.4 years, than for men, at 1.8 years. Healthy life expectancy at birth in England has decreased to its lowest level since the Office for National Statistics’ time series began.
A 2023 report from the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities found that changes in self-reported “good” health prevalence has a larger impact on healthy life expectancy than changes in mortality rates. Research found that self-reported poor health was associated with chronic health conditions and multimorbidity.
Our renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published on the 15 April, sets out a bold, long‑term plan to transform how the health and care system listens to, supports and delivers for women and girls. It puts women’s voices and choices at the centre of care, drives faster improvements in services and outcomes that matter most to women, and tackles long‑standing health inequalities across the life course. The strategy aligns with the 10-Year Health Plan to shift care into the community, harness digital innovation and strengthen prevention so women can live healthier, more fulfilled lives.