Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assurances they have received, if any, from Palantir that the US government's designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk will not affect the delivery of their contracts with the UK Government.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government utilises a range of suppliers based on operational requirements, value for money, and compliance with our security and legal obligations, with all suppliers subject to rigorous due diligence.
It is the responsibility of each contracting authority to ensure that contracts that they award are suitable for their requirements and legally compliant, and to monitor and manage the supplier's performance against their contractual obligations. All contracting authorities are simultaneously encouraged to follow the Government Security Group’s guidance on Tackling Security Risk in Government Supply Chains, which details best practices for procurement, commercial, and security practitioners when selecting and onboarding suppliers.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the (1) longest, and (2) average amount of, time taken by the Investment Security Unit to accept notifications of transactions over the periods of (a) 31 December 2025-31 March 2026, and (b) 31 March 2025-31 March 2026.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government publishes information on the operation of the National Security and Investment Act in the NSIA Annual Report. The most recent report, covering the 2024/25 reporting period, can be found on GOV.UK. In this period, the median time from receipt of a notification to a decision to accept that notification was:
7 working days for mandatory notifications;
8 working days for voluntary notifications; and
6 working days for retrospective validation applications.
Data on the time taken to accept notifications received between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026 will be published in the next Annual Report later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 24 February (HL14387), whether the central performance management framework for the Senior Civil Service has been, or will be, changed in order to deliver the plans set out by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister in his speech on 20 January.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We are in the process of updating the Senior Civil Service (SCS) Performance Management Framework aimed at ensuring performance across the SCS is focused on the Prime Minister’s priorities and that underperformance is held to tougher standards and addressed as soon as it arises.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £7 billion to be spent on military accommodation in this Parliament has been spent as of 25 March 2026.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In May 2025, the Secretary of State for Defence announced a funding package of £7 billion to spent on military accommodation throughout this Parliament, with an additional £1.5 billion investment in military housing as part of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR 25) – which forms part of the £9 billion investment over the next decade.
On 3 November 2025, the Defence Housing Strategy was published. It is the most significant change for Armed Forces housing in more than 50 years and kickstarts one of Britain’s most ambitious building programmes in decades – delivering new homes for military and civilian families and driving economic growth.
As at 28 February 2026, £698.7 million of the £7 billion funding for military accommodation, has been spent.
We are unable to provide a figure as of 25 March 2026 as requested, as Year End consolidation will not be complete until mid-April. However, a further £197.5 million was forecast to be spent between 1 March and the end of the 2025/26 financial year.
Under the Defence Housing Strategy, nine in 10 Defence homes – more than 40,000 - will be modernised or upgraded, of which three in 10 – more than 10,000 - will be substantially refurbished or replaced, including through new build.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support garden centre businesses in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
From April 2026, we are introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, worth nearly £900 million a year and benefiting over 750,000 premises. In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the government has introduced £4.3 billion transitional support package, to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases.
The government and Ofgem are taking decisive action to inform and protect non-domestic energy consumers as well as improving access to redress when issues occur. Later this year, we will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy, to help reinvigorate our communities. These measures will provide meaningful, long-term support to garden centres, including those in Harpenden and Berkhamsted.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of jet fuel availability and pricing; what discussions she has had with airlines and industry stakeholders on fuel costs; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those factors on passenger airfares.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is monitoring the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on fuel supplies, including jet fuel. In coordination with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero we have worked with fuel suppliers, airlines and airports to understand levels of jet fuel and pricing.
There is no immediate cause for concern relating to fuel stocks, and speculation will not help airlines or passengers. Many airlines lock in fuel prices in advance, to help protect tickets from spikes in price. We encourage all airlines to do what they can to ensure tickets remain fairly and appropriately priced for passengers.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the value for money of the decision by National Highways to block up the Queensbury Tunnel in the Bradford Metropolitan District.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Sustrans (now called Walk, Wheel, Cycle Trust) produced a report for Bradford Council that assessed the Benefit Cost Ratios (BCR) of the active travel route options. The options included routes that would use the Queensbury Tunnel. The report made clear that the BCR scored for the routes were all very close indicating that none of them represented significantly better value for money over the others. Funding for an Active Travel route is the responsibility of the Local Authority. Therefore, without a clear commitment from either Bradford Council or West Yorkshire Combined Authority to provide funding for an active travel route utilising the tunnel, the difficult decision was taken to close the tunnel, subject to the appropriate planning approvals.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many civil servants in their Department were found to have broken the Civil Service Code in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In 2024 there were 8 disciplinary cases in the central Government Department that closed in that year and where the reason for the case was categorised specifically as ‘Breaches of the Civil Service Code’. Of these 8 cases, less than 5 resulted in Final Written warnings or First Written Warnings.
In 2025 there were 6 disciplinary cases in the central Government Department that closed in that year and where the reason for the case was categorised specifically as ‘Breaches of the Civil Service Code’. Of these 6 cases, less than 5 resulted in Dismissal or First Written Warnings.
Due to the small number of cases which have been identified in some outcomes, a further breakdown is withheld as it could lead to identification of individuals.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2025, to Question 70519, on Public Inquiries, what has been the public cost to date of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The annual financial reports for the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry are available on their website: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk. The total spend outlined in these reports up to 31st March 2025, plus recent spend for 2025/26 (subject to final financial year closure), is £80 million. Updated costs for 2025/26 will be published in due course.
In addition, DBT funds Post Office’s costs of engaging with activities necessary of a core participant of the statutory Inquiry, such as legal representation and disclosure costs. As of 31st March 2026 the total spend for this is £134m, subject to final financial year closure. While the Department can clearly identify these direct costs of running the Inquiry, it is not possible to separately quantify the cost of departmental participation. Related expenditure, including staff time and legal support, sits within wider departmental budgets and is not recorded on a stand‑alone basis.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of social media content moderation practices, including shadow banning, on the visibility of women’s health information online; and what steps she is taking alongside the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that such practices do not restrict access to legitimate health information while maintaining protections against harmful content.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act does not prevent adults or children from accessing legal content about women’s health. Safeguards for freedom of expression have been built in throughout the framework of the Act, which places duties on platforms to protect users’ rights to freedom of expression when introducing safety measures.
The largest services regulated by the Act will have additional duties meaning they cannot arbitrarily remove content, and they will need to be clear what legal content is acceptable on their services and enforce the rules consistently for their adult users. Users will have access to effective complaints procedures to appeal when content is unduly taken down.