Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November, to Question 87899 on Delivery Services: Driving Licences, if she will (a) publish the letter referred to from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport, (b) make an assessment of the potential impact of people engaged in delivery work without valid documentation on road safety and (c) review the training, testing, and licensing requirements for motorcycles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
a) I have placed copies of the letter referred to in my answer to Question 87899 in the Library of the House.
b) The Department has no plans to assess the potential impact of people engaged in delivery work without valid documentation on road safety. This is a matter of enforcement of the law and for the police to decide, on the evidence of each individual case, whether an offence has been committed and the appropriate action to take.
c) We are considering plans to review the existing requirements for motorcycle training, testing, and licensing that take account of both long-standing plans in the Department for Transport and the Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency, and proposals received from the motorcycle sector. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies. We intend to publish the Strategy this year.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the government has held discussions with Motability following the revision of vehicle brands supported by the scheme to prioritise British made vehicles and to report accurate data on the number of British and non-British made vehicles procured.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Motability Operations, an independent commercial company which delivers the Motability Scheme, has announced plans to support the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The number of British made vehicles purchased by the scheme will reach 25% by 2030, with an ambition of 50% of vehicles registered on the Scheme being made in the UK by 2035.
The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to meet regularly with Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, to discuss the Schemes operation.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will provide a list of each company currently operating under Project Brakestop.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I hope the hon. Gentleman will understand that providing a list of each company currently operating under Project BRAKESTOP would prejudice national security and commercial interests.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board last met; and whether the minutes from previous meetings in the last 10 years will be published.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The NLFAB last met on 27 November 2025. Due to commercial sensitivities the NLFAB minutes are not published. However, the full NLFAB report and supplementary Annexes which were issued to the Secretary of State to inform his decision on the Sizewell C Funded Decommissioning Programme has been published on Gov.uk - www.gov.uk/government/publications/sizewell-c-funded-decommissioning-programme-fdp
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average time taken by local authorities to repair a reported pothole was in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances. The Department does not hold data on the time taken by local highway authorities to repair reported potholes, but national guidance recommends that defects and potholes which require urgent attention should be made safe at the time of inspection or as soon as possible.
This year, local highway authorities were required to publish transparency reports setting out progress on highway maintenance, including the number of potholes they estimate they have filled in recent years. This information can be found on the websites of relevant local highways authorities.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the number of potholes filled by local authorities in England in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances. The Department does not hold data on the time taken by local highway authorities to repair reported potholes, but national guidance recommends that defects and potholes which require urgent attention should be made safe at the time of inspection or as soon as possible.
This year, local highway authorities were required to publish transparency reports setting out progress on highway maintenance, including the number of potholes they estimate they have filled in recent years. This information can be found on the websites of relevant local highways authorities.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has had discussions with Exxon Mobil Corp on the potential impact of rising carbon costs on the viability of UK refineries since its evidence to Parliament in October 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the three-paper series concerning the health dangers associated with ultra-processed food, published in <em>The Lancet</em> on 18 November, what plans they have to review the safety standards for such foods.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department acknowledges the three-paper series on ultra-processed food published in The Lancet on 18 November. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) considered the evidence on the impact of processing on health, including mental health, in 2023 and 2025.
The SACN concluded that the observed associations between higher consumption of processed and ultra processed foods and adverse health outcomes are concerning. The SACN recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and which are low in fibre. The SACN’s recommendations align with existing policies for supporting healthier diets and our advice to consumers.
The SACN has made a number of research recommendations to help understand whether processing is a risk factor, over and above the nutrients and energy intake. The SACN will keep the topic of processed foods under annual review and will consider it again in 2026.
All food additives used in the United Kingdom are subject to rigorous safety assessments before they are approved for use. These assessments consider how the additive will be used, the types of foods it can be added to, and the maximum permitted levels to ensure consumer safety. Current evidence indicates that these limits are set at levels designed to protect people’s health.
The concerns regarding the packaging of ultra-processed foods containing chemicals such as phthalates, bisphenols, and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) are indeed legitimate. These compounds have been linked to potential health risks, including endocrine disruption and reduced fertility. All materials and articles intended for contact with food must adhere to a comprehensive legal framework. This framework includes specific regulations for different material types, which are enforced under the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Health and Safety Executive inspection officials are based in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As the table below shows, as of 31 October 2025, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) currently employs 899 full time equivalent (FTE) inspector staff in all grades and roles including trainees, managers and specialists with warrants. There are currently 666 FTE Band 3 and 4 inspectors who undertake the delivery of the operational division workplans. This includes inspections and investigations into reported incidents and concerns and where non-compliance with health and safety legislations is identified, the inspectors take regulatory action in accordance with HSE’s published Enforcement Policy Statement.
Although HSE staff work across England, Scotland and Wales, these figures are based on the office location where the staff are employed.
Job Band | England | Scotland | Wales | Total |
SCS | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
Band 1 | 25 | 3 | 4 | 32 |
Band 2 | 153 | 27 | 11 | 191 |
Band 3 | 402 | 96 | 42 | 540 |
Band 4 | 98 | 19 | 9 | 126 |
Total | 686 | 146 | 66 | 899 |
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what resources they are providing towards finding a cure for HIV, and which international groups and drug companies they are working with to find a cure.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 1 December 2025, the Department published the new HIV Action Plan to support the Government’s ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030. The new HIV Action Plan encourages research and development with an action for the Medical Research Council to support high quality proposals in HIV vaccine and therapeutic development research. The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care including HIV research.
These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on HIV to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.