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.
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: 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 17 December 2025 to Question 99835 on Cabinet Office: Facilities Agreements, whether (a) his and (b) the Permanent Secretary's approval is required for the use of paid facility time for trade union activities in Arms Length Bodies.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office’s centrally issued facility time framework states that should a department wish to provide paid time off for activities, it will need to be agreed by the Secretary of State or Chief Executive. Chief Executive refers to the head of the organisation, e.g. Permanent Secretary or Chief Executive of an Arms Length Body.
The framework also states that these principles are expected to be applied across the Civil Service including all departments and agencies employing civil servants. NDPBs outside of this scope are also expected to adopt these principles.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help facilitate independent scrutiny of Official Development Assistance across Government departments.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In relation to all the questions raised by the Hon Member on 28 January, I refer her to Baroness Chapman's appearance before the International Development Committee on 20 January, where she addressed these issues at length. We will set out any further plans in this area in the context of Official Development Assistance funding allocations up to 2028-29, decisions on which will be announced in the coming months.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking following the closure of NHS Commissioning Support Units to (a) support staff affected, and (b) ensure that functions previously delivered by those units continue to be provided safely and effectively.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As integrated care boards (ICBs) develop their strategic commissioning role and skills, commissioning support functions will be rationalised. This will result in commissioning support units (CSUs) being closed.
Given wider changes in the system, including the larger geographical area of ICBs and the move to a more simplified operating model, for the National Health Service a whole, it is logical to integrate the work undertaken by CSUs into the other organisations that will make up the more streamlined, efficient NHS in future. The closure of CSUs will simplify the landscape and create efficiencies, and will strengthen the strategic commissioning skills in ICBs by giving them the freedom to develop these.
A plan has been developed to ensure all services provided by CSUs and all CSU staff are mapped and destinations clarified, where function will continue, and workshops have been held with NHS England Regions to understand ICB intentions and timelines for the transfer of functions and staff and with the Department and NHS England on functions that may form part of the new Department. Governance arrangements are in place across NHS England and the CSUs to oversee the transition of functions and the safe closure of CSUs.
Staff are being supported through this transition. The CSU Leadership Team hold regular all staff briefings where information on the abolition is cascaded. The CSUs are actively involving the trade unions. A voluntary redundancy scheme has been launched within the CSUs that mirrors that within NHS England. Staff are being actively informed about the scheme through the all-staff briefings.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the health and wellbeing of teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Supporting the wellbeing of our expert education workforce is critical to this government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for children and young people.
The department tracks teacher wellbeing through the longitudinal study, the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders. Wave 4 shows improved wellbeing across all Office for National Statistics (ONS) validated personal wellbeing measures in 2025. Average life satisfaction, happiness, and feelings of life being worthwhile all increased, while average anxiety decreased.
We also compare teacher and leader wellbeing with the wider population in England. In 2025, these measures remain lower for teachers and leaders.
We commission research to assess teacher wellbeing. For example, the inclusion of ONS-validated personal wellbeing questions in the School and College Voice Survey (SCVS) to capture seasonal differences. The latest data from June 2025 shows that all four wellbeing measures remain broadly in line with the same period last year.
More broadly, our ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, contains resources for schools to reduce workload and improve wellbeing. The service can be accessed here: https://improve-workload-and-wellbeing-for-school-staff.education.gov.uk/. The ’Education staff wellbeing charter’ sets out commitments from the department, Ofsted, schools and colleges to protect and promote staff wellbeing. Almost 4,300 schools and colleges have signed up. The charter can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the points-based immigration system in the recruitment and retention of UK-trained newly qualified doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent specific assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the points-based immigration system in the recruitment and retention of United Kingdom-trained newly qualified doctors.
However, the number of applications to foundation and speciality training has increased over recent years, both from people graduating from UK medical schools, UK medical graduates, and from graduates of international medical schools, international medical graduates.
For specialty training, the number of international medical graduates applying for places has significantly increased since 2020. Data from the General Medical Council (GMC) shows that the number of non-UK trained doctors applying for Core Training Year One and Specialty Training Year One places has increased from 5,326 in 2019 to 18,857 in 2024, a 254% increase. Over the same period, the number of UK trained applicants increased from 8,836 to 11,319, a 28% increase.
Internationally trained doctors may also be seeking employment outside of medical specialty training posts and GMC data shows that the proportion of doctors taking up or returning to a GMC licence to practice who were trained outside of the UK was 57% in 2019, which has increased to 66% in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that F-35 aircraft purchased by the Royal Air Force contain a ‘kill switch’ controlled by either the manufacturer or the US government that can render them useless.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer my hon. Friend Luke Pollard MP gave to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) to Question 94529 on 3 December 2025 in the House of Commons.
The Ministry of Defence has Operational Sovereignty/Freedom of Action to operate the UK 'F-35 aircraft at the time and place of the UK Defence's choosing' and to 'procure critical capabilities to be located in the UK'.
This is combined with an in-depth understanding of the aircraft's capabilities that enable Operational Readiness and risk to be assessed against national legislation, the Geneva Convention and our Duty of Care before committing the equipment and personnel to operations.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to promote entry-level apprenticeships in the civil service.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
This government remains committed to apprenticeships as one pathway to break down barriers to opportunity. On 20th August we launched the application window for a new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, The ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA) will see new apprentices kick start their careers, across various departments in London, Manchester and Birmingham. In addition, each department is responsible for its own workforce planning and determining the capacity and capability that it needs to deliver its priorities.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with Cabinet colleagues on UK representation at the 23rd meeting of the UN Tourism Committee on Tourism and Sustainability in April 2026.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
While the UK is not a member of UN Tourism, we maintain close and constructive working relationships with UN Tourism officials to ensure that UN resolutions relating to tourism appropriately reflect UK interests. DCMS officials work closely with colleagues across Government to align the UK’s tourism and sustainability priorities with wider international discussions and emerging best practice.
DCMS regularly engages in global tourism fora, including Ministerial participation in the UN Tourism Ministerial Summit and EU Sustainability Roundtable at the World Travel Market last year, as well as bilateral engagements with international counterparts, including discussions with the Spanish Minister for Tourism during a recent visit to Spain.
The Government remains committed to supporting sustainable tourism growth through a combination of domestic policy, bilateral engagement and multilateral cooperation, including active participation in relevant international fora where the UK is represented.