Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, why the Defence Investment Plan was not published before the rise of the House for Christmas recess 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Investment Plan will set out how the Department will allocate spending over the next 10 years, ensuring that resources are directed effectively to meet our priorities. It is vital that these decisions are carefully considered so that the Department gets these decisions right. We are working hard to finalise the plan, and it will be published at the earliest opportunity once it is ready.
As he will recall from his time as the Defence Procurement Minister 47 of 89 major defence programmes were left overbudget and delayed when the general election occurred. We are taking the time to address these and move to warfighting readiness.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will (a) have discussions with cabinet colleagues on the merits of reducing student loan debt as part of a recruitment package for attracting and retaining recent graduates into the armed forces and (b) estimate the cost to the public purse of such a policy.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Armed Forces already provide several opportunities to support tertiary education both before service and while serving. These include bursaries, sponsored degree study, in-service degrees and Learning Credits to offset the cost of undergraduate and postgraduate study. These schemes ensure that personnel are supported in gaining valuable qualifications and skills benefiting not only the individual, but also enhancing operational capability.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025, to Question 84476, on Proof of Identity: Digital Technology, what the wider policy and guidance from the Cabinet Office is on whether departments should consider written consultation responses from individuals or organisations who are subject to a policy of non-engagement.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Cabinet Office has published consultation principles which set out how consultations should be conducted.
They are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the guidance entitled National Fraud Initiative: public-sector data specifications, updated on 11 November 2025, whether the council tax data matching will include the second homes council tax premium, where single person discount is not being claimed.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Fraud Initiative (NFI), as part of the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA), works closely with local authorities to help them identify and prevent fraud.
As part of this, the NFI is currently collaborating with local authorities to understand the fraud risks related to council tax second home premiums.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of granting the Welsh Government’s proposed UK Internal Market Act exemption on the Deposit Return Scheme on (a) businesses and (b) consumers.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have not made such specific assessments, however we are keen to progress a UK Deposit Return Scheme and are currently evaluating the Welsh Government's proposal for an exclusion from the UK Internal Market Act as set out in the UK Internal Market Act Review published in July 2025.
As part of that process we have been engaging with stakeholders to gather evidence and feedback on the impact of the Welsh Government proposal on the UK internal market.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, If he will deposit case papers in the case R. v. Nathan Gill in the Library of the House of Commons.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Law Officers will not deposit case papers in this matter.
This was a CPS prosecution and the Attorney General’s involvement was only to provide consent for one of the offences charged. This offence has been left to lie on file, following pleas from Nathan Gill to substantive offences of bribery.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether his Department holds data on communication between members of the European Parliament, UK Parliament and members of UK devolved legislatures and Oleh Voloshyn in the period between 2014-2019.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The department has conducted a search of the electronic materials currently available to it. No data on communications within the scope of this question was identified.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, What date is the earliest evidence of bribery in the case of R. v. Nathan Gill.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The dates of the bribery offences are a matter of public record, the earliest being 6 December 2018.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to schools who wish to decarbonise their buildings but who currently do not have the means to do so.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that decarbonising the school estate is an important part of meeting the government’s net zero commitments.
The Great British Energy Solar Partnership (GBESP) programme is supporting 250 schools and colleges to decarbonise by investing £100 million on solar panels and other energy efficiency and net zero interventions including LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers.
We are providing support for all schools and colleges to start on their journey towards net zero through our Sustainability Support Programme, which includes an online platform of guidance, tools and resources to help schools plan and deliver climate action available here: https://www.sustainabilitysupportforeducation.org.uk/.
The publicly available Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commissioned schools decarbonisation guidance, along with tools and checklists developed by Energy Systems Catapult can be found here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/tools-and-labs/public-sector-decarbonisation-guidance/developing-your-strategy/schools-resource-hub/. We will be issuing guidance to school settings in spring 2026 to help schools plan future retrofit and adaptation strategies to support decarbonisation and good education outcomes using their estates effectively.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the safeguarding bruising protocol on people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Nothing is more important than keeping children safe.
Our Families First Partnership Programme guidance, published in March 2025, is clear that practice should be inclusive, anti-discriminatory and responsive to the needs and experiences of children and families of different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. We would encourage local safeguarding partnerships to align any local protocols, including in relation to bruising, with this guidance, the latest available evidence and with national child safeguarding guidance, and consider the impact of local protocols on children and families from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce new measures including improved information sharing and the introduction of multi-agency child protection teams to prevent children falling through the cracks.
We are also investing in the recruitment, training and development of child and family social worders to ensure the workforce has the capacity, skills and knowledge to identify, support and protect vulnerable children who may be at risk of maltreatment.