Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 20 July (HL2218), why the logo on the UK Home Office account on X is in the square format which identifies it as a Premium paid-for account, rather than the round format which is used to identify free verified government accounts, even though the Home Office has stated that is has neither paid for such an account nor received one for free from X.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
At the time of previous responses, the Home Office Social Media Team understood that it held a standard verified government account and did not subscribe to, or pay for, X Premium.
Subsequent checks of the account's billing and subscription history have established that the Home Office does not pay for Premium services, but that the account has been provided with complimentary Premium status by X at no cost to the department because it is a government Department.
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 4 June 2026 to Question 4161 on Government departments: marketing, how much has been spent on branded goods and merchandise by the Department since the Government Chief Commercial Officer letter was sent; on what items, and at what cost.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Spend data for this category of cost is not held and the requested data could only be collated and verified at disproportionate cost. Senior managers are aware of the revised guidance and their responsibilities relating to branded goods and merchandise. The Department has implemented processes to ensure compliance and continues to review and adapt these as needed.
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 6 July 2026 to Question 16056 on Government Communication Service: Staff, how many headcount staff in her Department are (a) members of the Government Communication Service and (b) are embedded communicators but are not counted as members of the Government Communication Service.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
For the 2026 Government Communication Service annual data collection return, the central Department for Transport reported 80.83 full-time equivalent staff headcount who are members of the Government Communication Service.
All embedded communicators are members of the Government Communication Service.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for free milk under the school milk scheme.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 23 June 2026 to Question 9524.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of extending free school milk provision to all children until the end of the Reception year.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 23 June 2026 to Question 9524.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Wirral (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment it has made of the practical incentives, other than retention payments, available to ensure good building construction practices.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Since 2023, dutyholders, including clients, principal contractors and principal designers, are regulated through the building control process. Prosecutions may be brought for breaches of the building regulations under Section 35 of the Building Act 1984 where appropriate. The government has also accepted a recommendation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report to introduce principal contractor licensing, to ensure principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings are appropriately competent. We are progressing work to develop this recommendation, which includes a review of the dutyholder regime and whether it is working as intended. This will inform the design of an effective licensing scheme. We expect to publish the findings from the review in late 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the baseline and measures for the proposed assessment of growth by every postcode in the UK will be established.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government's ambition is to support good growth across all parts of the United Kingdom. As set out in the Prime Minister's recent Machinery of Government Statement, No10 North will be responsible for driving good growth through devolution and working in close partnership with local leaders, businesses, and communities to strengthen place-based growth
The Government is considering how best to assess progress against its growth ambitions and will provide further details as policy development progresses.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the revenue implications of ending private residence relief.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated cost of private residence relief in the 2025 to 2026 tax year was forecast as £32.9 billion.
The estimated cost of private residence relief from this year and from previous tax years can be found online here: Tax relief statistics (January 2026) - GOV.UK
The estimated cost of this relief does not represent the yield if it were to be abolished, as consequential behavioural effects could substantially reduce yield.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what requests, if any, Homes England has made to (1) the National Housing Federation, and (2) registered providers of social housing, to reduce bids in the first three years following the implementation of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
During the competitive assessment process for strategic partnerships under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, Homes England asked bidders to consider how much of their grant funding would be drawn down each year. They were not asked to reduce the total grant they had bid for.
Asked by: Lord Bridges of Headley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect on the UK's national resilience of replacing the centrally powered Public Switched Telephone Network with Digital Voice services which depend upon electricity and broadband equipment within individual premises; and whether they have undertaken any comparative assessment of the resilience of the two systems in the event of a prolonged nationwide power outage arising from a hostile cyber attack or other major civil emergency.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK. VoIP technology is more resilient, more secure, enables better quality phone calls, and can be used to block scam calls. Over 92% of PSTN landlines have already been migrated.
Communications providers are under legal obligations to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency services, including 999 and 112, and to take appropriate and proportionate steps to identify risks to network resilience and mitigate service disruption.
In November 2024, the Government secured additional safeguards from the telecoms industry. These include the provision of free battery back-ups for vulnerable and landline dependent customers to ensure access to emergency services beyond one hour in a power outage. Many providers have gone further, providing 4-7 hours.
Communications providers are also subject to robust cyber security and resilience requirements under the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021, including obligations to identify, manage and mitigate cyber risks that could affect network availability and services.