Written Statements

Monday 12th January 2026 Written Statements

Monday 12 January 2026

Contingencies Fund Advance: National Savings & Investments

Monday 12th January 2026 Written Statements

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Lucy Rigby)]

HM Treasury has agreed additional resource departmental expenditure limit and capital DEL funding for National Savings & Investments, supporting NS&I’s business transformation programme, which will see it transition to a modernised operating model, with multiple service delivery partners.

Parliamentary approval for additional resource of £40,000,000 and capital of £69,000,000 will be sought in a supplementary estimate for NS&I. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £109,000,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.

[HCWS1233]

Football Governance Act 2025: Statutory Deadline Regulations

Monday 12th January 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)]

Today I am updating the House on the introduction of the statutory deadline for the Independent Football Regulator’s suitability tests for prospective owners and officers. These deadlines must be set by statutory instrument under the Football Governance Act 2025. The regulations, which are subject to the made negative procedure, were laid before both Houses today.

Setting a statutory deadline for these tests in law represents a significant milestone in one of the primary duties of this new and unique regulator: to ensure the long-term sustainability of our football clubs, keeping them at the heart of their communities.

Fans are bound to be apprehensive whenever their club’s ownership or executive leadership changes hands. The IFR’s new tests for prospective owners and officers will better protect clubs from unsuitable custodians. The tests will reassure fans of the financial resilience and source of wealth of new incoming owners, as well as the honesty and integrity of both new owners and officers. Clear statutory deadlines will also ensure that tests are carried out in a timely manner. This will give fans the much needed transparency they deserve.

Under the new regulations, once a new owner or officer test is commenced, the IFR will have an initial determination period of 90 days. Where necessary, this may be extended by a maximum of 60 days, giving a total possible period of 150 days.

The Government conducted a six-week targeted consultation to ensure the policy was informed by stakeholder views and ensure the determination period is appropriate for both the IFR and the industry it regulates. The proposals were shared with all leagues, the Football Association, the Football Supporters’ Association, industry lawyers and all 116 clubs that will fall within the scope of the regulatory regime. While consultation responses were mixed, there was widespread agreement that the extension period and maximum time should only be seen as a longstop for complex applications. This is in line with the IFR’s intent to progress applications promptly and efficiently, as far as practicable.

I acknowledge some stakeholders considered the deadline too long, noting the risks of uncertainty for investors and impact on clubs in crisis that require timely investment. However, a shorter period would reduce the IFR’s operational flexibility to cater for the variances in complexity of owner and officer applications across 116 clubs. The IFR must have sufficient time to request additional information and carry out its assessment. If the period is too short it could lead to more applications failing, which may also deter investment. In addition to this, we believe the statutory deadline provides certainty to investors and that the full time will not be used in every case, specifically where a club is at risk.

However, a limited number of respondents suggested the deadline was too short to deal with complex cases. Our view is that a longer statutory period would risk creating a slow, cumbersome, anti-investment process. To ensure that the statutory determination period is used for the substantive assessment of an application, the regulations provide that the period begins only once an application is “duly made” in accordance with section 28 or 29 of the Act and the IFR’s rules. This means that all information required for an application to be validly submitted must be provided before the determination period starts.

The deadline set by the regulations encourages the IFR to make timely decisions when testing the suitability of new owners and officers in a fast-paced industry. It also balances effective scrutiny while ensuring an investment in English football remains an attractive one for the right owner.

This Government continue to deliver on their election promises, to combat the poor governance and financial mismanagement of football clubs in this country, and to put fans back at the heart of English football.

[HCWS1234]

Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures: 1 September to 30 November 2025

Monday 12th January 2026 Written Statements

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

Section 19(1) of the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011 requires the Secretary of State to report to Parliament as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of every relevant three-month period on the exercise of their TPIM powers under the Act during that period.



The level of information provided will always be subject to slight variations based on operational advice.

Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes

Monday 12th January 2026 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Liz Kendall)]

I will be updating the House via an oral statement later today.

[HCWS1235]

Local Roads and Highways

Monday 12th January 2026 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Heidi Alexander)]

I wish to update the House on the Government’s work to improve the condition of local roads and the steps we are taking to ensure that record levels of investment deliver real benefits for communities.

The Government are committed to tackling the poor state of our roads. This financial year we have provided an additional £500 million for local highways maintenance, and have at the autumn Budget confirmed a record investment of £7.3 billion for the next four years, covering the period of 2026-27 to 2029-30. This funding increase and the provision of long-term funding certainty are designed to enable local authorities to invest in significantly improving the long-term condition of England’s road and local highways network, delivering safer and more reliable journeys.

To ensure increases in funding drive improvements, we now require local highway authorities to publish transparency reports setting out their maintenance plans. These reports allow residents and taxpayers to see how funding is being used and help us monitor progress. The first reports were published in June 2025.

Based on our assessments of these reports, my Department yesterday published red amber green (RAG) ratings for each local highway authority, assessing the quality of local roads and progress against key aspects of local highways management. These overall ratings are supported by three underlying scorecards, measuring local road condition, the level of capital spend on highways maintenance and the extent to which local authorities have adopted best practice in highways management.

The aim of these ratings is to provide an evidence- based picture of local highways maintenance practices and outcomes to support improvements across the sector. They are designed to recognise and highlight good practice —for example in relation to preventative maintenance so that potholes do not form in the first place—while also helping the Department to identify where local authorities need to improve, and where more targeted support to local authorities may help them adopt best practice and improve road condition nationwide.

We recognise that historic underfunding has meant that local authorities have not necessarily had the resources or tools available to maintain roads in the way that they would want to. So a lower rating does not necessarily reflect a lack of local ambition. Where authorities face particular challenges, we will offer targeted support, including peer reviews by sector experts. This is alongside wider resources such as the Live Labs 2 highways innovation programme which we have extended into 2026-27 to enable further uptake of the programme’s findings, and our update of the code of practice for well-managed highways, which will be published later this year.

These ratings will be updated annually, and so, over time, will provide evidence of the impact of the Government’s increased and long-term investment into local highways and of local authorities’ efforts in maintaining their networks.

These measures—increased and long-term funding certainty, improved evidence of local progress through our ratings, and more targeted support to local authorities —are intended to work together. They are part of the Government plan to improve the condition of our local roads and highways, ensuring that communities can benefit from safer, smoother and more reliable journeys.

[HCWS1232]