Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Wandsworth Council about the future of Putney Bridge, the Albert Bridge and the Chelsea Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames about the future of Hammersmith Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Westminster City Council about the future of the Vauxhall Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Westminster Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea about the future of the Albert Bridge and the Chelsea Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham about the future of Putney Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Lambeth Council about the future of Vauxhall Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Westminster Bridge.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.

Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.

The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment ministers have made of (1) the adequacy of funding for the Structures Fund, and (2) the length of time applicants must wait for the outcome of their bids for funding from the Structures Fund.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Government recognises that repair or replacement of some highway structures are unaffordable from local highway authorities’ existing budgets and so launched the Structures Fund in April to support the capital costs of repairing or replacing these structures. The deadline for local highway authorities to put forward schemes is 3 August 2026 and the Government intends to announce funding awards this Autumn.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what contingency plans they have prepared to support affected local authorities should they be unsuccessful in their applications to the Structures Fund.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Structures Fund is only available for structures that local highway authorities and third parties cannot afford to maintain at, or restore to, full functionality themselves.

The Government is providing a record £7.3bn for highways maintenance from 26-27 to 29-30. It is also providing £15.6 billion through Transport for City Regions (TCR) settlements to transform the local transport networks of 9 eligible mayoral strategic authorities 26/27-31/32; a £2.3 billion Local Transport Grant for local transport infrastructure to local transport authorities outside London which do not receive TCR settlements from 26/27 to 29/30; and a £2.2 billion settlement for Transport for London. All of this funding can be used for structures on local highway networks.

The deadline for local highway authorities to put forward schemes is 3 August 2026.

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.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the closure of private schools.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

School closures can be influenced by a range of factors, not just the VAT policy. While VAT may have compounded pressure, school closures cannot be attributed to VAT alone. Factors such as school performance, financial viability and demographic shifts also play a role. In the 2025/26 academic year, more private schools opened than closed. The department monitors the private school sector via the ‘Get Information about Schools’ (GIAS) system, which shows that between 1 September 2025 and 31 July 2026, 108 private schools opened and 51 closed.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the National Risk Register identifying a malicious cyber attack on the electricity system as being capable of causing prolonged disruption to telecommunications and other critical infrastructure, what additional resilience measures they have required communications providers to implement to ensure that citizens can continue to access emergency services throughout such an event.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

Great Britain has one of the most reliable energy systems in the world, and operators have well-developed plans to respond to and recover from any disruption. The Cyber Security Resilience Bill will further strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and protect more of the essential services people depend on.

Government works in partnership with communications providers to ensure that networks remain secure, resilient, and accessible, including during emergencies and service disruption. There are statutory obligations on communications providers to take appropriate and proportionate steps to ensure their networks and services remain available. Communication providers are required to take appropriate measures to prepare for and reduce the reduce the risks of incidents occurring, and Ofcom have published Network and Service Resilience Guidance that sets out expectations on how providers can meet statutory obligations.

Whilst networks are designed to be resilient, events such as severe weather, loss of electricity transmission, and technical faults can sometimes cause disruption. In these cases, providers must guarantee access to emergency services for at least one hour during a power outage for customers who rely solely on landlines. Although not resilient over days of disruption to services, Battery Back Up Units for broadband services are available free of charge to vulnerable customers or can be purchased from communication providers. In March 2025, providers such as BT, Vodafone, KCOM and Zen Internet announced battery back-up units capable of powering routers for 4–7 hours during a power cut. These measures are designed to prevent disconnection and ensure continued access to emergency services.

If the current mobile network is unavailable, all emergency 999 calls made from mobile phones should automatically switch to an alternative network. This ensures that even if some mobile networks are down or has poor signal, your emergency call can still go through by using another available network.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of public subsidy provided to the Bee Network in Greater Manchester.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to supporting local leaders to deliver high-quality local transport services because we know how important this is for access to education, employment and vital local services.

Over this spending review period we're providing a significant amount of funding, and local leaders can decide how best to use this funding to improve services for passengers, including supporting the Bee Network in the case of Greater Manchester.

We have allocated £3.69bn of transport funding for 2022 - 2032 through the devolved City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement/Transport for City Regions funding, Local Authority Bus Grant funding, Active Travel funding and consolidated Active Travel fund, which the Greater Manchester Combined Authority can use for its Bee Network and wider transport activity.

This funding empowers Mayors to invest in transport projects that will make a difference to their local area, and which meet local objectives and needs. The Integrated Settlement also consolidates other transport funding streams, which creates further flexibility for Mayors.