Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to consult stakeholders, including civil society and industry representatives, on the potential introduction of a digital ID system.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is committed to enabling the use of secure and trusted digital verification services across the UK economy for those who want to use them.

This work is informed by responses to a 2019 call for evidence on digital identity that requested views on how the Government can support the development and secure use of digital identities and was followed by an extensive consultation process.

OfDIA continues to regularly engage with stakeholders, including digital verification providers, industry bodies, civil society, academics and organisations interested in adopting digital identities.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what guiding principles or policy frameworks are informing their internal discussions on the future of digital identity policy.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is committed to enabling the use of secure and trusted digital verification services across the UK economy for those who want to use them.

In response to the findings of the 2019 call for evidence on digital identity, the Government set out six principles to inform the development of digital identity policy in the UK. These are privacy, transparency, inclusivity, interoperability, proportionality, and good governance. The Government’s UK digital identity and attributes trust framework, which sets out rules for digital verification services that wish to be certified as trustworthy and will be underpinned by provisions in the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, is based around these principles.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of international trends and standards in digital identity policy; and what discussions they have had with international partners regarding potential adoption of a digital identity policy.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Government continues to assess international trends and standards in digital identity policy and implementation. This includes benchmarking the UK’s digital identity and attributes trust framework against other comparable international frameworks and guidelines. The Government also regularly engages with a range of international partners on a bilateral and multilateral basis.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the merits of developing a digital identity framework; and (2) its feasibility and impact.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

In response to the 2019 call for evidence on digital identity, the Government committed to enabling the use of secure digital identities in the UK by creating a framework of standards, legislation and governance. In 2021, a consultation on digital identity gathered further views on the development of a legal and regulatory framework.

The Government’s UK digital identity and attributes trust framework sets out rules for digital verification services. It has been developed iteratively through extensive engagement with the ICO, civil society and industry stakeholders to help ensure that it meets the needs of users. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 will underpin this framework with statutory duties on the Secretary of State, including a duty to consult and to conduct annual reviews. Over 50 services are already certified against the trust framework and delivering digital verification services across the UK economy.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have commissioned any research into or evaluation of the potential risks and benefits of digital identity systems, including with regard to impacts on privacy, inclusion, and interoperability.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, enables the use of secure digital verification services for those who want to use them. In May 2024, OfDIA commissioned research on the UK digital identity market, including a consumer survey on the benefits and barriers to digital identity use. The findings are published on GOV.UK alongside a report on the inclusivity of the certified digital identity market. OfDIA will continue to publish these reports annually.

For the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, OfDIA conducted a De Minimis assessment of the economic costs and benefits of the digital verification services provisions. This is available on GOV.UK and a post-implementation review will be published in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any departmental or cross-governmental working groups have been established to explore digital identity policy; and if so, what are their remit and proposed timetable.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is responsible for maintaining the standards, governance and legislation that helps people to identify trusted and secure digital identity services.

OfDIA regularly engages with cross-government colleagues regarding digital identity policy, including work to remove regulatory barriers to adoption in different use cases where these exist. OfDIA also facilitates regular technical working groups for cross-government collaboration, which provide input into the development of standards, guidance and best practice that support the Government’s digital identity work.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the introduction of a new property tax.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government does not comment on speculation about tax changes. The Government keeps all tax policy under review and tax decisions will be made at the Budget, in the usual way.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve drought resilience by speeding up the development of a new reservoir in Cambridgeshire.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has already taken urgent steps to improve water security, including changing the law to slash red tape and speed up the planning process for the building of new reservoirs. To support this, £104 billion of private sector investment has been secured. This will fund essential infrastructure, including the Fens Reservoir, to help secure our future water supply.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the current VAT threshold on small business growth.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

With a VAT registration threshold of £90,000, the UK’s threshold is higher than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are kept out of the VAT system.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the number of mental health practitioners employed in primary care through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), Primary Care Networks (PCNs) recruit additional staff including mental health practitioners (MHPs), pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers. There are a wide range of clinicians that are well suited to providing care in general practice as part of a multi-disciplinary team, and these roles are in place to assist doctors in general practice in reducing their workload, assisting patients directly with their needs, allowing doctors to focus on more complex patients and other priorities, including continuity of care.

As of 30 June 2025, there were 1,158 full time equivalent (FTE) MHPs working across practices and PCNs in England, an increase of 314 FTE compared with June 2023, when the time series in the collated data began.

While there are no specific plans to increase the number of MHPs employed through the ARRS, under changes to the GP contract announced earlier in the year the scheme will become more flexible to allow PCNs to respond better to local workforce needs. The two ARRS pots will be combined to create a single pot for reimbursement of patient facing staff costs. There will be no restrictions on the number or type of staff covered, including mental health practitioners.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reduction in funding for farming and countryside programmes as set out in the Spending Review 2025 (CP 1336).

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. Farmers will directly benefit from an average of £2.3 billion per year - continuing the average annual farming spend over the last Parliament - supporting farm profitability through investment in research and technology and sustainable food production, at the same time as improving the quality of the water in our rivers, the air we breathe and our spaces for wildlife.

We are determined to deliver value for taxpayers’ money. We have identified efficiencies in the farming budget and opportunities to better target incentives for farmers to deliver environmental benefits. For example, rapidly winding down subsidy payments that do not provide returns on investment, and increasing investment in environmental land management schemes from £1.8 billion in 25/26 to more than £2 billion a year by 28/29.

Public funding will also help leverage more private investment into nature restoration, including through the Landscape Recovery scheme where projects will be co-funded by a blend of public and private investment. This will provide farmers with new income streams and opportunities to be rewarded for nature restoration as well as food production.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to enact the proposed ‘Hugh’s Law’ to extend entitlement to paid leave to the parents of seriously or terminally ill children.

Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government has committed to a consultation on support for parents of seriously ill children in 2026, and will continue to work closely with relevant stakeholders as it is developed. There are currently no plans to introduce legislation prior to this consultation as this would pre-empt the outcome.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the current value added tax threshold on small business growth.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are kept out of the VAT system.

Found: Yardley (The Chair); Lord Blencathra; Lord Bradley; Lord Carter of Coles; Baroness Cass; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: Yardley (The Chair); Lord Blencathra; Lord Bradley; Lord Carter of Coles; Baroness Cass; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: Lord Blencathra; Lord Bradley; Baroness Cass; Lord Carter of Coles; Baroness Coffey; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Equal access to justice is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system and it is vital that everyone involved at each stage in any criminal case is presented with a fair and accurate account of evidential proceedings. Transcripts are produced by the police and outsourced companies as a public service to the courts. They provide a written record of a police interview with a suspect or witness or to help in understanding unclear audio material.

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