Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following allegations of pressure to shut down human rights research  at Sheffield Hallam University, what plans they have to investigate foreign interference in and attempts to influence the nature and purpose of academic research projects.

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

The department is clear that foreign interference is unacceptable, and higher education providers are already required to ensure that decisions are taken without direction, coercion or covert influence. Wherever it is identified, the government and the Office for Students (OfS) can and will act, using a range of existing and upcoming requirements.

The government conducted an internal review informed by engagement with the regulator, the sector and academics impacted by foreign interference. It concluded that whilst there were a range of existing requirements on universities that protected against foreign interference, more should be done to support providers to proportionately mitigate risk. We set out our considerations in the “Future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act” policy paper published in June 2025, and are taking steps to share good practice, raise awareness and develop new responses where necessary.

This work, along with the implementation and evaluation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, bolsters the existing layers of protection offered by the OfS and the National Security Act. We take this very seriously and will continue to keep our response under review, including considering these recent allegations, to ensure it remains effective and proportionate.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated annual tax revenue arising from the gambling industry.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Total Betting & Gaming Duty receipts for 2024-25 were £3.6 billion [1].

HMRC does not collate separate data for gambling operators for other tax heads.

[1]See https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-betting-and-gaming-statistics for further detail

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases for compensation arising from the Post Office Horizon scandal are outstanding, and how much has been allocated to pay those outstanding claims.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As of 31 October 2025, approximately £1.27 billion has been paid to over 9,500 claimants. The table below illustrates the progress to date and is available on GOV.UK. The Department only reports on claims received, as there is not a fixed cohort of claims across these schemes.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government set aside £1.8 billion of funding for redress payments from 2024-25 in addition to around £200 million that had already been distributed. This is not a target or limit.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Russian drones have been identified as being within 50 miles of the UK coast in each quarter of the past year.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Royal Navy continuously monitors UK waters and stands ready to respond to the presence of Russian drones. For reasons of national security, we cannot disclose the specific number of incidents of Russian military activity recorded during any given period.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the annual cost of applying a Danish model of border control and asylum policy.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Plans to Restore Order and Control to the UK asylum and returns system draw inspiration from the Danish model but are not a simple copy. Assessment of the costs and benefits of the model will be made through Impact Assessments where legislation is required to enact the changes presented in the policy statement to the House on 17th November.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of cyberattacks to each subsector of the manufacturing industries for which they have data.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Earlier this month, the government published a set of independent research reports quantifying the impact of cyber attacks on the UK economy. While the government does not hold sub-sectoral data, the KPMG report Economic Modelling of Sector Specific Costings of Cyber Attacks estimates the cost of cyber attacks to individual businesses, broken down by down sector and size.

The report estimates the manufacturing sector suffers some of the highest costs when compared to other sectors, with a significant cyber attack on a UK manufacturing organisation resulting in an average cost of £330,406. This estimate is based on simplified scenarios and generalised inputs to illustrate potential outcomes and should therefore be interpreted with caution.

The 2025 version of the government’s annual Cyber Security Breaches Survey finds that 48% of businesses in the utilities and production sector – which includes manufacturing businesses – suffered any kind of cyber breach or attack in the past 12 months. The survey does not include data on individual sub-sectors.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Welsh Government about any joint action needed to minimise the danger of flooding in Monmouth.

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

Flooding is a devolved matter, and the Welsh Government has responsibility for preparations, response and recovery. I offered support and assistance on behalf of Defra to the Deputy First Minister and officials engaged with their counterparts. Staff from Flood Re and a FloodMobile – a mobile demonstration unit that showcases dozens of Property Flood Resilience measures which can help better protect homes from flooding or make recovery faster – were in Monmouth on Wednesday 19 November and plan to revisit next week.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, or plan to take, to control the ownership and use of drones and to minimise their use for illegal purposes.

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

This Government is delivering the following reforms in the Unmanned Aircraft (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

(a) From 1 January 2026, all drones weighing 100g or more with a camera must be registered.

(b) From 1 January 2026, drones weighing 250g or more must have geo-awareness requirements. Then, from 1^st January 2028, Geo-awareness requirements will apply to all drones weighing 100g or more with a camera.

(c) From 1 January 2026, drones weighing 250g or more must have remote identification (RID) requirements. Then, from 1^st January 2028, RID will apply to drones weighing 100g or more with a camera.

These reforms will improve traceability because they will enforce the registration of a RID “digital numberplate” that can be linked to a registered operator. Geo-awareness and RID will help law enforcement to target the actively non-compliant drones that have switched off RID and are ignoring geo-awareness alerts of airspace restrictions, therefore reducing the volume of incidents and length of investigation for suspicious drone activity.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of any overspend by local authorities in England in this financial year; and how much has been allocated to cover that overspend in the final local government finance settlement for this year.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the noble Lord to the statement made by my hon Friend the Minister for Local Government and Homelessness on 20 November 2025 (attached) (HCWS1080), which sets out our plans for the 2026-27 to 2028-29 multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement, which includes allocating £3.4 billion of new grant funding over the multi-year period.

Local authorities are required to set a balanced budget. Any council that has concerns about its ability to set or maintain a balanced budget should approach the department in the first instance. The government does not collect data on overspends of budgets, but Revenue Account Budgets and Revenue Outturn are published as official national statistics.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are their planned (1) start, and (2) completion, dates for work on constructing the nuclear power station at Wylfa.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

GBE-N has selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred bidder to partner with to develop the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project, subject to final government approvals and contract signature, targeted later this year.

Initial site activity at Wylfa will begin in 2026, with the first operational SMRs targeted from the mid-2030s.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the Welsh Government about the provision of education and skills courses to equip the workforce with the training necessary for the construction of the proposed small modular reactors at Wylfa.

Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

In June 2025, the Government announced a new golden age of nuclear power, which is set to create thousands of high-quality jobs across the UK. As part of this, Great British Energy – Nuclear’s small modular reactor project to be located at Wylfa on Anglesey is expected to create around 3,000 jobs on site at peak construction plus thousands more across the supply chain.

The industry-led Nuclear Skills Plan will support this workforce growth and strengthen partnerships with stakeholders in Wales by launching a Wales Regional Skills Hub in 2026.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent the sale of tickets for cultural and sporting events at prices above face value; and by what date they plan to have new legislation in force.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This Government is committed to introducing new protections for consumers on ticket resales, and on 19th November we published our response to our consultation on live event ticket resales and call for evidence on pricing practices in the sector.

Our consultation response sets out that we intend to to take forward the following measures:

• A price cap prohibiting the resale of a live events ticket for more than the original ticket cost.

• A cap on service fees charged by ticket platforms on resales.

• Resale volume limits prohibiting people from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to purchase in the primary sale.

• Strict legal obligations on platforms to ensure compliance with the price cap.

• Enforcement of the above measures by the Competition and Markets Authority and other public enforcers through Part 3 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

We will bring forward legislation to enact these measures when parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have regarding the future of Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government announced on 13 November that it is abolishing Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales at the end of their current term of office in May 2028. PCC functions will transfer either to Mayors of Strategic Authorities, where possible, or to elected council leaders where it is not. We will create new Police and Crime Boards to bring local council leaders together to oversee the force in their area, supported by an appointed day to day Police and Crime lead.

In Wales, the Welsh government have no plans to create Mayors. We will work with the Welsh Government and other stakeholders on arrangements to transfer PCC functions to local government leaders, recognising the unique nature of devolved arrangements in Wales.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the latest available figures for (1) the number of refugees from Ukraine in the UK, (2) the number of refugees from Ukraine who have entered the UK in 2025, and (3) the number who have given up their refugee status and returned to Ukraine or moved elsewhere during 2025.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on the Ukraine schemes in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

As at the end of September 2025 229,900 individuals have arrived in the UK under the Ukraine schemes.

Whilst the number of Ukrainians currently within the UK is not published within the data tables, the statistics do refer to how many people are believed to be out of the UK at a snapshot in time (although some may later return to the UK) in the chapter ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?’

“Management information indicates that as of the end of September 2025, around 97,100 people (42%) who had previously arrived on the Ukraine schemes had exited the UK and were believed to be out of the country, although some may subsequently return.”

The Home Office does not publish information on how many on the Ukraine schemes have returned to Ukraine or moved elsewhere during 2025.

The Ukraine Schemes do not confer refugee status; therefore, they would not lose their status if returned.

In addition to the Ukraine schemes, some Ukrainians have claimed asylum via the UK asylum process. Since the start of 2022 to the end of September 2025, 68 Ukrainians have been granted refugee status (main applicants and dependants). There is no published data to confirm how many of these remain in the UK, also whether those who were granted refugee status in the preceding years also remain in the UK.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with the Farmer's Union of Wales regarding the likely impact of changes to inheritance tax on farming in Wales.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Ministers from several Government departments have met with organisations including NFU Cymru and the Farmers’ Union of Wales.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, fixing the public finances, and funding public services. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still ensure those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.

As announced at Budget 2025, any unused £1 million allowance for the 100% rate of agricultural property relief and business property relief will be transferable between spouses and civil partners, including if the first death was before 6 April 2026.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many mainline railway stations in London currently have full step-free access for passengers, and what plans they have to guarantee step free access in those stations.

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

Based on data from a 2023 national accessibility stations audit, there are 138 mainline railway stations in London that currently provide full step-free access for passengers. This is out of a total of 335 mainline stations within the Greater London Authority area.

The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail, train operators and local authorities to improve step-free access at stations in London. For example, a major upgrade to deliver step free access at Hither Green station is forecast to open to passengers in 2027.

Where step-free access is not available, train operators are required to provide alternative transport at no additional cost to the passenger.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with universities and other higher and further education institutions in north west Wales regarding the skills and training that the local workforce will need in order to obtain employment at the proposed nuclear facility at Wylfa.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Great British Energy – Nuclear’ s small modular reactor project at Wylfa on Anglesey is expected to generate around 3,000 on-site jobs at peak construction, along with thousands more across the supply chain. The industry-led Nuclear Skills Plan will support this workforce growth and strengthen partnerships with stakeholders in Wales by launching a Wales Regional Skills Hub in 2026. Bangor University are also part of the Nuclear Energy Futures Centre for Doctoral Training which through the Nuclear Skills Plan we have provided funding to recruit an additional cohort of PhD students in this academic year.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the Welsh economy of the delay to the work on the Oxford to Milton Keynes passenger service.

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

Major infrastructure work for the first phase of East West Rail has been delivered, and the Department for Transport is working with industry partners to start passenger services as quickly as possible. The UK government continues to fund, deliver and manage rail infrastructure enhancements across both England and Wales to support growth and connectivity in both countries.

Found: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell Lord Scriven Baroness Goudie Lord Wigley