Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that data collected by third party providers who verify age under the Online Safety Act 2023 is stored securely.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Online Safety Act requires providers to protect users’ right to privacy when implementing age assurance. UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act requires data to be processed fairly, lawfully, and transparently. Where Ofcom is concerned that a provider has not complied it may refer the matter to the ICO.

Under the Act, regulated services that are likely to be accessed by children must implement highly effective age assurance to prevent exposure to harmful content. There are cost-effective compliant methods available.

Highly effective age assurance must be robust, and services must take appropriate steps to mitigate against circumvention.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to (a) reform and (b) remove the 10% commission charge on the sale of park homes.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 69040 on 24 July 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the annual income to site owners generated by the 10% commission on park home sales.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 69040 on 24 July 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the 10% commission charge on the sale of park homes on (a) elderly and (b) vulnerable residents.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 69040 on 24 July 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase the availability of defibrillators in (a) South East Cornwall constituency and (b) other (i) rural and (ii) coastal areas.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

To improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED fund, launched in in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Fund.

Funding was allocated where there was the greatest need, for example, remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas. There are no plans to undertake further work on improving access or provide additional support for AEDs, in light of the rapid expansion of AEDs across the UK.

We recognise the important work the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has undertaken in identifying communities with limited access to a defibrillator. The BHF undertook this work as part of its 2025 community defibrillator fund programme. The BHF is urgently encouraging areas eligible to apply to its 2025 scheme to do so. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators/apply-for-a-free-defibrillator-for-your-community

Across the South West, there are currently over 12,000 public access defibrillators registered on The Circuit, with most being privately owned. Approximately 1,000 of these defibrillators are owned and managed by the South Western Ambulance Service (SWAST).

SWAST is working to improve the availability, accessibility and emergency readiness of all public accessible defibrillators across the South West. SWAST is currently contacting guardians of defibrillators which have not had a status check registered on The Circuit for more than three months. This proportion has, as a result, reduced from one third of all defibrillators to 17% over the past year.

SWAST is also working with all schools across the South West to encourage them to register their defibrillator on The Circuit, with 90% of schools across the South West now having a defibrillator registered, the highest percentage in the country. SWAST is also promoting the labelling of public access defibrillators using stickers produced by The Circuit to reduce the time taken for a defibrillator to return to its cabinet after allocation, reducing the time that it is unavailable.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to defibrillators in (a) South East Cornwall constituency and (b) other (i) rural and (ii) coastal areas.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

To improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED fund, launched in in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Fund.

Funding was allocated where there was the greatest need, for example, remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas. There are no plans to undertake further work on improving access or provide additional support for AEDs, in light of the rapid expansion of AEDs across the UK.

We recognise the important work the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has undertaken in identifying communities with limited access to a defibrillator. The BHF undertook this work as part of its 2025 community defibrillator fund programme. The BHF is urgently encouraging areas eligible to apply to its 2025 scheme to do so. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators/apply-for-a-free-defibrillator-for-your-community

Across the South West, there are currently over 12,000 public access defibrillators registered on The Circuit, with most being privately owned. Approximately 1,000 of these defibrillators are owned and managed by the South Western Ambulance Service (SWAST).

SWAST is working to improve the availability, accessibility and emergency readiness of all public accessible defibrillators across the South West. SWAST is currently contacting guardians of defibrillators which have not had a status check registered on The Circuit for more than three months. This proportion has, as a result, reduced from one third of all defibrillators to 17% over the past year.

SWAST is also working with all schools across the South West to encourage them to register their defibrillator on The Circuit, with 90% of schools across the South West now having a defibrillator registered, the highest percentage in the country. SWAST is also promoting the labelling of public access defibrillators using stickers produced by The Circuit to reduce the time taken for a defibrillator to return to its cabinet after allocation, reducing the time that it is unavailable.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce (a) additional funding and (b) policy changes to expand (i) therapeutic and (ii) foster care options for young people over 16.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and giving mental health the same importance as physical health.

The Department of Health and Social Care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan how we will work to better identify and meet children's and young people’s mental health needs. We will continue to roll out Mental Health Support Teams to schools and colleges in England, to reach full national coverage by 2029/30.

The Department for Education has announced £25 million in transformation funding to recruit hundreds more new foster families and strengthen support to retain existing carers to improve the life chances of thousands of children. This will ensure that children in foster care experience greater stability. This is additional to the £15 million announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which aims to recruit more foster carers. This will include foster care recruitment for older children and those with more complex needs.

The 2025 Spending Review also included capital funding to provide more foster care placements, by renovating and extending foster care homes.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to increase protections for (a) ancient and (b) veteran trees.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As the criminal case for the Sycamore Gap tree has shown, our judicial system takes illegal tree felling seriously: those that cause illegal damage will be held to account. In addition, our most important trees, those of ancient and veteran status, are considered irreplaceable habitats and protected in planning policy. Local authorities may also grant specific protections on individual trees of high value through Tree Preservation Orders.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support communities with the (a) maintenance and (b) running costs of public defibrillators.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government committed to improving access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life-saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED fund, launched in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Fund.

Funding was allocated where there was the greatest need, for example: remote communities with extended ambulance response times; places with high footfall and high population densities; hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people; and deprived areas.

There are no plans to undertake further work on improving access or provide additional support for AEDs, in light of the rapid expansion of AEDs across the UK. According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), there are now over 110,000 defibrillators in the United Kingdom registered on The Circuit, the independently operated national AED database.

We recognise the important work the BHF has undertaken in identifying communities with limited access to a defibrillator. The BHF undertook this work as part of their 2025 community defibrillator fund programme.

The BHF are urgently encouraging areas eligible to apply to their 2025 scheme to do so. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators/apply-for-a-free-defibrillator-for-your-community

As well as the BHF, several other UK charities provide and support access to AEDs, and in some cases provide support for their maintenance and running costs. London Hearts, AED Donate, and Community Heartbeat Trust are prominent examples working to increase the availability of AEDs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle health inequalities in coastal communities, in the context of the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021: health in coastal communities, published on 21 July 2021.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Chief Medical Officer in his 2023 Annual Report made clear that future health and care needs will vary significantly, with the populations of rural, semi-rural and coastal areas more likely to experience worse health outcomes. In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government commits to reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas by tackling health inequalities and the social determinants of health.

The Department will address under performance in areas with the worst health outcomes, including coastal communities, where access is often poor. National Health Service regions are compiling action plans for each provider in these areas to begin improvements.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how local authorities and police forces share information on children aged between 16 and 18 while respecting confidentiality.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 confers a power for the disclosure of information between the police and relevant local authority for the purpose of preventing offending and community safety.

Every area should have a local Data Sharing Agreement in place, and the Youth Justice police officer should act as the two-way conduit of intelligence sharing between the Youth Offending Team and the local police. Information sharing is done in the same way for all children (aged between 10-17 years old) regardless of age.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing performance standards for material recovery facilities to ensure purity of all material bales.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Simpler Recycling requires the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures will increase the quantity of dry recyclable material collected for sorting at MRFs and will apply from 31^st March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31^st March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).

There are existing requirements on material recovery facilities (MRFs) to report the reject rates at each facility in Waste Data Flow question 100 and to undertake composition sampling on material received and report this to the Environment Agency via the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2023.

Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and waste industry representatives to support Material Recovery Facility (MRF) readiness for the Simpler Recycling requirements.

We have engaged with MRF operators and local authorities through WRAP’s MRF Forum to identify challenges with MRF capacity, investment, upgrade timelines, and to work with the sector to identify interventions to support MRFs as they prepare for Simpler Recycling. WRAP is developing interventions to support Local Authorities with setting up new MRF contracts, determine the potential future composition of dry mixed recyclable waste streams and the associated financial implications.

I have instructed my officials to develop further policy options to drive long-term improvement to Local Authority performance, including on potential approaches to improving quality which will support the UK reprocessing sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to allocate (a) new and (b) ring-fenced funding to support the implementation of the Final Delivery Plan for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, published in July 2025.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise the negative impact that myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has on patients and their loved ones, and also the cost to health and care services and the wider economy through, for example, loss of work and an increased benefits bill. We, therefore, recently published the ME/CFS final delivery plan, which focuses on boosting research, improving attitudes and education, and bettering the lives of people with this debilitating disease.

There are currently no plans to allocate new or ring-fenced funding specifically to support the implementation of the ME/CFS final delivery plan. However, we continue to commission research on ME/CFS services across the United Kingdom, focussing on the most severely affected. The plan includes increased funding for research, awarded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, into how existing medicines can be used for post-viral conditions, including ME/CFS. Additionally, there are always opportunities for researchers to bid for and secure research funding for ME/CFS through our open research funding calls.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take account of the age profile of communities in Cornwall when allocating resources for health and social care in that area.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Cornwall Isles of Scilly ICB, receive funding allocations from NHS England to pay for the services they commission. Most funding is allocated as a non-ringfenced budget, informed by a calculation of what would constitute a ‘fair share’ of funding based on a formula that takes account of population, age, need, deprivation and health inequalities considerations.

NHS England published a ‘Technical Guide to Allocation Formulae and Convergence’ that sets out the methodology; the formula takes into account age profiles in the modelling of the need for health care services by recognising that older populations typically have a higher need per capita. The guide is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/PRN01601-technical-guide-to-allocation-formulae-and-convergence-for-2025-to-2026-revenue-allocations.pdf

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that adequate levels of infrastructure are provided alongside new housing developments.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 65505 on 14 July 2025.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to help young people (a) develop skills and (b) access opportunities in South East Cornwall constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As announced in the spending review, the department is making over £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29.

This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages, across the country, including South-East Cornwall. This includes:

• Widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, including new foundation apprenticeships, which will give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working life.
• T Levels, a high quality technical education option for young people, including a valuable workplace industry placement which prepares them work.
• Higher Technical Qualifications, occupation-focused level 4-5 qualifications, approved and quality marked as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers.

There are ​a number of post-16 education and training providers in Cornwall ​delivering further education and skills provision. The largest of these is Cornwall College, ​judged as overall Outstanding in their latest Ofsted inspection, and which has campuses throughout Cornwall.

We have also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to ensure that funding allocations for (a) rural and (b) coastal communities adequately (i) recognise and (i) reflect the additional costs of delivering services in those areas.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

From 2026-27 we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund local authorities and direct funding to where it is needed most.

The Fair Funding Review 2.0 set out a proposal for an updated assessment that will effectively account for the different needs felt by communities across the country including considering the impact of remoteness on costs faced by rural and coastal communities, and the impact of commuters and tourists on major cities and coastal towns alike.

The consultation invited respondents to provide additional evidence for the impact of remoteness on the cost of delivering services.

We are reviewing responses and will publish more details in the consultation response in Autumn, followed by the provisional local government finance settlement.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to ensure that funding allocations for coastal communities adequately (a) recognise and (b) reflect the (i) circumstances of and (ii) impact of seasonality on public services in those communities.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

From 2026-27 we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund local authorities and direct funding to where it is needed most.

The Fair Funding Review 2.0 set out a proposal for an updated assessment that will effectively account for the different needs felt by communities across the country including considering the impact of remoteness on costs faced by rural and coastal communities, and the impact of commuters and tourists on major cities and coastal towns alike.

The consultation invited respondents to provide additional evidence for the impact of remoteness on the cost of delivering services.

We are reviewing responses and will publish more details in the consultation response in Autumn, followed by the provisional local government finance settlement.

Found: Shrewsbury) Ellie Chowns (Green Party; North Herefordshire) Barry Gardiner (Labour; Brent West) Anna Gelderd

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Dr Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Dr Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Dr Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Dr Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Found: Shrewsbury) Ellie Chowns (Green Party; North Herefordshire) Barry Gardiner (Labour; Brent West) Anna Gelderd

Found: meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Found: meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Found: meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd

Submit Evidence (by 4 Nov 2025)

This Environmental Audit Committee inquiry will examine the Climate Change Committee's advice on the Seventh Carbon Budget. It will consider the assumptions and costs underpinning the CCC’s recommendations, explore the balance between emerging and established technologies, the policy choices facing Government, and the potential impacts on households, businesses and the wider economy. The inquiry will also look at how the Government should communicate choices and trade-offs, and how Parliament and the public can best scrutinise delivery plans and progress.