Ben Lake

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Questions of 13th January is attached.

The Department for Business and Trade has not, to date, compiled data on Horizon-related claims by the UK’s constituent countries; however, we intend to include this breakdown in a future publication. Overall, across the UK, as of 28 November 2025, approximately 10,000 claims have been settled under the Horizon redress schemes, while around 2,600 received claims remain unsettled.

The UK Government has committed up to £2.5 billion to support the steel industry, which is being delivered in part through the National Wealth Fund. This is in addition to £500 million towards Tata’s transformation of Port Talbot steelworks. The National Wealth Fund, which is operationally independent, is already engaging with companies across the UK on projects that meet its investment principles.

The Welsh Government is represented on the Steel Council, which is a key body for developing our Steel Strategy, to be published later this year.

Many of the impacts experienced by family members of affected postmasters will already be compensated for under the relevant scheme in which postmasters are seeking redress. For example, there will be full compensation paid to the affected postmaster for joint losses such as where a family home has been lost, and this will take account of the financial impacts on family members.

The Government is however considering whether to extend additional redress to members of postmasters’ families who were affected by the scandal and will provide an update in due course.

The Department does not produce bespoke estimates of the number of domestic properties using oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for heating by parliamentary constituency. Information on the heating fuels used by households is published by the Office for National Statistics and the devolved administrations.

Thanks to decisions in the recent Budget, an average of £150 of costs will be removed from household energy bills from April. The actions at budget also make electricity cheaper, meaning everyone will benefit and the transfer of the Renewables Obligation to public expenditure is a significant step towards rebalancing levies away from electricity.

What individual households actually save will depend on their specific energy use. Households with bigger electricity bills could save more than £150.

In addition, the Budget significantly increased the capital budget for home insulation through the Warm Homes Plan by £1.5bn to almost £15bn. This is the biggest public investment ever to upgrade homes with insulation and clean tech like solar panels and heat pumps.

The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future. We will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants to property owners, including holiday lets, to enable them to transition away from fossil fuel to low carbon heating.

Advice for energy efficiency support in Wales is available at: https://www.gov.wales/home-energy-fuel-poverty

Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.

The energy price cap will rise for the period 1 April to 30 June 2025 due to an increase in international gas prices.

The Government believes the only way to protect consumers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.

We continue to monitor energy prices and the price cap and are working to ensure bills are affordable for consumers in the long-term, including through our work with Ofgem to reform standing charges, and through our Warm Homes Plan which will upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK

We have now launched our consultation on children’s use of technology and social media. This is a short, swift consultation which allows the different voices within the debate to be heard. The consultation will close on the 26^th May . The government is planning to respond in the summer.

The consultation is backed by a national conversation about the impact of technology on children’s wellbeing. Ministers have already been hearing the views of parents, children and civil society through nationwide events.

The Government has been clear that non-consensual intimate images are reprehensible and no service should allow their creation and distribution.

The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to prevent such content appearing on in-scope services and to remove it swiftly when it does. Where they fail to do this, Ofcom has robust enforcement powers - including fining 10% of global revenue

Furthermore, the offence of creating intimate images without consent was signed into force last week. The Secretary of State announced it will be made a priority offence under the Online Safety Act – delivering the strongest protections in the Act for users from such content.

The government is clear that no one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate images of themselves online.

There are no excuses not to act, and services must deal with this urgently. Ofcom are looking into this as a matter of urgency, and they have the government’s full backing to take any necessary enforcement action.

Services and operators have a clear obligation to act appropriately. This is not about restricting freedom of speech but upholding the law.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.

In July, we published our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices.

In the draft Statement we also set out the importance of continued investment, competition and fair pricing. The government is considering consultation responses, market development and the economic context before the final version is published.

In July, DSIT published a consultation on the draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector. The draft Statement sets out the government’s view on the importance of competition to promote investment in broadband deployment across the UK, including in rural areas.

We are currently reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.

The Government is leading a project to assess the future of TV distribution beyond 2034 and is committed to maintaining access for audiences in all parts of the UK. The project is engaging with devolved governments and audience groups representing the interests of Welsh audiences such as the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, the Rural Services Network, and S4C. Before any decision is made close consideration will be given to how any changes would impact Welsh audiences, including those in rural communities.

The BBC Charter Review was officially launched on 16 December with the publication of the Terms of Reference and Green Paper. The Charter Review is looking at a range of issues to make sure the BBC truly represents and delivers for every person in this country, including the broadcast technologies the BBC should use to deliver its services. The Government is now considering responses to the public consultation, and these will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter. Decisions will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.

The White Paper will also be informed by the Government’s project to assess the future of TV distribution. Once the Government’s approach to the future of TV distribution has been decided in consultation with the public, we will need to consider how the BBC’s obligations might need to change, and how the BBC can make sure that no one is left behind in any transition to online viewing by centering digital inclusion in its services and activities.

The BBC Charter Review was officially launched on 16 December with the publication of the Terms of Reference and Green Paper. The Charter Review is looking at a range of issues to make sure the BBC truly represents and delivers for every person in this country, including the broadcast technologies the BBC should use to deliver its services. The Government is now considering responses to the public consultation, and these will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter. Decisions will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.

The White Paper will also be informed by the Government’s project to assess the future of TV distribution. Once the Government’s approach to the future of TV distribution has been decided in consultation with the public, we will need to consider how the BBC’s obligations might need to change, and how the BBC can make sure that no one is left behind in any transition to online viewing by centering digital inclusion in its services and activities.

The Government’s project on the future of TV distribution is seeking to understand how people receive their television now and in the next decade. As part of this process, a wide range of views are being sought. Membership of the Stakeholder Forum includes a range of broadcasters active in Wales, including the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, the BBC and ITV. The forum also benefits from the perspectives of a number of groups representing the interests of Welsh and UK-wide audiences, such as Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Digital Poverty Alliance and Silver Voices.

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) collects data from its respondents on the gambling activities they participate in and the types of consequences they experience. Rates of gambling harm, measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), are reported by type of gambling activity (such as lotteries or betting), rather than by supplier (such as external lottery manager or bookmaker).

The PGSI nonetheless captures a range of harms experienced among those who gamble. The GSGB 2023 annual report found that 4.7% of respondents who had participated in society lotteries had a PGSI score of 8+ (representing ‘problem gambling’ by which a person will have experienced adverse consequences from gambling and may have lost control of their behaviour.) This captures society lotteries run by charities themselves and through external lottery managers. The equivalent rate for other gambling providers varies significantly, from 4.2% to 41.2%.