Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2025 to Question 29762 on Cross sector partnerships, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of cooperation between state and private schools on state schools.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Around 70% of private schools affiliated with the Independent Schools Council hold charitable status. As charities, they are required to demonstrate public benefit and one way in which they do that is through partnerships with state schools. This activity should continue.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reform mental health services so that social support is integrated into treatment plans.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The statutory guidance on discharge from mental health inpatient settings makes clear that National Health Service mental health trusts should have a clear plan in place for the ongoing care and support that a patient requires after discharge from a mental health inpatient setting. This should cover their pharmacological, physical health, psychological, social, cultural, education, housing and finances, and any other individual needs or wishes.

As part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future and shift care from hospitals into the community by improving community and crisis services, NHS England is piloting new models of care in the community for those with the most serious mental illnesses. New mental health centres open in six neighbourhood areas from this spring and will provide people and their families with support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if they are in crisis without needing to book an appointment, as well as provide housing, social support or employment advice to support them to stay well. A key feature of the model is continuity of care whereby the same team will support people with serious mental illnesses throughout all stages of their interaction with services, including transitions between hospital and the community.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29763 on Discussions with Members from Worcestershire on local government reform, what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials have had with hon. Members from Worcestershire on local government reform.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Neither ministers nor senior officials have had discussions with hon members from Worcestershire on local government reform. The Minister wrote to Worcestershire council leaders on 5th February 2025 to formally invite proposals for local government reorganisation. The invitation is clear that councils should engage locally and that we also expect and encourage local leaders to engage their Members of Parliament on any proposals being developed, before these are submitted to Government.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 29154 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty, whether any conditions will be placed on how the package of financial support can be spent.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Once an agreement is signed further details of the Treaty will be put before both Houses for scrutiny and treaty ratification in the usual way.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February of Question 29769 on Museums, what the cost of the VAT Refund Scheme was in 2024; and whether she plans to change the funding for the VAT Refund Scheme.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Under section 33A of the VAT Act 1994, certain museums and galleries are eligible to reclaim VAT incurred on the non-business costs associated with providing free admission to the public. Further information about the scheme and its eligibility conditions can be found in VAT Notice 998: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-refund-scheme-for-museums-and-galleries-notice-998.

Museums and galleries provide estimates of their likely VAT reclaims when applying to join the scheme, to ensure costs are managed. But they are not required to provide figures on particular costs within their VAT returns on an ongoing basis, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden. The information requested is therefore not available.

Whilst the Government keeps all taxes under review, the Government is not planning any changes to the scheme.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many officials are working on the negotiations of a trade deal with the United States.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

DBT’s Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations (TPIN) Group operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across priorities. In January 2025, DBT had 675 staff working in TPIN.

The US is the UK’s largest single country trading partner, with trade worth around £300 billion in the year to September 2024.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government considers increased trade with China to be an inherent risk to national security.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

China is the world’s second largest economy and predicted to be the largest driver of global growth from 2021 to 2035. Identifying opportunities to build secure and resilient growth through a mature, stable, and balanced relationship with China is in our national interest.

National security and growth are not opposed – they are mutually reinforcing. The UK must engage with international partners, including China, on trade and investment to grow our economy, while ensuring we uphold our security and values by challenging China on areas where we disagree.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February to Question 29155 on Energy Resilience, when the robust plans to mitigate the impacts of a gas or electricity disruption were last updated.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The National Emergency Plan for Downstream Gas and Electricity sets out the arrangements for the safe and effective management of downstream gas or electricity disruption. The National Emergency Plan for Downstream Gas and Electricity was last updated in July 2023 and is expected to be updated again this year.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February to Question 29770 on Chinese manufacturing, whether major energy infrastructure including wind turbines are categorised as critical national infrastructure when they are procured from foreign countries.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The designation of sites, systems and assets that make up the UK energy sector as Critical National Infrastructure is based on the extent that the loss, damage or disruption of that infrastructure has a major detrimental impact on the availability, integrity or delivery of the essential services of the UK energy system. This approach to identifying Critical National Infrastructure means that we assess all infrastructure, regardless of its ownership.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle crime that occurs on the border of multiple police forces.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to ensuring that law enforcement has the resources it needs to tackle crime effectively, including when crimes occur on the border of multiple police forces.

When it does, the National Crime Agency (NCA), which leads the UK's fight to cut serious and organised crime, and policing’s Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) network have specialised intelligence and investigative teams that are deployed across the full range of threats to bring offenders to justice. This includes tackling ‘borderless’ serious crimes including fraud, cyber-enabled criminality, online child sexual exploitation and abuse and County Lines.

Both the NCA and ROCU network have been allocated significant resources to enhance their capacity and capability to continue tackling serious crime at both national and regional levels.

The Home Office is also funding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response to County Lines. This is vital in strengthening the law enforcement response and enabling police forces to work together to tackle this complex issue.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to publish the assessment made by her Department with the Cabinet Office of prison maintenance undertaken in 2023.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The assessment carried out in partnership with the Cabinet Office in 2023, was conducted in line with Cabinet Office guidance and was consistent with the options appraisal approach prescribed by HM Treasury.

The information contained within the assessment is commercially sensitive and as such there is no intention to publish the assessment as this may prejudice future procurement exercises.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February to Question 29771 on Churches, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the Listed Places of Worship scheme on Cathedrals.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Based on the Department’s analysis of previous data, 94% of applications between 2022-2024 have been under £25,000, and most of these claims were for under £5,000. We believe that the modifications were necessary and adequate given the tight fiscal challenges we face.

Found: Chope, Torcuil Crichton, Josh MacAlister, Annaliese Midgley, Luke Murphy, Ms Julie Minns and Bradley Thomas