Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed Rosebank oil field development on the UK’s obligations under international humanitarian law.

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

The Rosebank decision is currently going through the regulatory process. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero will make a decision in due course on whether or not to agree to the grant of consent. Final consenting decisions are the responsibility of the North Sea Transition Authority. Given the quasi-judicial nature of the regulatory process, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific aspects relating to the project.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her planned timetable is to determine the Rosebank and Jackdaw development application decisions.

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

The Jackdaw and Rosebank decisions are currently going through the regulatory process. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero will make decisions in due course on whether or not to agree to the grant of consent. Final consenting decisions are the responsibility of the North Sea Transition Authority. Given the quasi-judicial nature of the regulatory process, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific aspects relating to the projects.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department and its predecessors have met (i) Gautam Adani and (ii) representatives of the Adani Group in the UK since May 2023.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

Details of Ministers' and certain Senior Officials' meetings with external organisations and individuals are published by departments quarterly in arrears on their departmental pages on GOV.UK. The most recent data - for the period January 2026 to March 2026 - was published on 25 June. Special Advisers are required to comply with the Special Adviser Code of Conduct at all times and are required to make declarations on meetings with senior media figures in line with published transparency guidance.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the College of Policing's August 2025 guidance that police forces should publish the ethnicity and nationality of suspects in high profile crimes on (a) media coverage of crimes and (b) social media responses to crimes.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The College of Policing published interim guidance on the disclosure of suspects ethnicity and/or nationality on 23 February 2026. The guidance aims to support transparent and consistent recording practices across policing, helping to improve the quality of data available and public understanding of how such information is collected and used. You can find a link to the guidance here: Arrests, charges and judicial outcomes | College of Policing.

The College of Policing advises that forces should monitor implementation of decisions to disclose ethnicity and nationality information, including assessing community impacts and public confidence.

Decisions on the application of the guidance are an operational matter for policing.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her department's Heritage at Risk Capital Fund, a) in what way deprivation and community requirements are assessed with regards to applications to the fund and b) how she will ensure lower socioeconomic areas within otherwise less deprived areas are taken into account in these decisions.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Heritage at Risk Capital Fund gives grants towards the repair and conservation of historic buildings across England, and priority is given to projects with the highest level of deprivation and need for investment based on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and the Community Needs Index (CNI).

The highest priority is given to projects in areas of ‘double disadvantage’, that fall within both IMD 1-3 areas and areas identified through the CNI, followed by projects in either IMD 1-3 areas or those identified through the CNI. For projects that do not fall within these defined areas of deprivation, priority is given to projects which have the greatest financial need and urgency of repair and provide the greatest community benefit.

The IMD and CNI consider deprivation at a Lower Layer Super Output Area level, which are made up of approximately 400 to 1,200 households. This provides hyper-local insights into the level of deprivation of a neighbourhood, including identifying lower socio-economic areas within otherwise less deprived areas.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will include a ban on coal tip extraction in the Energy Independence Bill.

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

Local authorities are the primary authority for coal recovery schemes from tips through planning permission and enforcement.

The full detail of the Energy Independence Bill and its policy measures will be set out in due course when it is introduced to Parliament.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department have met (i) Gautam Adani and (ii) representatives of the Adani Group since July 2024.

Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)

Meetings with leaders and representatives of companies are recorded as part of the Transparency Returns process and published quarterly on GOV.UK.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce the cost to local authorities of installing new tree pits for street trees.

Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Through a partnership with The Tree Council, we have invested more than £3 million over the last two years to increase urban tree cover, supporting 28 local authorities and charities to plant street trees and create greener urban spaces so far, with more projects to come this winter. We are also developing future options for planting support for urban trees, to significantly boost the numbers of new trees established on streets across England.

Forestry Commission and the Trees and Design Action Group have published new guidance, which includes practical advice and technical drawings on designing and constructing effective tree pits for both new build streetscapes and urban retrofits.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will set out a timeline for expanding the definition of a bather in the Bathing Water Regulations to include all recreational water users.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Work is continuing to develop the evidence needed to inform policy on the protection of recreational water users, including working with the Public Health Water Taskforce, which is advising Government on public health risks associated with drinking and recreational water quality and opportunities for mitigation. The environmental, public health and wider implications of including a broader range of water users, including the practical implications and potential scale of any changes, and the most appropriate policy and regulatory framework, will need to be considered to ensure future decisions are informed by robust evidence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's new story entitled PoliceAI to speed up investigations and fight crime, published on 10 June 2026, what mechanism exists to ensure that a tool shown by post-deployment monitoring to have suffered a substantial decline in accuracy is withdrawn; and who will be accountable if a Chief Constable chooses not to act on PoliceAI's advice.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

To build and maintain public consent for the police use of AI, the police must test and deploy AI responsibly. That means deployments must be lawful, transparent, ethical, well governed and based on robust assessments of accuracy and bias. A core reason for setting up PoliceAI is to support Chief Constables in making informed decisions about the AI they use and to assist with responsible adoption.

The government is committed to transparency on police use of AI and PoliceAI will publish and maintain a registry of AI tools in use across policing. This is being developed in partnership with academics and is in testing with forces. We intend to launch it as soon as possible this year. The registry will include details on the steps taken by the force to deploy the AI responsibly, including ethical assessment and accountability arrangements.

On accountability, it is up to Chief Constables what AI they deploy and procure, accountable to their elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). PCCs and the public will be able to scrutinise decisions with the assistance of the registry, so there will be transparency if Chiefs ignore or do not make use of PoliceAI’s expertise. As a backstop, there are powers in Section 53 and 53a of the Police Act 1996 which the College of Policing and/or the Home Secretary can use to regulate police use of AI. Use of these is kept under review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's new story entitled PoliceAI to speed up investigations and fight crime, published on 10 June 2026, whether she plans to place a legal duty on (a) the College of Policing and (b) individual forces to seek and publish ethics review before expanding the scope, data sources, and purpose of an AI tool.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

To build and maintain public consent for the police use of AI, the police must test and deploy AI responsibly. That means deployments must be lawful, transparent, ethical, well governed and based on robust assessments of accuracy and bias. A core reason for setting up PoliceAI is to support Chief Constables in making informed decisions about the AI they use and to assist with responsible adoption.

The government is committed to transparency on police use of AI and PoliceAI will publish and maintain a registry of AI tools in use across policing. This is being developed in partnership with academics and is in testing with forces. We intend to launch it as soon as possible this year. The registry will include details on the steps taken by the force to deploy the AI responsibly, including ethical assessment and accountability arrangements.

On accountability, it is up to Chief Constables what AI they deploy and procure, accountable to their elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). PCCs and the public will be able to scrutinise decisions with the assistance of the registry, so there will be transparency if Chiefs ignore or do not make use of PoliceAI’s expertise. As a backstop, there are powers in Section 53 and 53a of the Police Act 1996 which the College of Policing and/or the Home Secretary can use to regulate police use of AI. Use of these is kept under review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's news story entitled PoliceAI to speed up investigations and fight crime, published on 10 June 2026, what assessment she has been made of the potential merits of placing PoliceAI's standards on a statutory footing.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

To build and maintain public consent for the police use of AI, the police must test and deploy AI responsibly. That means deployments must be lawful, transparent, ethical, well governed and based on robust assessments of accuracy and bias. A core reason for setting up PoliceAI is to support Chief Constables in making informed decisions about the AI they use and to assist with responsible adoption.

The government is committed to transparency on police use of AI and PoliceAI will publish and maintain a registry of AI tools in use across policing. This is being developed in partnership with academics and is in testing with forces. We intend to launch it as soon as possible this year. The registry will include details on the steps taken by the force to deploy the AI responsibly, including ethical assessment and accountability arrangements.

On accountability, it is up to Chief Constables what AI they deploy and procure, accountable to their elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). PCCs and the public will be able to scrutinise decisions with the assistance of the registry, so there will be transparency if Chiefs ignore or do not make use of PoliceAI’s expertise. As a backstop, there are powers in Section 53 and 53a of the Police Act 1996 which the College of Policing and/or the Home Secretary can use to regulate police use of AI. Use of these is kept under review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's new story entitled PoliceAI to speed up investigations and fight crime, published on 10 June 2026, whether PoliceAI plans to publish a public register of AI tools (a) piloted and (b) deployed across forces.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

To build and maintain public consent for the police use of AI, the police must test and deploy AI responsibly. That means deployments must be lawful, transparent, ethical, well governed and based on robust assessments of accuracy and bias. A core reason for setting up PoliceAI is to support Chief Constables in making informed decisions about the AI they use and to assist with responsible adoption.

The government is committed to transparency on police use of AI and PoliceAI will publish and maintain a registry of AI tools in use across policing. This is being developed in partnership with academics and is in testing with forces. We intend to launch it as soon as possible this year. The registry will include details on the steps taken by the force to deploy the AI responsibly, including ethical assessment and accountability arrangements.

On accountability, it is up to Chief Constables what AI they deploy and procure, accountable to their elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). PCCs and the public will be able to scrutinise decisions with the assistance of the registry, so there will be transparency if Chiefs ignore or do not make use of PoliceAI’s expertise. As a backstop, there are powers in Section 53 and 53a of the Police Act 1996 which the College of Policing and/or the Home Secretary can use to regulate police use of AI. Use of these is kept under review.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department have met (i) Gautam Adani and (ii) representatives of the Adani Group since July 2024.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

No Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ministers have met Gautam Adani or Adani Group representatives since July 2024. FCDO officials regularly meet representatives of major international businesses, including representatives of the Adani Group.

Modern Service Framework for neurological conditions

Chinese state repression against Tibetans

Estate management charges

Right to independent advocacy for care home residents

Treatment of security staff employed at the National Gallery

Funding of Jodrell Bank Observatory

56th anniversary of the election of Salvador Allende

Cosmetic specifications for fresh produce and national food security

Miscarriage care

Reported air strikes and civilian casualties in Surab, Balochistan

National strategy for fertility

Furniture poverty and access to essential household goods

Multilateral funding for education

Review of Personal Independence Payment

Firefighters from the West Midlands

Support for hospices

Air Ambulance Week 2026

National Suicide Memorial Day for Health and Care Workers

Killing of Mohamed Fawaz al-Wahidi

Industrial action at V&A Museum

50th Anniversary of the Grunwick Strike

Deported Chinese seafarers

150th anniversary of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876

Baby Loss Awareness Week

Independent Office for Police Conduct findings on Norman Bettison