Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her Department has to review the legal requirements for e-bike identification and rider accountability, in light of the challenges in prosecuting riders involved in serious collisions with pedestrians.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Only e-bikes that comply with the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle (EAPC) Regulations 1983 are legal to use on the roads.

While the Government has no plans to introduce new rider identification requirements for road legal bikes, it is the case that e-bikes which do not comply with the EAPC Regulations are classed as motor vehicles. This means they must be registered, taxed and insured. The rider must also wear a safety helmet and hold a driving licence. The police have the powers to seize such e-bikes that have not been appropriately registered as motor vehicles.

In addition, new offences for cyclists who cause the death or serious injury of another person are being introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill. This will mean that cyclists will face the same penalties as those who commit motoring offences.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Secretary of State for Transport's correspondence entitled The growing risks to maritime safety, published 26 January 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the security implications of shadow fleet vessels operating in the North Sea, North Atlantic, and Baltic; and what steps the Royal Navy is taking alongside international allies to enforce maritime regulations against specific sanctioned vessels, including the Baro, Rimma, Mariel, Maylo, Viking, Prosperity, and Breeze, to prevent sanction evasion and protect the UK’s maritime environment.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

Deterring and disrupting the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for the UK, and we are working closely with our allies and partners to do so including sharing information through the Joint Maritime Security Centre.

The Royal Navy constantly monitors activity in UK waters, remaining ready and prepared to respond to any threats and to support our allies.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of encouraging low-density development within walking distance of well connected stations.

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

Encouraging low-density development within reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations is contrary to this government’s objectives.

As such, we did not include proposals to that end as part of the consultation on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that took place between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026 and we have made no specific assessment of any such policy.

The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to minimum density standards within reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Warm Homes Plan’s funding allocation on the retention of the skilled retrofit workforce; and what steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are included in delivery frameworks for home energy upgrades.

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

The Warm Homes Plan will create 180,000 high-quality jobs in energy efficiency and clean heating by 2030. Chapter Six of the plan outlines the actions that the Government will be taking to support and facilitate growth, jobs and innovation. This includes establishing a new Workforce Taskforce in partnership with the Trade Unions Congress, the £8 million Warm Homes Skills Programme, and an extension of the Heat Training Grant.

I also recently led the ECO Supply Chain Transition Task and Finish Working Group which met on Tuesday 17 March to discuss support for the workforce affected by the closure of ECO. The group will coordinate sub-contracting and unblock barriers to SMEs and local supply chains accessing additional work on our expanded capital investment programmes.

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 privacy protections do not prevent public scrutiny of political donors.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government is strengthening the rules on political donations to increase transparency and accountability, protect against foreign or illicit influence, and maintain public confidence in our democratic system.

Reportable donations are already published by the Electoral Commission for public scrutiny, and we intend, through secondary legislation, to commence existing declaration requirements for donations above the relevant threshold. This will require anyone making a political donation above £11,180 to declare any benefits linked to their donation. This will improve transparency around the true source of a donation. A political party must not accept a donation above that threshold unless the declaration is provided.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 15 October 2025 report Investing in the NHS: empowering the sector to drive productivity, renewal and growth, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the report's recommendation to enable local authorities to invest in the NHS by ending the double-counting of expenditure by both local authorities and the NHS.

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

The Government welcomes the report Investing in the NHS: empowering the sector to drive productivity, renewal and growth and recognises the case it makes for unlocking additional investment in National Health Service infrastructure, including through stronger partnership with local government.

We also recognise the importance of capital investment in repairing and rebuilding our healthcare estate. This is why, as confirmed at the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Department’s capital budgets will rise to £15.2 billion by the end of the Spending Review period (2029/30), delivering the largest ever health capital budget and a four-year capital settlement.

However, any change in this area would need careful consideration to maintain proper control of public spending, clear accountability and value for money. The Department will therefore keep the recommendation under review as part of its wider work to support long term, sustainable capital investment and to enable local systems to plan and deliver infrastructure more effectively.

More broadly, significant reforms to the capital regime set out in our 10-Year Health Plan will give more power to the frontline and simplify and accelerate the capital approvals process, allowing systems and providers to plan strategically and deliver schemes faster.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for support mechanisms for frontline NHS workers (a) that experience abuse and (b) whose patients disclose emotionally difficult topics to them.

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

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including, security, training, and emotional support for staff affected by violence or abuse.

The Department and NHS England are working with NHS Employers and trade unions to strengthen support for staff in the NHS workplace by improving security, ensuring cases are reported and investigated, providing better training for staff on de-escalating and dealing with incidents, as well as enhancing post-incident support for staff.

Additionally, staff have access to a ‘trauma-informed care’ e-learning module, which forms a suite of sessions promoting trauma-sensitive practice in health and social care. The training recognises that staff can be exposed to trauma at work and helps to support NHS staff to become more trauma-sensitive in the way care is delivered.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that owners of dogs on the Index of Exempted Dogs can maintain the continuous third-party public liability insurance following the withdrawal of the Dogs Trust Companion Club cover on 30 June 2026; what discussions she is having with insurers on alternative provision; and if she will publish guidance on ensuring that responsible owners do not face unintentional non-compliance due to a lack of accessible insurance options.

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

Defra is working to ensure owners of banned breed dogs can remain compliant with the legal requirement to hold third-party public liability insurance beyond 1 July 2026.

Defra has published guidance on the GOV.UK page and contacted all registered owners to inform them that no action is required at this stage. Defra will share further guidance which will be published on GOV.UK in early June.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of the current 20% VAT rate on independent hot food retailers; and if she will consider aligning the VAT treatment of hot takeaway food with that of cold takeaway food.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK's second largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26.

Hot takeaway food is subject to the 20 per cent standard rate of VAT. This ensures parity of treatment with food sold in restaurants, which is also subject to the standard rate. A tax relief for hot takeaway food would come at a cost to the Exchequer, reducing the revenue available for vital public services, and would have to represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will require the publication of disaggregated MOT failure statistics identifying major defects relating specifically to exhaust noise separately from other categories.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly publishes data on MOT failures by vehicle type and failure category. Vehicle noise is included within ‘noise, emissions and leaks’.

The full MOT dataset is also available on GOV.UK in anonymised form, so users can carry out their own analysis.

For vehicles and motorcycles, the current visual and audible check as part of the MOT is sufficient to confirm an exhaust is properly silenced, as accurate exhaust noise measurements are not considered practical to measure accurately at all MOT test centres.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of requiring decibel readings of exhaust noises to be recorded during the MOT test for motorcycles and other road vehicles.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly publishes data on MOT failures by vehicle type and failure category. Vehicle noise is included within ‘noise, emissions and leaks’.

The full MOT dataset is also available on GOV.UK in anonymised form, so users can carry out their own analysis.

For vehicles and motorcycles, the current visual and audible check as part of the MOT is sufficient to confirm an exhaust is properly silenced, as accurate exhaust noise measurements are not considered practical to measure accurately at all MOT test centres.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2026 to Question 108514 on Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions, what steps he is taking to support those pensioners not yet receiving their civil service pension and facing financial hardship that have exhausted their interest-free bridging loans or interim lump sum payments.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.

The issues and delays facing a number of civil servants and pension scheme members in receiving their pension quotes are unacceptable. I want to reassure you that this Government has taken firm action to help put things right as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. For priority cases, we have deployed additional resources and improved communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.

Existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been enhanced and strengthened to deliver improved performance and higher penalties for failure, including financial penalties. These have already been applied in respect to Capita's performance with recent issues and delays in administering the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

Capita prioritised the most urgent cases and by the end of February, all death in service cases were either settled or progressed to the final stage or awaiting a member response. The same position was reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March.

Capita has made lump sum payments to 11,454 members, the majority of whom have retired but are not yet receiving their pension, and are on track to bring these members into regular pension payments by the end of May.

To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, including those who have left under the compensation scheme, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans of £5,000 - up to £20,000 in exceptional cases - to most recent retirees facing payment delays. This is alongside interim lump sum payments being made to provide immediate funds to retiring members. The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.

To mitigate member hardship, employers have issued £8.9 million in Transitional Support Loans to 1,665 members.

Capita has committed to processing the outstanding full and partial retirement quotes during May and June. The recovery team's immediate focus is to instil long-term stability. This is expected to restore the Civil Service Pension Scheme to contractual levels by the end of June 2026. The recovery plan is organised into intensive three-week sprints to stabilise the service. Further details are available at the link provided - Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with social media platforms, such as TikTok, on compliance with UK GDPR regarding the use of default opt-in settings for training generative AI models on user-generated content.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government regularly engages with social media platforms but has not discussed this particular issue with TikTok.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as the UK’s independent data protection regulator, is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance and continues to engage directly with companies on these issues, including the appropriate use of user-generated content for model training. The ICO has published a range of guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/artificial-intelligence/. The ICO also has powers to investigate and impose penalties for non-compliance.

The use of personal data to develop and train generative AI systems should be fair, lawful and transparent, in line with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).

Speech and Language Therapy for Autistic Children

National Emergency Briefing

Issuing defence bonds to help restore Britain’s military

A UK-EU customs union to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis

UK digital sovereignty strategy

Government response to Israel’s West Bank annexation plan

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Chris Coghlan; Jim

Found: Chris Coghlan: I should declare an interest as an alumna of Harvard Kennedy School.

Found: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative, West Worcestershire) (added 21 Oct 2024) 83 of 93 (89.2%) Chris Coghlan