Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many UK nationals died in Thailand in each of the last three years; and what the causes were of those deaths.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Consular staff have provided support in the following cases where a British national has died in Thailand in each of the last three years.

The data is based on the cases that are reported to us by the local authorities, families or others. We record the cause of death based on what we are told, and Consular staff are unable to independently investigate the cause of deaths. There will also be cases where we may not be informed of a death.

Where the figures are 5 or fewer (but more than one), we do not publish a breakdown of the numbers, as this risks identifying the individuals involved. To release this data would contravene one of the data protection principles, and sections 40(2) and 40(3) of the Freedom of Information Act apply.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of trends in (a) pensioner poverty and (b) child poverty across the UK.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Statistics on the number of pensioners living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, the latest available being Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK. The table showing the percentage of pensioners in relative poverty over time by region is published as “table 6.10ts” of “pensioners- hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2023-24-tables”.

Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are pub-lished annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, the latest available being Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK. The table showing the percentage of children in relative poverty over time is published as “table 4.1tr” of “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2023-24-tables”.

Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty on a before housing costs basis at local level are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication, the latest available being Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2024 - GOV.UK.

The latest statistics published on 27 March 2025 are up to and including 2023/24. The latest available data can also be found on https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to use it can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/User-Guide.html.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the minimum number of available warships is that the Royal Navy requires to meet basic operational requirements.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

To avoid compromising operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose elements of the Fleet's long-term schedule and readiness profiles.

The Royal Navy continues to meet its operational objectives and to work closely with the Government to ensure our maritime environment remains safe amid a changing threat environment.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Navy surface warships are (a) available for deployment and (b) deployed.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

To avoid compromising operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose elements of the Fleet's long-term schedule and readiness profiles.

The Royal Navy continues to meet its operational objectives and to work closely with the Government to ensure our maritime environment remains safe amid a changing threat environment.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of the development of a Regional Defence and Security Cluster in Scotland; and what progress has been made following early-stage discussions with potential partners in Scotland.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Strategic Defence Review 2025 emphasised a cross-government initiative to develop regional clusters across the devolved nations. Regional Defence and Security Clusters, supported by the Ministry of Defence, are already bringing benefit across England, and lessons learned from the development of these clusters could also be applied to the development of defence and security clusters in Scotland.

Initial and outline discussions have taken place with several stakeholders within Scotland in relation to a Defence and Security Cluster. These are progressing but remain early-stage at this moment in time. Expectations are that these will continue over the coming months. Until such times, there are currently a number of clusters and cluster-like organisations in Scotland that overlap defence such as the Scottish Government’s Innovation Centres, Space Scotland, West of Scotland Space Cluster, and Scottish Maritime Cluster.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on the Scottish allocation of the New Defence Growth Deals announced in September 2025.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence Industrial Strategy committed £250 million to fund all five Defence Growth Deals across the UK. Work is ongoing to understand how the £250 million Defence Growth Deal fund will be allocated across the five locations.

We continue to work with key stakeholders, including government, industry and academia, to identify opportunities for Scotland Defence Growth Deal investment.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Government on establishing a Defence Technical Excellence College in Scotland.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

As part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, £20 million was allocated to skills initiatives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Through the Scottish Defence Growth Deal framework, we are currently engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including government, industry and academia to understand the key skills gaps for Scotland’s defence sector and how this funding should best be used to address them. This includes exploring the concept of a Scottish Defence Technical Excellence College.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many projects have been (a) funded by the UKDI Defence and security accelerator and (b) of these how many were based in Scotland.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

As of the end of January 2026, a total of 1,715 Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) projects had been funded, with 146 of these awarded to businesses or projects in Scotland, amounting to a total value of £30.6 million.

Please note that, as of 2 February 2026, the DASA brand has been retired. All responsibilities and activities previously undertaken by DASA now fall under the remit of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on the recruitment of young workers in Scotland.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

A detailed assessment of the policy has been published by HMRC in their Tax Information and Impact Note. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances. Accounting for policies that will materially affect the forecast, the OBR expect that employment levels will rise in every year of the forecast, and that they will be higher in every year compared to March, reaching 35.5m in 2030-31.

The UK Government is committed to providing young people with the best start to their working lives. That is why we have committed to a Youth Guarantee to support young people across Great Britain to earn or learn. This includes a Jobs Guarantee, which will provide a six-month paid work placement for every eligible 18- to 21-year-old who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what regulatory mechanisms exist to require installers to carry out corrective works where insulation products installed under publicly funded energy efficiency schemes are found to be (a) defective and (b) improperly installed.

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

Insulation installations under energy efficiency schemes must be carried out by TrustMark registered and PAS 2030 certified businesses, in accordance with PAS 2035. A guarantee must be purchased for each installation. Solid wall insulation installations attract a 25 year guarantee up to a value of £20k.

In the event that installers do not remediate work, TrustMark and PAS 2030 certification bodies have the ability to suspend a business until works are rectified. TrustMark’s complaint handling process offers access to a Dispute Resolution Ombudsman which offers registered businesses and customers an impartial and flexible way of reaching a resolution. Where an installer business ceases to trade, a claim can be made on the guarantee.

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 adequacy of consumer redress mechanisms for when installers do not engage with households following defective insulation installations.

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

The consumer can escalate issues to the installer’s certification body, and TrustMark provide access to a Dispute Resolution Ombudsman. All measures installed under our current schemes have a guarantee against which a claim can be made.

The Government recognises that the system of quality assurance and consumer redress that we inherited needs reform.

We will change the current, failed protections system to one that can command public confidence and consult this year on options for bringing the oversight of energy efficiency and microgeneration installations for government schemes under closer government control and on the role of the Warm Homes Agency.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of constraint payments and balancing actions in each year since 2020; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of this on domestic energy bills.

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

The breakdown of curtailment and balancing action costs borne by domestic consumers and other data relating to constraints is provided in the National Energy System Operator (NESO) Annual Balancing Report. The most recent of these reports was published in June 2025 which can be found via this link: neso.energy/document/362561/download. We recognise that actions are needed to reduce system constraints. The current extent of grid constraints reflects years of underinvestment, with new network infrastructure development having lagged the expansion of new generation. We are already taking action to reduce constraints with the biggest upgrade to Great Britain’s electricity network in decades.

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 merits of implementing measures similar to those adopted in other European countries to help reduce electricity prices for (a) consumers and (b) industry.

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

Tackling the affordability crisis is Government’s number one priority. At the last Budget, we took an average of £150 of costs off household energy bills from this coming April. The main driver of high energy bills is gas, and we are taking action to reduce electricity prices for consumers and industry by taking back control with homegrown clean power. In designing and implementing energy policy, we take account of approaches adopted successfully in other countries.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the youth unemployment rate was in the most recent period for which data is available in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is published and available at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

The estimated youth unemployment rates can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “annual population survey (Dec 2004 to Jun 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant countries/regions. The Variable will need to be set to “Unemployment rate - aged 16-24”. The latest date is automatically selected.

Government response to Israel’s West Bank annexation plan

New US sanctions on Cuba

Habitat regulations

Marking the 60th anniversary of the University of the Air White Paper

Fifth anniversary of the Scottish Child Payment

Sinking of SS Tilawa

Public inquiry into Epstein links

UK participation in Eurovision Song Contest 2026

150th anniversary of Partick Thistle Football Club

Found: Chair) Maureen Burke (Labour; Glasgow North East) Harriet Cross (Conservative; Gordon and Buchan) Dave Doogan

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Patricia Ferguson (Chair); Maureen Burke; Harriet Cross; Dave Doogan