Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to The Bread and Flour (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024, what steps he has taken to avoid harm to people unable to take folic acid.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The Government laid legislation in England on 14 November 2024 to introduce the mandatory fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid. Similar legislation in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland has also been laid. The provisions will become mandatory in December 2026.

Non-wholemeal wheat flour is already the established vehicle for mandatory fortification, as it is currently fortified with calcium, iron, niacin, and thiamine. There was a United Kingdom-wide agreement to limit folic acid fortification to flour that is already fortified, so that individuals are able to avoid fortified flour if they choose to or need to. These individuals will continue to be able to consume wholemeal flour and other non-wheat products, including gluten-free products and soy and spelt flours.

To ensure people can easily identify products that are suitable for them, added vitamins and minerals, including folic acid, must be labelled in the flour’s ingredients list. This must also be declared when fortified flour is used as an ingredient. For individuals with specific dietary needs, personalised advice from a registered dietitian or healthcare professional is recommended to help manage intakes as part of a healthy, balanced diet. An impact assessment has been published alongside the legislation, and is available at the following link:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/1162/resources

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2025 to Question 98773 on VAT: Repayments, how many of the (a) VAT repayment returns, (b) complaints received relating to VAT repayments and (c) complaints received directly relating to VAT refund delays were under the value of £1,000.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Between 1 June to 30 November 2025, HMRC processed around 600,000 VAT repayment returns that were under £1,000 in value.

HMRC are unable to confirm how many of the 162 and 119 complaints referenced in PQ answer 98773 relate to VAT refunds which are under the value of £1,000, as establishing this would exceed the cost threshold for answering parliamentary questions.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will (a) make a statement and (b) bring forward legislation to strip Lord Doyle of his peerage.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

An ongoing investigation is being carried out by the Labour Party.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming a UK State Pension whilst living abroad by the country they are living in.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

There were around 1.1 million recipients of the UK State Pension living overseas outside the United Kingdom as of the quarter ending August 2025. DWP Stat-Xplore. A full breakdown by country of residence is also available via Stat-Xplore.

These figures relate to State Pension cases paid outside the UK, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and cover State Pensions accrued in Great Britain only. State Pension cases administered separately in Northern Ireland by the Department for Communities are not included.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) methodology and (b) data the Department uses to (i) calculate and (ii) compare the average cost of maintained special school placements and independent school placements.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

For maintained special schools and special academies, the department uses local authorities’ actual expenditure on high needs top-up funding, to which is added the £10,000 per place funding using pupil numbers from the January school census, divided by those pupil numbers to produce an average placement cost.

For independent special schools (ISS), the department cannot disaggregate this expenditure from that including non-maintained special schools (NMSS), so creates a combined average placement cost by adding spending on ISS fees, top up funding for NMSS and the total £10,000 per place funding for NMSS (using the number of pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans at NMSS), and dividing by the number of pupils with EHC plans at both ISS and NMSS.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average cost was of an inquiry into (a) NHS trust and (b) care trusts in the last 12 months.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There were three statutory and non-statutory inquiries into National Health Service trusts and care trusts commissioned by the Department in the 2025/26 financial year. The average cost per inquiry over this period is approximately £4.3 million.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether comparisons of the cost of maintained and independent special school placements take account of differences in (a) pupil needs, (b) placement complexity, and (c) length of placement.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Comparisons of the average cost of placements in different types of special school can be made at national level. The data collected on relevant local and central government expenditure is not differentiated on the basis of pupil needs, placement complexity or length of placement.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the increased cost to businesses as a result of the expansion of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), including directly through paying the increased SDIL and indirectly through the demand of product reformulation.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The changes to SDIL announced at Budget 2025 were confirmed following extensive industry engagement through the ‘Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy’ consultation, which was open from 28 April to 21 July 2025. Representations from businesses, and the trade bodies representing them, were received and considered as part of this process.

On 25 November 2025, the government published its summary of responses to the consultation. An assessment of impacts – including economic impacts for businesses – of the announced policy changes can be found within the Summary of Responses document here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/strengthening-the-soft-drinks-industry-levy/outcome/strengthening-the-soft-drinks-industry-levy-summary-of-responses#assessment-of-impacts

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Arts Council has provided in grants for a) opera and b) brass bands in each of the last three years.

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

The tables in the attached PDF set out Arts Council England grants which support a) opera and b) brass bands for the years 2022/2023, 2023/2024, and 2024/2025. Please note that the distinction between Primary and Non-Primary Subclassifiers is important. It clarifies the difference between organisations primarily focused on opera or brass bands, and those for whom the disciplines form only part of their wider work.