Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Department is taking with the devolved administrations and local authorities to support consistent safety and accessibility standards for electric-vehicle charging stations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government engages regularly with devolved governments and local authorities (LAs) on electric vehicle charging.
The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund supports local authorities to scale up EV charging provision across England. Through LEVI, LAs are expected to consider charge point accessibility. Support for LAs is available through one-to-one guidance, masterclasses and an online knowledge repository.
OZEV engaged the devolved administrations throughout the development and the review of charge point accessibility standard (PAS 1899). They will also be closely involved in the ongoing revision of PAS 1899.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of eligible rail journeys currently result in passengers receiving automatic compensation for delays; and what steps she is taking to increase that proportion.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ten of the fourteen Department for Transport operators now offer delay repay schemes that provide automated, one-click delay repay, and we are also developing plans to make it even easier and more convenient to claim Delay Repay. Earlier this year, we announced that the compensation claim systems for delayed trains will be merged into one easy-to-use service under Great British Railways. This will also enable passenger to claim Delay Repay directly from third-party retailers for the first time. The Department does not hold data on the proportion of services that receive automatic delay repay.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Great British Railways brand supports a unified national rail network across Great Britain.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Great British Railways (GBR) brand represents putting railway passengers and the public interest firmly in the driving seat. The GBR brand will support a unified rail network across Great Britian by providing passengers with a simpler railway with a consistent identity. Well-known names like Great Western Railway and London Northeastern Railway will be preserved as regional identifiers under the GBR brand. ScotRail, Transport for Wales, Caledonian Sleeper, Open Access Operators, and some services in places like Liverpool and London have different arrangements and will not be branded as GBR.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of schools and colleges that meet the Department’s cyber security core standard; and what steps she is taking to ensure that all education settings meet that standard by 2030.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department’s Technology in Schools Survey collects information about whether schools meet the core technology standards, but does not provide a separate estimate for the cyber security core standard alone.
The department expects all schools and colleges to work towards meeting the six core standards, including cyber security, by 2030. To support this, the department has published guidance and expanded the Plan Technology for Your School service to include cyber security. We also continue to provide practical support to help settings assess risks and strengthen their resilience, for example, the Cyber Security Hub and cyber security services for colleges provided by Jisc.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many cybersecurity incidents affecting government departments in each of the last three years originated in or involved a third-party supplier; and what steps are being taken to strengthen cybersecurity requirements throughout government supply chains.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is aware of the risk created by supply chain cyber security incidents and is taking a range of steps to strengthen cyber resilience across government’s supply chains. These include embedding cyber security considerations into commercial and procurement activity, promoting the adoption of recognised cyber security standards, and working across government to identify and manage supply chain cyber risks.
In addition, the Government is engaging directly with its Strategic Suppliers through the Government Cyber Charter. As part of this work, all 39 Strategic Suppliers have been invited to sign the Government Cyber Resilience Pledge, which was launched last week as a public commitment to strengthening organisational cyber resilience. More than 20 Strategic Suppliers have already joined the first cohort of signatories, including major suppliers to government such as Microsoft, Accenture, Deloitte, Vodafone and Capgemini. Through the Charter, Government is working with Strategic Suppliers to strengthen cyber governance, increase the adoption of the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Essentials scheme throughout supply chains, and improve secure software development and AI practices.
The Government Cyber Action Plan, published in January 2026, sets out how Government will improve incident reporting over the next 3 years.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to help increase access to flexible and modular training for people seeking to move into occupations experiencing skills shortages.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education and skills are devolved matters, the response outlines the information for England only.
We are transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, giving employers greater flexibility, creating more opportunities for young people, and directly supporting the Industrial Strategy.
In April 2026 we launched the first apprenticeship units focussing on priority sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), digital, construction and engineering. Apprenticeship units are short courses built from the knowledge and skills within existing employer-led occupational apprenticeship standards, ensuring high-quality, targeted training. They target immediate shortages in areas that will drive productivity and growth and will help employers upskill existing employees quickly and flexibly.
We have also reduced the apprenticeship minimum duration to 8 months, where this is appropriate for the role or the apprentice, as we know the previous 12-month minimum duration meant some employers and learners were prevented from accessing apprenticeships.
Additionally, we are also supporting more entry-level opportunities for young people, by introducing new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, such as construction and health and social care.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to ensure that small businesses, charities and social enterprises are able to participate in the Youth Jobs Grant.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Jobs Grant scheme is open to eligible businesses of all sizes and sectors including small businesses, charities and social enterprises.
The application process has been designed to minimise the administrative burden for employers. Employers can apply here: www.gov.uk/applyyouthjobsgrant. The form takes around 20 minutes to complete, and employers will be asked to accept a short set of terms and conditions as part of the application.
The Department is also actively engaging employers, trade bodies and partner organisations to support delivery of the Youth Jobs Grant through direct discussions, employer networks and webinars that promote the opportunities available through the Youth Guarantee and explain how employers can participate.
These activities are designed to ensure organisations of all sizes, including small businesses, charities and social enterprises, can access practical information on eligibility, the application process and recruitment support available through Jobcentre Plus. Employer webinars for example, provide an opportunity to hear directly from policy and operational leads, ask questions, understand available support and learn how DWP can help recruit and retain young people.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to involve voluntary, community and faith organisations in local and national emergency preparedness exercises.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office recognises the valuable role that the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS) can play in all aspects of resilience. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires local Category 1 responders ‘to have regard’ to the activities of voluntary organisations while carrying out their duties. This is reinforced in guidance and standards, which provide further detail on the benefits of including the VCFS within local exercising.
The Cabinet Office is committed to conducting one major ‘Tier 1’ ministerial-led exercise annually under the National Exercising Programme. On 15th July and as part of the national resilience annual statement, the government announced that the next Tier 1 exercise (Exercise ALBISTON SHADOW) will focus on homeland defence.
Under a Tier 1 exercise, Government departments, agencies, non-governmental organisations and local responders are all involved to deliver the objectives and requirements of each year's exercise. In support of this, work is also underway to ensure that guidance, best practice, frameworks and other tools are made available to all parts of the system so that high-quality exercising can happen at all levels, not just during Tier 1 exercises.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Department is taking to expand the use of synthetic training environments to enable joint training between the Armed Forces and NATO allies.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK has provided the primary hub for NATO Distributed Synthetic Training since 2025, supporting secure and operationally relevant joint training for NATO personnel across the maritime, land and air domains.
Following the direction of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, the Ministry of Defence is developing a single virtual training environment and embedding synthetic training requirements within future procurement programmes.
This will enable personnel to train together more effectively, improve the re-use of existing capabilities, and increase interoperability with NATO Allies and partners.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many central government websites and mobile applications do not currently meet the required public-sector accessibility standards; and what steps are being taken to remedy that.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The accessibility monitoring team in the Government Digital Service (GDS) has found that for central government websites that operate independently of GOV.UK - including those run by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments - 61% met accessibility requirements at time of assessment. The GOV.UK website is regularly tested for accessibility and central government organisations are expected to use GOV.UK for their publishing.
In May 2026, GDS issued a survey to 10 central government departments to better understand barriers to compliance with government’s accessibility requirements. The survey has since closed and GDS is currently considering the responses.