Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has ever considered Matthew Doyle for a head of mission role.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Foreign Secretary's response to this question at departmental oral questions on 21 April.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if it is government policy to withhold the names of potential head of mission appointees from the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what communication did the Prime Minister have with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office regarding potentially appointing Matthew Doyle to a head of mission role.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, did the Prime Minister consider appointing Matthew Doyle to a head of mission role.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she plans to review the draft Code of Practice issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission following the recent High Court judgment which stated that it can be lawful for service providers to provide women’s single-sex facilities used by both cisgender and transgender women and not by men.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We have received the updated draft Code of Practice from the EHRC. We cannot comment on the contents of the Code during the pre-election period, but we intend to lay it as soon as practicable after the elections in May.
We have always been clear that associations should set their policies in line with the law.
If associations are uncertain as to how to apply the Equality Act 2010, they should obtain specialist legal advice.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking regulate the advertisement of nicotine pouch products.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to protecting children from the risks of nicotine addiction. Evidence suggests that awareness and use of nicotine pouches is growing amongst young people.
There are currently no advertising restrictions on nicotine pouches. To address this, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will stop the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of all nicotine products, including nicotine pouches, mirroring the effective restrictions on tobacco. This will include a ban on television, radio, and online adverts, as well as printed advertisements such as traditional billboards. The advertising ban will be commenced by commencement order once the bill has received Royal Assent, and we have committed to giving industry 12 months’ notice of when the ban will come into force.
Additionally, the bill will also provide the Government with new powers to restrict the packaging and display of nicotine products, including nicotine pouches. These powers will further limit the marketing and promotion of these products to young people.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that large electricity users such as data centres contribute to system investment and operation through flexibility and demand management when connecting to the electricity network.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government, NESO and Ofgem have worked together with industry to identify specific actions to support an increase in large non-domestic consumer-led flexibility, setting those actions out in the Clean Flexibility Roadmap, published in 2025.
Data centres, like other non-domestic users, can play a role in being flexible with their usage, generating system benefits that will help all energy users. Government is currently consulting on whether some categories of large demand users should be required to provide a minimum level of demand flexibility as a condition of connection.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what consideration his Department has given to requiring new data centres seeking electricity network connections to assess opportunities to utilise waste heat.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is looking at how waste heat from data centres can be used to support the development of large scale, strategic heat networks.
Through heat network zoning, certain buildings and heat sources, including data centres, can be required to connect to a network within set timeframes.
Additionally, the Green Heat Network Fund provides £195m p.a. in capital grants up to 2029–30 for low‑carbon heat networks in England. One supported project is a major new network in North-West London that will utilise data centre heat, powering 10,000 new homes and 250,000m2 of commercial space.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
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 volume of data centre projects in the electricity transmission connections queue on network capacity and system costs.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is aware of the volume of data centre projects in the connections queue, and on 12 March, published a consultation on measures to manage oversubscription and secure capacity for viable data centre projects, while meeting the needs of the energy system. These include increasing financial requirements on data centres to obtain or retain a connection agreement and moving to a strategically aligned process for data centre connections in future.
The consultation also asks about the impact of flexible connection agreements on data centres to further secure system operability and protect consumers from unnecessary costs while supporting timely connections.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Ofgem's call for input entitled Demand Connections Reform, published on 13 February 2026, how many of the 140 data centres are located in Scotland.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Ofgem's Call for Input draws on data collected by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) in which 140 prospective data centres self-reported their presence in the pipeline for connections. 19 of these were located in Scotland. However, these responses were voluntary and represent developer intent rather than confirmed deliverability. NESO is undertaking further work to validate the results including issuing a mandatory Information Request Notice to demand connection customers on 11 March.