Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce legislative provision making it an offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without an Electronic Travel Authorisation before the summer recess.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

It is already a requirement for eligible nationals to obtain an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) before travel to the UK, and entry may be refused if one is not held. We will consider when to commence the offence of knowingly arriving in the UK without an ETA, and announce this in due course.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will hold discussions with representatives of LINK on the roll out of banking hubs including villages and small towns in rural areas.

Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Banking is changing, with many customers benefitting from the convenience and flexibility of managing their finances remotely.

However, the Government understands the importance of banking services to communities, including those in rural areas, and is working closely with industry to support the roll-out of 350 banking hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 275 hubs have been announced so far, and more than 235 are already open, including 7 in Northern Ireland.

The Government engages regularly with LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, as well as industry and the Financial Conduct Authority, on access to cash and banking services.

Banking hub locations are independently recommended by LINK. When a bank branch closes, there is a material change to a cash service, or a community request is received, LINK conducts an access to cash assessment under the regime set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. This considers a range of factors including population demographics and transport links, with criteria reflecting differences between rural and urban areas. Any decisions on changes to LINK’s assessment criteria are a matter for LINK, the financial services sector and the Financial Conduct Authority, which oversees the regime.

Customers can also access everyday banking services through the Post Office network, with over 10,000 branches providing services such as cash withdrawals and deposits, balance enquiries and bill payments.

The Government keeps the effectiveness of access to cash and banking arrangements under review through ongoing engagement with industry, LINK and the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure they meet the needs of local communities.

As such, on 14 May the Government commissioned an independent Review into Access to Banking Services to assess the impact of changes in the provision of in-person banking services. The evidence gathered will inform future decisions on whether further action is needed. Alongside this, the Government intends to include a power in forthcoming financial services legislation to enable it to act, if necessary, to protect access to banking services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the National Wealth Fund's promotion of rural broadband development in Northern Ireland will include financial support to inward investors.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The NWF invests on a commercial basis to address market gaps and crowd in private capital, including in digital and technologies. It has a dedicated director based in Northern Ireland to support its view of markets across the region and opened a Belfast office in December 2024.

In April 2022 the National Wealth Fund, then the UK Infrastructure Bank, provided a £50 million loan to support Fibrus to deliver high-capacity broadband to rural homes and businesses across Northern Ireland. As of December 2025, this investment has helped Fibrus bring full fibre capability to over 330,000 homes across Northern Ireland.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the indication by the Government of the Hellenic Republic of 20 April 2026 to not proceed with the collection of fingerprints or photographs under the EU Entry/Exit System for UK visitors temporarily, if she will hold urgent discussions with the European Commission and EU Member States on extending this exemption to other EU countries.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Entry/Exit System (EES) is an EU scheme, and its implementation, including the use of flexibilities permitted by the relevant legislation on biometric collection, is a matter for the European Commission and participating EU member states.

The UK government wants to see EES implemented in a way that protects border fluidity and minimises disruption for travellers. We continue to engage with the EU, member states and travel industry partners to encourage a pragmatic approach to implementation.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she will receive updates in advance of any final report from the taskforce at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on investigations into headlamp glare by vehicles.

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

The glare prevention taskforce is currently scheduled to meet twice in advance of the October vehicle lighting expert group meeting. UK officials are actively involved in the work of the group. A draft list of recommendations and progress report were submitted to the April meeting of the vehicle lighting expert group.

These documents can be viewed online at:

https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/GRE-94-22e.pdf (Draft Recommendations) and

https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/GRE-94-21e.pdf (Progress report).

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Will she hold discussions with motor manufacturers regarding offering an opt in and an opt out facility for drivers with the 'lane assist' technology system in new vehicles.

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

An Emergency Lane Keeping System (ELKS) is a technology that warns the driver of unintended lane departures and corrects the vehicle’s course to avoid crossing solid lane markings. As with other safety systems, it defaults to being on every time the vehicle is started. This ensures safety benefits are not undermined by drivers having the systems permanently switched off, either deliberately or accidentally. However, there is typically a simple method for the driver to switch it off each time, should they wish to.

The Government recently consulted on mandating ELKS in Great Britain alongside a number of other vehicle safety technologies as part of the Road Safety Strategy. This consultation closed on 11 May 2026 and my Department will be setting out next steps in due course.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help tackle phantom car insurance fraud.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government regularly engages with a variety of stakeholders on issues relating to motor insurance, including fraud.

The cross-government taskforce on motor insurance was formed in 2024, to fulfil the government’s commitment to tackling the soaring cost of motor insurance in the UK. One of the actions in the taskforce report published on 10 December 2025 is “Tackling uninsured driving, fraud and crime”. Where the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) identifies unlawful content, including ghost broking, ad-spoofing and material posted by finfluencers, it will seek to get the content removed and work with other partner agencies, including law enforcement, working to combat these activities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Motability Scheme on the potential impact of the proposed change in the annual mileage limit for new leases on rural users.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors. The Department for Work and Pensions meets quarterly with Motability Foundation, to discuss the Scheme’s operation.

The changes to the leasing package were announced on 26 March and include reducing the mileage allowance from 20,000 per year to 10,000 per year. Changes only apply to new leases, and there are no changes to the mileage allowance for existing leases. Motability Foundation has advised that approximately 75% of customers on the Scheme already use fewer miles than the proposed new mileage allowance.

Motability understands that this will affect customers differently, and is keeping these changes under review.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much grant assistance has been paid from the public purse for heating pumps since July 2024.

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

Between July 2024 – March 2026, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme paid out 51,444 vouchers for heat pumps, to the cost of ~£386 million.

Other schemes delivered by the department, such as the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG), Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Local Grant (WH:SHF ; WH:LG) do not provide a breakdown of spend specific to heat pump subsidies alone, as they support a broader range of retrofit energy efficiency measures. However, the Government does publish data showing the average contribution costs for individual measures under these schemes, including for heat pumps.

[1] Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) release statistics: November 2025

[2] Heat pump deployment statistics: September 2025

[3] Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund statistics: April 2026

[4] Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund statistics: April 2026

[5] Warm Homes: Local Grant statistics: April 2026

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, How many (a) projects, and (b) individual graduates, have benefitted from the Innovate UK and Invest NI Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme in the past three years.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In Financial Years 2023/24 to 2025/26, Invest Northern Ireland have supported 45 Knowledge Transfer projects, which created 45 highly skilled jobs for graduates placed in local businesses through the scheme.

In total, Invest Northern Ireland have contributed £2,026,204 towards the grant costs of these projects. Innovate UK has contributed £4,199,706, giving these projects a total grant value of £6,267,910.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, will the UK meet the 10% requirement for Sustainable Aviation Fuel by 2030.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

It is too early to forecast SAF usage for 2030, but our most recent provisional statistics show that 370 million litres of verified and unverified SAF were supplied under the UK Mandate, in 2025 – this currently represents 2.5% of all reported aviation fuel supply against a target of 2% for 2025. Whilst these statistics are provisional, they show a continued increasing trend of SAF supply growing in the UK.

We have a comprehensive plan in place for SAF and continue to encourage the production, development and use of SAF in the UK by: building demand through the SAF Mandate; allocating £63m of funding (for this financial year) to the supply of SAF through the Advanced Fuels Fund; and helping to derisk SAF projects by legislating to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, When does he expect to receive the outcome of the NIHR appraisal programme for prolapse, incontinence, and mesh complication surgery.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the research delivery arm of the Department, funds and supports a range of research to support women’s health conditions, including pelvic organ prolapse.

In May 2023, the NIHR commissioned a £1.6 million study to develop a validated patient reported outcome measure for prolapse, incontinence, and mesh complication surgery, to better understand the short and long-term health impacts of pelvic mesh surgery. This study has now been extended until January 2028 with findings available shortly after. Further information is available at the following link:

https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR152187

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including the use of vaginal mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

Somme 110

Cervical screening

Findlay Curtis's selection for Scotland World Cup squad

Metachromatic leukodystrophy and newborn screening

Energy Conservation

Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day 2026