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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the (a) Science Museum and (b) Victoria and Albert Museum on making items available online for residents in Northern Ireland.

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

DCMS officials are in touch with the Science Museum Group and the Victoria and Albert Museum to discuss the ongoing steps they are taking to resume online sales to Northern Ireland.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the change in the number of people who will be tax payers as a result of the freezing of personal allowances between 2024 and 2029.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The number of people forecast to pay Income Tax by marginal rate can be found in Table 3.19 of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook – detailed forecast tables: receipts, linked below:

https://obr.uk/download/november-2025-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-detailed-forecast-tables-receipts/?tmstv=1764165511

The previous Government made the decision to maintain income tax thresholds at their current levels from April 2021 until April 2028.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress NHS England has made on its review of the UK Foundation programme.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and the former National Medical Director at NHS England, Professor Stephen Powis, have led the Medical Training Review to understand current challenges and identify key areas for potential improvements in postgraduate medical education, which includes the UK Foundation Programme. Phase one of the review was published in October 2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she expects a decision from the Office of Road and Rail on the prospect of approving a Newcastle to Brighton rail link.

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

Grand Central submitted an application to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on 19 December 2025 for rights to operate Open Access rail services between Newcastle and Brighton.

The application has not been agreed by the infrastructure manager, Network Rail, and ORR is currently carrying out the statutory consultation with Network Rail and Grand Central. Network Rail responded on 30 January 2026 and Grand Central now has until 20 February to respond to Network Rail’s views.

ORR aims to take decisions on access applications within six weeks of the date of receipt of all relevant information.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2025 to WPQ 93664, whether any ongoing assessment is being made of the success of the take up campaign aimed at the 750,000 people who have not yet claimed their matured Child Trust Fund Savings Accounts.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to reuniting all young adults with their Child Trust Funds (CTF). HMRC works with CTF providers, industry representatives, and others to enable account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts. Regular HMRC press releases and messages on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are supplemented by targeted activities likely to appeal to the demographic.

HMRC plans to expand its CTF communications by adding TikTok to its strategy, continuing work with UCAS, and maintaining regular social media activity.

HMRC also provides a free tracing tool on Gov.uk to help people find their CTF provider (www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund) and has experienced a significant increase in its use this year.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she expects to receive the report by the FCA into hidden commission costs connected with car purchase loan schemes.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government wants to see this issue resolved in an efficient and orderly way that provides certainty for consumers and firms.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the independent regulator, has consulted on proposals for a motor finance consumer redress scheme. The FCA has indicated that it will finalise the rules of the scheme by the end of March.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Operation Gull in Northern Ireland in the last 15 years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about the effectiveness of Operation Gull is not available in our published data

Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the BBC on ensuring its (a) TV and (b) radio programming is made across the UK.

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

The Secretary of State meets regularly with the Chair to discuss a wide range of issues.

Under the current Charter, Ofcom is required to set the BBC quotas for programme making in the regions and nations. Looking ahead, the Government is currently undertaking a review of the BBC’s Royal Charter. The Green Paper sets out our ambition for the BBC to tell a unifying national story that represents all communities across the UK, and to drive growth in the nations and regions. We are looking at a range of options to deliver this, which include further quotas or obligations relating to programme making, and the BBC moving more commissioning staff out of London.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent announcement by the International Energy Agency that the UK's domestic energy costs are significantly higher than those of comparable nations.

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

High UK energy costs have been driven by our dependence on global fossil fuel markets. The Government’s clean energy mission is the best way to break this dependence and protect billpayers permanently. The Government also acted at Budget to take an average £150 of costs off domestic bills in Great Britain from April, and it continues to work with the NI Executive on measures to bring down energy costs for households in Northern Ireland.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she last met her Irish counterpart face to face to discuss people arriving illegally and crossing the border into Northern Ireland.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The current Foreign Secretary has not yet had a face-to-face meeting with her Irish counterpart but looks forward to doing so when schedules allow, and continuing the constructive discussions they have already had by telephone, on the range of subjects set out in previous answers. UK and Irish Ministers and officials regularly meet to discuss issues of importance, including on ensuring the integrity and security of the Common Travel Area.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has been made of the change in the amounts claimed in Universal Credit between (a) September 2024 and (b) September 2029.

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

Benefits’ expenditure and caseloads, in outturn and forecast, are published here: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK

Online abuse

500th anniversary of the Tyndale Bible

World Book Day 2026

World Cancer Day and breast cancer

70th anniversary of Tayto Crisps

International Epilepsy Day 2026

Murder of Royal Navy sailor David Cuthbert

90th birthday of former hon. Member William Ross

Found: Capita for her ill-health retirement pension; it was paid almost immediately after her MP, Gregory Campbell