Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any (a) Director of Communications, (b) Press Secretary and (c) other staff at 10 Downing Street has had a work subscription to the Independent newspaper since July 2024.
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: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many a) FTE roles there are at GB Energy b) GB Energy roles are permanently located in Aberdeen c) roles are solely GB Energy employees rather than seconded or equivalent from another Government or public sector departments and d) GB Energy employees previously worked in the oil and gas sector.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There are currently over 120 people working for Great British Energy (GBE), including permanent, temporary and contingent labour staff. GBE is expected to recruit significantly more permanent roles in Aberdeen over the next financial year.
GBE’s Aberdeen HQ will host GBE's main corporate functions, supply chain activities, and major development projects including ambitions in deep-water offshore wind.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to reduce barriers faced by households seeking to export surplus renewable electricity to the grid.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the importance of enabling households to export surplus renewable electricity to the grid, in part to ensure that they can realise value from their investments. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a government scheme which gives small-scale generators the right to be paid for the electricity they export to the grid.
The Government has recently committed to consult on changes to make it quicker and simpler for generators to be paid for the electricity they export to the grid.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
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 of the potential merits of increasing the electricity export limit of 3.68 kW for domestic renewable energy systems without prior approval from the Distribution Network Operator.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department recognises that the export threshold may restrict some households seeking to maximise the benefits of generation. Ofgem, as part of its Connections End‑to‑End Review, has proposed to ask DNOs to review the threshold with the view to increase it (page 83 - https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-12/connections-end-to-end-review-next-steps-final.pdf). The Department is engaging closely with Ofgem, network companies and other stakeholders as this work progresses.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the backlog of cases at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is independent of Government and reports directly to Parliament. The PHSO has confirmed that their unallocated queue of complaints at the end of March 2026 was 3,428.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are she is taking to implement a ban on the use of snares in England; and when she expects to publish a timeline for this policy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation and this included a commitment to bring an end to the use of snare traps in England.
This was recently reaffirmed in the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025. Defra is now actively looking to bring a ban on snares into force as swiftly as possible.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the application of inflationary increases on pre-1997 defined benefit pension entitlements is limited to schemes within the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme; and whether he plans to extend this policy to other defined benefit schemes.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has brought forward legislation to introduce annual CPI-linked increases, capped at 2.5 per cent, on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme based on pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These increases will apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward) and where the original scheme rules provided for such increases.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that data belonging to motorists who have incorrectly received a parking fine, either from a Council, Private Parking Companies, or any other parking provider, is not retained by any such parking provider or the DVLA.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The law allows vehicle keeper information to be released to local authorities and private parking companies to allow them to follow up alleged parking contraventions.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) provides the information as a first point of contact to help the local authority or parking company establish where liability may lie. Controls are in place to help ensure that the information is requested and used appropriately.
When a local authority or parking company has been provided with vehicle keeper information, they become the controller of the personal data and are responsible for complying with their data protection obligations. This includes the requirement not to retain data for longer than is necessary.
The DVLA also maintains record of disclosures from the vehicle record in order to fulfil its own data protection obligations.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has here department made of the adequacy of safeguards governing the release of motorists’ personal data by the DVLA to private parking companies; and what steps she is taking to ensure that data belonging to motorists who have not committed an offence is not shared inappropriately and deleted within a timely manner.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The law allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to release vehicle keeper details in certain limited circumstances, subject to appropriate safeguards. Organisations receiving this data must comply with their obligations under data protection law.
Where a private parking management company makes electronic requests for vehicle keeper data, the data is provided subject to strict contractual terms. Data may only be used the purposes set out in the contract and must be deleted once no longer needed.
All private parking companies are audited to help ensure that the information is requested and used appropriately. The safeguards in place to protect personal data are kept under review to ensure they continue to provide appropriate protection.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much public money has been spent to date on the development and roll-out of Making Tax Digital; and what the projected total cost is for completing the programme.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Originally announced at Budget 2015, Making Tax Digital (MTD) supports UK businesses to transact digitally. It encourages timely and accurate record keeping, reducing the part of the tax gap caused by taxpayer error and failure to take reasonable care.
The most recent Accounting Officer’s Assessment was published on 4 June 2025 and estimated a public sector lifecycle cost of £1.4 billion for the MTD programme. This assessment also estimated an overall lifecycle monetised benefit of £6.2 billion. These are considerable benefits, providing vital funding for public services, which are expected to continue beyond the 5-year window assessed in the business case.
MTD will also generate significant non-monetisable benefits, including through modernising HMRC’s critical national IT infrastructure for the VAT and ITSA regimes.