Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential causes of poor 5G connectivity.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Network congestion, hills, buildings, trees, and the distance from the mobile mast can impact on a consumer’s experience of 5G outdoors and the material construction of properties can additionally affect indoor connectivity.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to provide financial support for carers who look after their partners.

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

Unpaid carers play a vital role in supporting elderly or disabled relatives (including partners) or friends. We are determined to give family carers the help and support they need and deserve.

Research published in 2024 estimated that around 1 in 4 carers receiving Carer’s Allowance are caring for their partner. Unpaid carers may be able to receive financial support from the department depending on their circumstances. Carer’s Allowance provides a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time due to their caring responsibilities. The rate of Carer’s Allowance is £81.90 a week in 2024/25, and from April 2025 this will increase by 1.7%.

In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for a carer in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) SeeAbility and (b) other charities that deliver public sector contracts on the potential impact of increases in levels of employers' national insurance contributions on those charities.

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

To repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the Government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance. On the impact on charities in particular, our tax regime for charities, including exemption from paying business rates, is among the most generous of anywhere in the world, with tax reliefs for charities and their donors worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, if she will make an assessment of whether the restriction of the application of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to terminally ill patients is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May states:

“By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.”

This is known as the Law Officers’ Convention and it applies to your question.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve (a) prevention, (b) diagnosis and (c) support for people affected by foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has taken a number of steps to help prevent foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines, published in 2016, provide clear advice to women not to drink alcohol if they are planning for a pregnancy or are pregnant, and are available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80b7ed40f0b623026951db/UK_CMOs__report.pdf

The National Health Service website offers advice on the use of alcohol during pregnancy and sources of support, which includes speaking to a general practitioner, midwife, or local treatment service, or contacting the Government’s Talk to Frank website. Further information on the NHS website’s advice on the use of alcohol during pregnancy and sources of support, and the Government’s Talk to Frank website is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/drinking-alcohol-while-pregnant/

www.talktofrank.com/contact-frank

The Department asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to produce a Quality Standard in England (QS204) for FASD to help the health and care system improve both diagnosis and support for people affected by FASD. The quality standard also covers support during pregnancy to improve awareness and prevent the disorder. It was published in March 2022, and is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs204

The Department will soon be publishing the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment. The aim of the guidelines is to promote and support good practice and improve quality of service provision, resulting in better outcomes for people experiencing harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. The guidelines will set out how maternity, alcohol treatment, and other healthcare professionals should support women to reduce or stop their alcohol use as quickly and safely as possible, to reduce the ongoing exposure of the foetus to alcohol and the risk and severity of future disability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of an increase in employers national insurance contributions on charity and not for profit providers of adult social care; and if he will publish this information.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the Spending Review process. This assessment took into account a wide range of factors, including changes to employer National Insurance contributions, and the National Living Wage increases.

In response to the range of pressures facing local authorities, the Government is providing a real-terms uplift to core local government spending power of approximately 3.2%, which includes £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the capacity of the High Court (Family Division) to undertake reviews of all required cases under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is not Government legislation. If the Bill were to progress, the Government may well assess the policy and its impacts. Should the Bill become law, the appropriate arrangements will be made to ensure the Government is able to fulfil its legal duties.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps are being taken to prioritise Official Development Assistance aid for education in (a) countries where (i) literacy and (ii) numeracy rates are lowest and (b) protracted crisis settings.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK Government prioritises reaching the most marginalised children with basic literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills, including through our 18 bilateral education programmes. Our centrally managed Scaling Access and Learning in Education and Data for Foundational Learning programmes will also transform the effectiveness of education spending in low- and lower middle-income countries and improve learning outcomes on literacy and numeracy. Our investment in the International Finance Facility for Education will unlock an additional $1 billion in education finance for lower middle-income country governments to invest in their reform agendas.

The UK is a top bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait (ECW), both global funds delivering education in crisis settings. Most recently, the Foreign Secretary announced a doubling of UK aid for Sudan and neighbouring countries, including support for ECW to provide safe learning spaces and psychosocial support for 200,000 vulnerable children in refugee and host communities.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the recommendations from the United Nations Secretary General's High-level Panel on the Teaching Profession, published in February 2024, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of those recommendations in supporting teachers in emergencies.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Education is critical to our vision for a world free from poverty on a liveable planet. Ensuring access to education in emergencies provides children with normality, protection and hope. Teachers are crucial to this, and supporting teachers underpins FCDO education policies and programmes. The UK is the second largest bilateral donor to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies. ECW recruited or financially supported 23,449 teachers in 2022-23 (45 percent women). ECW also provided psychosocial support for teachers in Afghanistan, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Syria and Uganda, to help them to continue to teach in the most difficult circumstances. The UK is working in partnership with the World Bank and UN Refugee Agency on a new programme, the Inclusion Support Programme for Refugee Education (INSPIRE), to unlock funding for host countries that are committed to including refugees within their own education systems. The programme works with teachers to address issues such as language of instruction, psychosocial support for children and teachers and negative stereotyping towards refugee children.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) farmers and (b) landowners on the proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are listening to the sector to ensure their views are heard. We have met with a range of farming stakeholders over the past weeks, including the National Farmers Union (NFU), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), and the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA), and has meetings planned with trade associations in the coming weeks.

The Secretary of State Steve Reed met with NFU President Tom Bradshaw to clarify changes in the Budget. We have also met with NFU, TFA and CLA representatives and recently attended the Eggs and Poultry Industry Conference as part of ongoing engagement with the sector.

The Secretary of State spoke at the CLA’s annual conference on 21 November to hear from farmers directly. His speech can be found here.

Minister Zeichner recently attended and spoke at Northern Farming Conference, the Eggs and Poultry Industry Conference, the Agricultural Industries Confederation Conference, The Tenant Farmers Association Executive Committee and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution’s parliamentary reception.

We will continue to listen to farmers’ concerns to ensure their views are heard.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reversing the changes to VAT on double cab pick-ups .

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The VAT treatment of double cab pick-ups (DCPUs) has not changed. DCPUs are subject to the standard 20 per cent rate of VAT.

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, following a Court of Appeal judgment, the Government will treat DCPUs with a payload of one tonne or more as cars for the purposes of Benefit in Kind and Capital Allowances taxation.

However, for VAT purposes, DCPUs with a payload of one tonne or more will continue to be classed as vans, meaning VAT-registered businesses will continue to be able to recover the VAT paid on them in line with normal VAT recovery rules. The definition of a motor car, and what does not constitute a car, for VAT purposes is set out in SI 1992/3122 – Value Added Tax (Cars) Order 1992.

Found: Chope , Sir Julian Lewis , Lincoln Jopp, Martin Vickers , Dame Meg Hillier , Saqib Bhatti , Helen Grant

Found: on Angley Road reduced to 30mph from Hartley Dyke to t he roundabout at Cranbrook Common; • Helen Grant