Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the policy of automatic off-rolling to ensure a formal review and hearing occurs before any decision is made.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

This government is clear that off-rolling in any form is unacceptable, and we will continue to work closely with Ofsted to tackle it.

Pupils may leave a school roll for many reasons, including permanent exclusion, transfer to another school or change of circumstances. All schools are legally required to notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is removed from the admissions register.

The law is clear a pupil’s name can only be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in Regulation 9 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many items of protective body armour his Department has supplied for use by journalists operating in Gaza since October 2023.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade does not supply body armour, and the export of body armour for personal protection when accompanying its user (for their own use) is not subject to export control.

Nonetheless the Department has approved 12 licences for the export of protective body armour for use by news organisations in Israel or Palestine since October 2023. Of these, 9 relate to Media Open Individual Licences which allow export to a wide range of countries. Similar equipment has also been licensed for export for use by NGOs in the region.

The UK is appalled by the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of media workers in the State of Palestine. We have called on all parties to fully uphold International Humanitarian Law and ensure protection of civilians including journalists.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Government awarding contracts for software and related services to (a) Palantir and (b) any other overseas technology companies on national security.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence has policies and procedures to address the security risk from overseas suppliers, which consider both the nature of the procurement and the potential risks posed by the relevant state. These procedures are in addition to our usual cyber security and resilience controls on all suppliers.

We do not disclose details of security risk policy and procedures as they could be useful to a potential adversary.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to raise public awareness of the impact of methane-reducing feed additives used in livestock farming.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have a system. Methane-reducing food products, including seaweed, oils and synthetic products such as Bovaer, are a key tool in reducing emissions from agriculture by up to one third. Bovaer is approved for use in 70 countries, including those in the EU, Switzerland, the US, Canada and Australia. We are building the market for safe, effective options and helping farmers to adopt them. Such products are approved by the Food Standards Agency, and that advice has not been changed. Bovaer has been reviewed by 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress she has made on making an assessment of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 November 2025 to Question 85800.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to implement the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 November 2025 to Question 85800.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on trade with Israel.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We respect the independence of the International Court of Justice and continue to consider the Court’s Advisory Opinion carefully, with the seriousness and rigour it deserves.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she is scheduled to next meet the delegation of hon. Members and representatives from the Sikh Federation on the detention of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Ministers and officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office meet on a regular basis with Mr Johal's family and other representatives advocating on his behalf, and have also responded to correspondence from more than 150 Members of Parliament about Mr Johal's case since 2020.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many hon. Members have written to (a) her and (b) her predecessors during the detention of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Ministers and officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office meet on a regular basis with Mr Johal's family and other representatives advocating on his behalf, and have also responded to correspondence from more than 150 Members of Parliament about Mr Johal's case since 2020.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Artificial Intelligence Security Institute completed a risk assessment of xAI’s Grok code before it was released to the public.

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

The AI Security Institute regularly test models across leading labs. While we do not provide a running commentary on which models we test due to commercial and security reasons, it actively works with labs to improve safeguards when vulnerabilities have been identified.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Artificial Intelligence Security Institute assessed xAI’s Grok for harms prior to launch.

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

The AI Security Institute regularly test models across leading labs. While we do not provide a running commentary on which models we test due to commercial and security reasons, it actively works with labs to improve safeguards when vulnerabilities have been identified.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to make water social tariff (a) eligibility, (b) discount levels and (c) application processes (i) transparent and (ii) subject to government oversight.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra expects water companies to ensure that their customers know what support schemes are available and how to access them if they need help. Companies offer a range of support schemes for customers struggling to afford their bills, including social tariffs, WaterSure, debt support schemes, financial hardship funds, flexible payment plans and payment breaks. Defra is working with water companies to ensure social tariffs are more consistent and taken up by those most in need.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of support for water social tariff across different regions; and what steps she is taking to ensure households in similar financial circumstances are treated equally.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Evidence shows that levels of social tariff provision vary between regions because each water company sets its own eligibility criteria and level of support. The Government keeps support schemes under review and expects industry to do the same to ensure vulnerable customers across the country are supported, and customers know what support schemes are available and how to access them if they need help.

Water companies have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs – from 4% to 9%.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure parliamentary oversight of the proposed changes to NICE regulations.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The proposed amendments to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence regulations were subject to a public consultation, which ran from 9 December 2025 to 13 January 2026. The Department is currently analysing consultation responses and will shortly finalise a statutory instrument (SI) to bring forward secondary legislation to amend the regulations.

The SI will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the negative parliamentary procedure. The policy merits of the SI will be scrutinised by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, in line with its terms of reference at the following link:

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/255/secondary-legislation-scrutiny-committee/content/120278/slsc-terms-of-reference/

As is conventional, the SI will be laid before Parliament at least 21 days before coming into force to ensure Parliament has adequate time to consider it.

Government contract with Palantir Technologies

Community spaces

Funding for fire and rescue services

Rare Disease Day and Achalasia

British couple detained in Iran

Essentials Guarantee

Sinking of SS Tilawa

Government response to Israel’s West Bank annexation plan

Public inquiry into Epstein links

New US sanctions on Cuba

Together Alliance