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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to introduce restrictions on the number of wood burning stoves permitted per residential property; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of multiple wood burning stoves in a single property on neighbouring residents.

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

We have no plans to introduce restrictions on the number of wood burning stoves permitted per residential property. In the recently published Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 we committed to consult on new measures to cut emissions from domestic combustion.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential socio-economic merits of a VAT relief scheme for Further Education colleges.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises that Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers.

For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme.

In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students, but cannot recover it either. The Government is not currently planning to introduce a VAT refund scheme for FE institutions.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her department are taking to help lower charging costs for electric vehicles at public charging points.

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

The Government is committed to ensuring public charging is affordable and accessible for all. As announced at the Autumn Budget, the Government is reviewing the cost of public EV charging, looking at the impact of energy prices, wider cost contributors, and options for lowering these costs for consumers.

Furthermore, at the Autumn Budget, the Government committed an additional £200 million to support the rollout of charging infrastructure. As well as this funding, we are making changes to planning permissions, licensing, and addressing other barriers to make it faster, cheaper and easier to install chargers and ultimately drive down costs for the user.

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 the potential merits of easing regulatory rules to allow more pets to fly in-cabin on flights.

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

All pets travelling into Great Britain are checked for compliance with the necessary health and documentary requirements prior to entry to safeguard our biosecurity. When travelling to Great Britain by air, pets currently travel as manifest cargo to facilitate these checks upon arrival. The only animals that are authorised to travel in the cabin of a commercial aircraft into Great Britian are Recognised Assistance Dogs.

We have no current plans to change the process by which pet cats, dogs and ferrets may enter Great Britain in aircraft.

When travelling with a pet abroad, pet owners and assistance dog users should seek guidance as to whether their pet is permitted to travel in the aircraft from the relevant competent authority and airline.

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 reduce elective care waiting times, including for joint replacement surgery.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 November 2025 to Question 89685.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made in meeting the 18-week referral-to-treatment standard.

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

The Government is committed to returning, by March 2029, to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment (RTT).

NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 set a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.

To achieve this interim March 2026 target, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce. We have already made significant progress on this. As of October 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 225,000 since the Government came into office, and performance against the RTT standard has improved by 2.9%, reaching 61.8%.

This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marks a vital First Step towards delivering the constitutional standard.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to end the blanket use of body mass index thresholds to determine eligibility for joint replacement surgery.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 November 2025 to Question 89688.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on the 30by30 action plan, published on 29 October 2024.

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

The UK Government is committed to protecting 30% of land and sea in the UK by 2030 (30by30). Progressing this target on land in England means ensuring that our most important and wildlife-rich habitats are benefiting from effective, long-term conservation and management.

In October 2024 we set out our vision for progressing 30by30 on land in England and the criteria for land and inland water areas which can count towards this target. Our 30by30 Action Plan will set out how we will lead, support, and inspire action across England to deliver this vision. We will publish this in due course.

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 increase help access to weight loss injections for people with long-term health conditions.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 November 2025 to Question 89687.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase training and funding for police firearm licensing authorities.

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

The College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs Council have developed national training on firearms licensing. The Statutory Guidance on firearms licensing for Chief Officers of Police, most recently revised and strengthened on 5 August 2025, makes it clear that the training is mandatory for all police forces in England and Wales.

The Government has taken action to increase the fees for firearms and shotgun licensing applications that are charged by police forces. On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect to provide full-cost recovery for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. The extra income from fees will help police forces to better resource and train their firearms licensing teams. This was the first increase in fees for 10 years since 2015 and we intend to conduct more regular reviews of fees in the future.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to respond to his Department's consultation on parental leave and pay review which closed on 25 August 2025.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Parental Leave and Pay Review launched in July 2025 alongside a Call for Evidence which ran until 25 August 2025. We received almost 1500 responses to this Call for Evidence which are currently being analysed with the findings going on to inform the Review. The Government will publish the Review’s findings and a roadmap at its conclusion in early 2027. This will include next steps for taking any potential reforms forward to implementation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve adoption services.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has funded Adoption England with £8.8 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure the consistency of high quality adoption services across the country. This includes the development of a new framework of support, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first 12 to 18 months of placement.

Adoption England’s work also involves increasing awareness of trauma informed practice across its workforce and with key partners including schools. We also recently consulted on new standards for social workers, which include recognising and responding to trauma. We will respond to the consultation shortly, and the new standards will underpin a strengthened early career support training offer for newly qualified social workers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve levels of mandatory trauma accreditation within professionals working with adopted children.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has funded Adoption England with £8.8 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure the consistency of high quality adoption services across the country. This includes the development of a new framework of support, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first 12 to 18 months of placement.

Adoption England’s work also involves increasing awareness of trauma informed practice across its workforce and with key partners including schools. We also recently consulted on new standards for social workers, which include recognising and responding to trauma. We will respond to the consultation shortly, and the new standards will underpin a strengthened early career support training offer for newly qualified social workers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in reference to question UIN 43714 tabled on 2 April 2025, what recent progress her Department has made in public guidance for a process of withdrawing certificates of exemption for dogs wrongly registered as XL Bullies.

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

We are continuing to develop a withdrawal scheme so that owners who no longer believe that their dog is an XL Bully can apply to have their certificate of exemption for their dog withdrawn. This work is still in progress, and further details will be shared once finalised.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered banning prong collars in addition to shock collars as part of the Government's Animal Welfare Strategy published 22nd December 2025.

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

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, we will consult on whether to ban the use of electric shock collars later in this Parliament. We will carefully consider the scope of the consultation ahead of its publication.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has any plans to legislate to ban the sale, and not just ownership, of shock collars as part of the Government's Animal Welfare Strategy published 22nd December 2025.

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

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, we will consult on whether to ban the use of electric shock collars later in this Parliament. We will carefully consider the scope of the consultation ahead of its publication.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress his department has made on the parental leave and pay review.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Parental Leave and Pay Review’s Call for Evidence closed on 25 August 2025 after receiving almost 1500 responses, which are currently being analysed and will go on to inform the review.

We are engaging with a range of stakeholders, including advocacy groups, trade unions and business representatives, including through a series of thematic roundtables to inform our ongoing work. We intend to continue this engagement in 2026.

The Review will be concluded in early 2027 and the Government will outline next steps for taking any reforms forward to implementation.

Found: the meeting Members present: Sarah Champion (Chair); Tracy Gilbert; Brian Mathew; David Mundell; James Naish

Found: the meeting Members present: Sarah Champion (Chair); Tracy Gilbert; Brian Mathew; David Mundell; James Naish