Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2025 to Question 77620 on Self-assessment: Fines, whether her Department plans to consult on the new penalty regime for the (a) late filing of Self Assessment returns and (b) late payment of Income Tax; and when she plan to introduce the new regimes.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The previous government held three public consultations between 2016 and 2018 on reforms to late filing and late payment penalties.

Following this, penalty reform was introduced for VAT customers in 2023 as part of Making Tax Digital. The same approach will be extended to Income Tax Self Assessment customers as follows:

• From April 2026: businesses with qualifying income over £50,000
• From April 2027: businesses with qualifying income over £30,000
• From April 2028: businesses with qualifying income over £20,000

The government will confirm in due course when the remaining Income Tax Self Assessment customers will move to the new penalty approach.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of changing the guidance entitled PE and sport premium: conditions of grant 2024 to 2025, last updated on 23 April 2025, to permit capital expenditure on sports equipment.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

As revenue funding, the PE and sport premium grant funding is unable to be used towards capital expenditure. Schools access capital funding through other funding streams.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding for (a) schools and (b) colleges in North West Norfolk constituency.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The government has increased school funding by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, a 6% increase on 2024/25 levels, and committed to a further increase of £4.2 billion through the 2025 Spending Review. This additional funding will provide an above real terms per pupil increase on the core schools budget and support us to transform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

With regards to colleges, £8.5 billion of 16 to 19 programme funding has been invested during the 2025/26 academic year. Published allocations show that 16 to 19 funded institutions in Norfolk have been allocated approximately £112 million in 16 to 19 total programme funding.

In North West Norfolk, mainstream school funding per pupil through the dedicated schools grant averages £6,343 (excluding growth and falling rolls funding) in the 2025/26 financial year. The precise funding individual schools receive will depend on how Norfolk local authority decide to distribute the funding they receive.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to house asylum seekers in North West Norfolk constituency.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The priority is to ensure that the procurement of secure, safe and sustainable dispersed accommodation is carried out in a fair and equitable manner so that the Home Office continues to meet its statutory obligations while also carefully considering the impact on local areas.

The Home Office operates a Full Dispersal model which works to ensure that asylum accommodation is equitably and fairly spread out across the country. Dispersed accommodation offers accommodation that delivers better value for money for the taxpayer and helps the Home Office work towards the fair and equitable spread of accommodation. The Home Office continues to work with local government to allocate asylum seekers based on a range of evidence, including the availability of housing, pressure on services and community cohesion.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2025 to Question 77620 Self-assessment: Fines, what the average response time was of HMRC’s dedicated support service to those facing personal difficulties over the latest 12 months for which data is available.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC are committed to being aware of customers’ wider personal situations and will provide extra support if customers need it, as set out in the HMRC Charter.

All HMRC advisers are given training and guidance on how to identify customers who need extra help and how to either provide tailored support themselves or refer the customer to HMRC’s specialist extra support provision. HMRC increased the size of its Extra Support Team (EST) by 28% over 2024 to 2025. In 2024 to 2025, HMRC’s dedicated Customer Service EST helped over 150,000 customers in vulnerable circumstances.

The average response time for those contacting the EST in the past twelve months (October 2024- September 2025) was:

• Referrals via telephony - an average wait time of 44 seconds.
• Webchat - average wait time of 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
• Post - 81.18% of correspondence cleared within 15 working days.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support (a) the Iraqi Security Forces, (b) the Kurdish Peshmerga, (c) the Syrian Democratic Forces and (d) other regional partners in the context of Islamic State activity.

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

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase (a) intelligence-sharing and (b) border security cooperation with (i) central Asian partners and (ii) Türkiye, in the context of the level of threat posed by ISIS-K.

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

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) stabilisation and (b) counter-terrorism support measures she is pursing with international counterparts in West Africa in the context of Islamic State activity in the Sahel region.

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

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the level of (a) presence and (b) activity of Daesh in (i) Iraq and (ii) Syria.

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

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what training the UK armed forces (a) provide and (b) plan to provide in future to the Iraqi Security Forces.

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

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans her Department has for future UK contributions to the Global Coalition against Daesh.

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

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2025 to Question 77620 on Self-assessment: Fines, if he will set out for (a) late-filing of Self Assessment forms and (b) late payment of Income Tax (i) how many penalties were cancelled, (ii) the average cost per cancellation, (iii) the average length of time taken by HMRC to cancel a penalty and (iv) the average value of penalties cancelled in each year since 2011.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Data on the average cost per cancellation and the average time to cancel penalties is not available.

Final data on the late payment of income tax and the average value of penalties cancelled in each year since 2011 cannot be provided as returns continue to be issued, received and cancelled for several years after the filing return

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding allocated to dentistry was clawed back by NHS England for each ICB area in 2024-5.

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

Dental budgets have been ringfenced since 2023/24. The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.

The information requested on the amount of funding allocated to National Health Service dentistry that was recovered from underperforming contracts by NHS England in respect of each integrated care board area in 2024/25 is currently unavailable, as this data has not yet been validated. Once validated, data on any funding recovered from underperforming contracts by NHS England will be published in the NHS financial accounts.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his oral contribution of 13 October 2025, Official Report, column 67 which (a) minister and (b) civil servant gave the Deputy National Security Adviser full freedom to provide evidence without interference.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The decision that the Deputy National Security Advisor would give evidence was taken under the last Government in 2023.

When this government came into office in 2024, the Deputy National Security Advisor was a witness in a criminal prosecution. That is why, as this Government has repeatedly stated, that no Ministers or special advisors have played any role in the provision of evidence.