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 being taken to ensure the enforcement of regular risk assessment and monitoring of private water supplies by local authorities as per their responsibilities outlined in the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2016.

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

Private water supplies are regulated by local authorities. They are responsible for identifying risks to the quality of the water and must have comprehensive monitoring programmes in place to sample the drinking water for any element, organism or substance that they believe may cause the supply not to be wholesome.

Defra expects all local authorities to undertake their statutory duties. Local authorities are regularly reminded of their duties, and where they may not be being complied with, in the Chief Inspector of Drinking Water’s annual reports on the quality of private water supplies in England. Local authorities’ compliance with reporting duties is raised by officials from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government through their regular liaison meeting with the Local Government Association.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if Science and Discovery Centres can apply to any of the support schemes for cultural venues announced in the press release of 21 January 2026, entitled ‘Government announces bumper £1.5 billion package to restore national pride.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In January 2026, the Government announced a package of £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere funding to support arts, culture libraries and heritage over the course of this parliament. The vast majority of this funding is capital investment, and is the single biggest Government investment in arts capital in over a decade.

This investment will support more than 1,000 cultural projects to open up access to culture for everyone, everywhere. It will keep venues open, finance urgent repairs and infrastructure projects, bolster long-term resilience, and widen access to arts and culture in communities that have faced under-investment.

Science and Discovery Centres play an important role supporting science education and fostering curiosity. The Government's response to the 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review addressed the Science curriculum, whilst the Department for Science Innovation and Technology, and its agencies, such as UKRI, are committed to supporting pathways into STEM careers. Science and Discovery Centres that are accredited museums may be eligible for some of the recently announced funds. Eligibility criteria, and details of how to apply for individual funds, will be published in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to provide reliable broadband service to rural areas that fall into the category of ‘Very Hard to Reach’, and outside of the scope of contracts already awarded as part of the roll out of Project Gigabit.

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

Through a combination of commercial market and government subsidised delivery, government is ensuring 99% of UK premises will have access to gigabit-capable broadband by 2032. However, our expectation is that some remote premises will remain too expensive to build a gigabit connection to.

The market for ultrafast, alternative connections via technologies such as LEO satellite and 5G fixed wireless access is developing at pace. Government continues to monitor and support the development of this market, including encouraging spectrum releases and ground station deployments, with many remote premises are already adopting these services

We continue to consider what the government can do to further enable alternatives to fibre connections, for premises located in very hard to reach and rural areas.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to mitigate the loss and fragmentation of open moorland habitats across the UK.

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

Moorland areas contain a wide variety of habitats and species of importance. We are committed, through grant programmes such as Landscape Recovery, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL), to creating a network of bigger, better and more resilient habitats to help nature thrive. Additionally, Defra, in partnership with Dr Hilary Cottam OBE, has been working closely with upland communities across England to better understand the unique challenges and opportunities in these landscapes. These insights are being shared across Defra and next steps are being developed.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the document entitled Government’s Principles of Engagement, published on 14 March 2024, remains active; and whether those principles should guide engagement with stakeholders and the public during government consultations.

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

The Government Principles of Engagement was published under the 2022 to 2024 Conservative government. Responsibility for decisions and due diligence around who departments engage with sits with those departments and the appropriate policy areas.

It is for individual government departments to decide to use these principles, or their own due diligence processes around engagement.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what opportunities her department has for independent cinemas to apply for national support schemes.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Independent cinemas play an important role in our communities, providing an accessible form of culture for people across the UK. Independent cinemas can apply for various public funding schemes through DCMS's Arm's Length Bodies if they meet the eligibility criteria. For example, through the British Film Institute, cinemas can access support for audience-facing projects through the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund; and can join the BFI Film Audience Network and apply for funding to support projects that bring audiences together for screenings of UK independent and international films. Cinemas based in not-for-profit mixed arts venues in England may also meet the eligibility criteria for Arts Council England's Creative Foundations Fund; we estimate this applies to approximately 13% of the 218 full-time independent cinemas in the UK. This sector will also benefit from permanently lower business rates multipliers for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure venues, starting this year.