Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on the roll-out of Best Start Family Hubs and wider neighbourhood health integration if local authorities without existing Start for Life funding are unable to establish core services.

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

Delivering integrated, joined-up health, education, and family support is at the heart of our ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.

Healthy Babies, formerly Start for Life, funding is helping families during the critical 1,001 days, and as a result parents have said they are more confident in feeding their babies and have better perinatal mental health because of this support. We continue to assess how we can best support early-years service integration across the country and remain committed to working with delivery partners locally to achieve this.

Healthy Babies is one element of our broader commitment to supporting babies, children and families. From April 2026, Best Start Family Hubs will expand to every single local authority, backed by over £500 million to reach up to half a million more children and families. This funding will help all local authorities to integrate a range of statutory and non-statutory health and family services.

Best Start Family Hubs will form part of the architecture of the Neighbourhood Health Service. Through the shifts from hospital to community and treatment to prevention, we will further strengthen integration and join-up of services, helping to ensure that babies and their families can get the support they need, when and where they need it.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she Department has made of the potential impact of Performing Right Society licensing fees on the profitability of microbusinesses, freelancers and sole traders, particularly those with low turnover or earnings below the income tax threshold.

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

Performing Right Society Limited (PRS) is a collective management organisation (CMO) and a private commercial entity and the Government does not regulate its commercial affairs. Consequently, the Department has not made an impact assessment in relation to PRS's commercial licensing fees.

Licence fees are usually the outcome of negotiation between a CMO and a trade body representing potential licensees in a sector. Prospective licensees have recourse to the Copyright Tribunal if dissatisfied with the terms of a licence, and the Tribunal’s decisions can be appealed in the High Court or the Court of Session in Scotland.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what oversight exists of tribunal decisions relating to Performing Right Society licensing fees; and what criteria are used to determine whether such fees represent fair and reasonable usage costs for small businesses and sole traders.

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

Performing Right Society Limited (PRS) is a collective management organisation (CMO) and a private commercial entity and the Government does not regulate its commercial affairs. Consequently, the Department has not made an impact assessment in relation to PRS's commercial licensing fees.

Licence fees are usually the outcome of negotiation between a CMO and a trade body representing potential licensees in a sector. Prospective licensees have recourse to the Copyright Tribunal if dissatisfied with the terms of a licence, and the Tribunal’s decisions can be appealed in the High Court or the Court of Session in Scotland.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit Annual Report 2024, published in December 2025, (1) what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of inspectors employed by the Unit's licensing function and (2) what actions her Department will be taking to increase the number of inspectors.

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

The Government is fully committed to continuous improvement in regulation and strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in science and innovation. As part of this, the Home Office is in the final stages of delivering a comprehensive programme of regulatory reform to strengthen the Animals in Science Regulation Unit to retain confidence and maintain robust compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).

As part of this programme, the number of inspectors will increase from 14.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at the end of 2017 to 22 FTE positions by March 2026.

Audit is based on assessing compliance through organisational governance to encourage greater commitment to compliance. The Regulator’s audit programme for compliance assurance purposes is delivered in accordance with the requirements defined in ASPA.

As part of the regulatory reform programme, the Regulator will be updating its audit programme, which is scheduled for release later in 2026.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009; and whether any measures referred to in the House of Commons Hansard debate of 2 November 2009 (Vol. 498, col. 6) were implemented, withdrawn or remain in effect.

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

No systematic concerns have been raised by stakeholders about the operation of the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009, and as such, no assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Act.

The then Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill was read for a Third Time on 2 November 2009 and passed without amendment. This is a complex and technical area of law. There are several regimes that apply in practice, following the 2009 Act coming into force, which are briefly summarised below.

• The Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 applies to instruments executed on or after 6 April 2010 and sets a statutory perpetuity period of 125 years.
• The Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 applies to instruments executed on or after 16 July 1964 and before 6 April 2010, allowing for a statutory period of up to 80 years if specified in the trust document.
• The Law of Property Act 1925 applies to instruments executed on or after 1 January 1926 and before 16 July 1964, reiterating the common law perpetuity period (lives in being plus 21 years) while also introducing relevant statutory modifications.

In all other cases, only the common law rules apply.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will commit to publishing regular, local authority–level data on asylum accommodation in HMOs, including numbers, capacity and duration of use.

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

For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many HMOs on the Isle of Wight are currently licensed for use as asylum accommodation; what the capacity of each is; and how many asylum seekers are currently housed in each property.

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

The Home Office is not currently using HMOs on the Isle of Wight to accommodate asylum accommodation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many enforcement actions have been taken against providers of HMOs used for asylum accommodation on the Isle of Wight in the last five years.

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

The Home Office is not currently using HMOs on the Isle of Wight to accommodate asylum accommodation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the location, size and occupancy of HMOs used for asylum accommodation by local authority area.

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

For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds data on all Home Office contractors and subcontractors operating HMOs for asylum accommodation on the Isle of Wight.

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

The Home Office is not currently using HMOs on the Isle of Wight to accommodate asylum accommodation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit Annual Report 2024, published in December 2025, what actions her Department will be taking to increase the number of unannounced inspections of establishments licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

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

The Government is fully committed to continuous improvement in regulation and strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in science and innovation. As part of this, the Home Office is in the final stages of delivering a comprehensive programme of regulatory reform to strengthen the Animals in Science Regulation Unit to retain confidence and maintain robust compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).

As part of this programme, the number of inspectors will increase from 14.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at the end of 2017 to 22 FTE positions by March 2026.

Audit is based on assessing compliance through organisational governance to encourage greater commitment to compliance. The Regulator’s audit programme for compliance assurance purposes is delivered in accordance with the requirements defined in ASPA.

As part of the regulatory reform programme, the Regulator will be updating its audit programme, which is scheduled for release later in 2026.

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 improve quality of life for people being diagnosed, treated for or living with cancer under the National Cancer Plan .

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

The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, and research and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer.

The plan will aim to improve how the physical and psychosocial needs of people with cancer can be met, with a focus on personalised care to improve quality of life. It will address how the experience of care can be improved for those diagnosed, treated, and living with and beyond cancer. The plan will be published early this year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NICE positive recommendations in each year since 2023 were issued as optimised decisions; and what proportion of the eligible patient population was able to access those medicines on the NHS.

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

The following table shows the number of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendations since 2023 that have been issued as optimised decisions:

Source: NICE

Notes:

1. the data for 2025/26 is for the year so far; and
2. data includes all Cancer Drugs Fund and Innovative Medicines Fund recommendations.

The Government does not hold data on the proportion of the eligible patient population able to access those medicines on the National Health Service. Some data may be available via the innovation scorecard and estimates report, avaiable at the following link:

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiOWVkZmY1MDEtOWQzMS00YzU1LWJkZmYtMTc2NGQ2MTZkYjc2IiwidCI6ImNmNmQwNDgyLTg2YjEtNGY4OC04YzBjLTNiNGRlNGNiNDAyYyJ9

This is a publication which reports on the use of medicines and medicine groupings in the NHS in England which have been positively appraised by NICE, including some NICE optimised decisions.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the efficiency savings attributed to regulated settlements arise from regulatory funding constraints imposed by the Office of Rail and Road.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Office of Rail and Road has a key role in providing assurance to Government on the regulated settlements for National Highways and Network Rail, this includes assuring what is to be delivered against the available funding as well as what is an appropriate efficiency target.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the efficiency savings attributed to executive agency reform will be permanent.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport efficiencies quoted in the Departmental Efficiency Plan are in line with the Government Efficiency Framework. In particular, the Government Efficiency Framework states that efficiencies “… should be sustainable (recurring)” and “exist in the year they are realised and remain in all subsequent years at equal or greater value.”

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to extend business rates relief to retail businesses.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. RVs are re-assessed every three years. The most recent revaluation took effect from 1 April 2023 and was based on values as of 1 April 2021. The next revaluation will take effect from 1 April 2026 based on values of 1 April 2024.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties, including those in the hospitality sector as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the up-front technology and systems investment costs required for Network Rail and National Highways to deliver the efficiency gains assumed in the regulated settlements.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Technology and systems investments are integral to delivering efficiencies within Network Rail’s plan for Control Period 7. Significant investments have been made in specific technology and systems programmes, for example £930 million on Digital Signalling, £215 million on Electrical Safety and Delivery, and £185 million on Project Reach which aims to secure external investment to upgrade Network Rail’s telecoms infrastructure through utilising private sector funding. These investments are made to drive Network Rail's delivery against its overall strategic objectives, one of which is efficiency.

For National Highways, the upfront technology and system costs required to support efficiency delivery and performance outcomes will form part of the overall investment plan to be confirmed when RIS3 is published in March 2026.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the implementation costs are for the DVSA, DVLA and VCA reform programmes underpinning the projected £39 million per year efficiency saving by 2028–29.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The forecast efficiencies of £39m in 28/29 set out in the Departmental Efficiency Plan from reform of the Executive Agencies is the net position and were based on forecasted efficiencies of £52m and forecasted costs of £13m.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the annual efficiency savings projected for 2028–29 depends on efficiencies from National Highways’ Road Investment Strategy 3 which have not yet been finalised.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The forecasted efficiencies for 28/29 set out in the Departmental Efficiency Plan do not currently assume any efficiency savings from National Highways. National Highways’ efficiency target for the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS) will be confirmed when the RIS is published in March 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of capacity pressures in secondary care, particularly at hospital front doors, including staffing levels and bed availability.

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

We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the National Health Service over the winter months. The NHS has been preparing for winter this year with the development and thorough testing of winter plans. This includes the surge capacity and escalation plans in place across all NHS and urgent care services.

While pressure has remained high on acute hospitals, performance has been better than in previous years. Accident and emergency four-hour performance was 73.8% in December 2025, an improvement of 2.7% from 71.1%. Provisional data for December 2025 indicates that there were 101,200 General and Acute beds open for all acute trusts, 93,177 of which were occupied, a 92.1% occupancy rate.

There were 431,000 more accident and emergency attendances in year-to-date to December in 2025/26 compared to the same period in 2024/25, a growth rate of 2.1%. This is lower than the average annual growth rate of 3.9% seen between 2021/22 and 2024/25 but still represents an increase in pressure on accident and emergency departments. Growth in attendances at consultant-led type 1 accident and emergency departments was 1.8% in the year to date to December in 2025/26, greater than the average annual growth rate of 1.3% between 2021/22 and 2024/25.

The 10-Year Health Plan aims to expand urgent care capacity through Neighbourhood Health Services and virtual wards, enabling patients to receive care closer to home where clinically appropriate and easing pressure on hospitals.

The responsibility for staffing levels should remain with clinical and other leaders at a local level, responding to local needs, supported by guidelines by national and professional bodies, and overseen and regulated in England by the Care Quality Commission.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has modelled the potential impact of Plan 2 interest rates on graduate retention in key public service professions.

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

The department does not provide analysis for impacts of policies on graduate retention in key public service professions.

Borrowers, including those in public services professions, remain protected as repayments are determined by income, not the amount borrowed. If a borrower’s salary remains the same, their monthly repayments will also stay the same.

Borrowers only start repaying their student loan once earnings exceed the student loan repayment threshold, after which they pay 9% of income above that level. The Plan 2 repayment threshold freeze does not change that or increase borrowers’ student loan balances. At the end of the repayment term any outstanding loan debt, including interest accrued, will be cancelled.

It is important that we have a sustainable student finance system, fair to students and the taxpayer. We will continue to keep the terms of the system under review to ensure this remains the case.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much additional funding has been allocated in the current financial year to expand secondary care capacity, including staffing and bed numbers.

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

The Spending Review 2025 has prioritised health, with an increase by £29 billion in real terms by 2028/29 compared to 2023/24, including investment in urgent and emergency care and electives services to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan. The plan includes the shift from hospital to community to bring care closer to home, launching a new neighbourhood health service with easier and more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services on people’s doorsteps, open 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Integrated care board (ICB) revenue allocations for 2025/26 include a total of circa £5.3 billion elective recovery funding to allow the National Health Service to continue to deliver the high levels of elective activity performance seen last year, and to deliver our Plan for Change commitments including care closer to the community. This figure includes funding for cancer services.

Over £6 billion in additional capital will be invested in diagnostic, elective, and urgent and emergency capacity in the NHS over five years, including £1.65 billion in 2025/26 to deliver new surgical hubs, diagnostic scanners and beds to increase capacity for elective and emergency care.

Decisions on staffing and bed numbers are for individual NHS organisations to decide when developing their operational plans in response to the Medium Term Planning Framework 2026/27 to 2028/29.

Found: ; St Ives) Paulette Hamilton (Labour; Birmingham Erdington) Alex McIntyre (Labour; Gloucester) Joe Robertson