Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to strengthen the Ofsted inspection process for early years settings to improve child safety outcomes.

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

Through our Best Start in Life strategy, we are investing in raising the quality, frequency and consistency of early years inspections to improve child safety outcomes. We continually monitor and review requirements to make sure children are kept as safe as possible.

Ofsted began inspecting under the revised Education Inspection Framework on 10 November and settings now receive an Ofsted report card following an inspection which will provide a much clearer and broader picture of their performance. From April, Ofsted will receive further investment to improve inspection quality and consistency through stronger quality assurance and targeted inspector training. We are also funding Ofsted to inspect all new providers within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years, compared to the current six-year window. We will also work to introduce reporting on nursery chains to address issues spanning across groups of providers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of current guidance on safer sleep practices in nursery settings; and whether she has plans to introduce statutory requirements on safer sleep in early years settings.

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

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which early years providers are required to follow, includes a requirement for babies to be placed down to sleep in line with the latest government safety guidance, which is available here: https://www.nhs.uk/baby/caring-for-a-newborn/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/.

In September 2024, the department collaborated with The Lullaby Trust to produce guidance available on the Foundation Years platform. This covers unsuitable sleeping products, suitable sleeping surfaces and the safe use of blankets.

Ofsted inspects early years providers against the requirements of the EYFS, including safeguarding and children’s welfare. Early years inspectors are experienced professionals with relevant knowledge of safer sleep practice and can assess compliance with statutory requirements.

To make the existing requirements clearer for all, we plan to add further detail to the EYFS frameworks. We have worked with safer sleep experts, including The Lullaby Trust, on proposed new wording and plan to introduce these changes as soon as possible.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans he has to provide Parliament with the opportunity to scrutinise the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal before its provisions take effect.

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

Any final agreement will be scrutinised by Parliament in line with established procedures.

Any primary or secondary legislation required to implement an agreement will also be subject to standard legislative procedures.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what support his Department is providing to small and medium-sized exporters to maintain tariff relief secured under the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal.

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

It was this government that got the first trade deal with the US, protecting British jobs and saving people money. We remain the only country to have secured a 10% tariff on cars within quota, agreed a 0% tariff on pharmaceutical exports to the US, and avoided the 50% global steel and aluminium tariff.

The Department for Business and Trade has integrated its support for SMEs in a single, accessible place – the Business Growth Service – designed to help businesses across the UK start, scale, and succeed globally. UK businesses can access guidance on exporting, including to the US, via business.gov.uk.

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 trade negotiations with the United States under the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal on UK food safety standards of agriculture provision.

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

On 8 May 2025, the UK Government announced a landmark economic deal with the US that included new reciprocal market access on beef – giving UK farmers a guaranteed quota for 13,000 metric tonnes of beef exports.

All food imports into the UK, including those agreed with the US, must comply with all of the UK’s import requirements, including sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules. Decisions on food safety standards are always made in the interest of protecting human, animal or plant life or health in the UK.

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 review the proposed timelines to implement the safety measures required for the transition to alternative refrigerants with flammability or toxicity characteristics in the consultation entitled Amending the hydrofluorocarbon phasedown schedule, published on 5 November 2025.

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

Information submitted through the consultation, which closed on 17 December 2024, is being used to inform our consideration of next steps. A response and an outline of next steps will be published on GOV.UK in due course.

Other regulatory changes may be considered in the future in relation to fluorinated gases (which include hydrofluorocarbons). The UK Government, in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, is committed to further exploring areas for reform considered out of scope of last year’s consultation. This includes assessing the situation regarding training on alternatives to fluorinated gases.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled Amending the hydrofluorocarbon phasedown schedule, published on 5 November 2025.

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

Information submitted through the consultation, which closed on 17 December 2024, is being used to inform our consideration of next steps. A response and an outline of next steps will be published on GOV.UK in due course.

Other regulatory changes may be considered in the future in relation to fluorinated gases (which include hydrofluorocarbons). The UK Government, in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, is committed to further exploring areas for reform considered out of scope of last year’s consultation. This includes assessing the situation regarding training on alternatives to fluorinated gases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the UK-US Pharmaceuticals Deal concluded in December 2025 on (a) NHS procurement costs and (b) consumer access to affordable medicines before any provisions of that Deal take effect.

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

There are no current plans to publish an impact assessment or modelling on the United Kingdom and United States’ pharmaceutical trade deal. Further detail on the deal will be shared in due course.

Tens of thousands of National Health Service patients will benefit from this deal, which will secure and expand access to vital drugs, and thereby safeguard our medicines supply chain.

Costs will start smaller but will increase over time as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approves more life improving and lifesaving medicines. Total costs over the Spending Review period are expected to be approximately £1 billion. The final costs will depend on which medicines NICE recommends and the actual uptake of these.

This deal is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our NHS and world leading life sciences sector, without taking essential funding from our frontline NHS services.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed increase in English language requirements to B2 level on Hong Kong families using the British National (Overseas) visa route where household members have varying levels of educational attainment.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.

BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements.

We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation. An impact assessment will be developed alongside the finalised policy and published in due course.

In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply, including the current B1 English language requirement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what level of recurrent funding has been identified to fund new treatments through NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group Prioritisation meeting.

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

The Clinical Priorities Advisory Group is an advisory committee that makes recommendations on the relative priority of treatments to be commissioned subject to the available discretionary funding. It is not a decision-making body and does not allocate funds or have a budget for approving new treatments. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/cpag/

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) total number of full-time equivalent customer service staff employed by HM Revenue and Customs was in each of the last ten financial years and (b) number of these positions that were based in (i) call centres, (ii) face-to-face service locations and (iii) digital support teams.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC operates a flexible resourcing model, meaning staff are deployed across different types of customer service work throughout the year. This approach allows the department to direct people to the areas of highest demand, whether that is helplines, post correspondence, webchat, or other customer contact channels. Because staff move between these activities as demand changes, HMRC does not separate out staffing into specific categories.

However, HMRC can provide overall full‑time equivalent figures for Customer Services from 2019-20 to 2024-25, noting that these staff may work across several frontline customer service functions depending on business need.

HMRC is unable to provide figures prior to 2019-20 because doing so would exceed the cost threshold for answering written parliamentary questions. This is due to the information, where it is available, being held across multiple systems that do not align with current reporting definitions, and producing the data would require significant separate interrogation and analysis.

Average number of frontline customer service staff (000):

• 2019-20: 20.0
• 2020-21: 19.6
• 2021-22: 19.2
• 2022-23: 19.4
• 2023-24: 18.2
• 2024-25: 17.4

Most customers are satisfied with the service they are receiving from HMRC. Satisfaction with phone, webchat and digital services was 80.0% to the end of November 2025-26, meeting their 80% customer satisfaction target. Customer satisfaction with digital services is consistently above 80% (82.9% up to the end of November 2025-26).

Notes:

1. Staff numbers represent averages of monthly data.
2. Numbers include permanent and temporary staff for HMRC Customer Services Group. Numbers are for full-time equivalents.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what digital resources his Department provides to support small and medium-sized enterprises with exporting.

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

The Department for Business and Trade has integrated its support for SMEs in a single, accessible place – the Business Growth Service – making it easier and quicker for businesses to access the right support at the right time.

Business.gov.uk hosts our online export offer and is the route into DBT’s wider network of export support. Businesses can access a wealth of information on exporting, including advice on paperwork, rules of origin, customs duties, and regulations.

The support available also includes the Business Academy, which offers free online training through webinars to help businesses build market knowledge and export capability.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce regulatory barriers for exporting businesses through digitisation.

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

DBT is taking steps to reduce regulatory barriers for exporting businesses by supporting the uptake of digitalised trade processes. Through the Digital Trade Corridors programme, focused on key European markets such as France and Germany, we are identifying regulatory and policy barriers and encouraging businesses to adopt digital tools. This is complemented by an SME capability programme helping smaller firms benefit from digitalisation. Internationally, the UK works with partners, including through UNCITRAL, the WTO, and the Commonwealth, as well as bilaterally through Trade Committees and Dialogues, to promote legal and regulatory harmonisation.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average time taken to complete earnings assessments for carers in receipt of Carer's Allowance who undertake part-time self-employment; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing monthly online income reporting for self-employed carers to streamline the assessment process.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

For most self-employed earners the department relies on their accounts to calculate the relevant weekly net earnings figure for Carer’s Allowance (CA) purposes. The modernisation of DWP IT systems will provide the foundation to deliver DWP’s long-term strategy to improve how earnings are treated in CA. This is being explored through discovery work to explore potential solutions including the automation of earnings.

The department does not collect data on the average time taken to complete earnings assessments for unpaid carers in receipt of CA who are self-employed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the repayment term for post-2012 student loans being set at 40 years on (a) graduates in lower-paid or insecure employment, (b) social mobility and (c) students from lower-income backgrounds.

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

The repayment term for Plan 2 loans is 30 years. They were designed and implemented by previous governments. Students in England starting degrees under this government have different arrangements.

The student loan system is designed to protect borrowers, and repayments are determined by income, not the amount borrowed or the rate of interest. Borrowers only start repaying their student loan once earnings exceed the threshold, after which they pay 9% of income above that level. To protect lower earners, if a borrower’s earnings drop, so do their repayments, and if earnings fall below the repayment threshold, then they repay nothing at all.

After 30 years any outstanding loan and interest is cancelled at the end of the loan term, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants. A borrower on Plan 2 entering repayment at age 21 would have any outstanding loan amount written off at age 51. No commercial loan offers this level of protection.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consumer rights legislation provides adequate protection for purchasers of cloud-dependent products when manufacturers end service provision.

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

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods or digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for a particular purpose and as described by the seller.

A trader can upgrade, fix, enhance and improve the features of, or add new features to, digital content so long as it continues to match any description given by the trader. It must also continue to conform with any pre-contract information as to main characteristics, functionality, and compatibility provided by the trader.

Consumers in England and Wales are encouraged to report any concerns to the Citizens Advice consumer service, who will pass intelligence to Trading Standards, allowing them to act upon areas where consumers are experiencing the most harm.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of current consumer protection legislation in relation to manufacturers ending software support for connected consumer devices; and whether he plans to introduce minimum software support period requirements for smart home technology.

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

The government does not currently have any plans to introduce a minimum support period for smart home technology.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods or digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for a particular purpose and as described by the seller. A trader can upgrade, fix, enhance and improve the features of, or add new features to, digital content so long as it continues to match any description given by the trader. It must also continue to conform with any pre-contract information as to main characteristics, functionality and compatibility provided by the trader.

Consumers in England and Wales are encouraged to report any concerns to the Citizens Advice consumer service, who will pass intelligence to Trading Standards, allowing them to understand and act upon areas where consumers are experiencing the most harm.

Conduct of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Business rates reform and revaluation

Funding for rural fire and rescue services

Curlew populations

Covid Day of Reflection 2026

Cardiac risk in the young

Relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Palantir and the NHS

Dual nationals without British passports

Peace, democracy and accountability in Syria

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

New US sanctions on Cuba

River Meon

Child protection from illicit vapes

Harrogate named UK’s most welcoming destination for 2026

Tetbury Area Youth and Community Trust

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026

Community sport spaces and Sport England

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

Community spaces

Playing fields

Buying community energy locally

Radiotherapy in the National Cancer Plan

Refugee homelessness and the asylum move-on period

Removal of statutory consultee status from Sport England

Public inquiry into Epstein links

Peter Quinney

Grey belt policy and the impact on villages and rural communities

Harm caused by exposure to sodium valproate

World Cancer Day and breast cancer

Stamp Duty liability for periodic tenancies

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Artificial Intelligence chatbots

Flooding as a result of Storm Chandra

Signing of the Hamburg Declaration

Public toilet provision

Situation in Iran

90th anniversary of the Spitfire

World Cancer Day

N-Fest

Empty chairs

Lessons in storm resilience

UK digital sovereignty strategy

Found: Madders (Labour; Ellesmere Port and Bromborough) Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat; Witney) Mr Joshua Reynolds

Found: John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar; Justin Madders; Charlie Maynard; Mr Joshua Reynolds

Found: John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar; Justin Madders; Charlie Maynard; Mr Joshua Reynolds

Found: John Cooper; Sarah Edwards; Alison Griffiths; Sonia Kumar; Justin Madders; Charlie Maynard; Mr Joshua Reynolds

Found: Madders (Labour; Ellesmere Port and Bromborough) Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat; Witney) Mr Joshua Reynolds

Found: Madders (Labour; Ellesmere Port and Bromborough) Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat; Witney) Mr Joshua Reynolds

Found: Madders (Labour; Ellesmere Port and Bromborough) Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat; Witney) Mr Joshua Reynolds

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to Question 100196, what steps her Department is taking to bring forward legislation to end the sale of peat for horticultural use; and whether she plans to accelerate the proposed implementation timeline.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Maidenhead, Joshua Reynolds, on 18 December 2025, PQ UIN 100196.