Kirsteen Sullivan

All faith communities with listed buildings are still waiting for clarity from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on what will happen when the current scheme ends in March 2026. Over 200 MPs have raised concerns in the past year about the future of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This uncertainty is already delaying essential repairs and community projects. In the Hon Lady for Bathgate and Linlithgow’s constituency, for example, St Michael’s Church is preparing major repairs to its roof and walls, which the Kirk anticipates costing £1.1 million.

In my role as the Second Church Estates Commissioner, I met the Minister for Heritage just before Christmas and was assured that the Government will publish the evaluation report and provide an update on the future of the scheme soon. I continue to work closely with the Church Buildings Department of the Church Commissioners, other partners, and faith communities to ensure a sustainable long-term solution for our buildings. I also discussed with the Minister how historic churches serve as anchors of local identity and community life. Historic places of worship contribute an estimated £55 billion in social value, and the National Churches Trust has shown that every £1 invested in a church generates £16 in community benefit.

While I am not responsible for churches in Scotland, I will write to the hon. Member for Bathgate and Linlithgow to introduce her to the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office, which can offer more tailored local advice and support.

We recognise the impact that many different conditions related to menstruation can have on a woman’s ability to perform at her best; introducing action plans will encourage steps that benefit women with these conditions. Crucially, we believe that plans will open up space to have broader discussions about women’s health in the workplace.

In formulating action plans, and accompanying guidance, we will recognise that there are actions that can help people in a range of circumstances. Officials have been engaging with employers as well as a range of organisations in the women’s health space, including those looking specifically at menstrual conditions, as part of policy development. They will continue to do so as the work progresses, and when devising supporting guidance.

On 20 May, the EHRC opened its consultation on the changes made to the draft updated statutory Code of Practice following the Supreme Court ruling. This consultation is open until 30 June.

We will consider the EHRC's final draft Code of Practice once it has been submitted and engage with them to ensure it provides the clarity service providers need, in line with the Supreme Court ruling.

Once the final draft is agreed, we will follow the correct parliamentary process.

I am proud that progress is being made, with 40% of MPs now women, but we want to see this replicated at all levels of Government. Last summer my Ministerial colleague Bridget Philipson met with members of 50:50 Parliament, where they discussed the importance of gender equality in parliament and the barriers that women can face.

The government is committed to commencing the Equality Act 2010’s provision requiring registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selections. We are currently exploring when to commence the section 106 provisions. We believe that every party has a duty to demonstrate greater progress towards better representation of the population that they seek to serve.

The British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) and the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) regularly discuss Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) matters, including trading standards’ market surveillance of PPE. BSIF and OPSS engage through direct dialogue, BSIF’s attendance at OPSS’ business reference panels and other events, and OPSS attendance at BSIF’s PPE Test and Certification Bodies Group meetings.

As required by Regulation 2016/425, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) must meet essential health and safety requirements before being placed on the market, including online. The Personal Protective Equipment (Enforcement) Regulations 2018 provides the framework to enforce these regulations.

We recognise the challenge of non-compliant products sold online. Government will consult on major reforms to the core product safety legislative framework in early 2026. This will include proposals to modernise and clarify responsibilities of online marketplaces using the powers in the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025.

The Government strongly supports the principle of provision of inclusive personal protective equipment (PPE). While the Government does not routinely endorse individual standards, it may designate certain standards to confer a presumption of conformity for regulatory purposes, or sponsor fast-track standards such as PAS and FLEX to support specific policy objectives.

BS 30417 is a guidance standard to help organisations procure inclusive and appropriate PPE. It does not set testing or design specifications and is not intended for designation under current product regulations.

Under UK law, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers and importers are responsible for the compliance of PPE placed on the market. As an intelligence-led and risk-based national regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) prioritises its regulatory activity, which includes product testing, border targeting, market surveillance, enforcement and advice, to best tackle non-compliance and protect consumers. Numbers of notifications to OPSS and published product safety alerts and reports for non-compliant PPE since 2021 are:

During targeted PPE testing conducted by OPSS between October 2021 and September 2022, 276 out of 315 products did not meet regulatory requirements.

Under UK law, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers and importers are responsible for the compliance of PPE placed on the market. As an intelligence-led and risk-based national regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) prioritises its regulatory activity, which includes product testing, border targeting, market surveillance, enforcement and advice, to best tackle non-compliance and protect consumers. Numbers of notifications to OPSS and published product safety alerts and reports for non-compliant PPE since 2021 are:

During targeted PPE testing conducted by OPSS between October 2021 and September 2022, 276 out of 315 products did not meet regulatory requirements.

Ofgem has published a Multi-Criteria Assessment Framework to determine which Long Duration Electricity Storage projects will be awarded a cap and floor regime. This framework examines each project across an economic, strategic and financial assessment. Ofgem will assess the impact of each project on the Socio-Economic Welfare of consumers, producers and the LDES asset owners themselves, alongside wider impacts on the GB electricity system and wider social and economic impacts. Ofgem plans to take an in-the-round approach of not setting weightings in advance between these assessments.

My Department and Great British Energy have engaged extensively with the community energy sector in developing the Local Power Plan.

I will shortly be making a statement to this House about the Local Power Plan which represents an unprecedented £1bn investment in community energy across our country.

Repurposing existing offshore and onshore infrastructure could make a significant contribution to the UK’s drive to net-zero. In 2022, analysis by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) identified more than 100 pipelines which could be suitable for CCS or hydrogen projects.

The NSTA supports government and others to identify opportunities for repurposing, including for carbon dioxide or offshore hydrogen transportation and storage projects.

We are already seeing this in practice. HyNet will be served by a combination of new and existing infrastructure, with more than 90 miles of offshore and onshore pipeline being repurposed.

The government is working with regulators to ensure that the future telecommunications requirements of the energy, water and transport sectors are understood. And the government will draw on the National Infrastructure Commission’s analysis for the forthcoming 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy.

We are working with stakeholders, including local authorities, on how GBE could support local and community energy.

The UK will work closely with Scottish Government on this matter as part of the Vision Statement signed in October which committed to exploring joint working on community energy.

The government is considering how it can support the development of telecommunications infrastructure for a decarbonised energy system, and whether spectrum access would be appropriate. As part of this, my officials are in regular discussion with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ofgem and Ofcom on energy system telecommunications needs.

Future funding of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme beyond March 2026 will be considered as we work through the output of the Spending Review and Departmental business planning process. An announcement will be made once this decision is finalised.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department does not hold any data on these specific issues. It is for individual schools to deliver the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, using the statutory guidance which came into force in September 2020.

In July 2025 we updated the RSHE statutory guidance with regard to menstrual and gynaecological health, to include specific examples of period problems, including pre-menstrual syndrome, heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, and to ensure pupils understand when to seek help from healthcare professionals. The new curriculum comes into force from September 2026. The updated statutory guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The statutory guidance is clear that schools are accountable for what they teach and should ensure that all relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) content is factual, age-appropriate and suitable for their pupils.

The government has commissioned Oak National Academy (Oak) to make lesson materials freely available. Oak is an independent arm’s length body that provides free, optional and adaptable curriculum and teaching resources to schools. As part of its RSHE curriculum resources, Oak has recently published new online safety lessons, covering topics such as misogyny, the prevalence of deepfakes, and reporting unsuitable content, amongst many others. Oak will publish its full RSHE curriculum resources from autumn 2025.

To further support teachers with taking on these important topics, we will be piloting a teacher training grant, starting early 2026.

Through the HGV parking and driver welfare grant scheme the Department for Transport and industry partners are projected to deliver up to £35.7m of joint investment to enhance truck stops across England. This investment is in addition to joint investment by National Highways and industry of up to a further £30 million, aimed at improving lorry parking facilities along the strategic road network.

The scheme is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve driver facilities such as security measures, toilets, showers, refreshment facilities and increasing lorry parking spaces.

Through the HGV parking and driver welfare grant scheme the Department for Transport and industry partners are projected to deliver up to £35.7m of joint investment to enhance truck stops across England. This significant investment is in addition to joint investment by National Highways and industry of up to a further £30 million, aimed at improving lorry parking facilities along the strategic road network.

The scheme is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve driver facilities such as security measures, toilets, showers, refreshment facilities and increasing lorry parking spaces.

The Department for Transport published the National Survey of Lorry Parking on 29th September 2022 which highlighted what improvements to lorry parking facilities were most needed. The survey showed an average shortage of around 4,500 HGV parking spaces for the month of March 2022 and identified driver concerns with the quality of welfare facilities and security of lorry parks.

The Department and industry are significantly investing to upgrade truckstops across England. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network.

Drivers are now seeing the improvements that the scheme has been able to support with more in development. The scheme is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve driver facilities such as security measures, toilets, showers, refreshment facilities and increasing lorry parking spaces.

A decision on future funding for HGV parking is subject to further departmental business planning.

When setting SAF policy, we have to carefully balance a range of factors including potential cost impacts on airlines and passengers and the need to drive decarbonisation across the transport sector.

We continue to monitor trends in the SAF market and will review our assumptions where necessary when developing policies such as the revenue certainty mechanism which aims to support SAF production in the UK.

We recognise that SAF is more expensive than jet fuel. This is why the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate has been designed to protect against excessive costs. The SAF Mandate also has a built-in review process so the Government can take action to change scheme parameters if necessary. The pricing of SAF are commercial decisions for the market though we are working to further understand interactions between the SAF Mandate and SAF pricing. We are engaging with relevant stakeholders – including airports, airlines, fuel suppliers and trade associations to do this.