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 the work of the British Council.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Warm Home Discount is provided to eligible claimants who have their bills included in their rent.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Earlier this year, the Government consulted on broadening Warm Home Discount eligibility to include households whose energy costs are included in their rent. However, it was not feasible to take this forward without increasing the cost of the scheme for all consumers. We recognise the challenges this presents and continue to keep eligibility under review.

We recognise the importance of ensuring that those in rented accommodation live in warm, energy-efficient homes. This is why we recently consulted on raising minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector. We received a significant number of responses and will publish our response in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trussell Trust’s Guarantee our Essentials research, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of uplifting Universal Credit to £120 per week.

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

The purpose of the standard allowance is to provide towards basic living costs. Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs.

Around 4 million households will benefit overall from the Government’s decision to increase the Universal Credit standard allowance – estimated to be worth £725 annually by 2029/30 in cash terms based on Spring Statement 2025 economic assumptions - £250 annually above inflation for a single household aged 25 or over.

We have uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) increase capacity and (b) reduce inequalities in accessing respiratory diagnosis.

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

The Government is committed to increasing the capacity of respiratory services and is improving access to these services through new community diagnostic centres (CDCs).

All standard and large CDCs are required to offer diagnostic respiratory tests such as spirometry and full lung function tests as part of their core testing offer.

The 2025/26 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding is being allocated to support National Health Service performance across secondary and emergency care across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes funding to enable the completion of 2024/25 CDC schemes, as well as to expand existing and build new CDCs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will take steps to help ensure that health (a) boards and (b) trusts (i) collect and (ii) publish data on the provision of respiratory diagnostics.

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

Activity and waiting times for the main respiratory tests, for instance spirometry and lung function tests, are not included in the National Diagnostic Activity and Waiting Times Collection.

However, NHS England undertakes a number of internal assurance data collection exercises on activity and waiting times. The National Diagnostic Programme undertakes an annual snap-shot data collection on respiratory diagnostics to understand the levels of activity and waiting times for a range of respiratory tests within trusts across England.

NHS England’s Respiratory Programme, in collaboration with national stakeholders, has also developed a standardised spirometry data capture template. This tool is designed to support integrated care boards in consistently recording and reporting spirometry activity, enabling improved oversight, service planning, and equitable access to respiratory diagnostics.

There are no current plans to publish these collections.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the requirement for landlords to apply for at least five parking spaces to qualify for the electric vehicle infrastructure grant.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The requirement for landlords to apply for at least five parking spaces applies to the Staff and Fleets and Residential Landlords infrastructure grants within the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant (EVCG). The requirement is in place to encourage landlords to consider future needs when installing charging infrastructure in commercial and residential car parks.

The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles continually monitors and reviews grants to optimise delivery and value for money.

Local government and social care

Sodium valproate and surgical mesh redress

Scams and fraud

Conduct of the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby

Found: Chair of the Committee on Standards) Mary Curnock Cook CBE (Lay Member) Tina Fahm (Lay Member) Marie Goldman