Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department made of the potential impact of onboard connectivity and mobile signal coverage on productivity and passenger experience on long-distance rail services in the South West.

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

The Department is committed to improving on-train Wi-Fi for passengers, including on the Great Western Railways route, where poor connectivity remains an issue. That is why we have secured £57 million as part of the recent Spending Review to improve on train Wi-Fi using low earth orbit satellite connectivity on our mainline trains, which will include services on the Great Western Railways route. Officials have also been working with the Peninsula Taskforce and Motion Applied on the trial Peninsula Taskforce funded to test low earth orbit and 5G connectivity. The tests on the train itself have evidently been successful. Other operators, such as London North Eastern Railways, have also shown that low earth orbit technology provides high speeds – up to 200 megabits per second, enabling passengers to receive a much better mobile connection through the on-train Wi-Fi than they receive today.

Network Rail's Project Reach will also address mobile connectivity in 57 key mainline tunnels, which include ones on the Great Western Railways route, and this will complement the low earth orbit solution.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the pilot of enhanced onboard Wi-Fi services on Great Western Railway routes in the South West and South Wales.

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

The Department is committed to improving on-train Wi-Fi for passengers, including on the Great Western Railways route, where poor connectivity remains an issue. That is why we have secured £57 million as part of the recent Spending Review to improve on train Wi-Fi using low earth orbit satellite connectivity on our mainline trains, which will include services on the Great Western Railways route. Officials have also been working with the Peninsula Taskforce and Motion Applied on the trial Peninsula Taskforce funded to test low earth orbit and 5G connectivity. The tests on the train itself have evidently been successful. Other operators, such as London North Eastern Railways, have also shown that low earth orbit technology provides high speeds – up to 200 megabits per second, enabling passengers to receive a much better mobile connection through the on-train Wi-Fi than they receive today.

Network Rail's Project Reach will also address mobile connectivity in 57 key mainline tunnels, which include ones on the Great Western Railways route, and this will complement the low earth orbit solution.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to support the rollout of enhanced onboard Wi-Fi services across Great Western Railway routes.

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

The Department is committed to improving on-train Wi-Fi for passengers, including on the Great Western Railways route, where poor connectivity remains an issue. That is why we have secured £57 million as part of the recent Spending Review to improve on train Wi-Fi using low earth orbit satellite connectivity on our mainline trains, which will include services on the Great Western Railways route. Officials have also been working with the Peninsula Taskforce and Motion Applied on the trial Peninsula Taskforce funded to test low earth orbit and 5G connectivity. The tests on the train itself have evidently been successful. Other operators, such as London North Eastern Railways, have also shown that low earth orbit technology provides high speeds – up to 200 megabits per second, enabling passengers to receive a much better mobile connection through the on-train Wi-Fi than they receive today.

Network Rail's Project Reach will also address mobile connectivity in 57 key mainline tunnels, which include ones on the Great Western Railways route, and this will complement the low earth orbit solution.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department’s award notice entitled UK5 - Transparency Notice, published 17 December 2025, what definition the Department uses for technical lock‑in.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence does not use a single formal definition of ‘technical lock in’. In the context of the referenced award, the term is used to describe situations where changing a supplier would create disproportionate operational technical difficulty, disruption, or incompatibility with existing systems.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of adult social care capacity on delivering the 10-year health plan.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

A fairly paid adult social care workforce with the right training, qualifications, and values will be able to provide high quality tailored care and support to those who need it and will support the priorities that we set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, namely shifting care from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treating sickness to promoting prevention.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government’s aims to shift towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and wrap around people’s lives to help people stay independent for longer. This speaks to the heart of what adult social care, done well, already is. More integrated working between the National Health Service, adult social care, local government, and civil society will be crucial to the delivery of neighbourhood health.

The Government recognises the scale of the reforms needed to make the adult social care sector attractive, to support sustainable workforce growth, and improve the recruitment and retention of the workforce. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028 to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce, backed by £500 million of new investment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is provided to recruit and retain staff in coastal and rural health economies such as Torbay and South Devon.

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

Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether interim capital support will be provided for the estate at Torbay Hospital ahead of full redevelopment.

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

We are supporting the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust to ensure Torbay Hospital remains safe, comfortable, and capable of delivering high quality National Health Service care ahead of the delivery of a replacement hospital. As a first step towards this, Torbay Hospital received over £9.7 million from the Estates Safety Fund in 2025/26 for vital works.

The Estates Safety Fund will continue over the next nine years with a total of £6.75 billion of investment to continue addressing poor quality estate. The NHS South West Region, responsible for Torbay Hospital, has been allocated £271.2 million from the Estates Safety Fund for the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period, alongside a further £339.0 million in planning assumption to 2034/35.

The regional teams are currently prioritising the funding between hospital sites across the South West, including allocations for this financial year, and will be considering the needs of Torbay Hospital as part of this process.

In addition to national capital, the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust has been allocated £82.4 million in operational capital across 2026/27 to 2029/30, which can be allocated to local priorities, including estates works.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the scope of the Torbay Hospital rebuild has been revised in the context of the 10-year health plan.

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

The scope of individual New Hospital Programme (NHP) schemes, including Torbay Hospital, are only confirmed and agreed through the approval of a Full Business Case. The NHP will build “right-sized” hospitals, based on consistent and robust assumptions appropriate for local health needs that supports the shift from hospital to community care. To support this, the programme has developed a National Health Service demand and capacity model reflecting demographic change, including population growth, which will inform future business case development.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the average increase in energy costs for small businesses since 2021.

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

The department publishes statistics on the price paid for electricity and gas by the non-domestic sector.

Industrial energy price statistics - GOV.UK

This includes tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 outlining the prices of fuels purchased by non-domestic consumers split by consumption size band.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to introduce targeted support for small businesses facing significant increases in energy costs.

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

Through our Clean Power 2030 mission we are accelerating the transition to clean, homegrown electricity to shield end-users from the volatility of fossil fuel prices and to deliver reliable, affordable energy to every part of the UK economy.

A significant proportion of businesses are on fixed-term contracts that shield them from market volatility for the contract duration. However, we recognise that at the point of contracting, businesses are exposed to international fossil fuel markets, and clearly, for both businesses and consumers, much will depend on the length of this crisis.

Just as we are looking across Government at the situation that households face, the Government is absolutely focused on the impact of the crisis on business and industry, and we will not hesitate to act.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the top risks are to delivering the Neighbourhood Health Framework; and how those risks are mitigated in areas with ageing hospital infrastructure such as Torbay.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to empower local leaders to develop and scale neighbourhood health. Risks to delivery include workforce capacity and capability, the need for effective collaboration across local partners, and the ability to align neighbourhood health models with existing estate and infrastructure.

These risks are mitigated through a locally led and deliberately non-prescriptive approach. The framework sets national minimum aims and objectives but enables systems to build on what already works locally and prioritise activity according to population need and local context.

We are committed to addressing the risks posed by poor quality infrastructure and ensuring facilities, like Torbay Hospital, remain safe, comfortable, and capable of delivering the 10-Year Health Plan’s radical vision for National Health Service care.

As a first step towards this, Torbay Hospital received over £9.7 million from the Estates Safety Fund in 2025/26 for vital works. The Estates Safety Fund will continue over the next nine years with a total of £6.75 billion of investment to carry on addressing the poor quality of the estate. The regional teams are currently prioritising the funding between hospital sites across the South West, including allocations for this financial year, and will be considering the needs of Torbay Hospital as part of this process.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how NHS organisations will remain financially sustainable where activity is shifted out of acute settings.

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

Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the National Health Service in England identified that the NHS’s current financial trajectory is not sustainable, and that spending has risen sharply and productivity has fallen. We are clear that without reform, rising demand, an ageing population, and inefficiencies will cause the NHS to crowd out other public services, undermining long‑term sustainability of the NHS.

The reforms we have set out in the 10-Year Health Plan will ensure that the NHS has long-term sustainability, by shifting from hospital to community care to deliver care that is cheaper and more effective, by shifting from analogue to digital to raise productivity and reduce unit costs, and by shifting from sickness to prevention. Our plan is to bend the cost curve in acute services, so that costs grow more slowly via a combination of shift activity to community settings and increasing productivity. As per existing funding arrangements, acute providers will be fully funded for all activity they undertake.

To ensure that NHS organisations remain financially sustainable during these reforms, we have published the Medium-Term Planning Framework 2026/27 to 2028/29, published in October 2025, which required integrated care boards and NHS providers to complete an integrated planning process with their three‑year numerical plans and five‑year narratives for the commissioning and delivery of NHS services, including the shift from hospital to community over this three year period. These plans will ensure that reform is delivered in a managed way that protects the financial sustainability of NHS organisations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is that shifting care into community settings will reduce waiting times and improve patient outcomes.

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

Shifting care into community settings is at the heart of the Government’s efforts to modernise and improve productivity in the National Health Service. Our vision is for a new model of planned care that is local where possible. This shift will provide rapid access to patient-centred services.

The Elective Reform Plan sets out our plan to deliver care in the right place, so patients are able to access the right care more quickly. This includes, for example, expanding the use of Advice and Guidance (A&G), which helps general practitioners and hospital specialists to work together to make the best treatment plans for patients, and decide whether a hospital referral is truly needed.

Where the outcome of A&G is for care management in the community, we expect patients to be seen more quickly, closer to home, benefiting from earlier specialist input. Ensuring patients receive the right care the first time can reduce the waiting list, so that people who need hospital care can receive it in a timely manner.

The plan is working. The waiting list has decreased to 7.22 million in February 2026, a drop of over 405,000 since July 2024. 18-week performance has improved by over 3% from the start of July 2024. The number of waits over 18 weeks has decreased to 2.7 million in February 2026, the lowest it’s been since July 2022.

Protection and restoration of ancient woodland

Torbay Hospital

Endometriosis Awareness Month 2026

Funding for rural fire and rescue services

King's Guard's ceremonial bearskin caps

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Mountain rescue in Cumbria

Food Bill

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance

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AI model sizes and data volumes are growing significantly. At the same time, areas like quantum computing and protein synthesis also require increasing amounts of computational power.