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 effectiveness of regional investment groups introduced under the SME Finance Charter.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The SME Finance Charter was an awareness-raising initiative introduced in 2019 and updated in 2022 following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The British Business Bank's Nations and Regions Investment Funds provide debt and equity finance to businesses outside London. They are designed to support business growth in local communities by crowding in additional private investment for areas that have historically been underserved. The success of these funds to date was recognised at Spending Review with funding confirmed to allow for expansion.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the Great Western Railway franchise fleet maintenance regime.

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

My officials receive regular updates from Great Western Railway (GWR) with regard to its train fleet. Detailed maintenance arrangements are a matter for GWR, its maintenance providers and the rolling stock owning companies. GWR works closely with its maintainers and the supply chain to source parts to maintain the trains as required. In recent months GWR working with Hitachi has seen more consistent availability of its intercity fleet. The procurement of 26 Class 175 trains will also provide additional rolling stock resilience across the network.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the mechanical adequacy of Great Western Railway's fleet of trains.

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

My officials receive regular updates from Great Western Railway (GWR) with regard to its train fleet. Detailed maintenance arrangements are a matter for GWR, its maintenance providers and the rolling stock owning companies. GWR works closely with its maintainers and the supply chain to source parts to maintain the trains as required. In recent months GWR working with Hitachi has seen more consistent availability of its intercity fleet. The procurement of 26 Class 175 trains will also provide additional rolling stock resilience across the network.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of awarding the General Service Medal to military veterans who served in Aden during the early 1960s.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The award of the General Service Medal (GSM) for those who served in Aden during the early 1960s would be a matter for the independent Advisory Military Sub-Committee (AMSC) to consider, rather than the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The AMSC is a sub-committee of the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) at the Cabinet Office which provides advice to The Sovereign on honours and medals.

The qualification period for the GSM for service in Aden has previously been considered by the Committee. It was decided that there would be no retrospective issue of the GSM for service between July 1960 and April 1964 as there was insufficient evidence to justify overturning the decisions made at the time. Whilst the MOD has no plans to review this case, this does nothing to lessen our appreciation of the professionalism, courage and contribution of all those who served in Aden.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department will have direct responsibility for the quality of (a) hot drinks and (b) other catering on nationalised rail services.

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

Catering services are a matter for each train operating company, whether publicly or privately owned, and they are responsible for their catering offer. The Department expects operators to tailor their catering provision to local needs while driving value for the taxpayer.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential conflict between the impact of exemptions to copyright law for AI development on the creative sector and the creative sector being listed as an area growth in the Industrial Strategy.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The government’s Industrial Strategy identifies eight growth-driving sectors with the greatest growth potential over the next decade including the Creative Industries, with more detail in the Creative Industries Sector Plan.

As part of this, we have said it is important to ensure that the copyright regime values and protects human creativity, can be trusted and unlocks new opportunities for innovation. The government has committed to set out a detailed economic impact assessment on all options under consideration following its consultation on Copyright and AI.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press release of 15 May 2025 entitled Media law reforms to boost press sustainability and protect independence, whether a company (a) wholly owned by and (b) under the majority control of the Chinese government would be permitted to buy a stake of up to 15 per cent in a UK newspaper.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The new foreign state intervention (FSI) regime, set out in the Entreprise Act 2002, seeks to preserve the freedom of the press. It applies to all foreign powers that may seek to acquire control or influence a UK newspaper or news periodical and will be applied case by case based on the facts presented.

Our assessment on the potential impact of foreign states investing in UK Newspapers can be found in my Written Statement Ministerial of 15 May 2025 - Official Report Vol 767 Col 17WS.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Mergers Involving Newspaper Enterprises and Foreign Powers) Regulations 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the partial ownership of UK newspapers by foreign governments on (a) democracy and (b) national security in the UK.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The new foreign state intervention (FSI) regime, set out in the Entreprise Act 2002, seeks to preserve the freedom of the press. It applies to all foreign powers that may seek to acquire control or influence a UK newspaper or news periodical and will be applied case by case based on the facts presented.

Our assessment on the potential impact of foreign states investing in UK Newspapers can be found in my Written Statement Ministerial of 15 May 2025 - Official Report Vol 767 Col 17WS.

Refusal of Citizenship to refugees who have made irregular crossings

Remembering PC Ian Minett

Longlevens Mixed Ability Rugby Team champions

Pavement parking

Palantir Technologies, Peter Thiel and the NHS (No. 2)

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Found: Bradley Ms Stella Creasy Lisa Smart Siân Berry Munira Wilson Martin Wrigley Monica Harding Max Wilkinson