Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the condition of roads in Stockport constituency; and what recent funding has been allocated there for pothole repairs.

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

The Department published a new traffic light rating system for all local highway authorities in England on 11 January which rates authorities red, amber or green based on: the condition of their roads, how much they spend to maintain their roads, and whether they do so using best practice. This system allows the Government to target support to places that need extra help and red-rated authorities will receive dedicated support to bring them in line with best practice.

Stockport received an overall amber rating, with individual scorecards showing amber for condition, green for spend and amber for best practice.

More information on the ratings is available online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

Stockport sits within the Greater Manchester Combined County Authority (GMCA). GMCA receives baseline highways maintenance funding through its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) which runs from 2022-27. In 2026/27, GMCA will also receive £15.5 million in highways incentive funding. From 2027/28, all highways maintenance funding will be consolidated into GMCA’s £2.4 billion Transport for City Regions (TCR) capital settlement, which will provide the bulk of future funding.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increased stamp prices for businesses on affordability for consumers of those products, such as magazine media.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As an independent business, Royal Mail’s management sets the prices for its services. The government does not have a role in the company’s day-to-day commercial or operational decisions. In setting its prices however, Royal Mail must work within the regulatory framework set by Ofcom, the independent regulator.

Affordability is at the heart of Ofcom's regulatory regime, and it continues to monitor the market, including affordability and impacts on both consumers and businesses. Ofcom is conducting a review of pricing and affordability and will consult on any proposals ahead of the expiry of the current control on Second Class letter prices in early 2027.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the number of fraudulent Blue Badges in circulation in (a) Stockport constituency, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) England.

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

The department does not collect data on the number of fraudulent Blue Badges in circulation. Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of the scheme in their area and have been given powers to crack down on fraud and misuse, helping to protect the rights of those who rely on the Blue Badge scheme.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent assessment of the risks associated with the use of paraquat.

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

It has been illegal to sell or use paraquat since 2007. As paraquat has been off the UK market for a number of years, HSE has not carried out a recent risk assessment.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the UK’s flour milling industry.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government values the contribution of the flour milling sector, with around 85 percent of wheat coming from home grown production, providing a stable, reliable market for British farmers. Domestic production supports arable farm viability and reduces exposure to international shocks. Government has made a firm commitment to the farming and food security.

Defra invests to support farmers and in turn strengthen the raw material base on which flour millers depend, including through Environmental Land Management schemes which reward sustainable practices and improve soil health and long-term productivity. These are designed to enhance the resilience and profitability of arable farmers, including in the cereals sector.

Defra invests in innovation and research to help farmers adopt more efficient and sustainable practices, such as precision agriculture and crop breeding.

Defra engages regularly with industry stakeholders, including the Milling sector. The UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group provides early warning of atypical market movements by tracking trends in prices, inputs, and trade.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department’s forthcoming Road Safety Strategy will include measures to tackle illegal driving instructors.

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

The Government’s Road Safety Strategy was published on 7 January 2026. The DVSA investigates reports, carries out targeted enforcement and prosecutes illegal driving instructors, with cases leading to significant fines and criminal convictions, including prison sentences.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she has considered the merits of extending Pupil Premium funding to support disadvantaged students aged 16 to 19.

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

The 16 to 19 funding formula includes extra funding for disadvantaged students made up of two blocks:

• Disadvantage Block 1 funding recognises that there are additional costs incurred in engaging, recruiting, and retaining young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Disadvantage Block 2 funding accounts for the additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment to achieve their learning goals. This is defined as not achieving English and/or mathematics GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 by the end of year 11 (typically age 16).

English and maths funding is also available to support students who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and mathematics to participate across all study programmes and T Levels.

For the 2025/26 academic year, the mathematics and English funding rate rose by over 11%, alongside a nearly 7% increase in disadvantage funding and we have allocated over £1 billion for disadvantage block 1, disadvantage block 2 and English and mathematics funding.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the impact on care leavers of being placed in accommodation in areas other than those in which they were residing while in care.

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

While the department has not conducted a separate assessment, the needs of care leavers being placed in accommodation out of area are reviewed in line with the Children Act 1989 Guidance (Vol. 3 -planning transition to adulthood for care leavers), which sets out that the assessment and pathway planning process for a care leaver must involve a measured evidence based analysis of the young person’s continuing need for care, accommodation and support.

The expectations also outline that, where there is any proposal for the young person to move to different accommodation, as part of the process to prepare for their transition to adulthood, the pathway plan must include an explicit assessment of the support they need to develop the skills that they will require to be ready for this significant change. The plan must also include a thorough assessment as to the suitability of the potential accommodation for the individual young person.

Through measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, the new Staying Close duty will provide support to care leavers up to the age of 25 to help them find and keep suitable accommodation, and to access services relating to health and wellbeing, relationships, education, training and employment, where their welfare requires it.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of public toilet provision in Stockport constituency.

Answered by Nesil Caliskan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Local authorities best understand local needs and are therefore best placed to assess and manage toilet provision. However, we recognise the importance of clean, safe public toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed more than £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets, reducing ongoing costs for local authorities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of Greater Manchester Police’s lack of a specific domestic violence strategy on people in (a) Stockport constituency and (b) Greater Manchester.

Answered by Natalie Fleet - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This government is committed to halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) within a decade, including domestic abuse. Our ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government Strategy’ was published on 18 December 2025 and sets out our whole system approach to achieving this mission.

Local strategic planning is an operational matter for the chief officer of police of the area concerned. As with other aspects of policing, work on tackling domestic abuse is subject to review by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. Greater Manchester Combined Authority have their own Gender Based Violence Strategy which includes co-operative working with the police. We are working closely with Greater Manchester Police through their participation in the Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot, which is supporting learning ahead of national rollout across England and Wales

Alongside this, the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP), backed by £13.9 million Home Office funding this year, provides coordinated national leadership on VAWG within policing. Working with all 43 forces, including Greater Manchester, the NCVPP sets consistent standards of practice and drives operational improvements to strengthen the police response to VAWG offences, including domestic abuse.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) the Democratic Republic of the Congo and (b) Uganda to manage Ebola outbreaks.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the written statement I made to the House on 21st May (HCWS60).

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 has made any assessment of the occurrences of sewage spills within the United Utilities water network in 2025 in (a) Stockport constituency (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North-West.

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

In the Northwest of England, 10,613 hours of sewage spills were recorded on dry days. The EA has identified the 50 sites in the region with the highest levels of dry day spilling. Four of these sites are in Greater Manchester. None are located within the Stockport constituency.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the resilience of NHS data systems to unauthorised access and attempted data breaches.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

All organisations with access to National Health Service patient data and systems must use the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to provide annual assurance that they are practising good data security and that personal information is handled correctly. In September 2024, the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework was implemented into the DSPT for large NHS organisations. This enables them to understand and manage their own cyber, and information governance, risks, while maintaining the high standards necessary to protect patients.

National cyber teams are tackling the changing cyber risk head-on through their ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme, expanding protection and services to better protect the health and care system. In 2025/26, the Government invested £75 million across health and social care, building on the £375 million invested since 2017.

NHS England runs a Cyber Security Operations Centre that can monitor over 1.8 million devices across the NHS, through Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, identifying and responding to threats, including unauthorised access, as they arise. When critical cyber vulnerabilities are identified, NHS England issues a High Severity Alert to warn NHS organisations.

NHS England routinely conducts highly specialised ‘Red Teaming’ and Penetration Testing of their data systems to assess their cyber security and resilience. NHS England and the Department have developed a strategy and programme of cyber exercising to test and improve resilience and capacity across the system and regularly exercise our cyber incident response/business continuity capabilities at a local and national level. We are using lessons learned from both recent incidents and exercises to improve processes and policy around our response to cyber incidents.

When incidents do occur, NHS England provides a suite of support to help organisations recover quickly, but safely. This includes specialist, on the ground, certified incident response services free of charge to NHS organisations who have been severely impacted by Cyber Incidents as well as technical and operational support to contain, investigate, and remediate incidents. The National Cyber Security Centre has published guidance for individuals to help them protect against the impact of data breaches.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Stockport of 11 March 2026 with reference number NM44100.

Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The correspondence from the hon. Member for Stockport with reference number NM44100 was transferred from HM Treasury to the Department for Education. The Department for Education has confirmed that they have responded to this correspondence.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he will implement stricter Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations for commercial properties from 2027, and whether the responsibility for complying with the regulations will lie solely with the property owner.

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

Government consulted on strengthening the non-domestic PRS minimum energy efficiency standards to EPC C by 1 April 2027, and EPC B by 1 April 2030. We are currently reviewing the policy design, including the timelines, to ensure that it remains fair and proportionate for landlords and tenants. We plan to publish a response to the consultation as soon as possible.

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards apply to the property owner, regardless of any maintenance or improvement obligations set out in lease agreements.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to take steps to reduce the level of public sector reliance on large technology companies.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is committed to ensuring public sector technology procurement delivers value for money, resilience, and access to a competitive supplier market. Departments are responsible for their own contracting and are required to award contracts through fair and open competition.

The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology recognises the importance of maintaining a diverse and competitive supplier base, including reducing over-reliance on a small number of technology solutions where this limits innovation, resilience or value for money.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of funding for the British Transport Police in the context of recent increases in assaults on the railway network.

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

The British Transport Police (BTP) are essential in keeping our railways safe and welcoming for all, including protecting those who work on the railway.

BTP’s budget is set independently of the Department for Transport, by the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) following proposals from the Force and engagement with industry and railway operators. Part of their decision making includes ensuring BTP can provide our railways with efficient and effective policing. The Department for Transport has no statutory powers to intervene in these decisions.

The BTPA has recently agreed a three-year budget settlement for BTP which will see BTP’s budget increase by 6.2% for FY 2026/27, 5.6% for FY 2027/28 and 2.5% for FY 2028/29 (£418.5m in 25/26 to £481.5m in 28/29). This will enable the Force to employ over 200 new officers by the end of 2027/28.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to promote membership of (a) credit unions, (b) building societies and (c) mutual banking institutions.

Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Chancellor set out her priorities for the sector at Mansion House 2024 and HM Treasury is delivering that multi-year programme of work to support the manifesto commitment to double the size of the sector. This includes:

• Launching a call for evidence on the credit union common bond in Great Britain. In March 2026, the government announced full details of these growth-focused reforms, and the government is now taking forward legislation in the Financial Services and Markets Bill.
• Confirming the government will make further updates to the Building Societies Act 1986, including to the funding limit. Legislation to modernise the Act will be laid before summer recess.
• Asking the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority to produce a report on the mutual sector landscape by the end of 2025, which was published alongside a sector roundtable in Rochdale in December 2025.
• Welcoming the industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council, which has helped develop sector growth plans and mutual and co-operative workstreams.
• Confirming reviews of the legislation underpinning co-operatives, community benefit societies, and friendly societies through independent Law Commission reviews. These are expected to complete in 2026.

Additionally, in the Financial Inclusion Strategy, the government announced a £30 million Credit Union Transformation Fund for England.

US sanctions on Cuba

Found: Representations from Members The following Members made oral representations: Navendu Mishra: Emerging

Found: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat; Chelmsford) Carolyn Harris (Labour; Neath and Swansea East) Navendu Mishra