Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of lowering the age of driving to 16.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Department is not considering lowering the driving age to 16.

Every life lost on our roads is a tragedy and that is especially the case for young people who are disproportionately involved in road collisions.

That is why the Road Safety Strategy focuses on improved education for learner drivers. This includes consulting on a Minimum Learning Period before learner drivers can take their practical driving test. This would allow learners more time to gain essential experience, for example in different weather conditions, before driving independently and reduce the risk to themselves and other drivers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether UK pets that have an EU pet passport will continue to be able to travel to the EU under that passport, and not require an Animal Health Certificate to do so after 22 April 2026.

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

Pets leaving Great Britain must comply with the relevant requirements as determined by the country of destination. Defra always advises pet owners to consult with the relevant authorities in the country of destination if any pet travel requirements for movements from Great Britain are unclear.

Defra understands that updated EU rules governing the non‑commercial movement of pets into the EU are scheduled to come into force on 22 April 2026. The EU has yet to publish guidance on how their updated rules will be applied and any relevant transitional arrangements. Defra is actively working to confirm the details of the new requirements with the EU and will update our guidance to pet owners on the relevant documentary requirements once the EU have confirmed their position.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the age for deployable service-personnel to 16.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

All recruitment into the UK military is voluntary and no young person under the age of 18 years may join our Armed Forces unless their application is accompanied by the formal written consent of their parent or guardian. We take the duty of care towards all recruits seriously, in particular those under 18 years of age. We have robust, effective, and independently verified safeguards in place to ensure that under-18s are cared for properly.

Service personnel aged under 18 are not deployed on hostile operations outside the UK or on any operations where they could be exposed to hostilities; we have no plans to change that policy. All new recruits, regardless of age, can discharge within their first three to six months of Service. Our policies on under-18s in Service comply with national and international law. In addition to the comprehensive welfare system that is in place for all Service personnel, we remain fully committed to meeting our obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and have taken steps to bestow special safeguards on young people under the age of 18.

Further, the provision of education and training for 16-year-old school leavers not only provides a route into the Armed Forces that complies with Government education policy and offers a significant foundation for development, but it also enables access to training in literacy and numeracy, as well as enrolment in apprenticeships. Ofsted regularly inspects our care of newly joined young recruits, and we are very proud of the standards we achieve.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of National Insurance changes on the closure rate of charities.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN set out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

More widely, the UK tax regime for charities, including the exemption from paying business rates, is among the most generous of anywhere in the world. Tax reliefs for charities and their donors were worth over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2025, of which gift aid made up just over £2.5 billion and business rates relief over £2.7 billion.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the age for alcohol purchasing to 16.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has no plans to lower the legal age for purchasing alcohol from 18 in England and Wales.

This is consistent with the Licensing Act 2003 objective of protecting children from harm.

It remains an offence to sell alcohol to under-18s and licensed premises must operate robust age-verification policies, as set out in the mandatory licensing conditions and statutory guidance.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has conducted into changes in the number of cases of auto immune disorders since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has funded several studies which explore links between SARS‑CoV‑2 infection and autoimmunity.

For example, in April 2025, researchers funded by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in respiratory infections at Imperial College published a review on the mechanisms through which autoimmune responses can arise during and after viral infection, focusing on the evidence for B-cell dysregulation and autoantibody production in acute and long COVID.

In 2023, NIHR-supported researchers at the University of Birmingham conducted analysis of United Kingdom primary care records to review the incidence of immune-mediated inflammatory disorders, such as type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis. The NIHR has also commissioned targeted studies to investigate underlying mechanisms. These include The immunologic and virologic determinants of long COVID study, from Cardiff University, which is examining whether SARS‑CoV‑2 infection can trigger persistent immune activation or autoimmune processes in the post-COVID period. Another NIHR-funded project, Immune analysis of long COVID from Imperial College London, is investigating post-COVID immune dysfunction.

NIHR-funded research is published and made publicly available, with findings shared through journals and NIHR Evidence.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many apprentices the department recruited in 2025, compared with the figures for i. 2022, ii. 2023 and iii. 2024.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

There are two different ways of counting apprenticeship recruitment:

• Definition A: colleagues who joined on an apprenticeship contract.
• Definition B: colleagues who joined MHCLG via a role which was advertised as including an apprenticeship and subsequently began an apprenticeship after joining.

Both definitions are included below. The source of this information is MHCLG recruitment data. The number of apprentices the MHCLG has recruited in the requested years are as follows:

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of lowering the age of smoking and vaping to 16 year olds on the impact of 16 year olds.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability, and ill health. It claims the lives of approximately 80,000 people a year in the United Kingdom and kills up to two-thirds of its long-term users.

Three quarters of smokers wish they had never started smoking but are unable to due to the addictive nature of tobacco. Raising the age of sale for smoking from 16 to 18 years old reduced prevalence in this age group by 30%. In addition, people who start smoking under the age of 18 years old have higher levels of nicotine dependence compared to those starting over 21 years old, and are less likely to make a quit attempt and successfully quit.

The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill will help deliver our ambition for a smoke-free UK. It will enable us to create a smoke-free generation, gradually ending the sale of tobacco products across the country and breaking the cycle of addiction and disadvantage.

Vaping is less harmful than smoking and can be an effective quit aid, but is not risk-free. The health advice is clear, that young people and those who have never smoked should not vape or be encouraged to vape.

The age of sale for nicotine vapes is 18 years old. Due to the risk of harm and addiction, we are not considering reducing the age of sale for vaping. Whilst non-nicotine vapes and nicotine products are not currently subject to specific age of sale regulations, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill aligns the law for these products, ensuring consistency across vapes and nicotine products so that all these products are subject to an age of sale of 18 years old.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many apprentices the Department recruited in 2025 compared with (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.

Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Office recruited 1 apprentice in 2023 and 1 in 2025 for a 2-year term. We did not recruit any apprentices in 2022 or 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many apprentices the department recruited in 2025, compared with the figures for i. 2022, ii. 2023 and iii. 2024.

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

The majority of apprenticeships in the Department are held by existing employees who started an apprenticeship after they had joined the Department.

The following figures refer only to people who were recruited specifically to a role as an apprentice in each year:

- zero in 2025;

- seven in 2024;

- zero in 2023; and

- zero in 2022.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what change there has been in the number of hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers since 4 July 2024 for which the latest data is available.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Exiting all asylum hotels as soon as possible is one of the Government’s top priorities and must be executed through a controlled, managed and orderly plan of work. This plan involves reducing inflow, speeding up caseworking, maximising utilisation of our estate, continuing to increase returns and exploring the use of large sites as suitable alternative accommodation.

From a high of over 400 asylum hotels in summer 2023 at a cost of nearly £9 million a day. As of 4 January 2026, there are 197 hotels in use. We will close every asylum hotel as soon as possible and before the end of this Parliament.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an internal (a) estimate and (b) similar type of projection for the net fiscal impact of immigrants in the UK over their lifetimes since July 2024.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Migration Advisory Committee has produced an assessment of the lifetime fiscal impact of migrants in the UK, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6938108633c7ace9c4a41e42/ The_Fiscal_Impact_of_Immigration_Final__1_.pdf

Further analysis of those on a Family visa is included in the 2025 Annual Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-annual-report-2025/migration-advisory-committee-mac-annual-report-2025-accessible#chapter-1-fiscal-analysis-of-the-family-visa

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil service employees were on performance management plans in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Data on how many civil servants have a performance management plan in place is not captured centrally.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the civil service establishment in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how are musculoskeletal conditions being prioritised within the neighbourhood health framework.

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

The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and their partners, in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.

The framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. This includes improving health outcomes with specific focus on high-priority cohorts, including people with frailty. Whilst frailty and musculoskeletal overlap, we recognise that many people with conditions affecting their joints, bones, and muscles across their life course are not frail.

It is important that reforms are locally led, as ICBs and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, and this could include musculoskeletal services.

We know there are areas where we need to go further. Delivering a Neighbourhood Health Service will be an incremental process as local understanding develops and national reforms progress.

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 the accessibility of public consultations for local government reorganisation for people without access to the internet.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government is keen that all interested parties, including local residents, can have their say on the future of local government in their area. Members of the public who wish to engage can submit responses online or in writing by email or post, in line with the consultation arrangements. There are no plans to carry out a separate assessment of consultation accessibility.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what work is being done to investigate the use of body mass index thresholds as a means of determining eligibility for joint replacement surgery.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Rushcliffe on 20 November 2025 to Question 89688.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to Inheritance Tax on private pension provision.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This removes distortions resulting from changes that have been made to pensions tax policy over the last decade, which have led to some pensions being openly used and marketed as a tax planning vehicle to transfer wealth, rather than as a way to fund retirement. These reforms also remove inconsistencies in the inheritance tax treatment of different types of pensions

The Government will continue to incentivise pension savings for their intended purpose of funding retirement, with ongoing tax reliefs on both contributions into pensions and on the growth of funds held within a pension scheme. Pensions continue to benefit from very significant tax benefits, with gross income tax and National Insurance contributions relief costing £78.2 billion in 2023-24. It is therefore crucial to ensure that tax reliefs on pensions are being used for their intended purpose – to encourage saving for retirement and later life – rather than for passing on wealth free of inheritance tax

Estates will continue to benefit from the normal nil-rate bands, reliefs, and exemptions available. For example, the nil-rate bands mean an estate can pass on up to £1 million with no inheritance tax liability and the general rules mean any transfers, including the payment of death benefits, to a spouse or civil partner are fully exempt from inheritance tax. More than 90 per cent of UK estates will continue to have no inheritance tax liability in 2030-31 following these changes and the reforms will only affect a minority of those with inheritable pension wealth.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of small boat migrants that have re-entered the UK in 2026 that have previously been removed from the country.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office will publish statistics on returns from the UK up to March 2026 on 21 May 2026. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account several factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.

Found: present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Rushanara Ali; David Baines; Lee Barron; Johanna Baxter; Mr Peter Bedford

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Johanna Baxter; Mr Peter Bedford; Steve