Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to introduce a statutory definition of (a) autonomous delivery robots and (b) Personal Delivery Devices; what assessment she has made of the impact of such devices on pavement accessibility and safety for (i) blind and partially sighted people, (ii) wheelchair users, (iii) older people and (iv) other disabled pedestrians; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to prohibit the operation of autonomous delivery robots on public pavements.

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

Advances in technology have the potential to boost our economy and undertake dangerous jobs such as highways maintenance, but it's important the safety of pedestrians and vulnerable road users is put first.

We have announced that we intend to trial pavement robots using powers the Government is seeking through the Regulating for Growth Bill and these trials will have a clear definition of pavement robots.

A key part of the trial will be understanding the impact on pedestrians, particularly the most vulnerable groups.

This will be done with a view to creating a clear, lawful route to market for pavement delivery robots that protects the safety of pedestrians and vulnerable road users. No permanent regulations will come into force without detailed public consultation and a full assessment of the impacts.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an estimate of the number of retirement village properties that remain unsold following the (a) death and (b) transfer into care of the leaseholder; and whether he plans to bring forward measures to protect families from ongoing service charges, ground rents and other property-related costs while such properties remain on the market.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 4726 on 8 June 2026 and UIN 12434 on 30 June 2026, and to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 22 June 2026 (HCWS132).

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has undertaken a review of the regulations and guidance in relation to families privately funding continuation of therapeutic services previously accessed through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

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

The current timetable is for the government's response to the consultation on Adoption Support to be published in the autumn.

In relation to self-funded support, adoptive parents may commission services directly, provided that the organisation delivering those services is registered with Ofsted. For children living under kinship care arrangements, families may self-fund support from any provider and there is no requirement for that provider to be registered with Ofsted. As always, there is the option for local authorities or regional adoption agencies to ‘top-up’ the Fair Access Limit from their own funds.

Note: There were no applications partially approved.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the consultation on the future reform of adoption and kinship support, including the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund; and when she plans to publish the Government's response to that consultation.

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

The current timetable is for the government's response to the consultation on Adoption Support to be published in the autumn.

In relation to self-funded support, adoptive parents may commission services directly, provided that the organisation delivering those services is registered with Ofsted. For children living under kinship care arrangements, families may self-fund support from any provider and there is no requirement for that provider to be registered with Ofsted. As always, there is the option for local authorities or regional adoption agencies to ‘top-up’ the Fair Access Limit from their own funds.

Note: There were no applications partially approved.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund have been (a) approved, (b) partially approved and (c) refused in each of the last three financial years.

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

The current timetable is for the government's response to the consultation on Adoption Support to be published in the autumn.

In relation to self-funded support, adoptive parents may commission services directly, provided that the organisation delivering those services is registered with Ofsted. For children living under kinship care arrangements, families may self-fund support from any provider and there is no requirement for that provider to be registered with Ofsted. As always, there is the option for local authorities or regional adoption agencies to ‘top-up’ the Fair Access Limit from their own funds.

Note: There were no applications partially approved.

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 financial impact on community pharmacies of the current reimbursement and price cap arrangements for prescription medicines; and if he will review cases where pharmacies are required to dispense medicines at a loss because the reimbursement price paid by the NHS is lower than the acquisition cost charged by pharmaceutical suppliers.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

With regards to the Drug Tariff reimbursement prices, the community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements do not guarantee that every contractor will be paid the cost of every item, however, concessionary prices mitigate losses for individual products, while medicine margin arrangements ensure contractors are paid more than their overall purchasing costs.

Where the market price of a medicine suddenly increases, concessionary prices can be granted in that month, increasing the reimbursement price above the published Drug Tariff reimbursement price. This arrangement helps to ensure that pharmacy contractors can continue to obtain sufficient stock for their patients. In addition, we introduced a ‘retrospective top-up payment for concessionary prices’, which provides an additional payment to contractors when the margin survey indicates that despite a concessionary price, there was an under payment for a specific product.

Medicine margin is the difference between the reimbursement price and the price the pharmacy was charged by the supplier. As part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2026/27, pharmacies can retain £1.1 billion as medicine margin to contribute to their payment for pharmaceutical service provision. The Department assesses the medicine margin retained by pharmacies across purchases through a quarterly survey. These arrangements ensure that pharmacies are paid above what it cost them to purchase medicines and the allowed amount of medicine margin to contribute to their payment for pharmaceutical service provision.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of removing VAT from sunscreen products on public health outcomes; and whether she plans to reclassify sunscreen products with SPF protection as essential health products.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)

VAT rules do allow drugs and medications that are dispensed by a registered pharmacist against a prescription issued by a qualifying health professional to be zero rated for VAT. High-factor sunscreen is already on the NHS prescription list for certain conditions and is provided VAT-free when dispensed by a pharmacist to these patients. However, items which are not prescribed by a health professional and dispensed by a pharmacist do not qualify for the relief, even though they may have health benefits.

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s third largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26.

Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) trends in the level of complex post-traumatic stress disorder in England and (b) the adequacy of specialist support and treatment available for that condition.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

Information requested on trends in the level of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD) in England is not held centrally.

It is for integrated care boards to commission mental health services to meet the needs of their local population, including the needs of people with complex PTSD. The impact of trauma is widely recognised, including its potential lifelong consequences for people’s mental health, wellbeing, and life chances. Trauma-informed practice has therefore taken on growing prominence across the system as a way of improving how services recognise and respond to these experiences.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of student loan liabilities on (a) disabled students and (b) students who withdraw from university due to ill health.

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

Borrowers who are permanently unfit for work because of their disability can apply to the Student Loans Company to have any outstanding loan cancelled.

More broadly, no student loan borrower earning under the repayment threshold is required to make any repayments towards their student loan. Student loan repayments are based on a borrower’s income, not the rate of interest or the amount borrowed. Any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends. Debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.

An equality impact assessment, including analysis of the impacts of Plan 5 student loans on particular protected groups, was produced and published in February 2022 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of the procurement of 12 F‑35A aircraft on (a) public spending priorities, (b) nuclear proliferation risks, and (c) the UK's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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

As part of our NATO First approach to deterrence and defence, we are committed to strengthening NATO’s nuclear mission and ensuring the Alliance’s posture remains fit for purpose across the entire spectrum of conflict.

The nuclear weapons allocated to the NATO dual capable aircraft nuclear mission are US nuclear weapons. The US retains control and custody over them, in full compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Cost differences associated with the swap from F-35B to F-35A in logistics, infrastructure and training are understood and have been considered in cost estimates.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the ecology sector as part of delivering nature recovery objectives and wider green economic growth.

Answered by Mary Creagh

Our environmental improvement plan provides a stable, long-term framework for investment and a guide for the developing the technologies and skills to deliver it. We recognise the importance of the ecology sector in supporting project pipelines for Biodiversity Net Gain, the Woodland Carbon Code and other schemes.

The Environment Agency is developing an Ecology Discipline within its Science Profession, restructuring its ecologists’ technical development and aligning their capabilities to the Government Science and Engineering Profession. This will clarify professional standards, define technical capabilities, and help workforce planning to ensure it has the skills needed to deliver nature recovery and green economic growth. It will help the retention of skilled staff by enabling career paths to be mapped across different ecological functions. We will continue to monitor the ecology sector and potential need for additional measures.

The Government is currently consulting on the proposed subject content of a new Natural History GCSE: New natural history GCSE to grow next generation of green careers - GOV.UK. This new qualification will help students build a strong understanding of the natural world, alongside the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience to build careers in the ecology sector.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of Armed Forces pension scheme provisions which limit survivor pension entitlement for spouses who married former service personnel after they had left service; and whether he plans to review Armed Forces pension scheme provisions.

Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)

Before 6 April 1978, it was a well-established principle of occupational pension schemes, including those for the Armed Forces, that to be eligible to claim part of the scheme member’s pension upon the member’s death, a widow/er had to be married to the scheme member at the time they were in service. After 6 April 1978, when the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 came into force, this principle ended and provision was made for the payment of pensions to widow/ers who married service members after they had retired from service. However, the pension was paid only for any service that the member had after April 1978.

The changes did not extend to providing survivor benefits (i.e. to widow/ers) for members who left before 6 April 1978 and married after that date. Individuals receive the benefits in accordance with the scheme rules in place at the time of their retirement. It is a principle of public service pensions policy, and one that has been upheld by successive Governments, that improvements to pension schemes are not made retrospective. Retrospection would add significantly to the cost of introducing any meaningful improvements to the schemes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to Question 546 from the hon. member for South Cambridgeshire.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 July 2026 to Question 546.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the computational and energy requirements of (a) the machine learning and optimisation techniques used for electricity network management and (b) large language models.

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

Machine learning is not currently used for electricity grid management. Any future energy required will depend on how machine learning will be used.

The UK Government contracted Europe Economics to research whether future electricity demand from AI data centres will add to overall UK energy demand, or whether it will replace electricity currently used elsewhere in the economy (Europe Economics study). We have also recently procured a follow-up study in order to extend the methodology from the Europe Economics work to further 10 use cases.

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 data-centre capacity required to deliver the grid applications identified in the Interim AI Adoption Plan: Clean Energy.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department has not produced an estimate of the data-centre capacity required specifically for the grid applications identified in the Interim AI Adoption Plan: Clean Energy.

The Government is, however, undertaking broader analysis of the potential growth in demand from AI and data centres as part of ongoing work on energy demand projections, electricity network planning and AI infrastructure policy.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of potential impact of (a) developments in technology, (b) information sharing and (c) risk assessment on the effectiveness of the the Disclosure and Barring Service framework; and whether she plans to undertake a review of opportunities to strengthen and modernise safeguarding arrangements.

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

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) regularly reviews its operations and procedures to ensure they remain effective.

Current priorities are outlined in the DBS’s Business Plan 2026-27 and the DBS’s 2025-28 Strategy, including specific references to the use of innovative technology, improving information sharing and risk management.

With many individual workstreams underway, there are currently no plans to undertake a separate review of opportunities to strengthen and modernise safeguarding arrangements.

Royal Mail delivery standards

Essential energy guarantee

Russian sanctions

International Court of Justice's July 2024 Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Infrastructure Planning