Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support she is providing for the (a) provision and (b) enhancement of community transport.

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

The Government recognises the vital role community transport operators play in connecting people with their communities, enabling access to employment, education and other essential services such as healthcare.

The Department makes available up to £3.8 million each year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to community transport operators. An uplift of 60% has been added to BSOG claims for community transport operators until 31 March 2026. This means community transport operators will receive £1.60 for every £1 claimed, reflecting the increased costs faced by the sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to expand patient access to clinical trials for (a) less survivable cancers and (b) pancreatic cancer.

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

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The Department funds research and research infrastructure through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which supports National Health Service patients, the public, and NHS organisations across England to participate in high-quality research, including clinical trials into cancers.

The NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research, which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.

The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients across the country. It will ensure that more patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and to clinical trials.

The Government also supports the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials, on for example pancreatic cancer, to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is planning to introduce targeted measures to tackle the specific challenges for patients with less survivable cancers through the National Cancer Plan.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published in the new year. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for patients with cancer, including less survivable cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.

The Department has been working closely with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce as part of the development of the plan to understand the specific challenges and to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department investigated the conduct of social worker Anwar Meah.

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

Social Work England (SWE) is the independent regulator for the social work profession in England and, as such, is responsible for investigating concerns relating to social workers’ fitness to practise that are referred to them. While the department is unable to intervene in individual cases, officials contacted the regulator when concerns were highlighted.

SWE’s overarching objective is to protect the public. In meeting this objective they are obliged, as set out in legislation, to consider all concerns it receives to determine whether there is evidence that a social worker’s fitness to practise may be impaired.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the level of the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements during corporate restructuring in safety-critical sectors; and whether he plans to take steps to ensure non-disclosure agreements cannot be used prevent employees and union representatives from participating in statutory consultation processes.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government is unable to assess sector-based trends on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as they are private contractual agreements and data on their use is not collected.

While NDAs can lawfully be used to require one or more parties to keep certain information confidential (for example, trade secrets), there are a range of legal limitations on their use. For example, NDAs cannot prevent someone from making a whistleblowing disclosure (known formally as a “protected disclosure”) or a disclosure required by law.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support the growth of community owned energy projects.

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

Great British Energy will enhance existing support to community energy by partnering with and providing funding and support to Local Government, and community energy groups as well as working with Devolved Governments. This will help to roll out local and community renewable energy projects across the UK.

Great British Energy will also provide commercial, technical and project planning assistance, increasing capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in local areas.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he will take to ensure community groups are central to the delivery of local power plans.

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

The Local Power Plan will be a joint plan between GBE and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero which will outline our shared vision for the local and community energy sector: to drive the growth of renewable energy projects and support efforts to unlock cleaner, cheaper and more resilient power at the community level.

We are continuing to develop the Local Power Plan with GBE and updates will be provided soon.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to include passenger voice in the governance of Great British Railways.

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

Great British Railways will be held to account for railway performance and customer experience. The Railways Bill will establish a powerful voice for passengers, the Passenger Watchdog, to independently monitor passenger experience, advocate for passengers and to hold GBR and other operators to account together with ORR.

When developing its Integrated Business Plan, GBR will be required to consult with the Passenger Watchdog and will have an ongoing general duty to consider the interests of passengers and the needs of passengers with disabilities.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how the recommendation from the Sullivan Review that 'sex' rather than 'gender' should be the default question when collecting data will be implemented across government and the ONS.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Government recognises the importance of collecting accurate and relevant data on sex. The Sullivan Review, commissioned by the previous administration and published in March, made a number of recommendations to improve sex and gender identity data collection. Individual departments are considering these recommendations as part of their ongoing policy work.

Currently, there is no harmonised standard for sex data. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonisation team in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a work programme to develop harmonised data standards on sex and gender identity. This includes extensive engagement with users to understand needs. This work will help improve, and standardise, how to collect sex and gender identity data across government and the ONS in future.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department will introduce its proposed changes to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

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

This government’s changes to the 2023 Free Speech Act will create a more proportionate, balanced and less burdensome approach to protecting free speech and academic freedom in higher education. Strengthened free speech duties on higher education (HE) providers and the Office for Students (OfS) came into force on 1 August 2025, including requirements to promote freedom of speech and academic freedom and, for HE providers only, to put in place enhanced codes of practice. We will also seek to repeal and amend elements of the Act where necessary to ensure it is fit for purpose. This includes seeking to repeal the tort and duties on students’ unions, and to amend the OfS’ free speech complaints scheme and mandatory condition of registration. Making these changes will require primary legislation.

In the meantime, as well as the new provider duties in place, the OfS’ director for freedom of speech and academic freedom continues to work with the sector to offer advice and share best practice, so providers themselves are more effectively protecting free speech and academic freedom.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support research into pancreatic cancer.

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

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and in 2024/25 spent £141.6 million on cancer research, signalling its high priority. This includes studies that focus specifically on pancreatic cancer as well as studies that are relevant to or include pancreatic cancer. For example, between the financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25, the NIHR committed £1.5 million to specific pancreatic cancer studies.

The NIHR has also invested £1.9 million in research to detect the early stages of gastrointestinal cancers, which includes pancreatic cancer, through a non-invasive breath test which will aim to streamline the referral process for primary care.

The NIHR’s wider investments in research infrastructure, for instance facilities, services, and the research workforce, supported the delivery of 160 pancreatic cancer research studies and enabled over 8,200 people to participate in potentially life-changing research during this time period. This includes support for the PemOla trial, which is the first to explore using precision immunotherapies to treat pancreatic cancer. Further information on the PemOla trial is available at the following link:

https://cambridgebrc.nihr.ac.uk/2025/07/18/pancreatic-cancer-precision-medicine-trial/

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome high quality funding applications into pancreatic cancer.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with universities to ensure academics with gender-critical views are not treated differently and that their research is allowed to be published.

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

This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Higher education (HE) must be a space for robust discussion and intellectual rigour. Academics must be allowed to test the truth of the ideas that shape society and participate in the free exchange of ideas.

The department has confirmed our plans for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which will create a more proportionate, balanced and less burdensome approach to protecting free speech and protecting researchers’ rights to academic freedom. From 1 August 2025, providers have strengthened duties to secure and promote the importance of free speech. These duties require HE providers to take reasonably practicable steps to protect those expressing lawful views, including those which may be gender critical.

The Office for Students has also set out detailed published guidance for HE providers on how to implement their duties and protect academic freedom, including in relation to the expression of gender critical views.

As well as taking reasonably practicable steps to protect the lawful freedom of speech and academic freedom of all academics, including those with gender critical beliefs, HE providers must also comply with relevant provisions of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits unlawful discrimination in relation to protected characteristics, such as gender critical beliefs.