Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the £10 billion NHS technology investment will be spent on software licensing.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 potential impact of the Competition and Markets Authority’s 5.6% budget reduction on (a) investigating and (b) challenging restrictive software licensing practices.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The June Spending Review set out the CMA's budget from 2026/27. The CMA has embarked on an operational transformation programme to ensure it can continue to deliver impactful outcomes, including in digital markets, while operating within its multi-year funding envelope.
The CMA's priorities across its work are set out in its Annual Plan 2025/26, which commits to using the new digital markets competition regime flexibly, proportionately and collaboratively to unlock opportunities for growth across the UK tech sector and the wider economy.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of restrictive software licensing practices on (a) efficiency and (b) innovation in businesses.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There are currently no plans to make such an assessment by the Department. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is examining software licensing practices as part of its market investigation into cloud services. Its final report must be published by 4 August and Government will review the CMA's findings.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Office for Value for Money has made of the potential impact of restrictive licensing practices on Departmental spend on digital transformation.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Value for Money (OVfM) is a time limited unit in HM Treasury that was set two roles at Autumn Budget 2024: making targeted interventions at Spending Review 2025 and developing recommendations for reforming the spending framework.
The OVfM has not made an assessment of the potential impact of restrictive licensing practices on departmental spend on digital transformation. Given the OVfM is a small, time limited team, it has needed to focus on a limited set of issues, deploying resources efficiently to target areas where the it can have most impact. Officials across departments consider the value for money of specific policies and external interactions using existing tools.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department is reviewing (a) the legal framework supporting working parents of children with additional and (b) potential reforms to that legal framework to help improve levels of (i) access to flexible working, (ii) protection from discrimination by association and (iii) availability of adapted childcare support.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Employment Rights Bill will make flexible working the default, including for working parents. Employers will have to accept flexible working requests unless not reasonably feasible and explain their decision if rejecting requests.
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from direct discrimination “by association”.
The Dedicated Schools Grant funds special educational and alternative provision. Local authorities distribute SEN Inclusion Funding. Disability Access Funding (DAF) is designed to support disabled children's access to entitlements. In 2025-26, DAF funding will increase to £938 per eligible child. The Government is reviewing SEN funding, looking at funding arrangements and considering whether changes are needed.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer on 4 June 2025 to Question 55787 on Government Departments: Software, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on (a) software licencing and (b) the Government's procurement of software.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Competition and Markets Authority has been awarded enhanced powers by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCC”) Act 2024 to protect UK consumers and businesses from unfair or harmful practices by the very largest technology firms.
The DMCC Act enables the CMA to provide opportunities to encourage the benefits of investment and innovation from the largest digital firms, while ensuring a level playing-field for the many start-ups and scale-ups across the UK tech sector. This should promote greater innovation, more choice and more competitive process across the sector benefiting UK businesses, consumers and government.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 impact of the new powers for the Competition and Markets Authority in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 to tackle restrictive software licensing on (a) consumers, (b) businesses and (c) the wider economy.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has empowered the Competition and Markets Authority to designate firms which exert significant control in respect of digital activities with “Strategic Market Status” (SMS), following an evidence-based assessment.
The CMA can carry out investigations to determine the most appropriate remedies for a specific competition concern. Remedies will ensure designated firms treat businesses and consumers fairly, promote more dynamic markets and help new competitors enter the market. The CMA has already exercised its new powers by launching three SMS investigations into large technology firms in January this year.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 55786 on Public Sector: Digital Technology, whether his Department’s digital transformation strategy will include the (a) financial impact of software assets on departmental budgets and (b) impact of identified dependencies on those assets on cost efficiencies.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The State of Digital Government review, A blueprint for modern digital government and the Performance Review of Digital Spend, all published this year, have highlighted the need to reform digital purchasing.
The Government has launched a Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence, containing experts from the Digital and Commercial Functions, within the Government Digital Service (GDS) in my department. It is pursuing multiple strategies to improve value for money and outcomes including central buying of commodity services, development of a digital sourcing strategy, creation of technical enablers and joined-up management of strategic digital suppliers.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 55785 on Public Sector: Digital Technology, what discussions his Department has had with the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence on the impact of software licensing for Government software procurement on the digital transformation strategy.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The State of Digital Government review, A blueprint for modern digital government and the Performance Review of Digital Spend, all published this year, have highlighted the need to reform digital purchasing.
The Government has launched a Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence, containing experts from the Digital and Commercial Functions, within the Government Digital Service (GDS) in my department. It is pursuing multiple strategies to improve value for money and outcomes including central buying of commodity services, development of a digital sourcing strategy, creation of technical enablers and joined-up management of strategic digital suppliers.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 impact of the UK comedy industry on (a) the economy and (b) society.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
While the Department has not carried out any recent assessments of the impact of the UK comedy industry, the government recognises the sector as a vital performing art which forms part of this country's cultural landscape, enriching lives, and shaping our collective identity. British comedy also generates substantial economic returns, with a recent Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Live Comedy estimating that the live sector generates £1 billion annually.
Our arms-length body, Arts Council England (ACE) funds numerous organisations and venues that support comedy. Between the financial years covering 2010/11 to 2024/25 ACE has awarded £12,296,254 in funding where an applicant name, project title or subclassifier contains the word “comedy”. In addition, DCMS will be convening a roundtable discussion in the coming months to hear about issues currently impacting this sector.