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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the ability of the proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction Scheme to provide resilience in a 1:200 year drought event, in the context of the 1:40 drought event of 2022 seeing naturalised flows over Teddington Weir drop as low as the limit of the M2 (LTOA) abstraction licence.

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

The performance of the proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction has been assessed through the water resources management planning process and shown to be effective under a range of drought conditions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8th September 2026, to Question UIN 26078, on Water Abstraction: Teddington, how many additional days would the proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction add to London’s potable water supply in a very severe drought when reservoir storage dropped to 25% and emergency drought orders were imposed.

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

The proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction will be an important scheme in reducing impacts of severe droughts. Days of additional water supply depend on water demand, reservoir storage, river-flows, drought severity and operational factors.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 7th September 2026, to Question UIN 26076, on Water Abstraction: Teddington, what assessment she has made of Thames Water’s M2 (LTOA) abstraction licence in continuing to allow abstraction into the Thames-Lee tunnel at Hampton, in the context of naturalised flow over Teddington Weir being at 300 Ml/d on average for 10 days.

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

The proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) scheme is separate from the existing M2 abstraction licence. Any TDRA operation would require environmental assessment considering interactions with the existing M2 operations.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the average length of time each year between 2015-2026 that a person would wait on hold for when calling the Access to Work helpline.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

The table below shows the Average Time to Answer for all calls to Access To Work services in an hours, minutes and seconds format (hh:mm:ss), itemised by Reporting Year. Please be aware that we DO NOT hold data for the 2015-2016 reporting year.

*Please note, that the current 2026 – 2027* reporting year, shows data up to and including 13/09/2026 only.

Disclaimer

The above answer contains unpublished figures.

The data provided is derived from the Department’s management information, designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As such, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.

As DWP holds the information internally, we have released it. However, it is possible information held by DWP may change due to operational reasons and we recommend that caution be applied when using it.

Since the start of the 2026/27 operational year, Access to Work has made positive progress in reducing outstanding work. As of 1 October 2026, using the full reporting period from April to August 2026, we have achieved a net backlog reduction of almost 3,000 cases, specifically 2,980. With recruits now arriving and needing to be coached and trained for the next six months, we expect the backlog to stabilise before falling in the spring of 2027.

Overall, the programme remains on track, and our assessment is that Access to Work continues to be on course to clear the backlog by September 2027.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the average wait time for a decision to be made following an application for Access to Work each year between 2015-2026.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

The average wait time for a decision following an Access to Work application was:

2021/22: 28.3 days

2022/23: 57.8 days

2023/24: 45.1 days

2024/25: 67.1 days

2025/26: 100.9 days

Comparable data prior to 2021/22 is not available.

Please note that this data is derived from unpublished management information collected for internal use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standards.

Since the start of the 2026/27 operational year, Access to Work has made positive progress in reducing outstanding work. As of 1 October 2026, using the full reporting period from April to August 2026, we have achieved a net backlog reduction of almost 3,000 cases, specifically 2,980. With recruits now arriving and needing to be coached and trained for the next six months, we expect the backlog to stabilise before falling in the spring of 2027.

Overall, the programme remains on track, and our assessment is that Access to Work continues to be on course to clear the backlog by September 2027.

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 address the shortage of Packaging Recovery Notes.

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

Due to exceptional factors that have reduced PRN and PERN availability this year, the four UK regulators issued Regulatory Position Statements on 9 October. This means that producers and compliance schemes that meet the reduced proportions of 2026 recycling obligations for plastic, steel and wood will not face enforcement action.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what are the current average wait times to complete Special Educational Need and Disability appeals heard through the HM Courts and Tribunals Service which have received an Order allowing the case to proceed towards determination on the papers.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The current waiting time for a final oral hearing in a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal is 84 weeks.

The time taken to complete a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal after an order for determination on the papers is set by the judiciary according to the circumstances of each case. Establishing an average would require a manual review of every case and could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The average wait for a call to the SEND helpline to be answered is approximately two minutes (1 minute 56 seconds). The current longest response time for written correspondence, including emails and letters, is eight days.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what are the current average wait times for Special Educational Need and Disability oral hearings within the HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The current waiting time for a final oral hearing in a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal is 84 weeks.

The time taken to complete a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal after an order for determination on the papers is set by the judiciary according to the circumstances of each case. Establishing an average would require a manual review of every case and could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The average wait for a call to the SEND helpline to be answered is approximately two minutes (1 minute 56 seconds). The current longest response time for written correspondence, including emails and letters, is eight days.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the current average wait times are to respond to appellant enquiries regarding Special Educational Need and Disability appeals heard through the HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The current waiting time for a final oral hearing in a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal is 84 weeks.

The time taken to complete a Special Educational Needs and Disability appeal after an order for determination on the papers is set by the judiciary according to the circumstances of each case. Establishing an average would require a manual review of every case and could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The average wait for a call to the SEND helpline to be answered is approximately two minutes (1 minute 56 seconds). The current longest response time for written correspondence, including emails and letters, is eight days.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition plans to undertake an assessment of iodine deficiencies in the UK before the end of this year.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) considered the topic of iodine at its horizon scan meeting in June 2026. The SACN agreed to progress the topic in its future work programme. The SACN is planning to start this work in early 2027.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment they have made of the impact that delayed and lost deliveries from poor performance of courier services have on small and medium-sized businesses.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

We expect all delivery companies to provide a good level of service for businesses and have been clear that some need to do more to meet customer expectations.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for reviewing the regulatory framework including considering the needs of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users. Ofcom monitors the experiences of businesses and consumers of parcel delivery services. Its last 2024/25 annual post monitoring report found that around eight in ten SMEs were satisfied with delivery services. Ofcom has, however, recognised concerns about parcel delivery performance and is keeping the need for further regulation under review.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of restricting non-compete clauses on the competitiveness of the UK financial services sector.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The Government recognises the importance of a competitive and dynamic UK financial services sector, which is a key driver of growth across the economy. The Prime Minister recently announced that the Government will legislate on non-compete clauses in employment contracts and bring forward options to address the wider use of restrictive practices. These reforms are intended to support labour mobility, innovation and business dynamism while ensuring firms continue to have tools available to protect legitimate business interests. Further detail will be set out in the Government's response to the working paper on reform of non-compete clauses at Budget 2026.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what actions they have planned to review the regulatory framework for postal deliveries to ensure small and medium-sized businesses are not negatively impacted by the poor performance of courier services.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

We expect all delivery companies to provide a good level of service for businesses and have been clear that some need to do more to meet customer expectations.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for reviewing the regulatory framework including considering the needs of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users. Ofcom monitors the experiences of businesses and consumers of parcel delivery services. Its last 2024/25 annual post monitoring report found that around eight in ten SMEs were satisfied with delivery services. Ofcom has, however, recognised concerns about parcel delivery performance and is keeping the need for further regulation under review.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of restricting non-compete clauses on (a) labour market mobility, (b) innovation and (c) business investment in staff training.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The evidence is clear that non-compete clauses deter labour mobility, which can lead to reduced wage growth and lower business creation. Around 5 million employees are subject to a non-compete clause in Great Britain with a typical duration of around 6 months. The government will legislate to make sure that non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most innovative and promising startups and scaling firms.

The Competition and Markets Authority found non-compete clauses were associated with slightly more formal on-the-job training, but not with other types of training, suggesting that not all non-compete clauses are protecting substantial training investments.

Delivery of Budget 2026 through property tax systems

Salt of the Earth receives King's Award for Enterprise

Political donations and campaign finance regulation

Second Reading of the Mental Capacity (Duty to Assess) Bill

Found: Lowe (Restore Britain; Great Yarmouth) Catherine McKinnell (Labour; Newcastle upon Tyne North) Sarah Olney