Scott Arthur

There is no place for misogyny in our society, which too often leads to violence. Tackling this is a top priority for this Government, with a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. We will deliver a cross-Government transformative approach, underpinned by a new strategy to be published in the summer.

Education has an important role to play in reducing misogyny. The Department for Education is reviewing the RSHE guidance to ensure that it supports schools to tackle harmful behaviour, as this Government is determined to ensure that misogyny and sexual violence is stamped out and not allowed to proliferate in schools, or elsewhere.

The Government is also taking steps to tackle misogyny online through the Online Safety Act, as large social media providers are required to have systems in place to remove illegal and harmful content such as misogyny. Ofcom is currently consulting on draft guidance which sets out nine areas where technology firms should do more to improve women and girls’ safety by taking responsibility.

The Government is inviting views and evidence to inform the development of a modern, proportionate and enabling licensing system.

A Call for Evidence is currently open until 6 November in order to gather views and evidence to inform proposals for reforms to licensing. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system.

No assessment has yet been made of the impact of any reforms on violence against women and girls. Any legislative changes will be subject to an impact assessment, consultation and parliamentary scrutiny.

The Government is inviting views and evidence to inform the development of a modern, proportionate and enabling licensing system.

A Call for Evidence is currently open until 6 November in order to gather views and evidence to inform proposals for reforms to licensing. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system.

No assessment has yet been made of the impact of any reforms on public health. Any legislative changes will be subject to an impact assessment, consultation and parliamentary scrutiny.

The Department for Business and Trade is committed to making the UK an outstanding place for life sciences companies to start and scale. The Office for Life Sciences has a target to see more scale-up finance raised by life sciences businesses in the UK than anywhere else in Europe. A dedicated stream of work is being delivered to support small and medium-sized biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

The Department of Health and Social Care and Department of Science, Innovation and Technology are developing tailored approaches for SMEs in parallel, to ensure that they can access the UK’s research infrastructure effectively.

Motability Foundation is independent of government and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme. DWP does however work closely with Motability Foundation and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme.

As a Government, we are committed to the growth of the automotive sector and provide support through programmes such as DRIVE35, which will invest up to £2.5bn to support zero emission vehicle manufacturing in the UK, and the Electric Car Grant, which narrows the upfront cost between petrol and electric vehicles, giving thousands more drivers access to electric vehicles

Government recognises the significant challenges and distress that serious childhood illness can cause. The department will consult on Hugh’s Law in 2026. In line with the Consultation Principles, we will ensure that the consultation lasts a proportionate amount of time, taking into account the nature and impact of the proposals. Options for consultation must be carefully developed in an evidence-based manner to ensure that robust proposals are put forward for consideration.

In the Trade Strategy, the Government launched a review into the UK's approach to responsible business conduct, focused on tackling human rights and labour abuses, modern slavery and environmental harms and addressing such issues.

No. As my Rt. Honourable friend the Minister for Defence Procurement has previously confirmed to the House, UK suppliers do not manufacture or export components that are exclusively used on the Israeli variant of the f-35 aircraft.

The Government recognises the crucial role of universities in the UK's innovation ecosystem and in delivering the skills needed to drive growth as part of the Industrial Strategy. Education policy is devolved in Scotland, and it is for the Scottish Government to consider the broader impact of developments in the education sector, including of any potential staff cuts in Scottish universities.

Accelerating the rate of innovation and increasing the adoption and diffusion of ideas, technologies, and processes is an essential step for growing productivity of our growth-driving sectors. My officials are working with the Scottish Government on how we can drive growth in Scotland and the wider UK within the context of our Industrial Strategy. This includes the role of innovation in helping us reach our shared growth objectives. This partnership will help make the Industrial Strategy a UK-wide effort and support the considerable sectoral strengths of Scotland.

The Government recognises the crucial role of universities in the UK’s innovation ecosystem and in delivering the skills needed to drive growth as part of the Industrial Strategy. My officials have discussed our Industrial Strategy plans with Universities Scotland.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper identified eight growth-driving sectors. All sectors can shape and will benefit from policy reform through the Industrial Strategy’s cross-cutting policies alongside the broader Growth Mission. This will create the pro-business environment for all businesses to invest and employ, with growth that supports high-quality jobs and ensures that the benefits are shared across people, places, and generations.

Advanced production machinery and robotics are central to increasing productivity across the manufacturing sector. The Made Smarter Adoption Programme is helping SME manufacturers adopt industrial digital technologies such as robotics and autonomous systems to increase their productivity and efficiency.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper identified eight growth-driving sectors. All sectors can shape and will benefit from policy reform through the Industrial Strategy’s cross-cutting policies alongside the broader Growth Mission. This will create the pro-business environment for all businesses to invest and employ, with growth that supports high-quality jobs and ensures that the benefits are shared across people, places, and generations.

The UK’s agriculture food and drink sector plays a significant part in the UK economy, with £146.7bn contribution to GVA and 4.2m jobs (13% UK total employment). Government is engaging with the food, drink and farming industries regularly on how the sector can grow and invest.

The UK Government is committed to advancing free and fair trade around that world that is inclusive, sustainable and reduces poverty.

We remain committed to engaging civil society as we develop the new Trade Strategy.

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Ofgem is a non-Ministerial Government Department, not an agency or office of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, so DESNZ Ministers do not determine Ofgem’s pay flexibility business case.

However, the Secretary of State has given his consent to the business case being sent to the Cabinet Office and HMT Treasury, who are currently considering whether it is consistent with Civil Service pay policies, is value for money, and affordable.

To achieve net zero at lowest cost, we are accelerating low-carbon technologies, including geothermal. Water from coal mines and sewer systems offers strong potential for heat networks. Projects can apply to the Green Heat Network Fund for support. DESNZ promotes sewer heat recovery as a reliable urban heat source, given its stable temperatures and alignment with demand. To ensure sustainable deployment, DESNZ issued Exclusion Zone Guidance to protect sewer thermal integrity and avoid conflicts between abstraction points, giving developers and water companies confidence in performance and investment. The Mining Remediation Authority has also published opportunity maps.

Young people in all UK regions and nations will benefit from the good jobs that the clean energy economy can bring. In Scotland, we estimate up to 40,000 additional clean energy jobs by 2030.

Skills policy is devolved, but the UK Government is working closely with the Scottish Government as we train up the next generation.

The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper outlines our vision for a world-class skills system, giving students better opportunities, skills, and pathways to success, while meeting employer needs.

The Growth and Skills Offer, with apprenticeships at its heart, will deliver greater flexibility for employers.

In the 2025 spending review, the Government allocated £9.4 billion over the Spending Review period.

The bulk of public funding for Track 1 is only provided once projects are operational. Transport & Storage Companies (T&SCos) operate a Regulated Asset Base model regulated by Ofgem. This allows them to recover costs during operation by charging connected capture projects - expected from 2028 onwards.

The government has announced its support for the Acorn and Viking clusters and is providing development funding to advance their delivery, including approximately £200m for Acorn. The exact amounts for each cluster and funding schedule will be subject to negotiations, value for money and deliverability assessments.

The Government announced its support for the Acorn and Viking clusters in the Spending Review and is providing the development funding to advance their delivery. We've been working with clusters to understand what they need to keep them progressing to a final investment decision (FID) this Parliament, subject to project readiness and affordability.

Non-pipeline methods of CO2 transportation (for example, road, rail and ship) will play an integral role in achieving decarbonisation across multiple regions and sectors of the economy, to meet our carbon budget targets and net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Funding for NPT projects will be subject to future project selection processes and associated deliverability and value for money considerations.

The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Authority consulted on expanding the UK ETS to the waste sector in 2024, including asking for views on managing the risk of increased diversion of waste to export abroad. The interim Authority Response published in July 2025 stated that policy positions are being developed to ensure that waste export is not used to avoid ETS costs and details will be set out in due course.

The Government recognises the challenges that the expansion of the scheme will place on local authorities and will confirm proposals to help them manage the impacts of the scheme in due course.

The Government is working closely with Ofgem to ensure that its price control framework supports the necessary investment in the electricity network to deliver our clean energy and growth missions. This includes ensuring that the distribution network has sufficient capacity to meet projected demand from electric vehicles into the future.

The current price control, RIIO-ED2 (2023–2028), enables forward-looking investment aligned with and incorporates uncertainty mechanisms to allow networks to respond flexibly to rising demand. The next price control, RIIO-ED3 (2028–2033), will be informed by Regional Energy Strategic Plans to support more strategic, anticipatory and coordinated investment.

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

The clean energy transition creates an opportunity for our expert offshore industry and workers to play a central role in the next generation of energy supply. Our commitments to deliver clean power by 2030 and to accelerate to net zero will guarantee our country’s energy security and create jobs, with gas continuing to play an important role in ensuring security of supply during the clean power transition.

Together, the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, and the upcoming response to 'Building the North Sea's Energy Future' consultation provide a clear mission to drive investment certainty. These plans ensure the UK becomes a global leader in clean energy innovation, supply chains, manufacturing and deployment.

We have directly responded to the investment and regulatory barriers prohibiting growth for the sector. Measures include £5.8bn National Wealth Fund for high-cost infrastructure and ports investment; Clean Industry Bonus expansion; £1bn GBE Supply Chain Fund, planning and consenting reform; and targeted R&D funding.

The clean energy transition creates an opportunity for our expert offshore industry and workers to play a central role in the next generation of energy supply. Our commitments to deliver clean power by 2030 and to accelerate to net zero will guarantee our country’s energy security and create jobs, with gas continuing to play an important role in ensuring security of supply during the clean power transition.

Together, the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, and the upcoming response to 'Building the North Sea's Energy Future' consultation provide a clear mission to drive investment certainty. These plans ensure the UK becomes a global leader in clean energy innovation, supply chains, manufacturing and deployment.

We have directly responded to the investment and regulatory barriers prohibiting growth for the sector. Measures include £5.8bn National Wealth Fund for high-cost infrastructure and ports investment; Clean Industry Bonus expansion; £1bn GBE Supply Chain Fund, planning and consenting reform; and targeted R&D funding.

The clean energy transition creates an opportunity for our expert offshore industry and workers to play a central role in the next generation of energy supply. Our commitments to deliver clean power by 2030 and to accelerate to net zero will guarantee our country’s energy security and create jobs, with gas continuing to play an important role in ensuring security of supply during the clean power transition.

Together, the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, and the upcoming response to 'Building the North Sea's Energy Future' consultation provide a clear mission to drive investment certainty. These plans ensure the UK becomes a global leader in clean energy innovation, supply chains, manufacturing and deployment.

We have directly responded to the investment and regulatory barriers prohibiting growth for the sector. Measures include £5.8bn National Wealth Fund for high-cost infrastructure and ports investment; Clean Industry Bonus expansion; £1bn GBE Supply Chain Fund, planning and consenting reform; and targeted R&D funding.

The Government is introducing new strategic spatial planning processes, at national level (the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan) and regional level (Regional Energy Strategic Plans), to help ensure energy infrastructure meets future demand, including that of transport. The Government is encouraging transport stakeholders, such as the Freight Energy Forum (an expert advisory body led by the Department for Transport), to engage with the producer of these plans (the National Energy System Operator) and Ofgem to provide clarity and evidence on transport and electric vehicle requirements.

Drones are useful in inspecting energy infrastructure such as offshore wind turbines and overhead electrification lines which are difficult to reach using other means. As part of DESNZ’s Net Zero Innovation Programme, we have funded UK companies looking to develop drones for these types of inspections.