Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to support the establishment of an international criminal court for crimes against children.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and achieving justice for victims. The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, including when committed against children. It also has jurisdiction over specific crimes against children including the forcible transfer of children and the conscription or enlisting of children as soldiers. It is important that we build on work already being done and continue to support the crucial work of the ICC. The UK is committed to achieving justice for those children who have been subject to international crimes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Adoption Support Fund; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the fund on (a) adoption breakdown rates and (b) mental health outcomes of children placed in permanent care.

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

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department keeps the effectiveness of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) under continual review. The latest evaluation found strong evidence of positive impact: 83% of parents and guardians reported that ASGSF‑funded support was helpful or very helpful, and there were statistically significant improvements by the end of the intervention. Families also reported an average score of seven out of ten six months after support ended. Outcome measurement tools are now strengthening our ability to assess therapeutic progress and longer-term impacts.

Recognising both the positive benefits of the ASGSF and the need to ensure that support for adopted and permanently placed children is as effective as possible, the department launched a public consultation in February 2026, ‘Adoption support that works for all’. This seeks views on how to deliver a more responsive, evidence‑based system of adoption support, including future arrangements for the ASGSF.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure UK-based journalists can report on the activities of the Iranian regime without fear of intimidation.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Iran's threats and intimidation toward journalists and their families, both inside Iran and in the UK, are absolutely unacceptable, and we have consistently raised these issues directly with the Iranian government. We were integral to the delivery of the Iran Human Rights Resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 2025, which called on Iran to halt threats and intimidation against journalists who are critical of the government, and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for reprisals. In the UK, the National Protective Security Authority and Counter Terrorism Policing also continue to provide protective security advice and support to individuals and organisations threatened by the Iranian regime and its criminal proxies.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she has taken to counter disinformation linked to Iran's governing regime.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Iran's threats and intimidation toward journalists and their families, both inside Iran and in the UK, are absolutely unacceptable, and we have consistently raised these issues directly with the Iranian government. We were integral to the delivery of the Iran Human Rights Resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 2025, which called on Iran to halt threats and intimidation against journalists who are critical of the government, and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for reprisals. In the UK, the National Protective Security Authority and Counter Terrorism Policing also continue to provide protective security advice and support to individuals and organisations threatened by the Iranian regime and its criminal proxies.

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 Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary Ticketmaster controlling a majority share of the UK live music ticketing market on competition and consumer outcomes.

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

The Government is committed to ensuring markets work well for consumers and businesses. As the UK’s lead consumer and competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has a statutory duty to promote competition for the benefit of consumers. It is the role of the CMA to examine potential breaches of competition law, including abuse of a dominant position, and investigate markets if it thinks there are competition or consumer problems. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition matters which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration she has given to allowing military parents more choice in how their child's Pupil Service Premium is spent.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The Service Pupil Premium (SPP) is additional funding for state-funded schools in England with children and young people of service families. It will be paid at a rate of £360 per eligible pupil in the 2026/27 financial year.

Schools can tailor their SPP expenditure to meet the specific pastoral and academic needs of individual service children and help mitigate the impact of matters such as family mobility, separation, or parental deployment. It is the responsibility of each school to decide how to use their SPP funding and to communicate this with parents.

Schools are encouraged to consider best practice in the use of SPP funding, set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-service-pupil-premium/service-pupil-premium-examples-of-best-practice

Guidance for schools, academy trusts and local authorities on supporting service pupils is published jointly by the department and the Ministry Of Defence here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/service-pupils-in-schools-non-statutory-guidance/service-pupils-in-schools-non-statutory-guidance.

This recommends that schools consider recording their use of SPP funding as part of their mandatory pupil premium statement, unless they have reason to believe this will identify individual pupils. An optional field in the template is provided for this purpose.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to encourage schools to be transparent with how they use Service Pupil Premium funding.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The Service Pupil Premium (SPP) is additional funding for state-funded schools in England with children and young people of service families. It will be paid at a rate of £360 per eligible pupil in the 2026/27 financial year.

Schools can tailor their SPP expenditure to meet the specific pastoral and academic needs of individual service children and help mitigate the impact of matters such as family mobility, separation, or parental deployment. It is the responsibility of each school to decide how to use their SPP funding and to communicate this with parents.

Schools are encouraged to consider best practice in the use of SPP funding, set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-service-pupil-premium/service-pupil-premium-examples-of-best-practice

Guidance for schools, academy trusts and local authorities on supporting service pupils is published jointly by the department and the Ministry Of Defence here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/service-pupils-in-schools-non-statutory-guidance/service-pupils-in-schools-non-statutory-guidance.

This recommends that schools consider recording their use of SPP funding as part of their mandatory pupil premium statement, unless they have reason to believe this will identify individual pupils. An optional field in the template is provided for this purpose.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total amount of Government investment in research into neuroendocrine cancers has been in each of the last ten years; and what specific funding allocations have been made for neuroendocrine cancer within the forthcoming National Cancer Plan.

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

Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation.

Between financial years 2015/16 and 2024/25, through the NIHR, the Department for Health and Social Care committed approximately £8 million for new research projects, alongside supporting infrastructure, into neuroendocrine cancer. The following table shows a breakdown of the £8 million for new research projects, alongside supporting infrastructure, into neuroendocrine cancer, from 2015/16 to 2024/25:

As well as funding research itself, the Department invests significantly in research expertise and capacity, specialist facilities, support services, and collaborations to support and deliver research in England, known as NIHR infrastructure. NIHR infrastructure underpins research. The spend is not directly attributable to specific research studies for the most part, but an estimate is derived based on the number of studies in neuroendocrine cancer against the annual infrastructure spend.

The findings presented are based on point-in-time analysis for 23 March 2026. The data does fluctuate due to changes such as contract variations and updated information regarding financial reconciliations and support activity.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including neuroendocrine cancers. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered introducing a national defibrillator strategy.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government’s position is that local communities are best placed to make decisions about procuring, locating, and maintaining automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Over 110,000 defibrillators are registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent AED database. Over 30,000 of these have been added in the past two years, many as a result of local community-led action. For this reason, there are no plans to introduce a national defibrillator strategy.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration he has given to the use of existing delivery frameworks, such as the Major Conditions Strategy, to drive improvements in early detection and treatment of heart valve disease.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to reducing premature deaths from heart disease and stroke and we recognise that improving the detection and treatment of heart valve disease is an important step to achieving this ambition. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) later this year. The CVD MSF will prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care, and as part of its development we are engaging widely to identify and consider the role of emerging innovations across the cardiovascular pathway.

High blood pressure is a key risk factor for heart valve disease, and the Government has invested heavily in the Hypertension Case-finding Service for those aged over 40 years old in community pharmacies, which has seen nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks delivered since October 2021.

Alongside this, in 2025, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme published new and revised cardiology pathways to support consistent care across primary and secondary settings, including advice regarding patients with severe symptomatic heart valve disease.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to develop a national strategy for the early detection of heart valve disease.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to reducing premature deaths from heart disease and stroke and we recognise that improving the detection and treatment of heart valve disease is an important step to achieving this ambition. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) later this year. The CVD MSF will prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care, and as part of its development we are engaging widely to identify and consider the role of emerging innovations across the cardiovascular pathway.

High blood pressure is a key risk factor for heart valve disease, and the Government has invested heavily in the Hypertension Case-finding Service for those aged over 40 years old in community pharmacies, which has seen nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks delivered since October 2021.

Alongside this, in 2025, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme published new and revised cardiology pathways to support consistent care across primary and secondary settings, including advice regarding patients with severe symptomatic heart valve disease.

Memorial for Amrit and Saroj Lal

125th anniversary of the British Standards Institution

Scott Meenagh

Southdale Primary School

40th anniversary of Bathgate rail

Glasgow 850 Interfaith Sponsored Walk

Death of Chuck Norris

Whitburn Brass Band and the Scottish Brass Band Championships

Stand-Out Theatre School

Bonhill Primary School Pupils' charity fundraising

30th anniversary of the Dunblane Primary School tragedy

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Dr Scott Arthur; Mrs Elsie

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Dr Scott Arthur; Mrs Elsie

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement the automatic patient contact system for clinical trial participation introduced as part of the Rare Cancers Act 2026 to enable the timely identification and contact of patients diagnosed with less survivable cancers; and what safeguards they will put in place to prevent delays in that contact system that could exclude eligible patients from participation in clinical trials.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with a rare cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

As set out in our National Cancer Plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act, including Section 3 of the Act which will involve developing a service to ensure rare cancer patients can be automatically contacted about clinical trials.

The Government is currently scoping the technical requirements for this service and identifying a suitable route for delivery, before a development project is commenced. This will allow data sharing from the National Disease Registration Service to the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Be Part of Research registry tool. A detailed workplan and continued engagement with the Hon. Member Dr Scott Arthur, the bill sponsor in the House of Commons, will safeguard against delays which could impact the project.

Implementing the provisions of the Rare Cancers Act will make it easier for clinical trials on rare cancers to take place in England.