Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Department has considered expanding the remit of the Warm Homes programme to provide impartial and reliable guidance on electric vehicle adoption and associated technologies, similar to the support provided by the Home Energy Scotland service for energy efficiency and heating.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

One of the main objectives of the Warm Homes Agency is to provide reliable, impartial advice to support consumers through their home decarbonisation journey and the Government will be taking learnings from other trusted sources to aid its design of the Agency. The full scope of the Agency, including the design and contents of its advisory function, is being finalised and will be confirmed in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to provide financial incentives to support the adoption of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology.

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

Government is committed to supporting the rapid development and adoption of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology as it has the potential to reduce the cost of electric vehicle (EV) ownership whilst supporting the rapid decarbonisation of our energy system and lowering energy bills for all.

The 2025 Clean Flexibility Roadmap highlights actions that government, Ofgem and NESO are taking to support the roll out of V2G beyond innovation investments to date. This includes steps to make it more financially rewarding for EV drivers to utilise V2G through introducing legislation when parliamentary time allows to remove levies from being charged on electricity exported back to the grid. We are also considering incentivising vehicles with V2G capability, such as using innovative credit models within the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of introducing the 2018 Nutrient Profiling Model on business investment in the food and drink sector.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. As part of this, the Government committed to updating the standards behind the restrictions on advertising ‘less healthy’ food or drink products on television before 9:00pm and online at any time, as well as the restrictions on the promotion of ‘less healthy’ food and drink products by location and volume price by applying the new Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM).

The advertising and promotions restrictions currently rely on the outdated NPM 2004/05. The new NPM has been updated in line with the latest dietary advice from the United Kingdom’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, particularly in relation to free sugar and fibre. Applying it to the restrictions will strengthen these policies by bringing more products of concern for children’s health into scope.

The Government published the new NPM on 27 January. Application of the new NPM to the advertising and promotions restrictions would be subject to a full public consultation and an impact assessment of the costs to businesses and intended health outcomes.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the BBC World Service in countering state-backed disinformation from (a) Russia, (b) China and (c) Iran.

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

I refer the Hon Member to the answers provided on 10 September 2025 in response to Questions 70439 and 70440.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps his Department is taking to promote the National Year of Reading in Scotland.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults. For example, only this week our delivery partner for this campaign, the National Literacy Trust, revealed that fewer than 1 in 10 teenage boys read daily for pleasure.

The National Year of Reading aims to engage new audiences, reshape public attitudes and embed lasting, meaningful change on attitudes to reading. The campaign includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout 2026.

We are working in collaboration with the Scottish Government and lead delivery partners - DC Thomson, The Scottish Book Trust and The Scottish Book and Information Council - to deliver this important initiative in Scotland. ​​

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training Access to Work staff receive on assessing the needs of blind and partially sighted customers.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Access to Work staff are trained to take account of the customer’s own declaration of the support they need within the context of the Access to Work regulations. If more information is required to determine an award, a workplace assessment referral is made to an external partner to provide recommendations for the provision of equipment or support.

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