Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help reduce geographical variations in the cost of petrol and diesel.

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

The Government has introduced the Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025, which requires all petrol stations in the UK to share live fuel price data through the Fuel Finder service from 2 February 2026. This will improve transparency and enable motorists to compare prices easily, helping to reduce regional disparities. The Competition and Markets Authority continues to monitor the road fuel market to assess the effectiveness of competition and advise the Government on any further action needed to protect consumers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what accountability measures her Department has put in place for the nutritional content of breakfasts provided by schools participating in the Free Breakfast Club scheme.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered 2.6 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.

Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools. School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the senior leadership team to ensure obligations are met.

Alongside the School Food Standards statutory guidance, we published updated breakfast club guidance in November, which provides guidance on which foods should be served at breakfast clubs to ensure that the School Food Standards are met.

We are working to revise the School Food Standards to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that food provided by schools participating in the Free Breakfast Club scheme meets nutritional and quality standards.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered 2.6 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.

Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools. School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the senior leadership team to ensure obligations are met.

Alongside the School Food Standards statutory guidance, we published updated breakfast club guidance in November, which provides guidance on which foods should be served at breakfast clubs to ensure that the School Food Standards are met.

We are working to revise the School Food Standards to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what standardised guidance is available to NHS maternity services regarding a) paternal involvement and b) support for fathers in childbirth.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

National bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Midwives have issued guidelines emphasising the importance of involving fathers and partners in maternity and perinatal care. These guidelines set expectations for trusts to adopt family-centred care and to treat fathers as active participants, not just visitors or observers. These resources are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng201/chapter/recommendations#:~:text=Antenatal%20classes-,1.3.,NICE%20guideline%20on%20postnatal%20care

https://rcm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/engaging_dads_pocket_guide.pdf

The Department and NHS England do not hold data on the proportion of births in National Health Service facilities at which a father is present.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the proportion of births in NHS facilities at which a father is present.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

National bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Midwives have issued guidelines emphasising the importance of involving fathers and partners in maternity and perinatal care. These guidelines set expectations for trusts to adopt family-centred care and to treat fathers as active participants, not just visitors or observers. These resources are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng201/chapter/recommendations#:~:text=Antenatal%20classes-,1.3.,NICE%20guideline%20on%20postnatal%20care

https://rcm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/engaging_dads_pocket_guide.pdf

The Department and NHS England do not hold data on the proportion of births in National Health Service facilities at which a father is present.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a public interest assessment for large-scale acquisitions in the adult social care sector.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) oversees the Market Oversight Scheme (MOS), which was established under Section 53 of the Care Act 2014 as an independent scheme with the aim of ensuring continuity of care services. The MOS was launched in 2015 and monitors the financial sustainability of the largest and most difficult to replace providers of adult social care.

The scheme enables the CQC to give impacted local authorities advance notification in discharging their Care Act obligations to temporarily ensure continuity of care for all people receiving services. The CQC also notifies the Department, which will then activate its Operational Contingency Plan and convene national partners in order to monitor local efforts to ensure continuity of care.

There are no current plans to expand the public interest considerations under the Enterprise Act 2002 beyond matters relating to financial stability, media plurality, and public health emergencies. The Government is committed to ensuring our policy making is informed by the best available evidence.

Merger investigations on competition grounds are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently of the Government. The CMA determines which transactions to review based on statutory thresholds and whether there is a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition. The Government keeps the merger control regime under regular review to ensure it remains fit for purpose and works effectively within the current regulatory environment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of offshore ownership of care assets in the United Kingdom on his Department's plans to introduce (a) a National Care Service and (b) neighbourhood-based care systems.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Private adult social care providers are individual businesses, and the Government does not seek to intervene in their business decisions on company structure. We have been clear that the expectation is for adult social care providers to behave responsibly, including with their financial arrangements, which should promote sustainability.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all people, and to develop and build local market capacity. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services from the voluntary, private, or public sector that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.

More broadly, we are making progress towards a National Care Service based on higher quality of care, greater choice and control, and joined-up neighbourhood services, with approximately £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care by 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the gender breakdown is of maternity services staff for each NHS trust.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England which include information on the gender of staff. The data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. Further information is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

The attached table presents data drawn from the underlying Electronic Staff Record information which is used by NHS England to produce the monthly NHS Workforce Statistics as the publication routinely presents data on the gender of staff by their staffing group but does not present this information broken down by individual organisation or the care setting or specialism staff are working in.

Staff working in maternity services have been defined as doctors working in the specialty area of obstetrics and gynaecology, midwives, nurses working either maternity or neonatal nursing settings, and patient facing support staff working in either maternity services or neonatal nursing settings.