Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a co‑investment fund with diverse angel investors.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The British Business Bank's Angel Co-Fund programme already invests alongside syndicates of Business Angels. Every £1 invested by the Angel Co-Fund has leveraged around £5 from Angel syndicates.
The Bank is also expanding its Angel Syndicate Programme to support diverse Angel networks. The programme's pilot engaged 185 new Angel investors, of whom 176 were female and 9 were male. Since launch of this pilot programme in 2023, the Bank has completed 29 investment deals worth £18.4 million.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that support programmes provide meaningful access to all types of finance, as well as investment education and readiness support, such as training, mentoring, and guidance, for female founders in all regions.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Backing women-led businesses across the regions is a priority for this government. To tackle access to finance, the government-backed Invest in Women Taskforce has secured commitments of £635 million to be invested in women-led businesses across the UK. The British Business Bank has delivered over 118,000 loans totalling more than £1.1 billion through its Start Up Loans programme, with 40% going to female founders.
UK Export Finance launched its new Female Founder Accelerator in January 2026 in partnership with Lifted Ventures. This will include workshops, mentoring and coaching to equip female founders with the support to scale internationally with confidence.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he is taking steps to (a) monitor and (b) report on the gender investment gap, such as tracking year‑on‑year venture capital and angel investment into female‑founded companies; and whether targets or timelines have been set by his Department for improvement in this area.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade tracks year-on-year venture capital and angel investment in women-led businesses through its Investing in Women Code, a partnership between government, trade associations in the finance sector, and their members. Starting with 12 signatories in 2019, the Investing in Women Code now has over 300 finance providers signed up, including most major UK banks and Venture Capital funds.
Signatories to the Code report gender-disaggregated data on an annual basis for publication. Investing in Women Code reports demonstrate that Code signatories perform significantly better than the market average as regards investment in female founders.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how he is using allied health professionals to support soldier rehabilitation.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
All Armed Forces personnel are supported by dedicated and comprehensive rehabilitation services. Allied health professionals play a crucial role in supporting the treatment and rehabilitation of Armed Forces personnel in the UK and on operations to ensure our Armed Forces are fit to fight and can fight back to fitness.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to help ensure that defibrillators which have reached the end of their operational life will in state-funded schools in England will be replaced and funded by her Department.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2023, the department provided over 20,000 defibrillators to state-funded schools in England. The programme aimed to ‘plug the gaps’ in existing provision to ensure that all schools have access to a device.
Defibrillators provided by the department are fully supported for the eight-year lifecycle of the device. New pads will be delivered automatically every two years, and replacement batteries provided four years after the initial delivery.
For schools who have existing defibrillators and for schools who wish to purchase additional defibrillators, the department has worked with the NHS to set up Defibs4Schools, which provides devices and consumables of a suitable specification. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/automated-external-defibrillators-aeds-in-schools.
Following completion of the programme, the department will evaluate the impact of the rollout to inform future decisions.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mental health support is available to school staff who experience psychological harm as a result of witnessing or administering the use of a workplace automated external defibrillator on a pupil or colleague.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools are best placed to understand what support may be most appropriate for their staff and should have standard operating procedures in place, including aftercare, should an incident occur where a member of staff witnesses or administers use of an automated external defibrillator on a pupil or a colleague. Should a rescuer need support after an incident, they may be able to request a debriefing from the local ambulance service. Alternatively, they can seek help directly from their GP.
The ‘Promoting and supporting mental health in schools and colleges’ page on GOV.UK, offers resources to build a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges. This includes information about the range of mental health support offers and training available to schools and colleges.
The charity, Education Support, also offers a free confidential 24 hour helpline dedicated to supporting staff working in education.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps she is taking to help protect children in Iran from actions taken by the Iranian authorities.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The killing and brutal repression of peaceful protesters in Iran is horrific. Iranians must be able to exercise their right to peaceful protest without fear of reprisal.
The Iranian government must immediately end the violence, uphold fundamental rights and freedoms, and ensure British nationals are safe. The Foreign Secretary made this very clear when she spoke with the Iranian Foreign Minister on 12 January, and I did likewise when we summoned the Iranian Ambassador the following day.
We are working closely with our partners to ensure the Iranian regime is held accountable for its violent repression and systematic human rights abuses against its own people.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure mental health support is provided to adults with autism and special needs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers by the end of this Parliament, to help to ease pressure on busy mental health services.Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Health and Safety Executive has assessed the potential merits of establishing a single mandatory national register of electricians under its statutory oversight, modelled on the Gas Safe Register, to improve public safety and create a clear standard of professional accountability.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers to Questions UIN 101292 and 101294 on 6 January 2026. The Government takes electrical safety very seriously but has seen no need to establish a mandatory national register of electricians modelled on the Gas Safe Register. Any individual or organisation carrying out building work must demonstrate that they are competent to do so. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 already require that people carrying out electrical work of any sort must be competent to prevent danger and injury, or must be under a degree of supervision that is appropriate to the nature of the work.
The Building Regulations require work to the fixed electrical system in the home to be carried out safely to protect people from fire and injury. In domestic situations, competent electricians can self-certify that their work is compliant with Part P of the Building Regulations, in line with statutory guidance set out in Approved Document P Electrical Safety – Dwellings. All electricians that have been authorised by a government approved Competent Person Scheme are listed on the Registered Competent Person Electrical Register. The department is working with the Building Safety Regulator on reforms of the Competent Person Schemes to improve public and building safety.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people are adequately protected from unsafe or unregulated electrical work in homes, particularly where such work is carried out by non-registered or unqualified persons.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers to Questions UIN 101292 and 101294 on 6 January 2026. The Government takes electrical safety very seriously but has seen no need to establish a mandatory national register of electricians modelled on the Gas Safe Register. Any individual or organisation carrying out building work must demonstrate that they are competent to do so. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 already require that people carrying out electrical work of any sort must be competent to prevent danger and injury, or must be under a degree of supervision that is appropriate to the nature of the work.
The Building Regulations require work to the fixed electrical system in the home to be carried out safely to protect people from fire and injury. In domestic situations, competent electricians can self-certify that their work is compliant with Part P of the Building Regulations, in line with statutory guidance set out in Approved Document P Electrical Safety – Dwellings. All electricians that have been authorised by a government approved Competent Person Scheme are listed on the Registered Competent Person Electrical Register. The department is working with the Building Safety Regulator on reforms of the Competent Person Schemes to improve public and building safety.