Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to make changes to the (a) accreditation, (b) certification and (c) guarantee regime of (i) installers and (ii) retrofit coordinators working under (A) ECO4, (B) future Warm Homes Plan programmes and (C) other Government-funded retrofit schemes to prevent (1) rogue and (2) negligent firms participating.

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

The government is reviewing the system of consumer protection and oversight for home retrofit installations that improve energy efficiency and decarbonise homes. This work is looking at the entire landscape: from how installers work in people’s homes to where homeowners turn for rapid action and enforcement if things go wrong. More information will be shared in the forthcoming Warm Homes Plan.

The government is planning to consult on proposals for retrofit system reform early next year.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that homes which have received (a) insulation and (b) internal wall insulation under the ECO4 scheme are independently inspected any sub-standard or unsafe work is remediated at no cost to the homeowner, and that the homeowner is informed of their rights to redress.

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

Government is offering free inspections of all properties where external wall insulation was fitted under ECO4. Ofgem will contact every household with external wall insulation that has not yet been audited.

Remediation is already taking place to address substandard and unsafe work, and over half of the issues identified to date have been fixed. They will be rectified at no cost to the consumer.

Issues in external wall insulation are substantially higher than those for internal wall insulation. If customers have concerns about the quality of their internal wall insulation, they can contact their original installer or Ofgem’s dedicated helpline.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Financial Conduct Authority is taking to (a) enhance its oversight of Self-Invested Personal Pension operators and (b) review the capital adequacy requirements for those holding portfolios containing high volumes of non-standard or illiquid assets.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) are a type of personal pension regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that give savers more choice over how they invest their retirement savings.

In December 2024, the FCA published their discussion paper “Pensions: Adapting our requirements for a changing market”. This paper invited feedback about due diligence and client asset requirements in the SIPP market.

The discussion paper has now closed and the FCA expects to consult on new proposals in Q1 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the standard corporate insolvency regime for ensuring the timely and cost-effective transfer of client Self-Invested Personal Pensions; and if she will commit to reviewing the case for a bespoke Self-Invested Personal Pensions Operator insolvency regime to better protect retirement savings.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises that the insolvency of a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) operator can have a significant impact on customers as we have seen in some high-profile cases recently. The current corporate insolvency regime does enable transfers of client assets in these situation, but HM Treasury is monitoring developments. The FCA regulates SIPP operators, and HM Treasury works closely with the FCA to monitor the sector and address emerging risks.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring police forces to record thefts (a) from and (b) of light commercial vehicles as distinct crime categories to enable accurate national monitoring of van-related offending.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has access to a monthly extract of data from the Police National Computer (PNC) which provides additional intelligence information on the type of vehicles stolen in England and Wales. Such data already enables the monitoring of offences involving the theft of light commercial vehicles and so no additional crime code is needed to identify such thefts.

When collecting data for national monitoring purposes there is always a tension between seeking to capture more detail to identify emerging threats, which are hidden within existing broad offence groupings, and adding to recording complexity and burden on the police.

The Theft Act covers a wide range of criminality, and the Home Office currently require the police to record such offences under some fairly broad groups such as Theft from a motor vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking, and Theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of section 12(1A) and 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The UK has one of the strongest counter-terrorism frameworks in the world, but we keep this under continuous review. The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation provides recommendations to HMG on the effective functioning of the counter-terrorism framework.

In January 2025, the Government published post-legislative scrutiny on the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which introduced the offence in section 12(1A) and made changes to section 13 to ensure it could apply to online displays of support as well as introducing associated police seizure powers.

This explained that the section 12(1A) offence has been useful in practice in supporting charging decisions and convictions of individuals whose conduct stopped short of deliberately inviting others to support a proscribed organisation, but rather expressed their support recklessly in such a way that there was a risk of others being influenced to support the organisation, whether online or offline. It also explained that the introduction of seizure powers under section 13 has been particularly important in protest settings, as it offers the police an additional route to deal with displays of support for proscribed organisations, such as flags. However, the police can still arrest individuals under this offence if they consider it necessary to do so.

The Government takes proscription offences very seriously, including sections 12 and 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Investigations into the activities of proscribed organisations or individuals who demonstrate support for proscribed organisations are an operational matter for the police and intelligence agencies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of restrictions on television and online advertising of products high in fat, salt and sugar on levels of marketing through outdoor and brand-based advertising; and if he will consider extending restrictions to cover such advertising.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan for England, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever. We are already delivering the biggest public health reforms in a generation, including implementing restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink before 9:00pm on television and at all times online from 5 January 2026.

Last year, the Government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework for local government, giving local authorities stronger, clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools and where young people congregate. This will stop the relentless targeting of children and young people by the fast-food industry.

We also welcome the work by the metropolitan mayors to support the action to ban junk food marketing across public transport networks and public spaces that are controlled locally.

An impact assessment on the advertising restrictions was published on the GOV.UK website, which considered the impact of the restrictions on brand advertising and alternative media, including outdoor advertising, from the perspective of actions that advertisers of products that are high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) may take to mitigate the loss of revenue from the restrictions on television and online. The impact assessment made an assumption that approximately £14 million of lost revenue may be mitigated if HFSS advertisers took these actions.

We continue to review evidence of the impacts on children of advertising for less healthy food and drink products and will consider if and where further action is needed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department are taking to review the state pension addition for individuals aged 80 and over; and whether the Department plans to adjust that addition in line with inflation to ensure it provides meaningful financial support.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The 25 pence a week Age Addition is part of the old State Pension, for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, and is paid with their State Pension, when they reach the age of 80.

The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension, but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, the 25 pence Age Addition under the existing rules will continue.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to develop standards to help with procurement and encourage AI adoption amongst SMEs.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

In July, the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce published ten recommendations to help the UK’s SMEs become the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7 by 2035. We are now working to deliver these recommendations.

We have already partnered with Google on a series of events to help SME leaders around the UK explore how AI can help them.

DSIT has published AI Management Essentials to help SMEs implement responsible AI governance practices.

Also, we are prioritising SMEs in our new system to give them a fair chance at public contracts, with departmental targets and a new SME Procurement Education programme.

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Sheringham bus shelter