Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in protecting artists against breaches of artistic copyright by AI models.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department has not made its own assessment of the effectiveness of the Berne Convention in relation to AI models.

However, a recent meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which is responsible for the Berne Convention, included a session on the use of artistic and other copyright works by AI models.

The UK participated in this session and will continue to engage with WIPO and with other international partners as we consider the way forward on this important topic.

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 that the funding made available to ICBs for primary care can be used by GP surgeries to develop plans for premises improvement that will extend beyond the financial year in which an application is submitted.

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

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future and recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments to ensure we have world class infrastructure across the entire NHS estate.

At a local level, the relevant integrated care board is responsible for deciding how the NHS budget for its area is spent and for allocating funding according to local priorities, such as new general practice (GP) surgeries or integrated care centres/neighbourhood hubs.

At the Autumn Budget, we established a dedicated capital fund of £102 million to deliver approximately 200 upgrade schemes to GP surgeries across England, supporting the improved use of existing buildings and space, boosting productivity, and enabling delivery of more appointments. This funding represents a first step in delivering the additional capital the primary care sector needs.

Further support for NHS organisations delivering local and national priorities beyond this financial year is being considered in the 10-Year Health Plan and as part of phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Funding under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is in general not available for goods and services that may be needed by the general student population, whether disabled or not. The department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist software as this falls outside the scope of the DSA. We will monitor the savings from the implementation of this policy.

This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from DSA funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the (a) quality and (b) total area coverage area for (i) 5G and (ii) other wireless data reception in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency; and what steps he is taking to help improve 5G coverage in those areas.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report (published on 5 December 2024) 92% of the Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency has 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile operators, while 85% of the constituency has 5G geographic coverage from at least one operator. I have raised my concerns about the accuracy of their coverage reporting with Ofcom and I welcome their continuing efforts to make improvements.

The government wants all areas of the UK to benefit from good quality mobile coverage. Our ambition is for all populated areas, including communities in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency, to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030.

Improving 5G coverage is primarily the responsibility of the mobile network operators, but we continue to challenge and work with the mobile industry and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition in the market.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to review the thresholds for Small Business Rate Relief to reflect changes in rateable values ahead of the 2026 revaluation.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Currently, Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means over a third of businesses in England (more than 700,000) pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000, which an additional c.60,000 businesses benefit from.

The Government is committed to retaining SBRR, which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. As highlighted in the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper published at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government is interested in hearing stakeholders’ views on the extent to which the current system acts as a barrier to investment and specifically, whether the current eligibility criteria for SBRR impacts businesses' incentives to invest and expand into a second property.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of excluding CCTV systems used for security purposes from business rates valuations.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At the Autumn Budget, the government published the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper, which sets out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century.

In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025.

Improvement Relief was introduced in April 2024 and provides 12 months of relief for qualifying improvements to a property, including installation of CCTV where this increases a property’s RV.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Office for Students will be required to provide a third category for registration; and whether this will take into account the specialised environments of small specialist providers.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

I refer the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole to the answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36617.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure that ongoing work under the digital identities framework to digitise (a) sex and (b) other personal information incorporates safeguards to guarantee the information used is accurate where it might be recorded differently on (i) passports, (ii) driving licences and (iiI) other documents.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Digital identities do not offer a new way to determine sex or gender. As with physical verification, individual organisations are responsible for determining what precise information it is appropriate to verify in a particular case and how they verify that to meet their requirements. The UK digital identity and attributes trust framework creates rules for how digital identity services operate. It does not set requirements for how government departments record sex and other personal information. Under data protection law, personal data which is processed must be accurate for the purposes for which it is processed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department plans to provide for (a) dance, (b) drama, (c) music and (d) musical theatre higher education courses in each of the next three years.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. The HE sector needs a secure financial footing, which is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we took last year the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.

In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make we expect the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for those students and for the country.

Additionally, the government provides annual funding to the HE sector through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which supports teaching of expensive-to-deliver subjects, access and participation and world-leading specialist providers.

My right hon. Friend, The Secretary of State for Education will shortly issue guidance to the Office for Students, setting out SPG funding for the 2025/26 academic year and her priorities for it. Funding for subsequent years will be agreed following the government’s spending review.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department will publish the response to the consultation entitled Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings, which closed on 19 December 2024.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Our consultation on remote attendance and proxy voting closed on 19 December, and results will be published in due course. The consultation aimed to consider how to support the local government sector to modernise democratic engagement and remove unnecessary barriers to participation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which groups were consulted on the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department engaged with individual disability experts with relevant experience to gather feedback on the proposals. These experts were consulted in a personal capacity, and the department is therefore not able to provide their personal information.

This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.

Shrill carder bee

World Bee Day

World Bee Day (No. 2)

Dementia Action Week

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Jewish LGBTQ+ groups at Pride

Political parties at Pride

Community Energy Pathways and the King’s Award for Sustainable Enterprise

Treatment of Israeli hostages

Foster Care Fortnight

Gaza occupation proposals

Electoral reform

Pavement parking

Blockade of aid to Gaza

Climate and Nature Bill

Trans+ History Week

Found: _4 Tom Gordon Vikki Slade Neil Duncan-Jordan Liz Jarvis Siân Berry Carla Denyer .

Found: Chowns Dr Rupa Huq James MacCleary Peter Prinsley Caroline Voaden Liz Jarvis Sarah Olney Vikki Slade

Found: Presented by Dr Danny Chambers supported by Dr Neil Hudson, Vikki Slade, James MacCleary, Max Wilkinson

Found: _24 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis Tom Gordon .

Found: _4 Tom Gordon Vikki Slade Neil Duncan-Jordan Liz Jarvis Siân Berry Carla Denyer .

Found: Chowns Dr Rupa Huq James MacCleary Peter Prinsley Caroline Voaden Liz Jarvis Sarah Olney Vikki Slade

Found: Withdrawn after debate_21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: _21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: _4 Tom Gordon Vikki Slade Neil Duncan-Jordan Liz Jarvis Siân Berry Carla Denyer .

Found: _21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: _4 Tom Gordon Vikki Slade Neil Duncan-Jordan Liz Jarvis .

Found: Siân Berry Tim Farron Ann Davies Carla Denyer Claire Hanna Ben Lake Liz Saville Roberts Vikki Slade

Found: NC23 Lisa Smart Christine Jardine Ben Maguire Josh Babarinde Mr Will Forster Susan Murray Vikki Slade

Found: _21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: _4 Tom Gordon Vikki Slade Neil Duncan-Jordan .

Found: Maguire Josh Babarinde Mr Will Forster Susan Murray Siân Berry Carla Denyer Claire Hanna Vikki Slade

Found: _21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: _4 Tom Gordon Vikki Slade Neil Duncan-Jordan .

Found: _21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: Munira Wilson David Chadwick Alex Brewer Siân Berry Adrian Ramsay Ben Lake Llinos Medi Vikki Slade

Found: REPORT STAGE Wednesday 7 May 2025 Negatived on division_NC1 Victoria Collins Caroline Voaden Vikki Slade

Found: _21 Gideon Amos Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis .

Found: _NC1 Victoria Collins Caroline Voaden Vikki Slade Liz Jarvis Rachel Gilmour Tom Gordon Helen Maguire