Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to assess the potential impact of the recommendations from the Nuclear Regulatory Review on nature recovery targets set under the Environment Act.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is carefully considering all recommendations of the Nuclear Taskforce’s report and will present a full implementation plan by the end of February. Defra is working with DESNZ and other Government departments to set out this plan. The Taskforce recommendations on the environment seek to deliver better environmental outcomes compared with the existing regime, through a simpler regime which is less burdensome and disruptive for nuclear projects. We are considering these recommendations in line with our objectives to achieve win-wins for nature and growth, as well as meeting our international obligations.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of increasing NICE's cost-effectiveness thresholds used to evaluate Highly Specialised Technologies for rare diseases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to increase the cost‑effectiveness threshold for the highly specialised technologies (HST) programme. The HST programme already operates at a much higher threshold than standard National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisals, reflecting the challenges of bringing treatments for very rare conditions to market, and NICE has been able to recommend nearly all the treatments that have been evaluated through the HST programme for National Health Service use.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as treatment for post-stroke complications other than depression.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2023 National Institute for Health and Care guideline NG236, on recommendations on stroke rehabilitation, reviewed the evidence and concluded that whilst there was some evidence on the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the short term, the research does not yet support adoption other than for depression. Thie guideline NG236 is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG236
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of regulation of rented homes on landlords.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Impact Assessment for the Renters’ Rights Act can be found here.
The government’s policy statement, impact assessment, and response to the Decent Homes Standard consultation can be found on gov.uk here.
The government’s response to the 2025 consultation on Improving the Energy Performance of Privately Rented Homes in England and Wales, along with the accompanying impact assessment, can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many fires involving electric vehicles have been recorded by fire and rescue services in England in the last five years; and whether the Government has received assessments on the impact and risk of such fires from fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England, including fires involving road vehicles. This data is published in the Department’s fire statistics releases. However, the data currently collected by Fire and Rescue Services does not identify whether a vehicle involved in a fire was an electric vehicle. The Department is therefore not able to provide data for the number of fires involving electric vehicles in England over the last five years.
Our new Fire and Rescue Data Analysis Platform (FaRDAP) is being rolled out and work is ongoing to update the data it will collect covering both the questions and answer categories to capture lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles (including personal light electric vehicles such as e-scooters and e-bikes), and more.
In addition, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) publishes data using information available from Fire and Rescue Services on fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters. Updated data now including figures for 2017-2024 was published in June 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of visa applications under the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme are determined within eight weeks in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UKVI are currently assessing Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPE) visas within the published processing times. Information on visa processing times can be found at Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK
Average processing times do not form part of any current transparency data for Ukraine Extension Permission applications and are not published.
A range of processing data including case outcomes on Ukraine visa applications, can be found at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK and Migration transparency data - GOV.UK
Resourcing arrangements are flexible across all visa routes, with decision-makers deployed to different areas at different times of the year. This enables UKVI to meet peaks in demand and operate efficiently throughout the operational year.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when his Department will launch its consultation on children's social media use.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government’s consultation on the children’s use of technology and social media will be launched in the coming weeks. This will be a short, swift consultation of three months, with the government planning to respond in the summer.
The consultation will be backed by a national conversation about the impact of technology on children’s wellbeing. Ministers are already hearing the views of parents, children and civil society through nationwide events.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of Dating Scam Fraud were reported in 2025; and what the financial loss was.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on Dating Scam Fraud. City of London Police are the national lead force for fraud and operate the Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) reporting service which collects data on Dating Scam Fraud. The below data was collected from the reports made to Action Fraud (now Report Fraud) that amounted to a crime under the Home Office crime recording rules.
In the first 10 months of 2025, there were 9,305 dating scam reports to Action Fraud (now ‘Report Fraud’). Losses for these reports totalled £90.9m. Source: Report Fraud Analysis Services (Public)
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to review the proposed timelines to implement the safety measures required for the transition to alternative refrigerants with flammability or toxicity characteristics in the consultation entitled Amending the hydrofluorocarbon phasedown schedule, published on 5 November 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Information submitted through the consultation, which closed on 17 December 2024, is being used to inform our consideration of next steps. A response and an outline of next steps will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
Other regulatory changes may be considered in the future in relation to fluorinated gases (which include hydrofluorocarbons). The UK Government, in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, is committed to further exploring areas for reform considered out of scope of last year’s consultation. This includes assessing the situation regarding training on alternatives to fluorinated gases.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled Amending the hydrofluorocarbon phasedown schedule, published on 5 November 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Information submitted through the consultation, which closed on 17 December 2024, is being used to inform our consideration of next steps. A response and an outline of next steps will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
Other regulatory changes may be considered in the future in relation to fluorinated gases (which include hydrofluorocarbons). The UK Government, in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, is committed to further exploring areas for reform considered out of scope of last year’s consultation. This includes assessing the situation regarding training on alternatives to fluorinated gases.