Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor delivery of the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, (b) provide stable multi-year funding for its implementation, including UKCVAM, (c) publish milestones and progress updates, and (d) support regulatory changes to increase the uptake of non-animal methods, including delivery of the strategy’s 2026 commitments.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government’s strategy Replacing animals in science strategy is setting up governance structures, including a Ministerial board, to oversee progress and ensure momentum is maintained. £60m of ringfenced, multiyear funding has been provided to secure long-term investment for the strategy’s measures, including UKCVAM and the preclinical translational models hub, through the 2025 Spending Review. Transparent targets and milestones, alongside KPIs will be published starting in 2026. Current legislation requires alternatives to animals to be used wherever available, so there are no current plans to change legislation.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department made an assessment of the potential impact of using the Gov.uk One Login to verify identity on people who (a) do not have photo ID and (b) are visually impaired.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Inclusion is at the heart of GOV.UK One Login. The service provides multiple ways for users to prove their identity, including a no photo ID route which involves answering security questions.
GDS regularly tests designs with disabled users, including visually impaired users, where tests are performed with assistive technology.Our accessibility statement is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/govuk-one-login-app-accessibility-statement.
We have a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) assessment, which examines the impacts of the service on the different protected characteristics and establishes mitigations where necessary.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the proposed trophy hunting ban will include all species of zebra; and when her Department plans to publish what species its proposed ban will cover.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to engage with relevant stakeholders to help determine the most appropriate scope for a ban on the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern. Timeframes for introducing legislation and details of its scope will be provided once the Parliamentary timetable for future sessions is determined.
Species of conservation concern are listed primarily on Appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) based on the level of threat that international trade poses to their conservation status.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the cost of (a) the potential business rates relief for pubs and (b) the cost of extending this relief to (i) the hospitality sector and (ii) the retail sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
From April, every pub and live music venue will get 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget and then bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.
Final costings will be confirmed at a fiscal event in the usual way.
The retail and hospitality sectors will continue to benefit from the £4.3 billion support package announced at Budget. This support package means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether all species of Zebra will be included in the proposed ban on hunting trophies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to engage with relevant stakeholders to help determine the most appropriate scope for a ban on the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern. Timeframes for introducing legislation and details of its scope will be provided once the Parliamentary timetable for future sessions is determined.
Species of conservation concern are listed primarily on Appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) based on the level of threat that international trade poses to their conservation status.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of children in care whose citizenship status is not resolved before turning 18.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since 16 June 2022, when the fee‑exemption for registering looked‑after children as British citizens was introduced, the Home Office has proactively engaged with every local authority. This work has focused on informing and supporting them to understand the exemption and the full range of citizenship registration options available to children under local authority care and supporting them with bespoke communication channels for local authorities to assist on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on (a) local employment and (b) economic growth in the Thornbury and Yate constituency of deploying Small Modular Reactors at the Oldbury site, as part of the Government's plan to build a further 9 SMRs.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
GBE-N owns the site at Oldbury-on-Severn and as a site which has previously hosted a nuclear power station, it has great potential for new nuclear. GBE-N will continue early work to evaluate the site, to ensure it is ready for future deployment. .
The government wants to see thousands of jobs created across the UK nuclear sector and for UK supply chains to develop world-leading expertise across a range of civil nuclear activities to ensure competitiveness both domestically and internationally.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to table 1 of Annex A of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, if he will publish a breakdown of the spending of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit spending on Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy, net in that financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Please find below breakdown of the ‘Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy’ line outturn for FY 2024-25 per table 1 in Annex A of the DSIT Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25:
Geospatial Commission £147.676m
Met Office £146.027m
National Measurement Service £121.310m
Office for Life Sciences £42.384m
Position, Navigation & Timing (PNT) Office £0.564m
Innovation & Research £0.215m
Research Base Innovation £0.012m
Total £458.188m
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, what is the planned timetable for delivering the 100 GW of joint offshore wind projects agreed at the North Sea Summit.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Hamburg Declaration sets a collective ambition of 100 GW of offshore wind cooperation projects by 2050. Shorter term delivery targets will flow from strategic planning work such as NESO's Strategic Spatial Energy Plan due to be consulted on in Q1 2027.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, whether the Hamburg Declaration places financial obligations on the UK.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Hamburg Declaration does not place financial obligations on the UK.