Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that every primary school is able to access volunteer support for teachers working to raise literacy levels.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Headteachers have the freedom to make recruitment decisions, including the use of volunteers in their schools. This freedom allows schools to tailor their provision to the needs of their pupils and provide safe, effective, and bespoke volunteering programmes. Schools are required to follow employment laws and statutory guidance, including crucial safeguarding guidance.
To support the government’s commitment to strong foundations in reading and writing for all children, we have launched the National Year of Reading 2026, a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment.
The National Year of Reading is spotlighting the vital role that volunteers play in supporting literacy in schools, including helping children discover the joy of reading. We recognise the important work of reading volunteer charities such as Bookmark Reading Charity, Chapter One, Coram Beanstalk and Schoolreaders, who are partners of the National Year of Reading.
The National Year of Reading website includes a tool to find reading volunteering opportunities, information about how to become a National Year of Reading Champion, and case studies showing how volunteers are supporting reading for pleasure.
More information for those interested in reading volunteering is available here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/volunteers/.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking in response to the warning by MI5's director general that hostile states are shaping research and teaching content, including the use of professional networking sites and financial incentives to form relationships with academic staff and students; and whether they plan to introduce a public register of corporate and personal financial interests of universities and staff.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is investing £3 million to bolster existing support for higher education providers and access to expert advice on national security risk management, alongside a new Academic Interference Reporting Route and new guidance.
The Office for Students has already been clear universities should resist any external state threats to academic freedom, and they have extensive powers to require information from providers and investigate any breach.
We keep all our protections under review, working closely with universities to assess existing approaches to managing foreign interference, to ensure that any new requirements are proportionate and add value to existing protections.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2026 to Question 101383 on Government Actuary's Department: Freedom of Information, what is the evidential basis for the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry's statement that the £34,702 million figure by the Government Actuary's Department was incorrect.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It is incorrect to present the nominal costs as the true amount, and to ignore the effects of inflation and the changing value of money on the real costs of a deal that lasts 99 years.
The figures published by the Government Actuary's Department clearly show that they had also calculated a net present value of £3.4 billion, by using the OBR forecast inflation rate along with the Social Time Discount Rate set out in the Green Book. The Government gave a detailed breakdown of this methodology in the explanatory memorandum we published alongside the Treaty in May 2025.
This is standard practice for any long-term Government deal. It ensures the figures are realistic, comparable, and not artificially inflated by adding up future payments without considering the time value of money.
These figures also have been verified and confirmed by the Office for Statistics Regulation and Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 77869 on Teachers: Disclosure of Information, whether her Department plans to consider the experiences of teachers subject to non‑disclosure agreements in settlement contracts when developing the conditions to be set out in forthcoming regulations.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School leaders are best placed to make staffing decisions to ensure the workforce reflects the needs of their pupils. That is why schools are provided the freedom to manage employment of all their staff. The department is not the employer of any school staff.
Where school employers use settlement agreements, they are required to comply with employment law. Settlement agreements are entirely voluntary, and employees do not have to enter into them if they do not agree with the proposed content. Academy trusts must comply with the Academies Financial Handbook if they are considering making a settlement agreement. The handbook can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-handbook.
Settlement agreements often include a confidentiality clause, however, the law is clear that confidentiality clauses cannot be used to prevent someone from making a protected disclosure, such as whistleblowing. Further information about whistle blowing for employees can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing.
In addition, the government has introduced a new measure, through the Employment Rights Act 2025, that will address the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) by employers. The government will consult on the conditions under which NDAs can still be validly made, known in the legislation as an ‘excepted agreement’.
Asked by: Colum Eastwood (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will review the decision to withhold documents relating to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s role as UK Special Representative for Trade and Industry until 2065.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The release of historical records relating to members of the Royal Family is governed by the Public Records Act, the application of Freedom of Information exemptions that persist beyond 20 years, and the Code of Practice on the Management of Records issued under section 46 the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) continues to operate in accordance with these statutory obligations. The FCDO does not set the legislation nor define which individuals are covered by the legislation.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the work of the Metropolitan Police in September 2001 on the possible extradition of Omar al Bayoumi.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The attacks on 9/11 were an appalling assault on freedom. The courage displayed by the American people in the aftermath and in the years since is extraordinary and our thoughts remain with the victims and survivors, as well as all who loved them.
It would be inappropriate to comment on an individual case. It is also long standing government policy, followed by successive governments, to neither confirm nor deny any extradition request in these circumstances.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2026, to Question 101383, on Government Actuary's Department: Freedom of Information, which department commissioned the Government Actuary's Department to make the calculations to discount the £34.7 billion cash term costs using (a) the GDP deflator and (b) social time discounting methodology; and which public body decided to use the social time methodology.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the Explanatory Memorandum to the UK-Mauritius Treaty, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and Ministry of Defence (MoD) calculated the forecast costs of the deal by discounting the sums due to be paid to Mauritius over the duration of the treaty, using the standard Social Time Preference Rate (STPR) as set-out in the Treasury's Green Book. The average annual cost was calculated by applying the Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecast GDP Deflator to the future payments. The Government Actuary's Department was commissioned by the FCDO to review the calculations, which GAD verified at time of signature. In addition to this, the House of Commons Library verified these figures, and the Office for Statistics Regulation welcomed the Government's approach and said that it is in line with intelligent transparency. The Office for Budget Responsibility also confirmed that the discount rates were correct at the time of publication.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what guidance he issues to Departments on whether they may decline to publish or signpost information which has otherwise been released to members of the public under Freedom of Information laws.
Answered by Alan Campbell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Guide to Parliamentary Work (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work), published by my office, sets out the government's position regarding the relationship between the treatment of requests for information through parliamentary questions and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000. Paragraph 221 states that “if information would be released under FOI, it would also be released in response to a WPQ”.
I have written to all Members of Cabinet and spoken with Departmental Parliamentary Clerks and Permanent Secretaries to remind departments and Ministers about the importance of providing full and helpful responses to WPQs.
In addition, the House of Commons Procedure Committee recently launched an inquiry into WPQs which is considering the interaction between WPQs and FOIs. I look forward to working with the Committee as this work progresses.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many UK nationals died in Thailand in each of the last three years; and what the causes were of those deaths.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Consular staff have provided support in the following cases where a British national has died in Thailand in each of the last three years.
Deaths - Thailand | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
Assisted death / euthanasia | 0 | <5 | 0 |
Cause still to be confirmed | 161 | 180 | 203 |
Infection / disease | 31 | 172 | 167 |
Injury | 25 | 25 | 26 |
Murder / manslaughter | <5 | <5 | <5 |
Natural causes | 154 | 244 | 296 |
Other | 229 | 74 | 73 |
Suicide / self-harm | 10 | 12 | 7 |
The data is based on the cases that are reported to us by the local authorities, families or others. We record the cause of death based on what we are told, and Consular staff are unable to independently investigate the cause of deaths. There will also be cases where we may not be informed of a death.
Where the figures are 5 or fewer (but more than one), we do not publish a breakdown of the numbers, as this risks identifying the individuals involved. To release this data would contravene one of the data protection principles, and sections 40(2) and 40(3) of the Freedom of Information Act apply.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025, to Question 70489 on Government Communication Service: Marketing, and with reference to paragraph 211 of the Cabinet Office Guide to Parliamentary Work, for what reason the information was released under the Freedom of Information Act but not disclosed to Parliament.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Influencers have proven to be effective in reaching audiences that traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.
Influencer work is supported primarily via the agencies OmniGov and Pablo Unlimited via the Campaign Solutions 2 framework, detailed at the following link:
https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6125
While there were no immediate plans to release the guidance at the time of Question 70489, increased public interest in this topic has now led us to conclude that the public interest favours its release.
I can confirm that the Guidance for Influencer Marketing will be placed in the House Library.