Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to take steps (a) with Building Digital UK to support the timely delivery of full fibre broadband to rural communities under the Phase 2 Superfast Broadband Programme in (i) west Somerset and (ii) Devon and (b) to encourage improved communication between Airband and affected (A) residents and (B) local stakeholders in the parishes of (1) West Hatch, (2) Hatch Beauchamp, (3) Bickenhall, (4) Curland, (5) Staple Fitzpaine, (6) Corfe, (7) Orchard Portman, (8) Stoke St Mary and (9) Pitminster.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Building Digital UK (BDUK) is working with Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) and Airband to identify premises which will no longer be connected via its Superfast contracts. Premises that have been descoped from the Airband contracts and are not in any suppliers’ commercial plans will be eligible for support through Project Gigabit.
Officials will continue to work closely with suppliers, residents and local stakeholders across west Somerset and Devon to improve broadband connectivity across the region.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on Deirdre Murphy from Swansea following her arrest on 31 May 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our embassy in Tel Aviv is aware of the situation. We understand that Ms Murphy is being supported by the Irish Embassy. She has not been in touch with the British Embassy, but our consular team remain on hand to provide any support to Ms Murphy if required.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the expected change in cost for Defence Nuclear Enterprise until 2033.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As stated in an update to the Public Accounts Committee in December 2023, the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) forecast an equipment plan spend of £117.8 billion over the period 2023-33. Over the same period to 2033, the current forecast for DNE equipment plan spend has increased by about £10 billion.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 51543 on Universal Credit: Fylde, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the impact of the new Fair Repayment Rate for Universal Credit debt deductions on households in Fylde constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department collects detailed data on deductions from Universal Credit households and will be monitoring the effect of the Fair Repayment Rate over the coming months.
We regularly publish official statistics on deductions at the parliamentary constituency level - including the number of Universal Credit households with deductions and average amount deducted. The release scheduled for November 2025 will present deductions data up to August 2025, this is the first release that will show the effects of the Fair Repayment Rate.
The latest release of the deductions statistics can be found here:
Universal Credit deductions statistics December 2023 to November 2024 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is able to produce statistics on PIP recipients broken down by (a) Output Areas and (b) lower layer Super Output Areas.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants by different geographic breakdowns can be found on Stat Xplore. You can use the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset and the ‘Geography’ filter to narrow down to the breakdowns you require.
For further guidance on how to use Stat Xplore, please see the User Guide here.
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to continue to fund the (a) treatment and (b) elimination of neglected tropical diseases.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through following the recent Spending Review and through resource allocation processes. We intend to publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Annual Report and Accounts this summer. The FCDO is focused on ensuring that every pound is spent in the most impactful way.
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, with reference to the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, whether refugees seeking to bring family to the UK will be subject to increased (a) financial and (b) English language requirements.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White paper, published 12 May 2025, set out a wide range of reforms, including to family policy, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department calculated the funding rate for each (a) child and (b) age group for early years provision.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The hourly funding rate for the early years entitlements varies to reflect the costs of delivering provision to different ages. The department knows, from listening to the sector and from our own regular research, that the cost of delivery is highest for younger children due to tighter staffing ratios and, consequently, higher staff costs, as staffing makes up the most significant proportion of provider costs.
Each local authority receives an hourly rate for each entitlement, determined by the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF). The EYNFF targets funding to local authorities where it is needed most, reflecting the relative needs of the children and costs of delivering provision in that area. Local authorities are responsible for setting individual provider funding rates in consultation with their providers and schools forum, and fund providers using their own local funding formula.
Further details of how early years entitlements funding is distributed, including a detailed methodology document on the EYNFF and operational guidance, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2025-to-2026.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential (a) implications for its policies of the Georgian Foreign Agent Registration Act and (b) impact of that legislation on civil society in that country.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I am deeply concerned by the Georgian Foreign Agents Registration Act which came into force on 31 May 2025 and the implications it will have on our ability to support the reforms required for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. This legislation represents a serious setback for democratic governance, civil liberties, and Georgia's stated European aspirations. I have shared my concerns with Georgian Dream representatives and encouraged engagement with civil society, opposition voices and the Venice Commission to bring their approach into line with international human rights standards as well as Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe principles and commitments.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 protect girls and young women from the impact of sexualised AI deepfakes.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sharing or threatening to share a deepfake intimate image without consent is illegal. Synthetically created content is regulated by the Online Safety Act where it is shared on an in-scope service and is illegal content or content harmful to children. Government is also legislating to ban the non-consensual creation of sexualised deepfakes in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
Where a sexualised deepfake is of a child this is child sexual abuse material and is illegal, and Government has introduced an offence in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise AI models optimised to create this content.