Written questions by Snowden.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that people that do not use TV or radio services do not receive incorrect correspondence about TV licensing.

The BBC is responsible for collection and enforcement of the licence fee. The Government is therefore not involved in TV Licensing operations.However, the Government expects the BBC to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate manner. Through the BBC Charter Review we are looking at how collection and enforcement of the licence fee can be made fairer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help preserve hen harrier numbers.

Hen harriers are monitored year-round by Natural England (NE) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. NE staff engage closely with land managers of hen harrier habitat, and in the breeding season support the licenced use of Diversionary Feeding which enables nesting hen harriers to provide sufficient food to their chicks, improving the survival of young harriers while reducing the pressure from hunting on gamebird stock. Field-based monitoring is underpinned by fitting satellite ‘tags’ to some hen harriers. This provides invaluable insights into their movements and habitat use and flags when and where they might have died, enabling their recovery for postmortem analysis and an enforcement response where illegal persecution may have played a role in the harrier’s death. Bird of prey persecution is a national wildlife crime priority. Defra supports the work of a Tactical Delivery Group which brings stakeholders together to tackle such criminality. Defra is also a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). In 2024, the NWCU launched the Hen Harrier Task Force – a partnership designed to help tackle illegal persecution of the species. It uses innovative technology such as drones and specialised detection dogs to enhance evidence collection in remote areas.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of trends in the the numbers of hen harriers over the last 5 years.

The number of breeding hen harriers is assessed annually by Natural England in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Summaries of these figures are published as blogs via Natural England’s .gov blog page. Assessments of the number of breeding hen harriers from the last four years can be seen below: Nesting attempts per upland area of England Area2022202320242025Bowland18111115North Pennines71142Northumberland9171518Peak District5002Yorkshire Dales and Nidderdale101542Total49543439 In 2025, a peer-reviewed paper was published assessing the population trends in hen harriers in the UK and Isle of Man between 2016 and 2023. This included data and co-authorship from Natural England’s hen harrier programme: https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2024.2446373.

What steps he is taking to reduce the average time taken for transfers of care of patients being discharged from hospitals to home care provision.

It is important that people are discharged promptly from hospital with the right support in place. This winter, local systems have been asked to place a particular focus on reducing bed occupancy and improving patient flow, whilst from 2025/26, National Health Service trusts have been asked to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by issues in the hospital and to work with local authorities to reduce the longest delays, including those linked to arranging onwards care packages.Through the Better Care Fund (BCF) the Government has provided £9 billion to be used jointly by the NHS and local authorities towards achieving agreed goals, including reducing discharge delays for those awaiting home care provision.In 2026/27 the BCF will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed local authority care fee uplifts below the minimum price for homecare on the sustainability of the domiciliary care market.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the domiciliary market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care, which is why the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £1 billion for adult social care to local authorities over 2025/26. This can be used to target increasing fee rates paid to adult social care.

What guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on setting adult social care fee uplifts in financial year 2026-27.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.The Department recognises that sustainable fee rates play a crucial role in improving the quality of care. Appropriate fee rates enable providers to recruit and retain a skilled workforce, ultimately supporting more stable, higher quality services for people who draw on care.In December 2025, the Department launched a new publication, Adult social care priorities for local authorities: 2026 to 2027. The publication lists expectations for local authorities to help drive their delivery of the Government’s overall priorities for adult social care. It states that local authorities should, ‘set fee rates at a sustainable level, in line with commissioning priorities, to help shape markets and enable adult social care providers to recruit a skilled workforce and stabilise and improve workforce capacity, and in preparation for employment rights reforms, starting from financial year 2026, and the fair pay agreement, starting in financial year 2028’. Further information on the fair pay agreement is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fair-pay-agreement-process-in-adult-social-careThe publication is not statutory guidance, nor is it a replacement for local authorities’ existing statutory duties under the Care Act 2014, rather the expectations outlined in the publication are designed to help support local authorities in delivering their current statutory duties.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to publish proposals for a long-term funding settlement for adult social care during this Parliament.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27 to 2028-29 sets out multi-yearsettlements for local authorities, including upper tier authorities that have social care responsibilities. As part of this, the government have set out the funding available to local authorities for adult social care over three years, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding being made available for adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26. Alongside a document setting out priority outcomes and expectations for local authorities’ delivery of adult social care from 2026-27, the Department of Health and Social Care has published local authority level notional allocations for adult social care to facilitate local authority budget setting and plans to progress the delivery of adult social care priorities. Notional allocations are not formal spend expectations but will instead act as a reference point to support local authorities in budget-setting. These will be reviewed annually to reflect new data and any wider changes in local government funding. The provisional Local Government Settlement consultation has closed and the government will publish the final details in due course.

What assessment she has made of the impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on the financial sustainability of domiciliary care providers.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. That means more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change this financial year. A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts. To support social care authorities to deliver key services, in light of pressures, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes a £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant. This is part of an overall increase to local government spending power of 6.8% in cash terms.

How many radiotherapy machines are currently in operation in NHS hospitals, and how this compares with projected clinical need over the next five and ten years.

The number of radiotherapy treatment machines in use across the National Health Service in England is not recorded as part of a nationally mandated data collection.The commissioning of radiotherapy services is overseen by local systems. They have the responsibility to ensure that sufficient capacity is in place for local populations, taking account of the different factors that can affect demand and capacity. The projected number of machines needed to meet future demand depends on a range of factors including clinical practice, for instance fraction protocols, patient choice, between different equivalent treatments, local working practices, for instance the hours and days of operation, as well as the technical specification of treatment machines, and the throughput per hour.

What the current average waiting times are for patients to begin radiotherapy treatment following referral, broken down by region and cancer type.

The published data on cancer waiting times in England does not include average waiting times for patients to begin treatment, and the Department does not publish radiotherapy data broken down by tumour type, as we present tumour type and treatment modality breakdowns separately.However, the Department does publish the 31-day standard performance data for radiotherapy. Whilst the publication does not directly present this data at a regional level, the published commissioner-level data can be aggregated using publicly available mapping tables.The following table shows 31-day standard performance data for radiotherapy at the regional and national levels, for the latest month of data available at the time of production, November 2025:Region nameTotal activityWithin standard activityBreachesPerformanceEast of England1,2661,02723981.1%London1,2041,1297593.8%Midlands2,1211,91820390.4%North East and Yorkshire1,8671,56230583.7%North West1,4861,4602698.3%South East1,8011,57722487.6%South West1,3181,2358393.7%Unknown or national commissioning hub109109-100.0%National11,17210,0171,15589.7%

Pursuant to the Answer 108352 of 29 January 2026 on Child Benefit: Maladministration, if the erroneous suspension of child benefits through the data sharing agreement was raised as part of the weekly feedback sharing; and if she will publish the communication.

Mechanisms for sharing weekly management information and feedback from compliance teams were in place. HMRC do not routinely publish information of this nature. HMRC use international travel data and other checks to help tackle Child Benefit error and fraud, which is expected to save around £350 million over the next five years.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to compensate people who carry out community service as part of a criminal sentence that is later overturned.

There is no specific route to claim compensation related to any work or community service undertaken as part of a sentence, which is subsequently overturned.For individuals who have suffered a miscarriage of justice, section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act provides for the Secretary of State to pay compensation to an individual, subject to meeting the statutory test. This is administrated by the Miscarriages of Justice Application Service. If an individual is deemed eligible, the level of award is determined by an Independent Assessor, and in October 2025, we increased the maximum cap for compensation by 30%.

Pursuant to the written answer 106063 of 14 January 2026 on Community Orders: Appeals, how many people have received compensation for work undertaken following their sentence being overturned.

There is no specific route to claim compensation related to any work or community service undertaken as part of a sentence, which is subsequently overturned.For individuals who have suffered a miscarriage of justice, section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act provides for the Secretary of State to pay compensation to an individual, subject to meeting the statutory test. This is administrated by the Miscarriages of Justice Application Service. If an individual is deemed eligible, the level of award is determined by an Independent Assessor, and in October 2025, we increased the maximum cap for compensation by 30%.

What role external organisations, including the Resolution Foundation, have played in advising the her Department on policy relating to self-employment taxation.

The Government engages regularly with a wide range of external organisations, including the Resolution Foundation, to inform and strengthen the policymaking process.In the lead‑up to each Budget, HM Treasury operates the Budget representation portal, through which individuals, interest groups, and representative bodies can submit written representations directly to the Treasury. These submissions allow stakeholders to comment on existing government policies and propose new policy ideas for consideration in the forthcoming Budget. This engagement provides valuable evidence and insights on a variety of issues, including the taxation of self‑employment.As evidenced at Budget 2025, the Government is making fair and necessary choices on tax so it can deliver on the public’s priorities. Everyone is being asked to contribute to support these goals, but the government is keeping the contribution as low as possible by pursuing a programme of reform to fix longstanding issues in the tax system – modernising it, and addressing unequal and unfair treatment, while ensuring the wealthiest contribute more.

What assessment her Department has made of the gap between her Department's funding rates for early years childcare and the cost of provision.

The government is prioritising and protecting investment in the early years, and in 2026/27 we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24.On average nationally, next year we are increasing the 3- and 4-year-old hourly funding rate by 4.95%, the 2-year-old hourly funding rate by 4.36% and funding rate for the 9 months to 2-year-old entitlement by 4.28%. National average funding rate increases continue to reflect in full forecast cost pressures on the early years sector, including the National Living Wage announced at Autumn Budget 2025, and go further.The department uses the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF determine local authority hourly funding rates by taking into consideration the different costs of delivering early years provision in different parts of the country.

What discussions his Department has had with technology companies used by his Department on the automated processing of emails that contain personal health information.

The Department does not process personal health information. This type of information is handled by NHS England and other authorised health bodies.We work closely with NHS England to ensure that any technology used across the health system meets the legal and ethical standards required for safeguarding personal health data. This includes data protection, information governance, and the safeguards required for handling health data. These checks ensure that any system we bring into use aligns with the rules that protect people’s privacy.When personal data is processed as part of specific programmes, it is handled by approved delivery partners under strict governance arrangements. These partners act only on behalf of the Department and in line with data protection law and contractual controls.

Innovation and Technology, what safeguards are in place to ensure that automated analysis by private tech companies of the content of private email complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The UK’s data protection legislation applies to any processing of personal data regardless of the technology being used. Technology companies that screen or analyse personal emails must identify an appropriate legal ground for doing so, such as obtaining user consent. Personal data must also be processed fairly and transparently so that people can make informed decisions about whether to use a service.The data protection legislation is monitored and enforced independently of government by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO has published guidance for organisations on automated decision making, profiling and artificial intelligence at: Automated decision-making and profiling | ICO and Artificial intelligence | ICO. It will also consider complaints about organisations that fail to comply with the legislation.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2026 to Question 107489 on Child Benefit: Maladministration, what records her Department holds on weekly management information and feedback from the compliance teams working the cases, in the context of page 10 of Data Protection Impact Assessment 15489.

As set out in the Data Protection Impact Assessment, HMRC teams share management information and feedback on a weekly basis. This helps teams ensure that processes run as smoothly as possible.

What estimate his Department has made of the value of graduated pension contributions paid by individuals prior to 1975 relative to the level of the new State Pension.

The Graduated Retirement Benefit (GRB) scheme was the precursor to the additional State Pension and ran from 1961 to 1975. One unit of GRB was earned, by a man, for every £7.50 of graduated contributions paid, and in the case of a woman born before 6 April 1950, for every £9.00 paid. The maximum number of units available was 86 for a man and 72 for a woman. These rules were equalised for women born on or after 6 April 1950, with the result that GRB contributions paid by women who have reached State Pension age since April 2010 will be “converted” into GRB units on the same basis as for men. A unit is currently worth 17.83p per week (2025/26).For people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, GRB is normally paid with other State Pension components, but it is paid on its own if there is no other State Pension entitlement. GRB is not payable as a separate amount for people who reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, who will claim the new State Pension. Instead, people who had made contributions under the old State Pension system, including graduated contributions, will have their new State Pension calculated under transitional rules. Under the transitional arrangements, we look at an individual's National Insurance record as it stands on 6 April 2016 and compare what this would give them under the new State Pension rules with what they would have built up under the old system. The higher of these two values will be used as their Starting Amount for the new State Pension going forward. Therefore, any previous Graduated Retirement Benefit will be consolidated, along with other elements, into an individual’s entitlement to the new State Pension.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing holders of a UK Category B driving licence to drive motorhomes with a maximum mass of 4,250kg.

The Department has not yet made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing holders of a Category B driving licence to drive motorhomes with a maximum mass of up to 4,250kg. I acknowledge that this change is within the EU 4th Driving Licence Directive and the Department is considering whether to apply similar measures within Great Britain.