Written questions by Snowden.

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.

If she will reconsider the decision to withdraw the childminder tax agreement BIM 52751.

Childminders play a vital role in childcare. The Government has eased rules on working from schools and community centres and increased early years funding rates above 2023 average fees. These increases reflect increased costs, and from April 2026, local authorities must pass at least 97 per cent of funding to providers.At Budget 2025 the Government confirmed that the standard rules for calculating income tax would apply to childminders who are mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD). We will phase in this change between 2026 and 2028, in line with the MTD income thresholds. The threshold from April 2026 is £50,000 of qualifying income, reducing to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028.HMRC’s Business Income manual page BIM52751 is not being withdrawn. A revised version will be published in early 2026 to reflect the Government’s confirmation at Budget 2025 that the standard rules for calculating income tax will apply to childminders within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The guidance will also be clarified for childminders that work from non-domestic premises.Childminders can continue to claim tax relief for wear and tear by deducting the actual cost of buying, repairing or replacing items. They can also deduct the cost of business expenses such as utilities, cleaning and equipment. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business.

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the national heritage significance of Blackpool’s heritage tram fleet.

Blackpool’s tramway, which opened in 1885, was the first permanent electric tramway in the UK. They are an important living link to the UK’s rich industrial heritage and one of the elements that makes Blackpool a jewel in the crown of England's visitor economy in the North West.There has been no formal assessment of the cultural and historical importance of the trams.

Whether she plans to require Banking Hubs to accept and process cheque deposits as part of the provision of basic banking services.

Banking is changing, with many customers benefiting from the convenience and flexibility of managing their finances remotely. However, the Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking services to communities and is committed to supporting sufficient access for customers across the country. In addition to traditional bank branches, the financial services industry is committed to rolling out 350 banking hubs across the UK by the end of this Parliament. Over 240 hubs have been announced so far, and more than 200 are already open. Banking hubs provide access to everyday counter services through Post Office staff, including cash withdrawals and deposits, balance enquiries and bill payments. They also contain dedicated rooms where customers can see community bankers from their own bank to carry out other banking services. The range of services available through Post Office counters in banking hubs, including whether cheque deposits are accepted and processed, is determined by the commercial arrangements between individual banks and the Post Office. A significant number of retail banks continue to offer cheque depositing services through Post Office counters. Where cheque depositing is not available at a hub counter, customers continue to have alternative options to pay in cheques, including at bank branches where available, by post, or digitally via mobile banking apps using cheque imaging technology. Banks may also provide postal options for customers who are unable to travel to a branch or for whom digital banking is not suitable. The Government continues to engage with the banking industry to improve the consistency and functionality of services provided through banking hubs, including through recent discussions with banks, Cash Access UK and UK Finance.

Media and Sport, what assessment has been made of the cultural and historical importance of Blackpool’s heritage trams as a nationally significant example of working transport heritage.

Blackpool’s tramway, which opened in 1885, was the first permanent electric tramway in the UK. They are an important living link to the UK’s rich industrial heritage and one of the elements that makes Blackpool a jewel in the crown of England's visitor economy in the North West.There has been no formal assessment of the cultural and historical importance of the trams.

What plans he has to review the Post Office banking framework to ensure that essential services such as cheque deposits remain available to local communities.

The Government recognises the important role the Post Office plays in providing essential banking services, particularly in rural areas. We welcome Banking Framework 4, which allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance and pay bills at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK.On 21 January, the Government held joint discussions between the Post Office and the banking sector to explore where continued collaboration, on a commercial and voluntary basis, would allow all parties to better meet the needs of individuals and businesses.Government does not, however, have a role in the Banking Framework negotiations. The Framework, and decisions about what services are available at the Post Office, such as cheque deposits, are made by the banks as part of their commercial arrangements.Customers continue to have other options for paying in cheques, whether at local bank branches, by post, or digitally via mobile apps using cheque imaging technology.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of cheque deposit services from Post Office branches on rural businesses.

The Government recognises the important role the Post Office plays in providing essential banking services, particularly in rural areas. We welcome Banking Framework 4, which allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance and pay bills at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK.On 21 January, the Government held joint discussions between the Post Office and the banking sector to explore where continued collaboration, on a commercial and voluntary basis, would allow all parties to better meet the needs of individuals and businesses.Government does not, however, have a role in the Banking Framework negotiations. The Framework, and decisions about what services are available at the Post Office, such as cheque deposits, are made by the banks as part of their commercial arrangements.Customers continue to have other options for paying in cheques, whether at local bank branches, by post, or digitally via mobile apps using cheque imaging technology.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of a reduction in the number of experienced childminders on the availability of early years and out-of-school childcare places in the context of the expansion of funded childcare hours.

This department is taking a range of measures to support the financial sustainability of childminding businesses and other early years providers. From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers (an increase from 96%). We are also working with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers can be paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. Furthermore, from 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.In addition, the expansion of the early years entitlements could benefit childminders in different ways. For example, the national average three and four year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, the two year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and the nine months to two year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%. Childminders may also benefit from an expected increase in demand for places.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2026 to Question 98657 on Railways: Nationalisation, if he will list the performance benchmarks that operators have (a) failed and (b) passed since April 2025 by (i) private and (ii) public operator.

Performance across the rail network is improving, with cancellations now at 3.6%, down from a peak of 4.1% last January. We set stretching but achievable contractual targets for operators to drive continuous improvement in performance. Since April 2025, all publicly owned operators have fallen below the expected level for at least one of the following measures in a four-weekly period: Time to 3 (T3) punctuality and All stations cancellations. Over the same period, all privately operated train companies have also fallen below the expected level for at least one of their contractual benchmarks, including TOC-on-self cancellations, Delay Minutes, Short Formations, Time to 3, Time to 15 and All cancellations. Overall, operators currently in public ownership remain more reliable on average than those in private ownership.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of the 10% wear and tear allowance on the number of new childminders entering the profession.

The department is taking a range of measures to support the financial sustainability of childminding businesses and other early years providers. From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers (an increase from 96%). We are also working with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers can be paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. Furthermore, from 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.Under HMRC’s ‘Making Tax Digital’ system, childminders can still claim tax relief for things they buy, repair, or replace for their business, such as furniture, equipment, and household items. This change standardises the way that sole traders record and claim business expenses.We are however aware of the strength of feeling amongst childminders and those who work with them. We have been talking regularly to Coram Pacey, HMRC and others to understand the issue, the effect that it is having on the childminding sector and to make sure that the concerns of childminders are clearly understood. The department emphasises its strong support for childminders, who continue to provide high quality and flexible early education, and do so in a way that families across the country greatly value.

What guidance her Department issues to local authorities, police forces and licensed premises on the operation of Pubwatch schemes.

Pubwatch schemes are voluntary, licensee-led local partnerships that operate independently of Government. Advice and practical resources for such schemes are provided by the National Pubwatch charity, which supports local groups across the country.Separately, the Home Secretary issues statutory section 182 guidance under the Licensing Act 2003 to licensing authorities in England and Wales on the discharge of their functions. Licensing authorities must have regard to this guidance, which supports partnership working between licensing authorities, the police and industry to promote the four licensing objectives.The section 182 guidance does not set operational requirements for Pubwatch schemes but does recognise and support industry led schemes such as Pubwatch as examples of good practice in promoting safer, well run licensed premises.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the company behind the Morgan windfarm pulling out of the project on the proposed Morgan and Morecambe cabling corridor.

The planning application for the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm Transmission Assets is a live case. The government is unable to discuss matters relating to live planning applications. The UK is one of the most successful and attractive markets for offshore wind in the world and has seen £62 billion of private investment in clean energy industries since July 2024

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 105764 on Child Benefit: Maladministration, and with reference to the Data Protection Impact Assessment 15489, if she will make an assessment of why issues were not identified earlier, in the context of page 10 of the DPIA stating that weekly meetings would take place to identify issues.

Of the 23,794 Child Benefit enquires opened between August and October 2025 to confirm claimant’s residency status, 346 (1.5%) were issued to Northern Ireland claimants.HMRC does not hold a breakdown of the categories of error and fraud for those customers that were found to be non-compliant.As HMRC has explained, when issues were identified it took swift action to resolve the position for affected customers and HMRC has also strengthened the process and safeguards going forward for this exercise.

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2026 to Question 104272 on Child Benefit, how many and what proportion of the 1,109 cases due to (a) fraud, (b) claimant error and (c) official error.

Of the 23,794 Child Benefit enquires opened between August and October 2025 to confirm claimant’s residency status, 346 (1.5%) were issued to Northern Ireland claimants.HMRC does not hold a breakdown of the categories of error and fraud for those customers that were found to be non-compliant.As HMRC has explained, when issues were identified it took swift action to resolve the position for affected customers and HMRC has also strengthened the process and safeguards going forward for this exercise.

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2026 to Question 104272 on Child Benefit, how many and what proportion of the 23,794 cases relate to families in Northern Ireland.

Of the 23,794 Child Benefit enquires opened between August and October 2025 to confirm claimant’s residency status, 346 (1.5%) were issued to Northern Ireland claimants.HMRC does not hold a breakdown of the categories of error and fraud for those customers that were found to be non-compliant.As HMRC has explained, when issues were identified it took swift action to resolve the position for affected customers and HMRC has also strengthened the process and safeguards going forward for this exercise.

How much funding has been allocated to the Defence Digital and Cyber Bursary scheme since its inception; and what proportion of that funding has been spent to date.

To date, £2 million has been allocated to this scheme, of which £1.2 million has already been spent. A further £0.8 million is scheduled to be released within the next two weeks to support the latest intake.

How many students have enrolled in the Defence Digital and Cyber Bursary scheme in each academic year since it was launched; and how many of those students are based in Lancashire.

285 new students have enrolled in the latest cohort, taking the total number of students to 500. This follows an announcement in October 2025, where the Ministry of Defence expanded the scheme to 500 fully funded places for college-age students across Lancashire. This information is provided below: CohortAcademic YearIntakeStatusCohort 12024-25100GraduatedCohort 22025-26115Year 13 studentsCohort 32025-26285Year 12 students and latest cohort All students are based in Lancashire, through partnerships with Digital Skills for Defence (DS4D) and the Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub.

What recent assessment he has made of trends in the number and proportion of patients waiting 12 hours or more in Emergency Departments in England; and how Blackpool Victoria Hospital compares with the national average.

The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the NHS Constitutional standard.Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements and make services better every day. The plan commits to reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This is supported by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.The table attached sets out the proportions of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharged for England and the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, of which Blackpool Victoria Hospital is the only type 1 accident and emergency provider.

What guidance his Department provides to NHS Trusts on the use of ward-wide audible alarm systems in maternity wards.

Guidance is provided to National Health Service trusts on alarms in Health Building Note (HBN) 09-02: Maternity care facilities, available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HBN_09-02_Final.pdfThis document includes the requirement for all birthing rooms and maternity beds to have both a nurse call bell for patient use and a staff emergency call bell for staff use in the case of an emergency. Any new builds, large renovations or refurbishments are subject to adhering to HBN guidance. NHS England will be updating the HBN later this year.

How many and what proportion of families, who had their child benefit reinstated following the review into those who were suspended during the period of data-sharing between HMRC and the Home Office, were found to be eligible as a result of PAYE checks.

As HMRC informed the Treasury Select Committee in its letter dated 14 November 2025, it is unable to completely disaggregate the number of cases where eligibility was confirmed via a subsequent PAYE check from those where evidence was provided by the customer.The information from the pilot remains HMRC’s best assessment of the effectiveness of the activity using international travel data to reduce error and fraud.