Written questions by Dean.

What outcomes her Department has set for the Financial Conduct Authority to deliver under the forthcoming National Financial Inclusion Strategy; and how will these be (a) measured and (b) reported.

The Government recognises the key role the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has in improving financial inclusion for UK consumers. This is why the FCA is part of the Financial Inclusion Committee which has been convened to develop a Financial Inclusion Strategy. The membership of the committee reflects the fact that the whole financial inclusion ecosystem will need to work together for the strategy to be a success, including government, industry, consumer representatives, and the regulator. The strategy will be published later this year and will seek to tackle a range of barriers which prevent individuals from accessing the financial services and products they need. This will include actions for the FCA to take forward as part of their responsibilities within the sector, as well as relevant metrics to monitor the strategy’s progress. The Government will work closely with the FCA to deliver the strategy and regularly engages with the FCA on this topic at ministerial and official level. In November, the Chancellor also included reinforcing financial inclusion as a matter for the FCA to have regard to in her letter of recommendation. In response to this, Nikhil Rathi noted the FCA’s support for the development of the Financial Inclusion Strategy and its collaboration with partners to help build consumers’ financial resilience.

Whether he plans to (a) reinstate and (b) establish dedicated long covid support services in St Helier and Epsom.

The St George’s, Epsom and St Helier NHS Foundation Trust’s chronic fatigue service had a waiting list of 350 patients waiting 25 weeks or more for their first appointment. To manage this, the trust temporarily paused new referrals from June. During the temporary pause, the service will continue to care for existing patients. Any new patients who were referred before the pause will still be offered an appointment within 25 weeks.The St George’s, Epsom and St Helier NHS Foundation Trust continues to keep this under review. Patients needing help should still visit their general practice if they are experiencing long COVID symptoms.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the guidance it has issued to healthcare professionals on how to (a) identity different clinical subtypes of long covid and (b) provide appropriate treatment pathways for those diagnosed.

While no specific assessment has been made, there is targeted advice for healthcare professionals to manage long COVID. Patients should be managed according to current clinical guidance such as that published and updated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). This is available at the following link: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG188NICE is responsible for keeping its published guidelines up to date and under active surveillance to ensure that they reflect developments in the evidence base and its recommendations on new medicines.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning specialist services that meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding. In the commissioning of services, commissioners should take account of NICE guidance and other best practice.NHS England has published commissioning guidance for post-COVID (long COVID) services, which sets out the commissioning, service requirements and oversight of post-COVID services by ICBs in England for adults and children and young people. It outlines the elements that post-COVID services should include and the principles of care for long COVID. The commissioning guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/commissioning-guidance-for-post-covid-services-for-adults-children-and-young-people/.

If his Department will take steps to establish a national database of long covid patients.

Aggregated historical data remains accessible via the long COVID dashboard on the NHS National Data Platform (Foundry). This dashboard continues to support commissioners and service providers by enabling the monitoring of service activity, evaluation of equity in access and healthcare utilisation, and benchmarking of performance across services.

Whether her Department plans to review the Compulsory Basic Training framework.

The Government is considering plans to review existing requirements for motorcycle training, testing, and licensing, including Compulsory Basic Training (CBT). This will take in to account long-standing DfT and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) plans, and the recent proposals suggested by the motorcycle industry.DVSA does not hold precise data on the proportion of riders who complete CBT and subsequently progress to a full motorcycle licence within the two-year validity period of their CBT certificate. In the financial year 2023/24 180,425 certificates were sold to the motorcycle training industry, in the same period 39,935 riders passed their on road motorcycle test.

Whether her Department plans to review the Trivial Benefit Allowance in advance of the Autumn Budget 2025.

There are a wide range of factors to take into consideration when introducing or widening a tax relief or exemption. These include how effective the exemption would be at achieving the policy intent, how targeted support would be and the cost. The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way.

What proportion of riders who complete Compulsory Basic Training subsequently progress to a full motorcycle licence within the two-year validity period.

The Government is considering plans to review existing requirements for motorcycle training, testing, and licensing, including Compulsory Basic Training (CBT). This will take in to account long-standing DfT and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) plans, and the recent proposals suggested by the motorcycle industry.DVSA does not hold precise data on the proportion of riders who complete CBT and subsequently progress to a full motorcycle licence within the two-year validity period of their CBT certificate. In the financial year 2023/24 180,425 certificates were sold to the motorcycle training industry, in the same period 39,935 riders passed their on road motorcycle test.

What research is being commissioned by the NHS into potential treatments for long covid.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, have jointly invested over £57 million into long COVID research with the aim of improving diagnosis and our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disease, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and clinical care.The NIHR has awarded funding to a number of projects and programmes investigating treatments for long COVID. These have included clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants and anti-inflammatory medicines. The Rehabilitation Exercise and psycholoGical support After COVID-19 InfectioN (REGAIN) trial, funded by NIHR, provided the first high-quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm with rehabilitation programmes for long COVID. The NIHR has also provided £1.1 million in funding towards the Listen trial, which found that participants who received the Listen self-management tool intervention had greater capacity for daily activities, improved mental health, reduced fatigue impact and increased self-efficacy. However, there is more work to be done to find the most promising treatments and interventions, and we are actively exploring next steps for long COVID research.Together with MRC, we have created a new funding opportunity for a development award focussed on evaluating repurposed pharmaceutical inventions for post-acute infection syndromes and associated conditions, including long COVID. We are also planning a showcase event, hosted by NIHR and MRC, for the research of post-acute infection conditions, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID, later this year to stimulate further research in this field.

Whether his Department plans to produce an integrated legislative plan to help reach (a) climate and (b) nature targets.

This Government is committed to tackling the climate and nature crises and has a well-developed legislative framework in place through the Climate Change Act 2008 and the Environment Act 2021. In July 2025, the DESNZ and Defra Secretaries of State held the first Climate and Nature Statement in Parliament. Our focus is on making rapid progress towards our climate and nature targets, which will be set out later this year in the Environmental Improvement Plan and an updated plan for meeting carbon budgets.

When his Department plans to introduce (a) an annual Climate and Nature Statement to Parliament, (b) legislation to ratify the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, (c) development of a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism and (d) publication of a Net Zero Public Participation Strategy.

The Climate and Nature Statement to Parliament took place on 14th July 2025 and is intended to be an annual statement. A Bill to enable ratification of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement will be introduced by the end of the year. The UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will be introduced on 1 January 2027. The Net Zero Public Participation Strategy will be published later this year.

What data her Department holds on (a) employer uptake of the Trivial Benefit Allowance and (b) the frequency of its use in employee reward schemes.

The requested data is not available. There is no tax paid on employee benefits covered by the Trivial Benefit Allowance and as such they are not required to be reported to HMRC.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that referrals for ME/CFS are not rejected solely on the basis of a long covid diagnosis being mentioned in GP notes.

We published the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Final Delivery Plan on 22 July 2025. The plan focuses on boosting research, improving attitudes and education, and bettering the lives of people with this debilitating disease.Within the ME/CFS Final Delivery Plan’s actions, NHS England will co-design resources, including a template specification for systems to improve services for mild and moderate ME/CFS. Additionally, the Department of Health and Social Care, with NHS England, will explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for very severe ME/CFS.The template specification for mild and moderate ME/CFS will be developed nationally through engagement with stakeholders, drawing on local expertise and models, and existing evidence.In order to improve awareness and understanding of ME/CFS amongst healthcare professionals, the Department is working with NHS England to develop an e-learning programme on ME/CFS, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes.Commissioning of post-viral services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs) and the output of the above engagement aims to support ICBs with their local commissioning decisions based on their local population needs.

What steps his Department is taking to improve coordination of care for long covid patients who require multi-disciplinary support.

Across the NHS in England, there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome (long COVID). These services offer physical, cognitive and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation. More information is available on the NHS England website at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/.Since April 2024, the commissioning of post-COVID services has been the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), following the closure of the national post-COVID programme.NHS England has published commissioning guidance for post-COVID services, which sets out the commissioning, service requirements and oversight of post-COVID services by ICBs in England for adults and children and young people. It outlines the elements that post-COVID services should include and the principles of care for long COVID. The commissioning guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/commissioning-guidance-for-post-covid-services-for-adults-children-and-young-people/.People with long COVID symptoms should see their GP, who will be able to refer them to services depending on their clinical needs.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of real-terms pay on the recruitment and retention of probation staff since 2010.

We are committed to supporting probation staff and value their hard work, commitment and dedication. As part of our approach to annual award proposals we will review our pay position and priorities for the award to get the best outcome for staff. As part of this process, we consider several factors including cost of living, business priorities and our position in terms of comparable workforces. Our pay proposals need to strike a balance between affordability and providing investment to address our pay priorities and support attraction and retention.In recent years we have made investments to pay through a multi-year pay deal covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.We are currently engaging with the recognised Probation Service Trade Unions to agree a good outcome for this year’s pay award in line with our prioritises and the parameters of the civil service pay guidance.We are committed to providing manageable workloads for staff. Recruitment and retention, along with our long-term plans for a sustainable Probation Service through targeting resources towards our most vital work. We are investing in probation - onboarding 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 in addition to the 1,057 already on-boarded last year. We have extended centralised recruitment campaigns for key grades.There is a comprehensive approach by HMPPS to improve recruitment and retention across the Probation Service and since unification in June 2021 there has been an overall increase to probation staffing by 20%. In the last 12 months, from 30 June 2024 to 30 June 2025 we have increased our number of Probation Officers by 7% (359 FTE) from 5,160 to 5,519 FTE.Leaving rates to June 2025 can be found in table 10a, table 10b and table 11 of our published statistics. The overall Probation Service leaving rate of 9.0% (taken from T10a) in the year to the end of June 2025 was 1.7 percentage points lower than it was in March 2024. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/689f34791fedc616bb133a86/hmpps-workforce-statistics-tables-jun-2025_final.ods.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of probate office closures on application processing times.

The Ministry of Justice publishes average waiting times for processing grants of probate here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly.HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) currently advises applicants to expect probate applications to be processed within the target time of 12 weeks, although this could take longer if a user needs to provide additional information. Currently, the average waiting time is under 5 weeks.There are 1.2 FTE Registrars and 2 FTE Deputy Registrars currently in post. There are no vacancies, and capacity is sufficient to meet the requirement for these roles.One of the main lessons learned following the Reform of the probate service in 2019 was that the centralisation of administrative work alongside the digitisation of the service led to the loss of experienced staff and a training gap for the staff in the Courts and Tribunals Service Centres. These issues have since been overcome and average processing times continue to improve.

What her Department's target processing time is for probate applications in the next financial year.

The Ministry of Justice publishes average waiting times for processing grants of probate here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly.HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) currently advises applicants to expect probate applications to be processed within the target time of 12 weeks, although this could take longer if a user needs to provide additional information. Currently, the average waiting time is under 5 weeks.There are 1.2 FTE Registrars and 2 FTE Deputy Registrars currently in post. There are no vacancies, and capacity is sufficient to meet the requirement for these roles.One of the main lessons learned following the Reform of the probate service in 2019 was that the centralisation of administrative work alongside the digitisation of the service led to the loss of experienced staff and a training gap for the staff in the Courts and Tribunals Service Centres. These issues have since been overcome and average processing times continue to improve.

Whether her Department has launched an investigation into reports that UK police officers asked a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist residing in the UK to sign a memorandum of understanding agreeing to avoid public gatherings.

This Government takes the protection of individuals’ rights, safety and freedoms, including freedom of speech, very seriously. The UK is an open and diverse country and freedom of speech is one of the values that defines us as a society. We are absolutely committed to upholding free speech and legislation is in place to protect this fundamental right.While we do not comment on individual cases, police will rightly inform individuals if there is any assessed threat to their wellbeing in order to meet duty of care obligations. Memoranda of Understandings can form part of police’s routine approach in this context with officers providing guidance on steps individuals can consider to enhance their personal safety. As with any circumstances, it is up to the individual to decide how they wish to exercise their rights, taking into account the relevant security advice provided.

What the average time taken was to process a grant of probate in each of the last five years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes average waiting times for processing grants of probate here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly.HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) currently advises applicants to expect probate applications to be processed within the target time of 12 weeks, although this could take longer if a user needs to provide additional information. Currently, the average waiting time is under 5 weeks.There are 1.2 FTE Registrars and 2 FTE Deputy Registrars currently in post. There are no vacancies, and capacity is sufficient to meet the requirement for these roles.One of the main lessons learned following the Reform of the probate service in 2019 was that the centralisation of administrative work alongside the digitisation of the service led to the loss of experienced staff and a training gap for the staff in the Courts and Tribunals Service Centres. These issues have since been overcome and average processing times continue to improve.

Whether the Department has considered alternative forms of verification for transport concessions for rough sleepers.

Concessionary travel legislation for the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme requires that applicants must have their sole or primary residence in the local area in which they apply for a bus pass, but it does not stipulate the types of evidence which are acceptable as proof. Whilst it is ultimately up to local authorities to ensure that they comply with the law, the Department for Transport would urge them to consider making alternative arrangements, where required, to ensure that otherwise eligible older or disabled people who only have non-standard proofs of residency are still able to access the statutory concession.

What (a) guidance and (b) requirements exist for employers to verify the (i) licensing status, (ii) training and (iii) safety of any motor scooter riders they engage.

Employers have a duty to manage the safety of their employees, and their employees in turn have a responsibility to ride or drive appropriately and to comply with relevant laws. Guidance for companies employing people to drive including verifying their licence status is provided at: Employing people to drive - GOV.UK The Department for Transport worked closely with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to update the joint DfT/HSE guidance on work related road safety. The revised guidance, published in September 2021 and called Driving and riding safely for work, clearly sets out what commercial organisations and their employees must do to manage work related road safety and what their obligations are under law. This includes how to assess risks while on the road, considerations for other road users and distractions from mobile devices. The Minister for Local Transport wrote to the main food delivery companies in December 2024, to remind them of their obligations, and of the importance the Government places on the safety of all road users. Enforcement of road traffic legislation, including that relating to e-scooters, is a matter for the police.