Written questions by Stainbank.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has considered deploying the UK International Search and Rescue team to support the international response following the earthquakes in Venezuela.

Awaiting answer.

Whether she will exempt Lifetime ISA account holders from the withdrawal charge that can no longer purchase a house due to a significant change of personal circumstances.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what plans her Department has to publish national guidance on the environmental impacts of AI data centres.

Awaiting answer.

What opportunities he has identified for Scottish manufacturers within the Government's defence spending programme.

Awaiting answer.

Whether her Department has assessed the adequacy of existing public interest powers to scrutinise potential takeovers of strategically important airlines.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to publish a timetable for ending emergency authorisations of neonicotinoid pesticides; and what discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on supporting farmers to transition to alternative means of pest management.

Awaiting answer.

Whether she is planning to consult with the bus manufacturing and operating sector on timescales for the Zero-Emission Bus mandate.

The Bus Services Act 2025 includes a measure to accelerate decarbonisation of bus services, by placing a requirement on bus operators ultimately not to use new non-zero emission buses (ZEBs) on local bus routes in England.The date from which new non ZEBs ...

How many and what proportion of hospitality businesses in Scotland are beneath the VAT registration threshold.

The information requested is not available, as the registered addresses of firms held in HMRC’s datasets does not always correspond to the firms’ places of business, and in many cases firms operate both in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. The UK has the ...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with international partners on improving humanitarian access to Cuba.

I refer the Hon Member to the responses I gave in the Urgent Question debate on 8 June.

What assessment she has made of the the potential merits of changing the VAT registration threshold for hospitality businesses.

At £90,000, the UK has the second highest registration threshold among all 38 OECD countries, which keeps the majority of businesses outside the VAT system. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods a...

Whether she has made an estimate of the potential impact of reducing VAT to 10 per cent for food and beverage hospitality businesses on revenue to her Department.

At £90,000, the UK has the second highest registration threshold among all 38 OECD countries, which keeps the majority of businesses outside the VAT system. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods a...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to develop plans for a mandatory method of production labelling for animal products.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Putney, Fleur Anderson, on 29 January 2026, PQ UIN 106592.

With reference to 13.167 of the Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations, if she will provide a list of the identity documents that can be requested by service providers seeking to conf

Awaiting answer.

What steps he is taking to maximise the use of domestically manufactured building materials for the construction of service homes.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to maximising the use of domestically manufactured building materials in the construction and refurbishment of Defence family homes where this delivers value for money, supports supply chain resilience, and is complian...

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the planning system to encourage the use of domestic timber in house building.

My Department has made no such specific assessment.

When she will issue statutory guidance to enable section 65-67 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 to be enforced.

Sections 65-67 of the Crime and Policing Act introduces a new offence of ‘cuckooing’ (controlling another’s home for criminal purposes). The new cuckooing offence will ensure that we are taking strong action against those who prey on vulnerable people and...

How many data centre projects in Scotland are currently seeking electricity grid connections; and what potential aggregate capacity in gigawatts those applications represent.

National Energy System Operator shows around 72.8 GW of capacity allocated to data centres in the GB connection queue across transmission and distribution. It is not currently possible to provide a specific figure for data centre projects in Scotland. Gov...

If he will publish the National Energy System Operator's analysis of future electricity demand from data centres.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is currently working towards releasing its latest 10 Year Forecast on 30th July. This will include NESO’s estimates of the annual electricity demand associated with data centres. It will be published on the NESO ...

What proportion of electricity demand connection applications in the National Energy System Operator queue are attributable to data centres.

Data supplied by the National Energy System Operator shows around 60GW of capacity allocated to data centres in the transmission queue. This represents around three quarters of the total demand connections queue, at transmission level. Government recently...

What is the mean average individual award made under the Grangemouth Training Guarantee.

The UK and Scottish Governments are investing up to £2 million to help workers directly impacted by the cessation of refining at Grangemouth transition into new jobs. The Grangemouth Training Guarantee has already supported over 290 workers through traini...