Written questions by Morris.

Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of betting and gaming customers required to submit financial documents under Financial Risk Assessments; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those assessments on customer experience.

The Government remains committed to supporting the implementation of key measures in the 2023 white paper, including the introduction of Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs), which are not currently in place.The white paper recognised the “chilling effect” that asking customers for bank documents can have. This is why it set out an alternative approach to assessing financial risk which would be much more frictionless.The white paper proposed less than 3% of customer accounts would undergo an assessment – targeting the highest spending accounts. The Gambling Commission’s pilot showed that of these 3%, 97% would have a frictionless assessment process. Those customers would not be required to take any actions, including providing documents. Operators would only be unable to conduct an assessment in a frictionless way for 1 customer in every 1,000 accounts, significantly better than anticipated in the white paper. As the independent regulator, the Gambling Commission will decide how to implement FRAs based on the best available evidence.

What are the HMRC Customer Service Group outputs – Baseline Plan, as of 12 February 2026, for each month from April 2026 to March 2027 for the Customer Service Group, excluding Debt Management, for (a) FTE Total (Paid Supply, including Contingent Labour & Surge and (b) Managed Service Provider Total.

Improving day-to-day performance and the customer experience is a key priority for HMRC.HMRC expects to continue to use a range of resourcing models, alongside the use of MSPs, to meet variable customer demand.HMRC is currently in an initial approximately 18 month ‘proof of value’ phase for its use of MSPs and has no plans to publish full staffing projections for MSPs or customer services staff at this stage. Future workforce decisions will be informed by the outcome of this phase and taken in line with normal business planning and Spending Review processes.

What assessment HMRC has made of the net staffing impact of the Managed Service Provider, taking account of both Managed Service Provider recruitment and HMRC staffing levels.

Improving day-to-day performance and the customer experience is a key priority for HMRC.HMRC expects to continue to use a range of resourcing models, alongside the use of MSPs, to meet variable customer demand.HMRC is currently in an initial approximately 18 month ‘proof of value’ phase for its use of MSPs and has no plans to publish full staffing projections for MSPs or customer services staff at this stage. Future workforce decisions will be informed by the outcome of this phase and taken in line with normal business planning and Spending Review processes.

What is the HMRC Personal Tax (PT) Directorate workforce distribution projection, including Managed Service Provider provision for (a) Total Personal Tax Paid Supply, (b) Permanent Supply, (c) Contingent Labour, (d) Surge, (e) Flex Moves, (f) Managed Service Provider, (g) Personal Tax Effective Supply, (h) Recruitment and (i) Speed to Competency for new recruits in each month from April 2026 to March 2027 inclusive.

Improving day-to-day performance and the customer experience is a key priority for HMRC.HMRC expects to continue to use a range of resourcing models, alongside the use of MSPs, to meet variable customer demand.HMRC is currently in an initial approximately 18 month ‘proof of value’ phase for its use of MSPs and has no plans to publish full staffing projections for MSPs or customer services staff at this stage. Future workforce decisions will be informed by the outcome of this phase and taken in line with normal business planning and Spending Review processes.

Hat are the staffing projection figures, given in full-time equivalent supply numbers before any rebalance, in HMRC Customer Service Group for the following directorates, (a) Benefits, Family and Customs, including Contingent Labour (CL) (Benefits, Family & Customs), (b) Debt Management, (c) Personal Tax (including Contingent Labour & Managed Service Provider), (d) Operational Excellence, (e) Strategy and Change, (f) Finance, Planning and Performance, (g) Operational Delivery Profession, (h) Customer Experience Directorate and (i) Surge Rapid Response Team used in Customer Services Group.

Improving day-to-day performance and the customer experience is a key priority for HMRC.HMRC expects to continue to use a range of resourcing models, alongside the use of MSPs, to meet variable customer demand.HMRC is currently in an initial approximately 18 month ‘proof of value’ phase for its use of MSPs and has no plans to publish full staffing projections for MSPs or customer services staff at this stage. Future workforce decisions will be informed by the outcome of this phase and taken in line with normal business planning and Spending Review processes.

What information her Department holds on the average age of (a) locomotives and (b) wagons on the rail freight network.

The rail freight industry is mainly privately owned and operated, so the Department does not keep data on the age of these privately owned assets.The regulator for rail, the Office of Rail and Road holds some data on freight rolling stock which can be found here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/infrastructure-and-environment/rail-infrastructure-and-assets/ .

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the (a) consultation responses and (b) feedback from impacted people on proposed changes to the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme are taken into account.

On 30 October, the Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme. The core purpose of this consultation was to gather views on how the Government intends to implement the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendations, and responses from the infected blood community were particularly encouraged.Every response to this consultation is being considered carefully and with the seriousness the issue deserves. The consultation closed on 22 January, and the Government will publish its response within 12 weeks of this closing date.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of the cost profile of (a) rail and (b) road freight operations on modal shift.

The Department does not hold data on relative changes to operating costs between road and rail freight. As part of continued support for the rail freight sector, the Department has operated the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2010. Network Rail also offers the Access Charges Discount Policy to stimulate growth, supporting new to rail traffic.

When he expects to launch the call for evidence in relation to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations and related processes.

We launched a call for evidence on Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) on 8th April to gather input from all interested parties. We committed to reviewing the regulations to consider how to simplify and clarify the transfer process for businesses, while still providing the appropriate protections to employees who are affected by the transfers. We value the feedback from our stakeholders and aim to make changes where they will have a positive impact for employees and businesses alike.

If she will list the total funding received to date by each freight transport company in the infrastructure development phase of the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme.

The Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) R&D programme has provided £58 million to date to 18 UK freight transport companies across different project consortia to support the purchase and demonstration of the heaviest zero emission HGVs, and associated infrastructure.

Whether any UK military personnel were onboard the USS Charlotte (SSN-766) on 4 March 2026 and, if so, how many personnel were onboard.

We do not comment on the details of either submarine operations, or the details of individual assignments of UK Service personnel.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) increases in the levels of wages and (b) the level of staff shortages on community pharmacies' ability to deliver additional NHS services.

In 2025/26 funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This included funding for the Pharmacy Access Scheme, which provides additional funding to more isolated pharmacies to support patient access.As part of delivering the Pharmacy First service, pharmacy contractors receive a monthly fixed payment if they meet specific requirements, which include minimum activity levels. From June 2025, pharmacies delivering 20 to 29 consultations receive £500, while those with at least 30 consultations continued to receive £1,000 monthly. The new lower tier of payment supports pharmacies with lower potential for delivery, including rural pharmacies, and has increased the number of pharmacies qualifying for Pharmacy First fixed payments.The Department is currently consulting with Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27. As part of this we will consider financial pressures on the sector.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of Pharmacy First payment thresholds on smaller rural community pharmacies.

In 2025/26 funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This included funding for the Pharmacy Access Scheme, which provides additional funding to more isolated pharmacies to support patient access.As part of delivering the Pharmacy First service, pharmacy contractors receive a monthly fixed payment if they meet specific requirements, which include minimum activity levels. From June 2025, pharmacies delivering 20 to 29 consultations receive £500, while those with at least 30 consultations continued to receive £1,000 monthly. The new lower tier of payment supports pharmacies with lower potential for delivery, including rural pharmacies, and has increased the number of pharmacies qualifying for Pharmacy First fixed payments.The Department is currently consulting with Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27. As part of this we will consider financial pressures on the sector.

Whether he plans to provide additional support to rural community pharmacies to mitigate the potential impact of increases in costs, including for (a) wages, (b) energy, (c) business rates and (d) medicines.

In 2025/26 funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This included funding for the Pharmacy Access Scheme, which provides additional funding to more isolated pharmacies to support patient access.As part of delivering the Pharmacy First service, pharmacy contractors receive a monthly fixed payment if they meet specific requirements, which include minimum activity levels. From June 2025, pharmacies delivering 20 to 29 consultations receive £500, while those with at least 30 consultations continued to receive £1,000 monthly. The new lower tier of payment supports pharmacies with lower potential for delivery, including rural pharmacies, and has increased the number of pharmacies qualifying for Pharmacy First fixed payments.The Department is currently consulting with Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27. As part of this we will consider financial pressures on the sector.

What steps he is taking to reform NHS Drug Tariff reimbursement to ensure community pharmacies are not required to dispense medicines at a loss.

We already have two arrangements in place to reduce community pharmacies dispensing at a loss and to ensure that overall, they are paid enough as part of their Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) funding. These are the medicine margin arrangements and concessionary prices.Regarding the medicine margin arrangements, the medicine margin is the difference between the reimbursement price and the price the pharmacy was charged by the supplier. Community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements include an amount of medicines margin that pharmacies are allowed to retain as part of CPCF funding. The Department assesses the medicine margin through a quarterly medicine margin survey, which ensures that in totality, pharmacies are paid the allowed medicine margin above what it cost them to purchase medicines overall.For concessionary prices, the Department relies on competition and efficient purchasing by community pharmacies to keep prices of medicines down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the United Kingdom can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients. When the market price of a medicine suddenly increases, concessionary prices can be granted in that month, increasing the reimbursement price above the Drug Tariff price, with the aim of mitigating pharmacy contractors dispensing at a loss. In addition, there is a ‘retrospective top-up payment for concessionary prices’, which provides an additional payment to contractors when the margin survey indicates that despite a concessionary price, there was an under payment for a specific product.More broadly, medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated. There are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the UK and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, and use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product and expediting regulatory procedures. In addition, we utilise sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

What steps he is taking to address the shortage of and the level of prices paid for basic medicines by community pharmacies.

We already have two arrangements in place to reduce community pharmacies dispensing at a loss and to ensure that overall, they are paid enough as part of their Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) funding. These are the medicine margin arrangements and concessionary prices.Regarding the medicine margin arrangements, the medicine margin is the difference between the reimbursement price and the price the pharmacy was charged by the supplier. Community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements include an amount of medicines margin that pharmacies are allowed to retain as part of CPCF funding. The Department assesses the medicine margin through a quarterly medicine margin survey, which ensures that in totality, pharmacies are paid the allowed medicine margin above what it cost them to purchase medicines overall.For concessionary prices, the Department relies on competition and efficient purchasing by community pharmacies to keep prices of medicines down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the United Kingdom can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients. When the market price of a medicine suddenly increases, concessionary prices can be granted in that month, increasing the reimbursement price above the Drug Tariff price, with the aim of mitigating pharmacy contractors dispensing at a loss. In addition, there is a ‘retrospective top-up payment for concessionary prices’, which provides an additional payment to contractors when the margin survey indicates that despite a concessionary price, there was an under payment for a specific product.More broadly, medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated. There are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the UK and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, and use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product and expediting regulatory procedures. In addition, we utilise sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

If he will direct the National Energy System Operator to account for the reduced need for offshore wind and solar capacity resulting from heat network expansion in its future strategic planning scenarios, in light of the findings of the ADE: Heat Networks report Electricity System Benefits of Heat Networks.

I have met ADE to discuss their research. We welcome the research by ADE: Heat Networks, and agree that appropriate deployment of heat networks has the potential to reduce future electricity system costs by billions as we accelerate to net zero. We set out our long-term strategy for heat networks in the Warm Homes Plan in January, and the Department is already working with the National Energy System Operator to ensure its scenarios align with the latest Government policy.

If he will make an assessment of the potential for former coal mining communities to benefit from the estimated £86.5 billion in electricity system savings from heat networks as identified in the ADE: Heat Network's report, Electricity System Benefits of Heat Networks.

We welcome the research by ADE: Heat Networks, and agree that appropriate deployment of heat networks has the potential to reduce future electricity system costs by billions as we accelerate to net zero. We set out our long-term strategy for heat networks in the Warm Homes Plan, and our plan to increase flexible capacity on the grid through the Clean Flexibility Roadmap. Avoided electricity system investment will benefit all consumers through their electricity bill. Our focus is to explore all options to enable low-carbon heat networks, including in former coal mining communities, to compete fairly with their gas equivalent to boost energy security and lower consumer bills

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using heat networks with thermal storage to provide cheaper flexibility for the electricity system in comparison with lithium battery storage, in the context of the ADE: Heat Network's report “Electricity System Benefits of Heat Networks”.

We welcome the research by ADE: Heat Networks, and agree that appropriate deployment of heat networks has the potential to reduce future electricity system costs by billions as we accelerate to net zero. We set out our long-term strategy for heat networks in the Warm Homes Plan, and our plan to increase flexible capacity on the grid through the Clean Flexibility Roadmap. Thermal storage in heat networks is location-specific whereas lithium battery storage can be deployed across a range of locations so both technologies will be needed and can offer benefits for the electricity system.

If he will make an estimate of the cumulative number of years of experience held by prison officers in each year since 2010.

The cumulative length of service, in years, held by public sector band 3-5 prison officers is given in the following table. Figures are given as at 31 December each year.Table 1 – Cumulative length of service1 of public sector band 3-5 prison officers2 in England and Wales, as at 31 December each year from 2010 to 20253DateNumber of prison officers in post Cumulative length of service of these prison officers (Years)(Full Time Equivalent)31/12/201024,501329,35331/12/201123,054326,56331/12/201221,841326,66031/12/201318,731287,92131/12/201417,796278,25831/12/201518,226271,98431/12/201617,879261,50131/12/201719,892253,28631/12/201822,673247,62031/12/201922,100245,85531/12/202021,485242,22931/12/202122,057239,72331/12/202221,546226,36731/12/202323,174219,79231/12/202423,041215,66031/12/202522,067213,125 Notes:1. The length of service in HMPPS is calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS2. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers3. The dates reflect the Full Time Equivalent and cumulative years of service at that particular point of the year.