Written questions by Campbell.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to answer Question 75168 tabled on 4 September 2025 by the hon. Member for East Londonderry.

I apologise for the delay in responding to the Hon. Member's written parliamentary question. I issued a response to the Hon. Member on 3 October.

What estimate she has made of the number of employees who having received the National Living Wage increase in April 2025 have now begun to pay income tax.

The information is not available. HMRC does not hold information on hourly pay rates of Pay As You Earn taxpayers and therefore cannot identify which employees are in receipt of the National Living Wage (NLW).

Media and Sport, how many appointments have been made to the Boards of her Department's public bodies since 10 July 2024.

Since 10 July 2024, 114 regulated appointments and reappointments have been made to the Boards of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s public bodies.

Whether her Department is taking steps to monitor activities at Confucius Institutes.

​​Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.​The department engages regularly with representatives from the higher education (HE) sector to support universities to maximise opportunities of collaboration whilst managing risks.​The department expects the HE sector to be alert to a range of risks when collaborating with international partners and to conduct appropriate due diligence and oversight. Any international arrangements English HE providers who are registered with the Office for Students (OfS) make, including Confucius Institutes, should be within the law and comply with OfS registration conditions. These include a commitment to the public interest governance principles, which include operating openly and in accordance with ensuring academic freedom and freedom of speech.​If students, staff, or the public feel that a provider is not meeting these requirements, they can submit a notification to the OfS. As the regulator for registered English providers, the OfS can intervene and use its regulatory powers, if a breach is identified.​

If he will take steps with Intertrade UK to help (a) consumers and (b) businesses in Northern Ireland trade with businesses in Great Britain.

The Government established Intertrade UK in February 2025, with a clear purpose to provide advice on and promote trade and investment across the UK. This is why Intertrade UK’s recently published Work Programme sets out how the body will advise on ways to support intra-UK trade by removing barriers to trade, promoting UK internal market opportunities, and enhancing infrastructure and connectivity. This includes, but will not be limited to, advice on ways to help consumers and businesses in Northern Ireland trade with businesses in Great Britain.

Whether his Department plans to hold discussions with the hospitality sector on the promotion non-sugar sweeteners.

Most people are regularly consuming double the recommended amount of free sugars. Diets high in sugar increase the risk of tooth decay and weight gain. Being overweight or living with obesity is associated with a range of negative health impacts such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some kinds of cancers.On 2 April 2025, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published its position statement on the World Health Organisation guideline on non-sugar sweeteners. SACN concluded that the evidence of risk to health, including type 2 diabetes, from consuming non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) is inconsistent. SACN also made a precautionary recommendation that intakes of NSS should be minimised. As there is greater certainty of the negative impact of sugars on health, including type 2 diabetes, SACN recommended that “swapping sugars for NSS may help reduce sugar intake from foods and drinks (and so reduce energy intake), at least in the short term. The long-term goal is to limit both sugar and NSS intake”. It is up to businesses to decide whether they choose to use NSS when reformulating products to reduce sugar levels. While some businesses have used them, others have chosen not to which may be due to legislative restrictions on their use in some products or in recognition of consumer preferences. It is recognised, though, that there are benefits in businesses not using NSS as this maintains a highly sweet taste in a food or drink and does not allow people’s palates to adapt to a less sugary taste. This applies to businesses in all sectors. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy has led to reductions of 47% in sugar levels in drinks in scope. Much of this reduction has been delivered by using NSS. Many reformulated drinks are available in the out of home sector as well as supermarkets.

Over what period of time Operation Gull has been functioning in Northern Ireland.

Immigration officers in Northern Ireland took responsibility for Operation Gull in the financial year 2010-11.

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 May to Question 52582 on Defence Gardens Scheme, what recent progress he has made in simplifying access to Government support for Armed Forces charities.

I would like to recognise the work of Armed Forces charities across the country. They play an invaluable role, offering support to the Armed Forces community - helping Serving military personnel, veterans and their families when they face difficulties and challenges; together with helping communities across the country. This Government works closely with many Armed Forces charities. The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust also administered £10 million in HMG grants this financial year to support the Armed Forces community. Our new £50 million VALOUR initiative will help to bring together statutory services and the charity sector as a core objective. This will include development funding to support local delivery, and ensuring that services are available when, and where, they are needed.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 74957 on Citroën: Air Bags, whether her Department has received a response to its letter to Stellantis on the recall of Citroën cars.

I can confirm that Stellantis replied to the letter from the Secretary of State on 12 August. Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency officials continue to have regular engagement meetings with representatives from Stellantis about the Citroën/DS recall and continue to support Stellantis, prioritising safety while minimising economic and social impact.

What steps he is taking to ensure the Army's future participation in jobs fairs in Northern Ireland, in the context of the Army's withdrawal from a jobs fair in Londonderry in September 2025.

Improving recruitment is one of the Army’s top priorities, supported by defence. We will continue to welcome any opportunity to attend jobs fairs in Northern Ireland, and across the United Kingdom, to share the careers available to all potential recruits. Whilst we are disappointed not to have been able to attend the jobs fair event hosted on 9 September, the Department accepts the council’s decision in this matter.

What plans she has to meet with her Irish counterpart to discuss the increase in the amount of illegal drugs being smuggled into that country.

The National Crime Agency’s latest National Strategic Assessment notes the Common Travel Area, and particularly the routes between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain, continue to be exploited by criminals for the purposes of serious and organised crime including the smuggling of illicit commodities.The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland have a strong operational relationship which includes continual engagement and practical joint operations to present a combined deterrent to organised criminals targeting both the UK and Ireland.This is supported by senior twice-yearly dialogues, which Home Office officials feed into. At these we discuss key issues that are shared between Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

What estimate he has made of the number of women who did not have a postnatal check-up with their general practitioner after six to eight weeks in each of the last three years.

The Department does not hold this information. NHS England has published guidance written in collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners on the six-to-eight week postnatal check-up for all women who have given birth. This provides an important opportunity for general practitioners to listen to women in a discreet, supportive environment to provide personalised postnatal care for their physical and mental health and support them with family planning.

Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Creative Industries Sector Plan in helping creative businesses in Northern Ireland.

The Creative Industries Sector Plan was announced in June and contains ambitious proposals to bolster growth in the creative industries across the UK. The Sector Plan highlights Belfast & Derry/Londonderry as a high potential cluster for creative industries growth and recognises their unique investment offer. UK wide activity outlined in the Sector Plan includes increased funding to the UKRI Creative Industries Clusters Programme, increased access to support from the British Business Bank and increased exporting support from UK Export Finance. DCMS is committed to working with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure creative businesses benefit from this activity. Northern Ireland has a thriving screen sector. DCMS will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to support this sector, including continued annual funding from the UK Government, through the British Film Institute, to Northern Ireland Screen to support the Irish Language and Ulster-Scots Broadcast Funds.

Media and Sport, for what reason the Natural History Museum informs potential customers in Northern Ireland that it is unable to ship to EU countries.

This is a matter for the Natural History Museum which is operationally independent of the Government. I understand that the Natural History Museum is aiming to resume e-commerce sales to Northern Ireland in the near future.

What the change in obesity rates has been among young adults in the last 10 years.

NHS England publishes data from the Health Survey for England (HSE) which collects data annually on measured height and weight of adults in England which is used to calculate the prevalence of obesity in the population.The following table shows the prevalence of obesity among young adults aged between 16 and 24 years old from 2012 to 2022, the latest period for which data is available:Survey yearPercentage of adults aged between 16 and 24 years old living with obesity201213.1%201311.1%201410.8%201516.4%201611.3%201715.5%201813.5%201912.9%2020no data20217.9%202213.9%Source: HSENotes:There is no HSE data for 2020. Pandemic-related restrictions meant that fieldwork for HSE 2020 could not be carried out during most of the year.The data for 2021 is produced using adjusted self-reported height and weight, as pandemic-related restrictions meant the survey was not conducted as a face to face interview. The self-report data was adjusted to better align with measured height and weight, but the estimates are not directly comparable with other years of HSE data that uses measured height and weight. Obesity prevalence among young adults has remained stable in the last 10 years, with some variation in the estimates which may be due to the small sample size of the HSE when split by age. It is expected that data from the 2024 survey will be published in early 2026.

Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with the Director General of the BBC on increasing locally (a) produced and (b) sourced (i) radio and (ii) television output.

Under its current Charter, the BBC has an obligation to ‘reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions’. Ofcom sets specific obligations for the BBC on programme making in the nations and regions including requiring that at least 50% of network TV programme hours and production spend must be made outside the M25, and 30% of relevant radio spend outside the M25. The BBC is operationally and editorially independent of the Government in determining how it meets its obligations, and it is subsequently for the independent regulator Ofcom to hold the BBC to account in meeting those obligations. BBC reporting shows it is consistently meeting or exceeding these quotas.The Secretary of State does not have specific plans to discuss this issue with the Director General. However, as part of the next Charter Review, the Government will engage with the BBC and others to consider how to ensure the BBC truly represents and delivers for every person in this country including to be more ambitious in growing our world-leading TV sector outside of London and the South East, and to commission content in every part of the country.

Whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the NHS England Help Us Help You campaign on cancer symptom awareness.

The Department and NHS England recognise the importance of directly targeting awareness campaigns at areas that we know will make a difference, to increase awareness of cancer symptoms and encourage people to get checked.NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and to address the barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns are evaluated in line with best practice, considering media metrics, campaign awareness, understanding and intention to act, along with analysis of operational data.The most recent phases of Help Us Help You, which ran between January and March 2025, saw increases in symptom knowledge and intention to act. NHS England is undertaking operational data analysis, with early data showing an increase in cancer diagnosis at the same time as campaign activity. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.

Pursuant the Answer of 2 September to Question 69743 on Universal Credit: Expenditure, whether she has had discussions with the OBR on the sustainability of the forecasted levels of expenditure on Universal Credit payments by the end of the current Parliament.

This Government is committed to a social security system which raises employment and living standards by supporting and incentivising people into work and to work more, reduces poverty by supporting people at times of higher cost and dependency, and promotes fairness and controls overall spending to ensure the long-term sustainability of the system for future generations. The Government’s welfare cap rule also helps ensure the long-term sustainability of the welfare system. A new welfare cap covering the current parliament was introduced at Autumn Budget 2024. The financial sustainability of the benefit system, including Universal Credit, is considered in the round as part of the forecasts for annually managed expenditure which are produced twice yearly as part of the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast process.

How many people have been (a) arrested, (b) charged and (c) convicted as a result of Operation Gull in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about arrests, charges and convictions as a result of Operation Gull is not available in our published data.Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2025 - GOV.UK

Whether she expects to receive the report from the Payments Vision Delivery Committee before the Conference recess.

At the Mansion House event in July 2025, the Payments Vision Delivery Committee set out a new model for the design and delivery of the next generation of retail payments infrastructure in the UK. The Committee’s publication can be found here: Payments Vision Delivery Committee Update - GOV.UK Under the new model, the Committee will set the strategy for retail payments infrastructure in line with the ambitions of the government’s National Payments Vision, and this strategy will be translated into design by the new Retail Payments Infrastructure Board. The Board will be chaired by the Bank of England and will have broad representation from across the ecosystem. A new industry-owned and industry-led Delivery Company will be responsible for procuring and funding the new infrastructure, overseen by the Board. The Committee will publish its strategy this autumn and the Bank of England is working at pace to establish the new Board with a view to its first meeting taking place in October. The Committee will also publish the Payments Forward Plan by end-2025, including a sequenced plan of future initiatives and a recommended monitoring approach.