Written questions by Campbell.

What discussions she has had with the banking sector on the rollout of banking hubs beyond the lifetime of this Parliament.

Treasury Ministers regularly engage with the banking sector on access to banking services, including the rollout of banking hubs. The Government understands the importance of access to in-person banking services for communities and high streets and is committed to supporting the financial services industry’s roll-out of 350 banking hubs by the end of this Parliament. Importantly, this number is a floor, not a ceiling, and Cash Access UK will deliver a banking hub wherever LINK has recommended one. The Government keeps the effectiveness of current arrangements under review through regular engagement with industry and other stakeholders to ensure they meet the needs of people and communities.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department will contribute to the International Development Association of the World Bank in the remainder of this Parliament.

The UK works closely with the World Bank Group's International Development Association (IDA) to support the world's lowest‑income countries. It delivers excellent value for the taxpayer and has continually been shown to be one of the most impactful organisations in tackling poverty.The UK has pledged £1.98 billion to the 21st replenishment of IDA (IDA21), which covers a three-year cycle from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028.The remainder of this Parliament also spans the next replenishment cycle, IDA22. Decisions about future replenishments will be subject to future Spending Reviews.

When does he expect treatment of myopia in children aged between three and 14 years through low-dose atropine eye drops to begin.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service in England on whether new medicines should be routinely funded based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. NICE is currently evaluating low-dose atropine eye drops for treating myopia in people aged three to 14 years old and currently expects to publish final guidance in September 2026. If recommended in final NICE guidance, the NHS would be required to fund treatment within three months of publication.

Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions in the past six months have discussions taken place with the EU Commission on increasing the number of plant species that can be traded between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

There have been three exchanges of emails with European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the last six months, regarding UK submissions of additional information for three prohibited high-risk plants: Castanea sativa, Hamamelis mollis and Robinia pseudoacacia. This allowed EFSA to publish scientific opinions for these species on 22 December 2025, 6 January 2026 and 22 April 2026 respectively. There is usually a delay of a few weeks/months whilst the EU Commission drafts new legislation based on published EFSA opinions, but progress continues at pace. In the last six months the EU has lifted prohibitions, subject to conditions, on a further five species of Prunus (3 October 2025) Only seven of the 45 High Risk Plant species that the UK has requested market access for, remain prohibited for export to the EU/Northern Ireland.

What steps she is taking to help reduce waiting times for UK citizens travelling through airports in Schengen area countries in summer 2026.

The Government is working with the European Commission and Schengen countries to understand the new border process changes and to promote flexible, pragmatic solutions for UK travellers.Waiting times in Schengen area countries remain a matter for the European Union and individual member states.

Pursuant to WPQ 128052, whether she will maintain the free to use MTD software for taxpayers for the lifetime of this Parliament.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided in the response to UIN 126551.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the predominance of the grey squirrel population during this Parliament.

The Grey Squirrel Policy Statement was published in January 2026. This policy statement sets out the actions we will take over the next five years to manage the impact of grey squirrels. Actions include encouraging landowners to take greater action through financial incentives and advice through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier. The Government is paying £60 per hectare to manage and reduce the impact of grey squirrels. We are backing our nation’s conservation volunteers and landowners, by leading communication on the impacts of grey squirrels and providing support for training in grey squirrel management. We are also working with UK Squirrel Accord to support research into immunocontraception.

Whether he plans to respond to the Ipsos MORI research project on the retributive benefit of prison before summer recess 2026.

The Department is working to start an academic Peer Review of the Ipsos Mori Retribution survey ahead of publication to ensure it is analytically robust and the results are interpreted correctly. The process will begin in Summer this year.

Media and Sport, when she plans to meet with the new Director General of the BBC.

The Secretary of State had an introductory meeting with Matt Brittin on 15th April 2026. The BBC is a vital national institution, and as such, Ministers and Senior Officials regularly meet with BBC leadership to discuss a range of issues.

Approximately how many non - direct altruistic organ donations have there been in each of the last ten years.

Non‑direct altruistic organ donation is managed by NHS Blood and Transplant, which is responsible for organ donation services. Non‑direct altruistic donation involves people donating an organ, such as a kidney or a lobe of liver, as a living donor without knowing the recipient or expecting anything in return. The following table shows the number of non-direct altruistic donations across the United Kingdom, split by organ, namely kidney or liver:Financial yearNon-direct altruistic kidney donations2016/17862017/18892018/19642019/20962020/21342021/22722022/23832023/24482024/25622025/2658Source: NHS Blood and Transplant, using data from the UK Transplant Registry.For every financial year since 2016/17, there has been five or less non-direct altruistic liver lobe donations. There has been a total of 14 non-direct altruistic liver lobe donations in the past ten years.

What plans are there to ensure, under the ten-year zero emission bus order pipeline, that UK based manufacturers are best placed to produce the new vehicles.

The Government has supported the UK bus manufacturing industry through the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel, which ran from March 2025 to March 2026. Long-term funding for local transport authorities, including through the £15.6 billion Transport for City Regions funding, will enable LTAs to purchase zero emission buses (ZEBs) for their areas and support wider investment. The zero emission bus order pipeline was published in March 2026 and provides greater planning certainty to the sector as they develop future decarbonisation strategies. At the final meeting of the Expert Panel, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) agreed to a minimum 10% social value weighting in future bus procurements. This will help to enable UK-based manufacturers to plan and invest with confidence, taking full advantage of the opportunities ahead.

How many organ donations under deemed consent legislation have there been from deceased donors between 1st January (a) 2022, and (b) 2026.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom and manages the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).Deemed consent donors are people who became deceased donors, donating one or more organs, where no decision to donate had been recorded on the NHS ODR, and consent was therefore deemed under the relevant deemed consent legislation, with organ donation proceeding only where the donor’s family were available for consultation. The following table shows the number of deemed consent donors and the number of organs donated by deemed consent donors, both United Kingdom wide, from 2022 to 2025:YearNumber of deemed consent donorsNumber of organs donated by deemed consent donors20224391342202345514792024381121320254041333Source: NHS Blood and Transplant, using data from the UK Transplant Registry.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2026 to Question 126551, what steps she is taking to ensure that the merits of the HMRC approved software to the user are maintained for the remainder of this Parliament.

The Government has ensured a wide range of MTD-compatible software is available to support businesses of all budgets and sizes, and will continue to work closely with the software industry to ensure that Making Tax Digital (MTD) software meets the needs of taxpayers. Software providers must meet a clear set of criteria and Terms of Use for their products to be recognised as MTD-compatible. These include requirements on security, data protection and accessibility, as well as the ability to support core user journeys and portability of data. A taxpayer is not locked into a single MTD-compatible software product and can change provider at any time. As their business needs evolve over time, taxpayers may find alternative software becomes the most appropriate option for their circumstances. HMRC has published guidance to support taxpayers in finding the right software here: www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-that-works-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the circumstances whereby senior citizens receive the Winter Fuel Allowance then are ineligible for the payment due to their level of income.

The Government announced in June 2025 that the Winter Fuel Payment eligibility will benefit a wider range of pensioners in England and Wales from winter 2025. Winter Fuel Payments are paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out of getting a payment, to ensure timely support for those who need it.Individuals who are of State Pension age and have total income over £35,000 will have their Winter Fuel Payment recovered by HMRC through the tax system. Winter Fuel Payments are devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive have decided to mirror the recovery approach taken for England and Wales. The winter payment is automatically recovered by HMRC through PAYE for the vast majority of cases, or through their Self-Assessment return for the minority that pay tax that way. The amount recovered is equal to the full value of their payment. This approach applies across the UK, including in Northern Ireland.Anyone who expects their total income to exceed £35,000 can opt out of receiving future payments via GOV.UK, or through Social Security Scotland if they live in Scotland, and will not be subject to the charge. Opting out applies only to payments not yet made.

When does he expect to be able to reply to WPQ 115339 tabled on 24th February 2026.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 April 2026 to Question 115339.

Who will have lead responsibility in co ordination and organising the four Nation Steering Group in examining the role of the Multi Speciality Recruitment Assessment process.

In Autumn 2025, the Postgraduate National Recruitment Programme Board stood up a project to identify future delivery solutions for the selection assessments used across all recruitment pathways, including the Multi Specialty Recruitment Assessment. The project is overseen by a four-nation selection assessment steering group that will shape and make recommendations to the programme board.The programme board has overall accountability for recruitment and selection processes into postgraduate medical, dental, foundation pharmacy, and healthcare science training programmes in the United Kingdom. The board is convened by NHS England, includes representatives from each of the four UK statutory education bodies, and is accountable to the executives of each of these bodies.

What steps she is taking to help reduce levels of student debt.

The government is capping the maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and 3 student loans at 6%, rather than RPI+3%, from 1 September, for the 2026/27 academic year, delivering stability and protection for graduates from escalating student loan interest. This short-term measure removes the risk of a temporary increase in inflation due to the situation in the Middle East causing loan balances to compound at an unsustainable rate and is in line with actions taken in the past to secure stability in the student finance system. Secondly, the government is reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants from academic year 2028/29, which will provide disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 extra support per year, without increasing their debt. Student finance and higher education funding is a complex, interconnected, system. We are considering a range of options to make the system fairer, but to be fiscally responsible we must consider how any change would be funded.

When she expects the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to publish a timeline for measures to be implemented by car manufacturers to help reduce the occurrence of headlamp glare.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) glare prevention taskforce is currently drafting recommendations for submission to the international lighting expert group in October this year. Implementation, including associated timelines, will depend on progress made in future negotiations with the wide range of UNECE countries that have agreed to be bound by these vehicle construction regulations.

If she will investigate trends in the number of applications for asylum from people from (a) Pakistan and (b) Bangladesh who are falsely claiming to be gay and in fear for their lives if returned to their home country.

Where we encounter abuse of the asylum system, we take action. Protection status will be revoked where evidence emerges that it was obtained by deception.All asylum and human rights claims, including those raised by Pakistan and Bangladesh nationals on grounds of sexuality or gender identity are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Our guidance for considering asylum claims is available on GOV.UK at: Assessing credibility and refugee status: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)A decision maker will not accept that someone is gay simply because they claim to be so. Such declarations constitute the starting point in the consideration process and are subject to probing at interview and a proper assessment of the facts and circumstances.Each individual assessment is made against the background of relevant case law and the latest available country of origin information. Our assessment of the situation of a given group in a given country is set out in the relevant country policy and information note, which is available on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-policy-and-information-notes.

What discussions have been held with the Government of the Irish Republic on what increases in co-operation are required to deal with the numbers of Russian shadow fleet vessels operating in British and Irish territorial waters.

Deterring and disrupting the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for the UK, and we are working closely with our allies and partners to do so. Earlier this year the Secretary of State for Defence and the Irish Minister for Defence signed the refreshed UK-Ireland Memorandum of Understanding. Under this Memorandum of Understanding, the UK Armed Forces and the Irish Defence Forces will strengthen their maritime security cooperation to develop improved response mechanisms to maritime security incidents in British and Irish territorial waters.