Written questions by Stafford.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of jobs supported by the beer and pub sector.

Pubs and brewers make a significant contribution to our economy and society, including through supporting jobs, and this is recognised in the tax system. According to the Office for National Statistics' 2023 Business Register and Employment Survey, there were 21,000 people employed in the manufacture of beer and 474,000 people employed in public houses and bars across Great Britain. The alcohol duty system supports pubs and hospitality businesses through Draught Relief, which ensures eligible products served on draught pay less duty. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This is the equivalent to a 1p reduction on a typical pint. The Chancellor has also confirmed her intention to permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including pubs, with rateable values below £500,000 from April 2026. This will help protect the jobs supported by the pub sector. There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940. The World Health Organization and other public health bodies are clear that duty rates have a role to play in achieving public health objectives. Treasury ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

Whether she plans to reduce beer duty.

Pubs and brewers make a significant contribution to our economy and society, including through supporting jobs, and this is recognised in the tax system. According to the Office for National Statistics' 2023 Business Register and Employment Survey, there were 21,000 people employed in the manufacture of beer and 474,000 people employed in public houses and bars across Great Britain. The alcohol duty system supports pubs and hospitality businesses through Draught Relief, which ensures eligible products served on draught pay less duty. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This is the equivalent to a 1p reduction on a typical pint. The Chancellor has also confirmed her intention to permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including pubs, with rateable values below £500,000 from April 2026. This will help protect the jobs supported by the pub sector. There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940. The World Health Organization and other public health bodies are clear that duty rates have a role to play in achieving public health objectives. Treasury ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

What comparative assessment she has made of beer duty in (a) the UK and (b) other European countries.

Pubs and brewers make a significant contribution to our economy and society, including through supporting jobs, and this is recognised in the tax system. According to the Office for National Statistics' 2023 Business Register and Employment Survey, there were 21,000 people employed in the manufacture of beer and 474,000 people employed in public houses and bars across Great Britain. The alcohol duty system supports pubs and hospitality businesses through Draught Relief, which ensures eligible products served on draught pay less duty. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This is the equivalent to a 1p reduction on a typical pint. The Chancellor has also confirmed her intention to permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including pubs, with rateable values below £500,000 from April 2026. This will help protect the jobs supported by the pub sector. There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940. The World Health Organization and other public health bodies are clear that duty rates have a role to play in achieving public health objectives. Treasury ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

Whether his Department plans to take steps to improve access to minimally-processed foods for (a) all consumers and (b) children and young people.

The Government’s Eatwell Guide already advises that people should eat more fruit and vegetables, and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less processed meat, and food and drink that is high in sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt.The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the NHS.UK website and Government social marketing campaigns. For example, the Better Health Healthier Families website and the Healthy Steps email programme, which aims to help families with primary aged children in England to eat well and move more.A range of actions that have already been taken to create a healthier environment to help children reduce their consumption of processed foods that are high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and to improve access to affordable minimally processed foods, include:- the Healthy Start scheme, which supported over 361,000 people in April 2025;- the Nursery Milk Scheme, which provides a reimbursement to childcare providers in England and Wales for a daily 1/3 pint portion of milk to children and babies; and- the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, which provides approximately 2.2 million children in Key Stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables per day at school.In relation to foods and drinks high in calories, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, work on our commitments is progressing through:- implementing the television and online advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink;- consulting on plans to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old; and- giving local authorities stronger, clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools and where young people congregate.

Whether she plans to hold discussions with representatives of the brewing and pub sector on how to (a) create growth and (b) reduce barriers to investment, before the Autumn Budget 2025.

The Government is committed to supporting small and local businesses in the hospitality, tourism, and services sectors, which provide a significant contribution to the UK economy and society.We have launched a licensing taskforce to make recommendations to cut red tape and remove barriers to business growth that exist within the UK’s licensing framework. The industry-led Taskforce has shared its findings with the Government, and we aim to update publicly by the summer. We have prevented retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) business rates relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier. From April 2026, we intend to introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000. The Treasury has, and will continue to, meet with the RHL sector to discuss these reforms. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year and increased the relief available on draught products to 13.9%. We have protected small businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all this year, and more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package. Furthermore, the Department of Business and Trade will soon be publishing its Small Business Strategy, which will announce further measures to support small businesses in the hospitality sector and to revitalise high streets. Through The Hospitality Support Scheme, the Government is working with Pub is the Hub and providing funds to help community pubs adapt to changing local needs, ensuring these vital social hubs continue delivering for their communities. Additionally, we have funded a wide range of community assets, including pubs, through the Community Ownership Fund. On 23 December 2024, this Government announced the outcome of Round 4 of the Community Ownership Fund, the largest ever round to date.

Whether she has had recent discussions with South Western Rail on the role of open access rail operators in supporting (a) connectivity, (b) passenger choice and (c) service quality within the UK rail network.

There have been no such conversations with SWR regarding Open Access. Open Access Operators can improve connectivity and choice for passengers but can also increase costs to taxpayers and create additional performance pressures. We have been clear that Open Access must deliver value, not merely divert revenue from existing operators. Open Access applications are also subject to assessments on whether there is sufficient network capacity to accommodate them in a process overseen by the ORR, this is to ensure that new services don’t put too much pressure on the network and adversely affect passengers and freight operators.

What recent assessment she has made of the cumulative impact of changes to (a) business rates and (b) employer National Insurance contributions on the financial viability of (i) pubs and (ii) breweries.

From 2026-27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that eligible RHL businesses benefit from much-needed certainty and support. Eligibility for the new RHL multipliers is intended to broadly reflect the scope of the existing RHL relief scheme, and will be set out in legislation later this year. Until these new tax rates are introduced, in 2025-26, RHL businesses will receive a 40 per cent relief on their eligible properties up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Under the previous Government, RHL relief was due to end entirely in April 2025. By extending the relief, the Government has saved the average pub, with a ratable value of £16,800, over £3,300. Tax policy and legislation is not subject to the Better Regulation Framework Guidance, which requires an Impact Assessment to accompany policy decisions. Nevertheless, when the new multipliers are set at Budget 2025, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements. Regarding National Insurance contributions, a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the Exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with the BBC Board on the broadcasting of (a) Bob Vylan and (b) Kneecap during the coverage of the Glastonbury Festival 2025.

The Secretary of State was clear in her statement to Parliament that the scenes from the Bob Vylan performance at Glastonbury were utterly appalling and unacceptable. This Government will not tolerate antisemitism – it has absolutely no place in our society and we will be unrelenting in our work to root it out and it should not be given a platform.The BBC is editorially independent, and decisions on what content to broadcast, and how they broadcast that content, are a matter for the BBC. However, it is right that the BBC has acknowledged that the livestream of the performance should have come off air and that they are reviewing their guidance. There remain very serious questions at the highest levels of the BBC about operational oversight and the way in which editorial standards are implemented.As set out to Parliament, the Secretary of State has spoken to both the BBC Director General and Chair directly and has written to the Chair to ask for an urgent and detailed explanation about what immediate steps they intend to take. We expect answers to these questions without delay and expect lessons to be learned and rapid action to be taken.Ofcom is also in the process of obtaining further information from the BBC as a matter of urgency, including what procedures were in place to ensure compliance with its own editorial guidelines.Charter Review will consider editorial standards for the BBC. The Government will also build on the Media Act and Ofcom’s Public Service Media review by taking action to support public service media and the wider television ecosystem. As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government will update the policy and regulatory framework to respond to the changing market and promote a more level playing field, while maintaining universal access to distinctive and trusted public service content. This work will complement the BBC Charter Review.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the (a) Irish band Kneecap and (b) Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury.

Avon and Somerset Police have opened an independent criminal investigation into the matters raised, and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

What steps he is taking to support residents of rural 1950s properties to use alternative fuels to heat their homes; and if he will take steps to reduce the VAT rate on fuel for those unable to install heat pumps.

For most off-grid properties, transitioning to clean heat will involve installing a heat pump as these are cost-effective, proven technologies. The Government expect sustainable biomass to be prioritised where there are limited alternatives for decarbonisation. Renewable liquid heating fuels are also much more expensive to use than other heating solutions. Before taking decisions on whether to support the use of renewable liquid fuels in heating, the Government would require stronger evidence on their affordability for consumers, and the availability of sustainable feedstock. The tax treatment of renewable liquid fuels is a matter for Treasury.

What steps her Department is taking to improve training for teachers (a) in the early identification of dyslexia and (b) to ensure minimum standards of SEND support are in place across all primary schools.

I refer the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon to the answer of 1 August 2025 to Question 61402.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of introducing mandatory screening for (a) dyslexia and (b) other forms of neurodivergence in primary schools on (i) early identification and (ii) support.

I refer the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon to the answer of 1 August 2025 to Question 61402.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of her policies on levels of inflation.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) assessed the impact of Government policies on the level of inflation. While noting they expect inflation to remain close to the 2 per cent target throughout the forecast period, the OBR forecast a temporary rise in inflation, driven by gas and electricity prices and the direct effect of policies announced in the Budget. They conclude that, on average, just under half of the higher inflation in 2025 and 2026 is due to the impact of policies in Autumn Budget 2024. In March 2025 the OBR assessed that they expected the policies in the forecast to provide a very small boost to CPI inflation, increasing the price level by less than 0.1 per cent by the end of the forecast. The Bank of England has the responsibility of controlling inflation, and the Government fully supports them as they take action to sustainably return inflation to the 2% target.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Tokyo District Court’s dissolution order against the Unification Church; and what steps he is taking to help protect (a) religious freedom and (b) minority rights.

This is a matter that is subject to ongoing court proceedings. It is therefore reserved for the Government of Japan and institutions of Japan. The UK has always been clear that the right to adopt a religion or belief, practise it without hindrance, and to share it with others are all key freedoms that everyone should have. As the Minister for the Indo-Pacific, I will continue to champion the UK's long-standing policy to defend freedom of religion or belief for all and promote respect between different religious and non-religious communities internationally.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support people stranded in Tel Aviv.

The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority. Since the beginning of this crisis, when Israeli airspace closed, we deployed specialist teams to the Egyptian and Jordanian borders to support British nationals wishing to leave Israel by land and facilitate their onward travel. When Israeli airspace opened on 24 June we worked at pace to ensure those who wanted to leave Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories could do so, with six evacuation flights leaving Israel.

What mechanisms her Department has to coordinate maintenance responsibilities between multiple local authorities on A roads that do not fall under the remit of National Highways.

Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 local highway authorities have a duty to maintain the highways network in their area. DfT does not have legal mechanisms under the act to co-ordinate maintenance responsibilities between multiple authorities on A roads that do not fall under the remit of National Highways. Section 8 of the Act provides for agreements to be made between neighbouring local highways authorities.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of financial requirements for standing in mayoral elections on the (a) accessibility and (b) diversity of candidates.

The Government has not made such an assessment. Under electoral law, candidates are required to pay a deposit in certain elections, reflecting the scale of the role, including budget responsibility, role as chair of the Combined Authority or Combined County Authority, and the ability to raise a levy; as well as the size of the electorate and electoral area. This has been set at £5,000 for Mayoral candidates for Combined Authorities and Combined County Authorities which was deemed proportionate and fair by Parliament when the relevant legislation was made. A deposit is returned if a candidate receives more than 5% of the valid votes cast.

If she will commission a review into the (a) management arrangements and (b) maintenance outcomes on non-trunk A roads that cross multiple local authority areas.

It is the responsibility of local highway authorities to maintain the highways network in their area, as per section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. However, the Government is determined to end the pothole plague on our roads, which is the result of a decade of under-investment by the previous Government. We have provided an extra £500 million for councils this year to allow them to make an immediate start on this. To qualify for their share of the £500m funding uplift, local highway authorities will have to publish a report in plain English on their websites by the end of June, detailing the condition of their local roads, how much they are spending on maintaining them, and how well they are adhering to best practice.

Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with mobile phone providers on inflation-linked price increases in fixed-term mobile phone contracts.

I have not had any such recent discussions but the Government works closely with Ofcom, the independent regulator of telecommunications, to ensure telecom contracts remain fair and transparent, ensuring significant clauses, such as in-contract price increases, are clear at the time of purchase.Following a review Ofcom banned inflation-linked price rises, since January 2025 providers have been required to inform customers upfront of any in-contract price rises in pounds and pence included in their contract.

What information her Department holds on the number of (a) reports and (b) complaints there have been relating to (i) abandoned roadworks equipment and (ii) degraded signage on the (A) A3, (B) A31 and (C) A331 in each of the last three years.

Removal of roadworks equipment comes under Section 74 of the New Roads and Street Works Act. The Act enables local highway authorities to charge utility companies for delays in completing roadworks on public highways, and since 2001 regulations have been in place which allow local highway authorities to impose charges on statutory undertakers. Every job has an end date and if works or barriers are still on site past this end date, daily charges can be imposed. These charges start at £250 a day, and on the busiest roads go up to £10,000 a day. The Department does not hold any information on the number of reports or complaints of abandoned roadworks equipment, only local highway authorities have that information. The A3, A31 and A331 form part of the Strategic Road Network. As such, National Highways is responsible for installing, maintaining, cleaning, and repairing signage on these roads. Damaged and incorrect road signage on any of these roads can be reported to National Highways at the following link: https://report.nationalhighways.co.uk/ National Highways maintains records of reports and complaints submitted via its online platform, including issues relating to road signage and other highway assets on the Strategic Road Network. The Department does not hold disaggregated data, but National Highways may be able to provide the number of reports concerning abandoned or incorrect equipment on the A3, A31 and A331 upon request.