Written questions by Mohamed.

What steps he plans to take to ensure parliamentary oversight of the proposed changes to NICE regulations.

The proposed amendments to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence regulations were subject to a public consultation, which ran from 9 December 2025 to 13 January 2026. The Department is currently analysing consultation responses and will shortly finalise a statutory instrument (SI) to bring forward secondary legislation to amend the regulations.The SI will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the negative parliamentary procedure. The policy merits of the SI will be scrutinised by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, in line with its terms of reference at the following link:https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/255/secondary-legislation-scrutiny-committee/content/120278/slsc-terms-of-reference/As is conventional, the SI will be laid before Parliament at least 21 days before coming into force to ensure Parliament has adequate time to consider it.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of support for water social tariff across different regions; and what steps she is taking to ensure households in similar financial circumstances are treated equally.

Evidence shows that levels of social tariff provision vary between regions because each water company sets its own eligibility criteria and level of support. The Government keeps support schemes under review and expects industry to do the same to ensure vulnerable customers across the country are supported, and customers know what support schemes are available and how to access them if they need help. Water companies have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs – from 4% to 9%.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to make water social tariff (a) eligibility, (b) discount levels and (c) application processes (i) transparent and (ii) subject to government oversight.

Defra expects water companies to ensure that their customers know what support schemes are available and how to access them if they need help. Companies offer a range of support schemes for customers struggling to afford their bills, including social tariffs, WaterSure, debt support schemes, financial hardship funds, flexible payment plans and payment breaks. Defra is working with water companies to ensure social tariffs are more consistent and taken up by those most in need.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to implement the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 November 2025 to Question 85800.

How many items of protective body armour his Department has supplied for use by journalists operating in Gaza since October 2023.

The Department for Business and Trade does not supply body armour, and the export of body armour for personal protection when accompanying its user (for their own use) is not subject to export control. Nonetheless the Department has approved 12 licences for the export of protective body armour for use by news organisations in Israel or Palestine since October 2023. Of these, 9 relate to Media Open Individual Licences which allow export to a wide range of countries. Similar equipment has also been licensed for export for use by NGOs in the region. The UK is appalled by the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of media workers in the State of Palestine. We have called on all parties to fully uphold International Humanitarian Law and ensure protection of civilians including journalists.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress she has made on making an assessment of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 November 2025 to Question 85800.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on trade with Israel.

We respect the independence of the International Court of Justice and continue to consider the Court’s Advisory Opinion carefully, with the seriousness and rigour it deserves.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Government awarding contracts for software and related services to (a) Palantir and (b) any other overseas technology companies on national security.

The Ministry of Defence has policies and procedures to address the security risk from overseas suppliers, which consider both the nature of the procurement and the potential risks posed by the relevant state. These procedures are in addition to our usual cyber security and resilience controls on all suppliers. We do not disclose details of security risk policy and procedures as they could be useful to a potential adversary.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to raise public awareness of the impact of methane-reducing feed additives used in livestock farming.

We have a system. Methane-reducing food products, including seaweed, oils and synthetic products such as Bovaer, are a key tool in reducing emissions from agriculture by up to one third. Bovaer is approved for use in 70 countries, including those in the EU, Switzerland, the US, Canada and Australia. We are building the market for safe, effective options and helping farmers to adopt them. Such products are approved by the Food Standards Agency, and that advice has not been changed. Bovaer has been reviewed by 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies.

Innovation and Technology, whether the Artificial Intelligence Security Institute completed a risk assessment of xAI’s Grok code before it was released to the public.

The AI Security Institute regularly test models across leading labs. While we do not provide a running commentary on which models we test due to commercial and security reasons, it actively works with labs to improve safeguards when vulnerabilities have been identified.

Innovation and Technology, whether the Artificial Intelligence Security Institute assessed xAI’s Grok for harms prior to launch.

The AI Security Institute regularly test models across leading labs. While we do not provide a running commentary on which models we test due to commercial and security reasons, it actively works with labs to improve safeguards when vulnerabilities have been identified.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will set out how her Department assesses peace initiatives relating to Gaza, including on the cessation of violence, lifting of blockades, and protection of civilian infrastructure.

The UK is committed to supporting the delivery of the 20-point peace plan for Gaza, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council on 17 November 2025. We continue to monitor the situation in Gaza closely, alongside our international partners.

Whether charging thresholds for domestic abuse-related common assault support early intervention in cases of repeat offending; and whether she plans to review the existing charging framework.

We remain committed to supporting the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police in exploring how expanding police-led charging decisions for specific domestic abuse cases can improve outcomes for domestic abuse victims and survivors.The Home Office has been working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the CPS to expand police charging authority to include certain domestic abuse (DA) flagged offences, aligning with the ambitions of the Government’s Manifesto Commitments.As set out in the recent Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, the Government will work with the CPS and police to strengthen access to justice for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This includes reviewing the time limits for charging domestic abuse-related summary offences and considering whether greater flexibility could help reduce the number of timed-out cases.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of current charging thresholds for domestic abuse-related common assault offences on the ability of the police to bring timely charges.

We remain committed to supporting the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police in exploring how expanding police-led charging decisions for specific domestic abuse cases can improve outcomes for domestic abuse victims and survivors.The Home Office has been working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the CPS to expand police charging authority to include certain domestic abuse (DA) flagged offences, aligning with the ambitions of the Government’s Manifesto Commitments.As set out in the recent Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, the Government will work with the CPS and police to strengthen access to justice for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This includes reviewing the time limits for charging domestic abuse-related summary offences and considering whether greater flexibility could help reduce the number of timed-out cases.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she is scheduled to next meet the delegation of hon. Members and representatives from the Sikh Federation on the detention of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Ministers and officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office meet on a regular basis with Mr Johal's family and other representatives advocating on his behalf, and have also responded to correspondence from more than 150 Members of Parliament about Mr Johal's case since 2020.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many hon. Members have written to (a) her and (b) her predecessors during the detention of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Ministers and officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office meet on a regular basis with Mr Johal's family and other representatives advocating on his behalf, and have also responded to correspondence from more than 150 Members of Parliament about Mr Johal's case since 2020.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the sale of the qualifications arm of City & Guilds on qualification fees, provision, workforce employment and other aspects of the further education sector.

Following the sale of City and Guilds Ltd, we understand that organisation will continue to deliver qualifications within the further education sector and work constructively with providers as usual. As the regulator of qualifications, Ofqual has responsibility for ensuring that recognised awarding organisations meet their obligations on qualifications quality and public confidence. We understand that Ofqual also monitors qualifications prices and publishes this data annually.

If she will review the policy of automatic off-rolling to ensure a formal review and hearing occurs before any decision is made.

This government is clear that off-rolling in any form is unacceptable, and we will continue to work closely with Ofsted to tackle it.Pupils may leave a school roll for many reasons, including permanent exclusion, transfer to another school or change of circumstances. All schools are legally required to notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is removed from the admissions register.The law is clear a pupil’s name can only be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in Regulation 9 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require the mandatory testing of generative AI models to ensure they cannot produce child sexual abuse material.

The government is committed to tackling the creation of this atrocious material. Creating, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content.We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators, and to ensure AI developers can directly test for and address vulnerabilities in their models which enable the production of CSAM.The Government is clear: no option is off the table when it comes to protecting the online safety of users in the UK, and we will not hesitate to act where evidence suggests that further action is necessary.

Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure AI tools are safe by design to prevent the creation of child sexual abuse material.

The government is committed to tackling the creation of this atrocious material. Creating, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content.We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators, and to ensure AI developers can directly test for and address vulnerabilities in their models which enable the production of CSAM.The Government is clear: no option is off the table when it comes to protecting the online safety of users in the UK, and we will not hesitate to act where evidence suggests that further action is necessary.