Written questions by McMurdock.

How many UK businesses are estimated to be part of the supply chains supported by UK Export Finance customers; and what plans the Government has to increase export-linked supply chain activity.

The recently published report by Oxford Economics, Analysing UKEF-Supported Supply Chains (which is available online at: Research and Analysis: Analysing UKEF-supported supply chains - GOV.UK), shows that exporters in UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) direct customer base support a further 115,000 businesses in supply chains throughout the whole of the UK.The government’s ambitious Industrial and Trade Strategies, published last year, set out the government’s plans to support the UK’s supply chains.Legislation is currently before the House to increase UKEF’s statutory commitment limit.UKEF is also working with the Department for Business and Trade to ensure that businesses understand how UKEF can support them in taking advantage of new free trade agreements as they are agreed.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, what analysis has been conducted on the potential costs to small businesses of the transition to digital tax reporting under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Clean energy upgrades for hospitals and military sites, published on 5 February 2026, whether (a) Basildon hospital and (b) any hospitals in Essex will receive funding to improve energy efficiency.

Basildon Hospital will receive £246,460 of funding for LED lighting energy efficiency upgrades. Other sites from the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to receive funding for LED lighting energy efficiency upgrades are: Braintree Community Hospital - £130,680Broomfield Hospital - £1,976,876Orsett Hospital - £330,532Southend Hospital - £620,965St Michael's Hospital – £354,777 Colchester Hospital is also receiving £137,940 for solar PV and is part of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

What proportion of graduates supported by Jobcentre Plus enter roles classified as graduate-level employment.

We do not capture data on the number of graduates entering graduate schemes or graduate-level employment. The latest published DfE data shows that the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.(opens in a new tab)

With reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, is she will publish an evaluation of the deepfake detection framework.

The evaluation framework is a security‑sensitive tool designed to support government and law enforcement in protecting the public from synthetic media threats. Publishing the framework would risk revealing information that could be exploited by adversaries to bypass or undermine defensive measures. For this reason, the framework will not be published.

With reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, whether she plans to repeat the Deepfake Detection Challenge to continue testing the technical challenges of deepfake detection and identifying opportunities.

The Deepfake Detection Challenge has enabled extensive engagement across government policy teams, operational users, and the wider national security community to understand current and emerging threats. The Government will continue to evaluate deepfake detection capabilities to ensure tools remain effective against emerging techniques, and operational users have up-to-date information for procurement decisions.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Clean energy upgrades for hospitals and military sites, published on 5 February 2026, whether any of the funding for new batteries and solar panels will go to (a) Basildon hospital and (b) other hospitals in Essex.

Basildon Hospital was not one of the hospitals to receive funding for batteries or solar PV as part of the announcement on 5 February 2026. However, it did receive £246,460 of funding for LED lighting energy efficiency upgrades. As for other hospitals in Essex, Colchester Hospital received £137,940 for solar PV as part of the announcement.

What information his Department holds on the proportion of graduates that enter graduate employment schemes within one year of completing their studies.

We do not capture data on the number of graduates entering graduate schemes or graduate-level employment. The latest published DfE data shows that the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.(opens in a new tab)

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Clean energy upgrades for hospitals and military sites, published on 5 February 2026, whether the £9 million to be delivered in partnership with Great British Energy is separate from the £74 million energy upgrades.

The £9 million is part of the £74 million of funding for clean energy upgrades announced on 5 February 2026. Solar PV and battery installations are being delivered in partnership with Great British Energy.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, whether any of the £80 million investment will be allocated to colleges and universities in Essex.

On 5 February the Ministry of Defence announced that, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy skills package, it is directly investing £80 million into the Higher Education sector to increase the capacity on key defence-related courses and invest in new facilities and cutting-edge technology to ensure we have the skilled workforce the sector requires in the future. This funding will be distributed by the Office for Students (OfS) as part of a Strategic Priorities Grant competition which all eligible Higher Education institutions in England will be able to apply for. OfS are an independent body running a fair and transparent competition. The competition opened on the 12 February with competition guidance published on their website. We welcome applications from colleges and universities across England including in Essex.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, whether HMRC has undertaken an equality impact assessment of the implementation of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on older and digitally excluded sole traders and landlords.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

What steps is he taking to help ensure JobCentre Plus provides effective support to graduates seeking graduate-level employment.

We do not capture data on the number of graduates entering graduate schemes or graduate-level employment. The latest published DfE data shows that the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.(opens in a new tab)

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, what are the key performance indicators that his Department will use to measure the success of the Defence Universities Alliance.

The Defence Universities Alliance was announced as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy in September 2025 to create a strategic network of UK universities who are publicly committed to partnering with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the defence industrial sector. It aims to advance high quality defence research, encourage more skilled graduates to consider careers within the defence sector and strengthen and promote the partnership between the MOD, academia and defence industry. We are in the process of establishing the Alliance and will work with its founding members to establish a baseline and measure its success. Further details will be announced in due course.

Pursuant to her Department’s new story entitled, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, what metrics will be used to evaluate the success of the new deepfake detection evaluation framework.

The purpose of the new evaluation framework is to enable government and law enforcement to assess the performance, robustness and operational value of deepfake detection tools. The framework evaluates detection tools against a range of technical and operational criteria, including accuracy, false‑positive and false‑negative rates, resilience to adversarial attacks, and usability within high‑volume investigative workflows. Success will be measured through the provision of clear, comparable performance metrics that support evidence‑based procurement decisions and ensure frontline users have access to the most effective technologies.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, what plans his Department has to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the funding competition to increase student places on strategically-relevant defence courses.

On 5 February the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced that, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy skills package, it is directly investing £80 million into the Higher Education sector to increase the capacity on key defence-related courses and invest in new facilities and cutting-edge technology to ensure we have the skilled workforce the sector requires in the future. This funding will be distributed by the Office for Students (OfS) as part of a Strategic Priorities Grant competition which all eligible Higher Education institutions in England will be able to apply for. We have worked with the OfS to help shape the competition criteria to ensure that institutions receiving this funding will be networked into the defence industry and wider sector and are able to support students to consider a career in the defence industry. The OfS will monitor the institutions and the specific projects that receive this funding and we are working with them to ensure that this monitoring aligns with the MOD’s strategic aims for this funding.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled, Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, how many exemption requests for those who cannot use digital tools HMRC has received to date.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled, Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, what proportion of exemption requests for those who cannot use digital tools has been rejected.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

With reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, what steps she is taking to coordinate with he international counterparts to tackle deepfake generation targeted at British citizens abroad.

There has been strong interest from international partners, many of whom participated in the recent Deepfake Detection Challenge live event. The Government will continue to work closely with these partners to share best practice, exchange technical insights and promote aligned approaches to the detection and mitigation of synthetic media threats.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to ensure that sole traders and landlords impacted by the new Making Tax Digital for Income Tax rules are aware of their obligations.

The government is undertaking a range of activities to ensure those needing to use Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from April 2026 are ready and able to do so successfully. This includes targeted media campaigns, awareness letters, developing guidance, and working with the software industry to ensure a broad range of MTD‑compatible products is available, to suit different needs and budgets. Free options will support those with the simplest affairs. MTD will help businesses and landlords keep on top of their tax affairs. It places small businesses on a more digital footing, with digital tools helping to reduce errors and making annual tax returns easier. HMRC’s latest published assessment of the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax across different taxpayer groups is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK

How many undergraduate courses eligible for student loans have median graduate earnings below the repayment threshold five years after graduation.

Under the current Plan 5 student loan system, the repayment threshold is £25,000. Nationally, graduates across all subject areas have median earnings above this, five years after graduation, with the exception of Performing Arts graduates whose median earnings are £24,500.More detail on courses at specific providers can be found in the department‘s published LEO provider level dashboard, which contains earnings outcomes at five years after graduation for each ‘provider x subject’ combination. This is available here: https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/leo-provider-dashboard/It should be noted that many of these combinations have outcomes suppressed due to low sample sizes, meaning it is not possible to produce a robust count of the total number of such courses.