Written questions by Cooper.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access of defence SMEs to basic banking services.

Awaiting answer.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that compliance requirements relating to sanctions, export controls and anti-money-laundering rules do not have a disproportionate effect on defence SMEs.

Awaiting answer.

What steps his Department is taking to help prevent misconceptions about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainable finance rules from affecting access to finance for companies involved in lawful defence production.

Awaiting answer.

What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on reducing complexity in export-control processes for defence SMEs.

Awaiting answer.

Whether his Department has assessed the potential impact of a lack of long-term demand certainty on the ability of defence companies to raise external finance.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to secure assurances from the European Union on a permanent carve-out for products authorised under the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 in any new Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.

The Government remains committed to implementing the Precision Breeding Act and enabling the safe development of innovative genetic technologies. Under the UK‑EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The detail of those is subject to ongoing negotiations, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that the UK's approach to crop protection authorisation is safeguarded under the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.

The UK-EU SPS agreement is under negotiation and pesticides regulations are in scope. The Common Understanding sets out that the United Kingdom, acting in respect of Great Britain, will dynamically align with all the relevant European Union rules. The Common Understanding further sets out that the UK will be involved at an early stage to contribute to the decision-shaping process on areas within scope of the Agreement.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether a carve-out for precision bred organisms from dynamic alignment under the proposed UK-EU SPS agreement has been agreed with the EU.

The Government remains committed to implementing the Precision Breeding Act and enabling the safe development of innovative genetic technologies. Under the UK‑EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The detail of those is subject to ongoing negotiations, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Innovation and Technology, what consideration he has given to the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact on the importance of international collaboration in university research; and what steps his Department is taking to support such collaboration.

The Department acknowledges the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, which presents the globally competitive strength of Scotland’s higher education system and its importance in tackling shared global challenges. The Department supports international research collaboration through UK wide activity, including the promotion of universities and the wider research and innovation sector through the UK’s Science & Technology Network, through access to funding support such as Horizon Europe, the International Science Partnerships Fund and our core support to UK research institutions, and through bilateral and multilateral science and technology cooperation. These measures support research excellence and knowledge exchange across the UK, including in Scotland.

Whether the priorities set out in the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact have informed the Government’s approach to the International Education Strategy; and what steps she is taking to strengthen international partnerships with UK universities.

The UK Government recognises the important contribution that universities across the UK make to our economic growth, innovation and international standing. Our recently published International Education Strategy supports strong and sustainable long-term international partnerships for UK universities by promoting the whole of the UK’s education offer overseas, including research collaboration and driving growth through high quality UK transitional education.The department will continue to work with the UK’s education sector, devolved governments and key partners such as the British Council to support the contribution of British universities, including in Scotland, to growth, innovation and international partnerships. Steps to strengthen this collaboration include the ministerially-chaired Education Sector Action Group, which brings together stakeholders to identify opportunities and remove barriers to growth, and the recent publication of the sector-led brochure ‘Advancing Talent with UK Education – Building Global Partnerships’.

If she will make an assessment of the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact, on the contribution of universities to economic growth and innovation; and what steps her Department is taking to support that contribution across the UK.

The UK Government recognises the important contribution that universities across the UK make to our economic growth, innovation and international standing. Our recently published International Education Strategy supports strong and sustainable long-term international partnerships for UK universities by promoting the whole of the UK’s education offer overseas, including research collaboration and driving growth through high quality UK transitional education.The department will continue to work with the UK’s education sector, devolved governments and key partners such as the British Council to support the contribution of British universities, including in Scotland, to growth, innovation and international partnerships. Steps to strengthen this collaboration include the ministerially-chaired Education Sector Action Group, which brings together stakeholders to identify opportunities and remove barriers to growth, and the recent publication of the sector-led brochure ‘Advancing Talent with UK Education – Building Global Partnerships’.

Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential impact of upcoming changes to the subscription contracts regime on local and regional news publishers and their ability to adopt digital first and sustainable business models, as referenced in the recent Local Media Strategy.

The Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK. We have launched a Local Media Action Plan to help local newsrooms across the country innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news.Local media already has a strong propensity to innovate and many local publishers are shifting towards digital subscription models in an effort to secure their financial sustainability. This is an understandable response to the financial pressures faced by the industry and a reflection of the significant costs involved in provision of high quality journalism.The purpose of the subscriptions regime set out in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act is to protect consumers from being trapped in unwanted subscriptions. Government has consulted on how the regime will be implemented, and I have engaged alongside the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection with representatives from the news media sector and other DCMS stakeholders on this consultation. More broadly, DCMS continues to work closely with the Department for Business and Trade to reflect on the issues raised during the consultation and a Government Response will be published in due course.

With reference to the Policy paper entitled Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan of 17 March 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a 14-day cooling-off period on the effectiveness of local and regional news publishers in adopting a digital-first and sustainable future.

The government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK. We have launched a Local Media Action Plan to help local newsrooms across the country innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news.We have consulted on how the subscriptions regime will be implemented and Ministers and officials have engaged with representatives from the news media sector. We are working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to reflect on the issues raised and a Government Response will be published in due course.The impact assessment for the subscriptions chapter in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act can be found here: Subscription traps: annex 2 impact assessment. Together, the subscription measures are anticipated to provide £400m of consumer benefits per year and the estimated net direct cost to businesses is £171m per year.Sector-specific analysis has not been conducted.

When his Department plans to engage with stakeholders on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime.

This government is committed to protecting consumers who enter subscription contracts. We have consulted on the implementation of the new subscriptions regime (Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime - GOV.UK) which included meeting with interested stakeholders. After carefully analysing responses a full Government Response is to be published in due course.We have engaged with consumer advocacy groups, enforcers and business representatives from across the economy and will continue to do so in advance of the regime’s commencement.

How many apprentices her Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024.

The Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO) is part of the Cabinet Office. No external apprentices were recruited specifically into OEO in either 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025.Although we did not recruit any apprentices, OEO remains committed to professional development; during this period, existing staff members have undertaken apprenticeships alongside their roles to support their career progression and technical expertise.

How many apprentices his Department recruited in each year since 2022.

The Ministry of Justice recruited the following number of new entrants directly into apprenticeship programmes in each year since 2022.Time period Number of new joiners through apprenticeship recruitment January 2022 – December 20222January 2023 – December 202312January 2024 – December 202415January 2025 – December 202535These figures relate to new joiners recruited via apprenticeship pathways and do not include existing employees who have undertaken apprenticeships as part of their development.

How many apprentices his Department recruited in each year since 2022.

The table below includes both existing Ministry of Defence (MOD) Civil Servants who commenced an apprenticeship, and those Civil Servants recruited to the MOD as apprentices. It does not include Armed Forces apprenticeships. YearApprentices2022700202380220241,04220251,0632026 (to date)154

How many apprentices his Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024.

The Scotland Office has not recruited any apprentices in the requested timeframe.We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across the civil service to break down barriers to opportunity. The Scotland Office considers the use of apprenticeships for all relevant recruitment campaigns.

How many apprentices her Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024.

The Department for Transport (central), excluding its executive agencies, recruited the following number of external apprentices:2025: 32024: 82023: Data cannot be provided. Our recruitment system (Oleeo VX) retains only two years of data in line with our recruitment retention policy; therefore, we cannot supply accurate figures for 2023.2022: Data cannot be provided for the same reason. The figures reflect candidates at the ‘ready to hire’ stage, having completed pre‑employment checks and accepted formal offers via the Civil Service recruitment portal. Source of data: These figures are sourced directly from the Department for Transport’s recruitment platform, Oleeo VX, which feeds applicant information into the Civil Service Jobs system.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on levels of illegal immigration.

We are committed to the ECHR. But it must evolve to reflect modern challenges like mass migration and ability to protect the public. That is why we are working with international partners to modernise its application.We will also tighten how Article 8 is applied at domestic level to prevent gaming of the system and ensure the public interest is given proper weight in immigration decisions.