Written questions by Trickett.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the war in the Middle East on projected living standards in each of the next 5 years.

The Government keeps the economic outlook, including living standards, under close review. The economic impact of the situation in the Middle East will depend on its severity, duration and the extent of disruption to energy supplies. Official forecasts, including for living standards, are published by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. Living standards are rising, with real household disposable income per capita having risen by £700 in the last 12 months compared to the final year of the last Parliament. The Government is acting to improve living standards by growing the economy, tackling inflation and supporting households, including measures at the Budget to cut energy bills, expand targeted support for lower‑income households, and freeze rail fares and NHS prescription charges.

What information his Department holds on the number of ambulance response cases in Category 3 and Category 4 incidents that involved patients waiting over 5 hours for an ambulance for each region of the UK.

NHS England publishes monthly data on ambulance response times for England as part of the Ambulance Quality Indicators publication. The publication can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/NHS England does not publish performance response time data that allows for an assessment of the number of patients who wait over five hours. It does publish the 90th centile performance, the threshold that the 10% of incidents with the highest response time are greater than.Ambulance response times for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are published by their own health services respectively and can be found online. The response time categories and thresholds differ from those used in England, and as such direct comparisons cannot be made. The separate publications for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are available, respectively, at the following three links:https://www.scottishambulance.com/our-board/board-papers/https://jcc.nhs.wales/insighthub/asi/https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/emergency-care-and-ambulance-statistics

What information his Department holds on the average ambulance waiting times for (a) Category 1, (b) Category 2, (c) Category 3 and (d) Category 4 incidents for each region of the UK.

NHS England publishes monthly data on ambulance response times for England as part of the Ambulance Quality Indicators publication. The publication can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/The following table shows latest published performance data for ambulance response times in England, broken down by ambulance category:Ambulance categoryPerformance standardLatest published performance (January 2026)C1 average7 minutes8:08C1 90th centile15 minutes14:27C2 average18 minutes35:04C2 90th centile40 minutes1:13:53C3 90th centile2 hours5:02:09C4 90th centile3 hours6:37:43 Ambulance response times for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are published by their own health services respectively and can be found online. The response time categories and thresholds differ from those used in England, and as such direct comparisons cannot be made. The separate publications for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are available, respectively, at the following three links:https://www.scottishambulance.com/our-board/board-papers/https://jcc.nhs.wales/insighthub/asi/https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/emergency-care-and-ambulance-statistics

How much money has been spent on hospitality for the UK trade envoy programme in each of the last 3 years.

DBT spend* in the last 3 years on the UK Trade Envoy programme2023/20242024/20252025/2026£228,853£59,178£203,026*Figures do not include DBT staff costs and only relate to UK Trade Envoy expenditure such as flights, hotels, visas etc.Hospitality costs for the UK Trade Envoy programme in each of the last 3 years 2023/20242024/20252025/2026£1657.55£597.22£2216.30

How much his Department spent in each of the last 3 years on the UK Trade Envoy programme.

DBT spend* in the last 3 years on the UK Trade Envoy programme2023/20242024/20252025/2026£228,853£59,178£203,026*Figures do not include DBT staff costs and only relate to UK Trade Envoy expenditure such as flights, hotels, visas etc.Hospitality costs for the UK Trade Envoy programme in each of the last 3 years 2023/20242024/20252025/2026£1657.55£597.22£2216.30

Whether he has contingency plans in the event that his Department’s contracts with Palantir are terminated.

The Ministry of Defence manages its commercial relationships in line with established government procurement and contract management frameworks, with appropriate governance, assurance and risk management arrangements in place throughout the life of a contract. I hope the hon. Gentleman will under that the Department does not comment on hypothetical scenarios relating to the termination of individual contracts.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has had discussions with the Venezuelan Government on the operation of UK oil companies in Venezuela.

The UK Government's engagement with the Venezuelan authorities is limited and is conducted in line with UK policy. Where necessary, this may include discussions to protect British commercial interests.

For what reason the contract with Palantir was awarded without competition in December 2025.

The Palantir Enterprise Agreement was a Direct Award justified under the Procurement Act 2023. The Enterprise Agreement covers existing services and where there is a robust technical justification for using Palantir products and services for Defence outcomes. The decision to proceed by way of a Direct Award under Schedule 5, Paragraph 7 reflected the need to maintain continuity of critical Defence capabilities. All procurement procedures were followed with the publication of a Transparency Notice.

What is the average time taken to complete a mandatory reconsideration for a Disability Living Allowance for Children.

The average clearance time for January 2026 was 119.6 working days for Disability Living Allowance for Children. We are committed to reducing the outstanding Mandatory Reconsiderations and also the average clearance time with the redeployment of approximately 60 FTE and continued use of overtime, aiming to restore normal service levels by Quarter 3 of 2026/27.

Whether the Palantir system for managing his Department's data could be unilaterally shut down by Palantir without the Government’s consent.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has put in place extensive data security and protection measures to ensure that UK Defence information is appropriately managed. All UK Defence Data used and developed within Palantir software remains sovereign and under the full control of the MOD. Clear contractual controls are in place to ensure this, including controls over the underlying data systems on which Palantir software operates. These contractual arrangements mean that Palantir cannot unilaterally shut down the MOD’s use of the system, or alter MOD access to its data, without the explicit consent of the MOD. Any such change would require our agreement.

Communities and Local Government, how many planning applications which re-designate green belt as grey belt land there have been since December 2024; and how many of those applications were approved for each English region.

My Department does not hold the information requested.

What steps he is taking to ensure that data analysed by Palantir is protected from access by foreign governments.

All data used and developed in Palantir's software deployed across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will remain under the ownership of the MOD.  The MOD has put in place extensive data security and protection measures to ensure UK Defence information is appropriately managed. UK Defence Data used and developed in Palantir's software remains sovereign and under the control of the MOD.  We have clear contractual controls in place to ensure this as well as control over the data system that Palantir software sits upon. Any change from this cannot be conducted without consent from the MOD. All data will remain sovereign, freely available across the MOD to be exploited wherever it is needed, including the broader supply chain, and technical ecosystem.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in the last 12 months.

There is no record of any such discussions.

Whether he has held discussions with oil companies relating to investment in Venezuela.

No.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what funding her Department has directly or indirectly provided to organisations for the purposes of advocacy in Venezuela in each year for which information is available.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 May 2025 to Question 50066. He can find details of all programmes supported in Venezuela on the GOV.UK Development Tracker (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/).

Whether there are British armed forces personnel in active service in Venezuela.

There are no British Armed Forces personnel in active service in Venezuela.

Communities and Local Government, how many applications have been made for grey belt designated land since changes to the NPPF.

My Department does not hold the information requested.

Whether he plans to reconsider the criteria for covid vaccination eligibility, in the context of levels of prevalence of new variants.

The Government’s policy on the groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).The aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to prevent serious disease, meaning hospitalisation and/or mortality, arising from COVID-19. Population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity, following recovery from infection, and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant.The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of hospitalisation and mortality in specific groups to provide the Government with advice on the autumn 2025 programme. A more targeted vaccination programme aimed at individuals with a higher risk of developing serious disease was advised for autumn 2025.On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on who should be offered vaccination in autumn 2025. On 26 June 2025, the Government decided, in line with this advice, that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in autumn 2025 to the following groups:- adults aged 75 years old and over;- residents in a care home for older adults; and- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in the ‘immunosuppression’ sections of tables three or four in the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Green Book.The UKHSA advises that currently, XFG and its sub lineages, sometimes called the ‘Stratus’ variant, are the most prevalent in England. This lineage is closely related to previous variants that circulated in the United Kingdom. At this time there is no indication that XFG causes more serious disease, or that the vaccines being used in the autumn 2025 campaign will not be effective against it. The UKHSA will continue to monitor both COVID-19 outcomes and variant prevalence as we enter the winter season.This means that while the JCVI keeps the available data under regular review, there are no plans to offer vaccination through the national programme outside these JCVI advised groups for autumn 2025. All those individuals who are eligible are encouraged to take up the offer of vaccination.

What discussions she has had with the Bank of England on the use and reliability of stablecoin in the last 12 months.

The Treasury and Bank of England are maintaining a close and ongoing dialogue on the legal and regulatory treatment of stablecoins in support of the Government's objective to make the UK a global destination for digital assets.

Whether she has had any discussions with the Bank of England on the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority proposal to reduce data reporting for banks.

The Chancellor and I meet regularly with the leadership of the Bank of England to discuss a range of topics, including its work to streamline data reporting requirements for banks and other firms regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).The government has today published an update on the Regulation Action Plan which welcomes actions the PRA has proposed or implemented to reduce some of the requirements on the firms it regulates.