Written questions by Pritchard.

Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the Broadcasting Code by Ofcom on reducing the sexualisation of children through broadcast advertising.

The Advertising Standards Authority co-regulates broadcast advertising under contract with Ofcom and its sister organisation, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sets the advertising codes. The codes require that advertisements must not portray or represent anyone who is, or seems to be, under 18 in a sexual way and care must be taken when scheduling advertisements in or around children's programmes or programmes likely to be seen by significant numbers of children.The Broadcast Advertising Code has a dedicated section on protecting children, with rules designed to ensure that adverts do not contain anything that is likely to cause children physical, mental or moral harm, and the ASA administers these rules robustly. All broadcast advertising is pre-approved to ensure it is compliant with the BCAP Code before it is aired, through a system known as Clearcast. Clearcast has well established processes to ensure advertising content is thoroughly checked before it appears on television and puts restrictions in place when necessary.

If he will take steps with NHS England to review the (a) volume and (b) type of antidepressants prescribed on the NHS and their (i) side effects, (ii) long-term effectiveness and (iii) addictiveness.

The National Institute of Care and Excellence (NICE) and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are the relevant regulatory bodies in this area. While antidepressants can be helpful for some patients, NICE guidance recommends a range of non-drug options that should be considered first for people who present with less severe mental health conditions.For patients diagnosed with depression, antidepressants are an effective treatment method. NICE has produced guidelines on antidepressants, which are available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222/resources/depression-in-adults-treatment-and-management-pdf-66143832307909To ensure antidepressant drugs are made available to patients only where the benefits outweigh the potential harms, NHS England is encouraging integrated care boards to address inappropriate antidepressant prescribing and to consider commissioning services for patients wishing to reduce or stop antidepressants.MHRA is leading a project to improve the information supplied with dependency-forming medicines. The project aims to improve risk minimisation measures and better inform and educate healthcare professionals and patients about the risk of dependence, addiction, tolerance, and withdrawal related to a wide range of medicines, including antidepressants in the United Kingdom.

What estimate his Department has made of the number of jobs lost in the car manufacturing sector between July and December 2024.

The government produces estimates of the levels of employee and self-employed jobs by industry sector on a quarterly basis (Mar, Jun, September and Dec). Data on the number of jobs by industry sector in December 2024 will be published on 20th March 2025.

If he will increase the funding available to local authorities to provide living services for people with learning disabilities.

High quality, safe, and suitable homes can help people stay independent and healthy for longer and reduce the need to draw on health and social care provision.We are giving disabled people, including those with learning disabilities, more independence in their own homes through an immediate in-year uplift to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) of £86 million in 2024/25. This increase will provide approximately 7,800 additional home adaptations. This is on top of the £625 million paid to local authorities in May 2024. The Government also announced an £86 million additional investment in the DFG for the 2025/26 financial year at the Budget, bringing total funding for 2025/26 to £711 million.We also incentivise the supply of supported housing for older people and adults with a physical or learning disability, autistic people, or adults with mental ill-health.

Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with the Games Rating Authority on the classification of video games; and if she will take steps to reduce the sexualisation of children in video games.

The GRA’s decisions are made independently of the government, which is important to ensure impartiality. The GRA’s age ratings serve to protect the public and empower people to make informed gaming choices, whilst also recognising and respecting adult freedom of choice within the law. The GRA regularly conducts UK research on aspects of the international PEGI classification criteria for video games.In most cases, the GRA is able to address issues of potential harm by awarding an appropriate age rating or suggesting changes to a developer’s content to make the game acceptable. However, where this is not possible, a classification may be refused.Even if material is not in breach of a specific UK law, the GRA may also refuse to classify content,on harm grounds, when content contains:● Material that promotes criminal activity, including drugs;● Material that is illegal or has been created by the commission of a criminal offence;● Portrayals of children in a sexualised or abusive context;● Material which makes rape, or other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour, orsadistic violence look appealing.

Innovation and Technology, when he expects the report of the Independent Pornography Review to be published.

The Independent Pornography Review assesses the effectiveness of current pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement. It is an important area of interest for this government. The Review has now just concluded. The government is assessing its findings and the final report will be published in due course.

If he will have discussions with his European Union counterpart on the potential merits of establishing a six months visa waiver scheme for citizens visiting EU Member States in the Schengen area to replace the 90 day rule.

Both the UK and the EU allow for visa-free short-term travel in line with their respective arrangements for third country nationals. The UK allows EU citizens short-term visa-free travel for up to six months. Meanwhile, the Schengen Borders Code allows for certain third country nationals to travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; this is standard for third countries travelling to the EU. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.

If she will make it her policy to ensure Inheritance Tax is not charged on death in service payments paid to relatives of armed forces personnel.

Members of the armed forces deserve our gratitude for their service and a pension that ensures dignity in retirement.The Government will bring most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension into a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. Inheritance tax is already applied to death in service benefits for some pension schemes.Estates of service personnel will benefit from the normal nil-rate bands, reliefs, and exemptions available. For example, the nil-rate bands mean an estate can pass on up to £1 million with no inheritance tax liability and the general rules mean any transfers, including the payment of death benefits, to a spouse or civil partner are exempt fully from inheritance tax. There is also a full exemption from inheritance tax when a member of the armed forces dies from a wound inflicted, accident occurring, or disease contracted on active service.

If he will introduce age-related universal testing for prostate cancer.

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended in the United Kingdom, due to the inaccuracy of the current best test, the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test.A UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) review, looking at whether to offer screening for prostate cancer, is currently underway. This evidence review will cover the modelling of the clinical and cost effectiveness of several approaches to prostate cancer screening. This will include different potential ways of screening the whole population as well as targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher-than-average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.Once the modelling and evidence review are complete, it will be considered by the UK NSC. Provided that no further revisions are required, the UK NSC plans to look at the findings towards the end of 2025. Further details of the UK NSC’s evidence review process are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process

If he will meet with the US Energy Secretary to discuss (a) importing US-produced (i) Liquefied Natural Gas and (ii) oil and (b) imports from volatile regions.

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero looks forward to meeting the new US Energy Secretary to discuss our shared values and interests across a full range of energy issues.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support (a) peace and (b) stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UK is committed to supporting peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).The UK condemns M23 and Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) advances in Eastern DRC as an unacceptable breach of DRC's sovereignty and calls for the immediate withdrawal of all RDF from Congolese territory.The UK has provided £62 million in humanitarian assistance this financial year, delivering vital services such as clean water, malnutrition treatment, and support for survivors of sexual violence. We will continue to engage with regional leaders to support African-led peace efforts by urging all sides to engage in good faith in finding a political solution.The Foreign Secretary has spoken to Rwandan President Kagame, South African Foreign Minister Lamola and DRC President Tshisekedi. Lord Collins has spoken to the Rwandan, DRC and Angolan Foreign Ministers.The UK calls on all parties to immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access, and return to inclusive diplomatic talks, particularly through the Luanda process. Engagement in good faith in African-led processes will be key. There can be no military solution. We are actively considering next steps, alongside international partners, including the possibility of a review of all UK support to Rwanda.

Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the (a) Home Office and (b) Football Association on the potential merits of introducing lifetime club bans for people convicted of threats of violence against (i) referees, (ii) players and (iii) family members of referees and players.

Violence has no place in football. As private businesses, football clubs have a right to ban individual supporters from attending matches or accessing club facilities; a power rooted in their responsibility to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for all fans. These bans are a decision to be taken at club-level.Convictions may also result in football banning orders (FBOs) which are a court decision to prevent violence or disorder at, or in connection with, regulated football matches. An individual with a banning order is prevented from attending all regulated matches in the UK and can be required to surrender their passport to police before overseas matches and tournaments.FBOs can be imposed following a conviction for a football-related offence as set out in Schedule 1 of the Football Spectators Act 1989 (which includes offences involving the use or threat of violence), or on application from the police or CPS.

Media and Sport, if she will discuss with the British Board of Film Classification the classification of (a) films and (b) video games; and if she will take steps to reduce the sexualisation of children through those media.

The classification system has addressed these issues under successive governments, but decisions regarding the classification of films are made by the BBFC and the Games Rating Authority, not the BBFC, is responsible for the classification of video games. The BBFC’s decisions are made independently of the government, which is important to ensure impartiality. The BBFC’s age ratings serve to protect the public and empower people to make informed viewing choices, whilst also recognising and respecting adult freedom of choice within the law.The standards underpinning the BBFC’s ratings are set out in their published Classification Guidelines, and are based on consultations every 4-5 years with experts and thousands of members of the public.If the BBFC finds that a film raises issues or concerns that cannot be addressed through their classification system, they may require compulsory cuts or other changes as a condition of classification.

Media and Sport, if she will discuss with Ofcom potential steps to reduce the sexualisation of children in television (a) advertisements and (b) programmes.

Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code includes rules intended to protect the welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen who take part or are otherwise involved in programmes. Revisions to the Code are a matter for Ofcom as the independent regulator.The Advertising Standards Authority co-regulates broadcast advertising under contract with Ofcom and its sister organisation, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, sets the advertising codes. The codes require that advertisements must not portray or represent children in a sexual way and care must be taken when scheduling advertisements in or around children's programmes or programmes likely to be seen by significant numbers of children.

What steps his Department is taking to help support research into (a) the treatment of and (b) a cure for motor neurone disease.

The Department delivers research into motor neurone disease (MND) via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds a range of research into MND, including investing £8 million into EXPERTS-ALS, which is an early phase clinical research trial for MND, screening for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND.The NIHR is also funding the Lighthouse II phase three clinical trial, testing the drug Triumeq in patients with MND.The MND Translational Accelerator, supported by £6 million of Government funding, is connecting the UK Dementia Research Institute, the UK MND Research Institute, and the UK Dementias Platform to speed up the development of treatments for MND and frontotemporal dementia.

Communities and Local Government, if she will reinstate the Rural Services Delivery Grant in the next local government financial settlement for Shropshire.

The government is absolutely committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities. However, the Rural Services Delivery Grant did not properly account for need and a large number of predominantly rural councils receive nothing from it – that’s clearly not right and a sign we need to allocate funding more effectively.The 25-26 Settlement will deliver on our commitment by ensuring that places with a significant rural population will on average receive around a 5% increase in their Core Spending Power next year, which is a real terms increase.The government is keen to hear from councils about how best to consider the impact of rurality on the costs of service delivery, and demand, as part of our longer term consultations on local authority funding reform.

Communities and Local Government, if she will reinstate the four percent funding floor for Core Spending Power growth for Shropshire.

The current fiscal environment means the government cannot continue the poor value for money 4% Funding Guarantee. The government assesses that it does not use every pound of taxpayers' money most efficiently and that is it targeted on a transparent basis.However, we will guarantee that no local authority sees a reduction in their Core Spending Power in 2025-26, after taking into account the increase in council tax levels, by applying a funding floor.This will provide the protections required for authorities to sustain their services between years, whilst recognising that we must begin the process of redirecting as much funding as possible towards the services and places that need it most.The government is making good on the promise to reform the local government funding system, and is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27. We are inviting views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation (18 December – 12 February).

Innovation and Technology, if he will publish an annual list of (a) social media companies and (b) search services sanctioned for failing to prevent pre-teen access to pornography including details of those sanctions.

Under the Online Safety Act, publishers of pornography online and user-to-user services that allow sharing of pornographic content have a duty to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing this.The Act requires Ofcom to produce and publish a report on in-scope services’ use of age assurance solutions, within eighteen months of these duties coming into force.Ofcom has set out in its guidance on enforcement. This guidance includes the information Ofcom will generally publish when opening an investigation, including the identity of the subject and scope of the investigation.

If she will bring forward legislative proposals to make it a criminal offence to create fake online media accounts for public bodies and organisations where the communication of official and public information is necessary for civic order and resilience.

Under the Online Safety Act, all services in scope must tackle illegal content and activity which enables fraud, including activity through fake and anonymous accounts. The illegal harms duties will come into force in Spring 2025.More broadly, government departments and agencies continually seek to identify malicious websites that intend to impersonate public sector bodies and enable fraudulent activity. Those creating such websites may be liable for prosecution for fraud or computer misuse offences.Domain registrars, Internet infrastructure (IIPs) and service providers (ISPs) operate robust voluntary arrangements for filtering, blocking and takedown of malicious websites, which is supported by the operational work of our agencies and law enforcement. NCSC also works in collaboration with industry partners to present ISPs with real-time threat data that enables them to instantly block access to known fraudulent or malicious websites. This has a major impact in protecting citizens from cyber- and cyber-facilitated crimes.The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK is the safest place to live and work online. It is essential that the UK has the right legislative framework to allow us to tackle the harms posed to our citizens, businesses, and government services online.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase biosecurity against alien species located on imported (a) cut flowers and (b) ornamental plants.

The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) introduced a new risk-based approach to border controls. Goods have been categorised into the risk groups ‘High, medium and low’ and controls have been appropriately weighted against the risk. Certain EU medium-risk cut flowers have been subject to pre-notification since 1st January 2022. EU medium-risk cut flowers have required a Phytosanitary Certificate (PC) since 31 January 2024, but there are now inspections for EU medium-risk goods at the border since 30 April 2024. EU plants for planting, including those used for ornamental purposes, are already classified as high-risk goods, and subject to a pre-notification, a PC and inspections at Border Control Post or Control Points. In relation to risks from invasive non-native species (INNS) more generally, in Great Britain horizon scanning is carried out by UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology every 5 years using expert judgement to identify species likely to arrive, become established and have an impact in the near future. To reduce and prevent the introduction and establishment of INNS we have prioritised horticulture as one of the top 5 pathways of introduction. We have developed a Horticulture Pathway Action Plan (PAP), available here: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/biosecurity/pathway-action-plans/horticulture-pap-for-great-britain/ which aims to address the most likely routes by which INNS can get into the country. There are clearly continued issues with its execution in the field and the new Government will work with stakeholders and business to improve them.