Written questions by Holden.

Whether her Department has assessed the potential impact of the Wheels to Work scheme on youth unemployment; and what steps she is taking to support that scheme.

I refer the Rt Honourable Gentleman to the answer given on 3 February 2026 to question number 108310.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2026 to Question 107165, in which month the final text of the National Policy Statement for Ports is expected to be published.

I expect the final text to be laid in March 2026.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2026 to Question 110889, when the shore power trial at Portsmouth International Port began; what the outcomes have been; and whether any evaluation has been produced.

The shore power demonstrator trial at Portsmouth International Port was publicly awarded nearly £20m of R&D funding in September 2023. Portsmouth International Port began delivery of the project shortly afterwards as part of the UK SHORE Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition.Most civil and electrical infrastructure works within the port side boundaries of Portsmouth International Port are now complete and the multi-berth shore power units are now on the berths. In November 2025, a successful dry connection test (without the provision of electricity) was completed, where one of the shore power units was plugged into Britanny Ferries’ Guillaume de Normandie vessel.Separate to the UK SHORE funded project, Portsmouth International Port accepted a connection offer from Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE). This connection offer was for a 15 Megawatt grid upgrade to secure the grid capacity for the shore power units. The Port is awaiting final details from SSE on energisation of the grid upgrade.No specific evaluation for this project has yet been completed as the demonstration phase isn’t complete. A technical study is underway for all ZEVI projects, including Portsmouth, that will analyse the data generated throughout the multi-year demonstration period.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108309, in which month the upcoming national strategy for integrated transport is expected to be published.

The Department is committed to publishing the integrated national transport strategy shortly, which will set the long‑term vision for domestic transport across England.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108800, what projects undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority in 2024–25 related to net zero, sustainability and climate policy.

The following projects undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) in 2024 to 2025 related to net zero, sustainability and climate policy, carried out consistently with its statutory duty and functions: Sustainability Taskforce – supporting businesses to comply with competition law when engaging in collaboration to achieve outcomes related to sustainability. An investigation into anti-competitive conduct in the advertising of recycling-related features of new cars, and in the recycling of old or written-off (or ‘end-of-life’) cars and vans. Guidance to help fashion businesses comply with consumer protection law when making environmental claims. An investigation into environmental claims made about products in the consumer goods sector. An investigation into Worcester Bosch over concerns it may have been misleading consumers in its marketing of boilers as ‘hydrogen-blend ready’. Other work has included a review and report on the impact of restrictions on the sale of single use plastics on the UK Internal Market, and 13 reports on referrals of subsidies under the UK Subsidy Control Regime.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2026 to Question 107163, what information her Department holds on airport kerbside drop-off charges.

There is no requirement for airports or airport car park providers to provide details of drop-off charges to the Department. We regularly engage with airports on surface access strategies and drop-off charges form part of these wider discussions. Information about individual airports' car parking and drop-off charges is available on their respective public websites.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 107160, which countries are defined by the Nursing and Midwifery Council as majority English-speaking for the purposes of meeting English language proficiency requirements.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has published an accepted list of countries where English is a majority spoken language on its website. This is available at the following link:https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/recent-practice-in-english/This list is primarily based on the UK Visas and Immigration skilled worker visa list, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-englishAny variation from this list is based on independent evidence as to whether a country is majority English-speaking.No assessment has been made by the Department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings.As the independent regulator of registered nurses, the NMC is responsible for establishing the requirements that applicants must meet to demonstrate English language proficiency for registration.It is the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely.

How much his Department has spent in each of the last 3 years on (a) maternity services and (b) compensation for errors in maternity services.

The following table shows the annual spend for providing maternity care for each of the last three years:YearAnnual spend2022/23£4,722,376,5942023/24£5,174,161,6372024/25£5,790,365,917Source Patient-Level Costing dataset, NHS National Cost Collection, NHS EnglandNote: data is not yet available for the financial year 2025/26.NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. The following table shows the total payments for maternity, including obstetrics and neonatology, clinical negligence claims across all clinical schemes between 2022/23 and 2024/25, broken down by primary specialty and payment year:Payment YearObstetrics (£)Neonatology (£)Total Maternity (£)2022/231,086,187,27620,097,4301,106,284,7062023/241,145,173,13430,185,7391,175,358,8732024/251,287,368,29147,037,7981,334,406,089Source: NHSR.Notes:the data includes the damages and NHS legal costs and claimant legal costs paid in each relevant financial year;payments include those raised against both claims that were closed or open at the end of each financial year; anddata on “notified claims value” only includes an early estimate of eventual settlement value if all the claims were to settle with damages.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2026 to Question 107166, what information her Department holds on level crossing performance, safety incidents and disruption.

Safety at level crossings on the mainline railway is the statutory responsibility of Network Rail, which monitors and records performance, safety incidents and disruption to help inform mitigation measures. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), as the independent safety regulator, also collects, scrutinises and publishes data on level crossing incidents and enforcement activity.My Department does not hold a separate dataset on level crossing performance. We rely on Network Rail’s operational data and the ORR’s published statistics, which together provide a comprehensive picture of safety and disruption at level crossings.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 108297, whether his Department holds any evidence on rates of neonatal and post-neonatal death, including accidental suffocation and overlaying, associated with parental cannabis use during pregnancy and the postnatal period.

The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) programme is responsible for reviewing stillbirths and neonatal deaths across the United Kingdom to identify causes, improve clinical care, and reduce future preventable deaths. Analysis of MBRRACE-UK data found that between 2014 and 2024, there were 17 neonatal deaths attributed to accidental suffocation, with only one case explicitly linked to cannabis use. There was also one neonatal sudden infant death syndrome case involving maternal cannabis and alcohol history, and one neonatal death where maternal cannabis use was a secondary contributor. There were thus a total of three neonatal deaths linked to cannabis use between 2014 and 2024.The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) collects and analyses data on the deaths of all children under 18 years of age. The latest data published by the NCMD highlighted that of the deaths reviewed by Child Death Overview Panels between April 2024 and March 2025, substance misuse during pregnancy was identified as a contributing factor in 62 out of 4,035 infant deaths where data was available. The NCMD thematic report on Deaths of children and young people due to traumatic incidents also highlighted that between 1 April 2019 and March 2022, there were 42 deaths as a result of accidental strangulation or suffocation. 13, or 31%, children were aged under one years old, 17, or 40%, were aged one to four years old, and 12, or 29%, were aged five to 17 years old. In total, 18 children died where entrapment or overlay was found to be a significant contributing factor, but the analysis did not look at whether or not there was substance misuse by the parents.

When she plans to introduce a statutory definition of honour-based abuse; what progress she has made on introducing such a definition; and if she will publish a timetable for bringing forward necessary legislation and statutory guidance.

The VAWG Strategy, published on 18 December, set out clear action to tackle ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) including legislating to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance and an accompanying statutory definition of HBA. The Government will introduce this statutory definition as an amendment in the Crime and Policing Bill at Report Stage in the House of Lords.The Government has engaged extensively with specialist sector charities, statutory safeguarding professionals, and other government departments in the development of this definition and will do the same as we develop the statutory guidance which we will publish as soon as possible.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 105279, whether the Office for Students has had discussions with commercial pilot training providers on registration with that office.

Registration with the Office for Students (OfS) is voluntary and open to providers that meet the statutory definition of an English higher education provider. This includes those delivering higher‑level courses within the scope of the OfS regulatory framework.Operational decisions concerning engagement with potential applicants regarding registration, including discussions with commercial pilot training providers, are matters for the OfS as an independent regulator.

With reference to her oral contribution of 9 December 2025 in the debate on the Railways Bill, Official Report, column 207, how the £150 million figure relates to the £663 million per year efficiency saving projected for 2028–29 in the Departmental Efficiency Plan.

The oral contribution on 9 December 2025 in the debate on the Railways Bill referred to savings from management and performance fees payable to private sector operators. These savings are factored into the Department's Spending Review settlement but are not included in the published Departmental Efficiency Plan.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 107160, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in NHS settings.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has published an accepted list of countries where English is a majority spoken language on its website. This is available at the following link:https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/recent-practice-in-english/This list is primarily based on the UK Visas and Immigration skilled worker visa list, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-englishAny variation from this list is based on independent evidence as to whether a country is majority English-speaking.No assessment has been made by the Department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings.As the independent regulator of registered nurses, the NMC is responsible for establishing the requirements that applicants must meet to demonstrate English language proficiency for registration.It is the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 110095, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the absence of route-level ferry fare modelling risks on consumer price impacts for ferry-dependent communities.

The Government has not undertaken route level ferry fare modelling for the UK ETS domestic maritime expansion. This is because, as we set out in the Impact Assessment, operators’ commercial decisions, vessel utilisation and fare structures vary widely. The qualitative assessment indicates that any passthrough to consumers is likely to be modest. The Government will review the maritime element of the UK ETS in 2028 with further consideration of regional or distributional impacts.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 105896, whether equivalent gross efficiency and implementation cost breakdowns have been produced for other components of the Departmental Efficiency Plan, including regulated settlements and corporate initiatives.

As set out in the Departmental Efficiency Plan, the department plans to deliver efficiencies of £663m in 28/29. We do not currently hold a breakdown on how these efficiencies breakdown by gross efficiencies and implementation costs in regulated settlements and corporate initiatives.

What correspondence 10 Downing Street has received from Global Counsel since 4 July 2024.

It is not routine to publish correspondence between the Prime Minister and any individual or organisation. This does not mean correspondence has or has not been received.

With reference to Cabinet Office: Government Procurement Card spend over £500 - March 2025, published 24 April 2025, for what reason the £811 payment to Women in Product UK was not listed in the Cabinet Office’s list of exempted Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

The Cabinet Office published all the external expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion provided by departments under the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance on 30 May 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2026 to Question 107769, what estimate he has made to the Insolvency Service of compliance with Net Zero, sustainability and climate-related disclosure requirements.

I have made no such assessment, however the Insolvency Service’s total emissions have been reported in the Agency’s Annual Report and Accounts since 2012/13. Progress on wider sustainability requirements is reported quarterly to the Department for Business and Trade through the Agency’s Greening Government Commitment (GGC) returns. The Agency adheres to the Greening Government Commitments and the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guidance.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2025 to Question 48266 on Equality, whether the proposed socio-economic duty will apply to the Law Officers.

The public sector duty regarding socio-economic inequalities will apply to the public authorities listed in section 1(3) of the Equality Act 2010. That list includes a Minister of the Crown. The duty will therefore apply to the Law Officers as Ministers of the Crown.The duty is not yet in force in England. Once in force, the duty will require public authorities, when making decisions of a strategic nature about how to exercise their functions, to have due regard to the desirability of exercising them in a way that is designed to reduce the inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic disadvantage.