Written questions by Allin-Khan.

What steps he is taking to ensure that Government procurement policies promote British (a) manufacturers and (b) suppliers.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses, ensuring they have maximum opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services. The new Procurement Act contains measures that help British businesses and manufacturers by creating a simpler and more transparent system that will deliver better value for money, giving small businesses greater access to nearly £400billion of yearly spend. Our new National Procurement Policy statement also encourages contracting authorities to consider how procurement can foster economic growth, support small businesses, strengthen UK supply chains and drive delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and missions.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the expiration of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on foster (a) carers and (b) children.

On 1 April, the department announced that the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) would continue into 2025/26, with a budget of £50 million. A further announcement about arrangements for applications will be made as soon as possible. We remain committed to supporting families, who play an essential role in providing stable and loving homes for children in need. This funding will enable eligible families to apply for support in the coming year. The ASGSF provides support for adopted children and those under special guardianship or child arrangement orders. The only group of foster carers and foster children who can access the ASGSF are those on the ‘foster to adopt’ pathway, where the plan is for the foster carer to adopt the child they are caring for if the court makes a placement order. Foster carers who obtain a special guardianship order can also ask that an application be made to the fund for a child they previously fostered.

If she will make an estimate of the amount of corporation tax lost due to tax (a) evasion and (b) avoidance during the current financial year to date.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually. The latest estimates are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). In the tax year 2022 to 2023 the tax gap for Corporation Tax gap was 13.9% of the total theoretical Corporation Tax liability, or £13.7 billion in absolute terms. The amount of the Corporation Tax gap in 2022 to 2023 due to evasion is estimated to be around £2.9 billion, and due to avoidance, around £1.0 billion.

What steps she is taking to ensure that large corporations pay the correct amount of tax.

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Large Business team manages the tax compliance of the UK’s 2,000 largest businesses through a resource intensive Customer Compliance Manager (CCM) model because their tax at stake, their size and complexity mean that this is the most cost-effective way of ensuring they pay the right amount of tax. This approach is in line with international best practice on cooperative compliance. CCMs are senior, highly trained compliance professionals, who lead teams of skilled specialists to scrutinise HMRC’s large business customers. This gives an in-depth knowledge of the business and the economic and commercial environment in which it operates, its appetite for tax planning and its internal governance, which allows HMRC to effectively identify and tackle tax compliance risk and ensure the right amount of tax is paid. The UK Tax Gap in 2022 to 2023 (Measuring Tax Gaps 2024 Edition) was £39.8bn or 4.8% of total theoretical tax liabilities. The element of the Tax Gap relating to large businesses in 2022 to 2023 was £4.3bn (or 0.5% of the UK’s total theoretical liabilities) decreasing from £7.4bn (or 1.7% of the UK’s total theoretical liabilities) in 2005 to 2006. Whilst the UK tax gap for large businesses remains low (the latest figures showing this customer segment pays over 99% of its theoretical liabilities), HMRC continues to take a risk-based approach, focusing resources to close the Tax Gap. HMRC subjects large businesses to an exceptional level of scrutiny, investigating around half of the UK’s largest businesses at any given time As of 31 March 2024, HMRC’s tax under consideration for large businesses was £44.9 billion. Tax under consideration is an estimate of the amount at stake in open enquiries, which demonstrates that HMRC is very actively challenging large businesses on tax that may be due. During 2023 to 2024, by effectively policing the tax rules as they apply to large businesses, HMRC successfully achieved compliance yield of £11.4bn

What steps his Department is taking to manage the environmental impact of installing overground pylons.

Developers of transmission projects and all nationally significant infrastructure projects in England and Wales must assess the impacts of their proposals. This includes conducting assessments of projects’ impacts on the environment through Environmental Impact Assessments. Additionally, developers engage with statutory and non-statutory stakeholders through consultations to ensure their feedback is considered and incorporated into project proposals. These assessments are considered as part of the consenting process by the Secretary of State. Scottish planning requirements are a devolved matter but also require due and proper consideration of environmental and other impacts and the opportunity for public scrutiny within the planning process.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Meta's content reporting procedures.

Under the Online Safety Act all in scope services, including Meta, will be required to have systems and processes to enable users and other affected persons to report instances of the types of content the services have responsibility for. This includes illegal content, and, where relevant, content that is harmful to children (where services are likely to be accessed by children).The Act also requires Ofcom to review the efficacy of content reporting and complaints mechanisms once the above duties have been implemented.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing statutory regulation of the veterinary profession.

Defra officials are actively engaging with key stakeholders, including representatives from the BVA (British Veterinary Association), as well as the RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons), BVNA (British Veterinary Nursing Association), and the Vet Schools Council to review opportunities for reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act (VSA). This core working group is looking at how changes to policy can support the profession, animals, and consumers in the future.

Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing (a) artists, (b) musicians and (c) other people in creative industries to opt in, rather than opt out, to their intellectual property being used for the training of artificial intelligence.

The government recognises the importance of the UKs copyright regime to the economic success of the cultural and creative industries, one of eight growth-driving sectors as identified in our Industrial Strategy. We also recognise the basic principle that rights holders should have control over and seek payment for their work, including when thinking about the role of AI. The current UK Copyright Framework enables creative right holders to prevent the use of protected works, but we are aware that this can be very difficult to implement in the context of AI, especially for individual firms and creators.Responses to our consultation on the impact of AI on the copyright regime, which was published on 17 December and closed on 25 February, will inform our approach to the design and delivery of a solution to these issues. Our aim is to clarify the copyright framework for AI – delivering certainty through a copyright regime that provides creators with real control and transparency, and helps them licence their content, while supporting AI developers' access to high-quality material.The consultation was published alongside an accompanying options assessment. The consultation sought to gather further evidence on the potential impact on the creative industries of both AI and any change to the copyright regime. We will now consider the full range of responses we have received through our consultation and if legislative changes are needed, a full economic impact assessment will be undertaken.

What steps he is taking to reduce incidents of diagnostic bias within the NHS.

The Government is committed to putting patients first. It is crucial that patients receive the right diagnostic tests, at the right time, in the right place.The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, commits to transforming and expanding diagnostic services and speeding up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the referral-to-treatment standard.We have wasted no time in getting to work cutting National Health Service waiting lists and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care. We promised change, and we’ve delivered early, with a reduction in the waitlists of 160,000 pathways and over two million extra appointments provided, which includes diagnostic tests.As part of a return to meeting performance standards, the Elective Reform Plan commits to continuing the roll out of the iRefer clinical decision support tool, which supports clinicians to facilitate appropriate diagnostic imaging referrals by using on-demand, real-time evidence-based guidance to improve health and healthcare delivery. This will support the reduction of diagnostic bias by promoting the ordering of the most clinically appropriate tests, especially for clinicians working in emergency medicine, and will reduce the number of unnecessary tests.The Elective Reform Plan also commits to continuing the support for the education and training of clinicians, to support their development in independent clinical practice.Very importantly, we know that biases in diagnostic services and other clinical services can lead to harm and worse patient outcomes. The Elective Reform Plan commits to reducing health inequalities by strengthening the accountability and oversight of providers addressing health inequalities in elective care, and by improving the reporting and monitoring of health inequalities and their impacts. This will support the NHS to better identify and address health inequalities.

What steps he is taking to improve diagnostic pathways for those suffering from persistent unexplained symptoms.

It's vital that the National Health Service is there when people need it, and that symptoms are investigated to provide a diagnosis promptly, to enable treatment.That is why we are committed to fixing the front door of the NHS and improving access to general practices (GPs). We are bringing back the family doctor, and incentivising continuity of care so that patients can see the same doctor at each appointment, which can play an important role in identifying and managing health conditions. Additionally, we have announced a proposed £889 million uplift to the GP Contract in 2025/26, the largest uplift in years, with a rising share of total NHS resources going to GPs. We are also currently consulting on key proposals to improve GP access and recruitment.Cutting waiting lists for diagnostic tests is a key priority for the Government. It is unacceptable that some patients are waiting over six weeks for a diagnostic test. Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, builds on the investments already made with an ambitious vision for the future of diagnostic testing. This will include more straight-to-test pathways, increasing and expanding community diagnostic centres, and better use of technology.

What discussions he has had with Royal Mail on recent service disruptions in the SW17 postcode.

Ofcom is the independent regulator of postal services, and the Government does not collect or hold information concerning service issues in specific areas.However, Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider. In November, I met with Royal Mail’s CEO, Emma Gilthorpe, and stressed the importance of a reliable postal service.

What steps he is taking to increase the proportion of UK medical graduates in NHS speciality training places.

Working with NHS England we continue to keep the selection process for all applicants to medical speciality training under review. We are committed to ensuring that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where the need is greatest.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of reinstating the restriction on international medical graduates in the first round of selection for NHS speciality training programmes.

Working with NHS England we continue to keep the selection process for all applicants to medical speciality training under review. We are committed to ensuring that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where the need is greatest.

What steps she is taking to reduce decision times for qualified teacher status applications.

Since 2021, the end-to-end process for becoming a teacher has been managed through the department’s digital services. This means that we have access to real-time recruitment data which allows us to identify the challenges that candidates are facing. From this data, we know that the longer it takes for an initial teacher training (ITT) provider to respond to a candidate, the more likely they are to drop-out.To alleviate this, the department has set out the need for timely responses to candidate applications in the ITT criteria and we encourage providers to respond to candidates within 30 working days. The department’s digital services have also made it quicker and easier for ITT providers to manage and process their applications.Additionally, the department has implemented changes to encourage providers to make more timely decisions. Now, if a candidate does not receive a response to their application within 30 days, they will be allowed to apply to a different ITT provider. We have also developed weekly performance reports, which allow providers to compare their recruitment performance to national averages.The department is aware that large volumes of applications can impact a provider’s ability to respond to applications quickly. That is why we implemented functionality last cycle, to prevent candidates from applying to courses that they are ineligible for.

What steps she is taking to widen access to postgraduate education.

The department will act to address the persistent gaps for different student groups and to break down the barriers to opportunity.The government introduced postgraduate loans which, alongside other sources of funding, are a contribution to the cost of postgraduate level study to stimulate take-up.Decisions on student finance have had to be taken to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and that the costs of higher education (HE) are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.The department will set out this government’s longer term plan for HE reform by summer 2025.From 1 October 2025, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is increasing the minimum stipend they pay to PhD students by 8% to £20,780. This is the largest real terms increase in the stipend for UKRI funded students since 2003.Skills England will reset the government’s approach to skills in England, making sure skills are prioritised in government decision making. Shadow Skills England is currently bringing together up-to-date analysis and engagement with key partners to identify and fill skills gaps at all levels of education, including at postgraduate level, particularly for under-represented groups, with the aim of breaking down the barriers to opportunity and driving growth.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of fracture liaison services in southwest London.

Fracture Liaison Services are commissioned by integrated care boards, which make decisions according to local need. This includes the NHS South West London Integrated Care Board.Officials continue to work closely with NHS England to explore a range of options to provide better quality and access to these important preventative services. This includes how best to support systems, who are responsible for commissioning.The Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme, which includes a dedicated Fracture Liaison Service database, is a national clinical audit of fracture prevention care, delivered by the Royal College of Physicians. This includes reporting on individual Fracture Liaison Services, and supporting local and national service improvement.

What steps his Department is taking to support people diagnosed with osteoporosis.

On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week Referral to Treatment target by the end of this Parliament. Further information on the Elective Reform Plan is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/reforming-elective-care-for-patients/ Part of the plan sets out funding to boost bone density scanning capacity, to support improvements in early diagnosis and bone health for conditions such as osteoporosis. This will provide an estimated 29,000 extra scans per year. As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.

What steps his Department is taking to (a) develop and (b) improve Fracture Liaison Services.

The Government and NHS England support the clinical case for services which help to prevent fragility fractures, and support the patients who sustain them. The Government is committed to ending the postcode lottery for access to Fracture Liaison Services.Officials continue to work closely with NHS England to explore a range of options to provide better quality and access to these important preventative services.

Whether he has made an assessment of the (a) efficacy and (b) efficiency of NHS Pathways.

The Government is taking action to improve the efficacy and efficiency of NHS Pathways across the health system.The NHS Pathways clinical content and assessment protocols are consistent with the latest advice from the respected bodies that provide evidence and guidance for medical practice. In particular, NHS Pathways is concordant with the latest guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the UK Resuscitation Council, and the UK Sepsis Trust.The NHS Pathways Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) is a triage product used to support urgent and emergency care in England, and is embedded in NHS 111 and 999 telephony service, and NHS 111 online. It is continuously reviewed to ensure it remains safe, effective, and efficient. The system is developed and maintained by a group of experienced National Health Service clinicians with an urgent and emergency care background. The safety of the clinical triage process is overseen by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the relevant royal colleges, and clinical professional groups endorse and approve the CDSS.The NHS triages patients waiting for elective care, including surgeries, through clinical prioritisation, ensuring the order in which patients are seen reflects clinical judgement on need as well as taking into account overall wait time.The Government is taking action to improve efficacy and efficiency of NHS Pathways across the health system. The recently published Elective Reform Plan commits to reforming outpatient care through clinical pathway transformation. Reform will include doing more activity in the community and increasing the opportunities for patients to be referred straight to diagnostic tests without the need to first see a consultant, reducing unnecessary follow-up appointments and freeing up clinical time for those who need it most. The Elective Reform Plan also makes changes to advice and guidance to support more patients being cared for outside of hospitals, avoiding 800,000 unnecessary referrals each year.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the regulation of private dental charges.

The National Health Service contracts independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment. Dentists must make clear which treatments can be provided on the NHS and which can only be provided on a private basis, and the costs associated for each. If a patient decides to choose alternative private options, this should be included in their treatment plan.The Department and NHS England do not control the cost of private dental or orthodontic treatment.