Written questions by Carling.

What steps her Department is taking to examine how AI could speed up the issuance of Remedial Service Statements to people in receipt of public sector pensions affected by the McCloud judgement.

Scheme managers of the individual public service pension schemes are responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of the McCloud remedy to affected members. I have written to scheme managers to remind them of their responsibilities to implement the remedy as quickly as possible and I would expect them to work with administrators the most appropiate available tools to do this.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of amending the definition of a charitable lump sum death benefit so that people with dependents do not face barriers to donating to charity from their pension.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced that unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. Where at least 10% of a person’s net estate is left to a qualifying charity, their estate is taxed at a reduced rate of inheritance tax of 36% instead of 40%. When considering this, the pension will fall within the general component of the estate. This component includes the deceased’s free estate and from 6 April 2027 will also include any unused pension funds and death benefits (called notional pension property). Any notional pension property that is paid to a qualifying charity will count toward the charitable giving conditions for the general component Further guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax- manual/ihtm45003. Guidance will be updated before the changes are implemented in April 2027. Charity Lump Sum Death Benefits can be paid free of Income Tax. These lump sums are deliberately limited to money purchase arrangements where the deceased member had no dependants. These rules are not changing as this ensures that pension funds are used to support dependants where they exist, while allowing schemes to pay out benefits where there is no other beneficiary.

With reference to changes to the inheritance tax treatment of pension pots whether it is her policy that a) the total estate will be taken to include the unused pension pot, and b) donations to charity made from the unused pension pot will be considered as contributing to the 10% minimum.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced that unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. Where at least 10% of a person’s net estate is left to a qualifying charity, their estate is taxed at a reduced rate of inheritance tax of 36% instead of 40%. When considering this, the pension will fall within the general component of the estate. This component includes the deceased’s free estate and from 6 April 2027 will also include any unused pension funds and death benefits (called notional pension property). Any notional pension property that is paid to a qualifying charity will count toward the charitable giving conditions for the general component Further guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax- manual/ihtm45003. Guidance will be updated before the changes are implemented in April 2027. Charity Lump Sum Death Benefits can be paid free of Income Tax. These lump sums are deliberately limited to money purchase arrangements where the deceased member had no dependants. These rules are not changing as this ensures that pension funds are used to support dependants where they exist, while allowing schemes to pay out benefits where there is no other beneficiary.

Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the cases currently under consideration by the Planning Inspectorate are appeals against enforcement notices.

Using data as of 31 December 2025, which is in line with the latest published official statistics found on gov.uk here, the proportion of open cases that are enforcement notices is 27%.This is calculated as open enforcement notices divided by total open cases.

When his Department plans to respond to the Mohamed Abidisamad: Prevention of Future Deaths report.

The Coroner has granted an extension to the statutory deadline to respond to the Mohamed Abidisamad: Prevention of Future Deaths report. The Department will respond by the extended deadline.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has sought equivalent provisions in the UK-EU SPS Agreement negotiations to the animal welfare carve-out provisions contained in Article 7 of the EU-Switzerland Common Food Safety Area Protocol agreed in 2025.

As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on May 19, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area. The EU has accepted there will need to be a number of areas where the UK needs to retain our own rules. Negotiations with the EU on the SPS agreement are underway and Defra cannot provide an ongoing commentary on these discussions, but the Government is clear about the importance of being able to set high animal welfare standards.

Whether she has considered the merits of allowing police to issue Community Protection Warnings and Notices to 10-16 year-olds.

Breach of a CPN is a criminal offence. Lowering the age that someone can receive a CPN from 16 to 10 years old risks putting young people into the criminal justice system.While early and informal prevention-based approaches should generally be the first step where ASB is being perpetrated by a child, for the most serious cases of child-perpetrated anti-social behaviour, we already have powers available. The Civil Injunction is available for children from 10-18 and enables youth courts to make behavioural conditions to prevent ASB. It is for the youth court to determine if, on the balance of probabilities, the legal test is met, and it is just and convenient in the circumstances to grant a Youth Injunction.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that the inclusion of unused pension funds in estates for Inheritance Tax purposes will not increase the time taken to process legacies to charities and families.

Most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This removes distortions from changes that have been made to pensions tax policy over the last decade, which have led to pensions being openly used and marketed as a tax planning vehicle to transfer wealth, rather than as a way to fund retirement. The government has taken steps to ensure that these changes strike a fair balance between beneficiaries of a deceased person’s pension benefits and beneficiaries of their wider estate. At Budget 2025, the government announced changes to help ensure that benefits payable from the deceased’s wider estate are not delayed unnecessarily if inheritance tax is also due on pension benefits. Personal representatives will be able to fund any inheritance tax attributable to the pension by directing pension scheme administrators to withhold 50% of taxable benefits for up to 15 months from the date of death. Personal representatives can then continue to distribute assets from the wider estate as normal. To ensure that the process of calculating, reporting and paying inheritance tax does not take longer than necessary, the government will introduce regulations setting out deadlines for the parties involved to exchange information. Most UK pensions schemes are discretionary, which means that the pension scheme trustees or manager have the final say on how death benefits are paid. They must exercise this power reasonably and in accordance with the scheme’s rules. Members can complete an "expression of wish" or nomination form to indicate their preferred beneficiaries for death benefits. While trustees typically follow these wishes, they are not legally bound to do so. This flexibility allows them to consider other evidence, such as family circumstances at the time of death or wishes expressed in a will.

In relation to changes to bring pensions pots into estates for Inheritance Tax purposes, whether the letter of wishes provided by a pension beneficiary or a will are intended to take precedence in the event that they differ.

Most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This removes distortions from changes that have been made to pensions tax policy over the last decade, which have led to pensions being openly used and marketed as a tax planning vehicle to transfer wealth, rather than as a way to fund retirement. The government has taken steps to ensure that these changes strike a fair balance between beneficiaries of a deceased person’s pension benefits and beneficiaries of their wider estate. At Budget 2025, the government announced changes to help ensure that benefits payable from the deceased’s wider estate are not delayed unnecessarily if inheritance tax is also due on pension benefits. Personal representatives will be able to fund any inheritance tax attributable to the pension by directing pension scheme administrators to withhold 50% of taxable benefits for up to 15 months from the date of death. Personal representatives can then continue to distribute assets from the wider estate as normal. To ensure that the process of calculating, reporting and paying inheritance tax does not take longer than necessary, the government will introduce regulations setting out deadlines for the parties involved to exchange information. Most UK pensions schemes are discretionary, which means that the pension scheme trustees or manager have the final say on how death benefits are paid. They must exercise this power reasonably and in accordance with the scheme’s rules. Members can complete an "expression of wish" or nomination form to indicate their preferred beneficiaries for death benefits. While trustees typically follow these wishes, they are not legally bound to do so. This flexibility allows them to consider other evidence, such as family circumstances at the time of death or wishes expressed in a will.

What assessment her department has made of the potential benefits of allowing direct gifting of pensions funds to charity during a pension holder’s lifetime, in the content of the recommendations in the Final report of the Social Impact Investment Advisory Group.

This is a complex area of pensions tax policy, and any reform would require detailed assessment of its implications for the pension tax system, its administration, consumer protection, and long-term retirement outcomes. The Treasury regularly engages with departments, including HMRC, to ensure complete assessments are made. While no decisions have been taken at this stage, we will continue to keep these recommendations under review. At present however, members can complete an "expression of wish" or nomination form to indicate their preferred beneficiaries for death benefits. While trustees typically follow these wishes, they are not legally bound to do so. This flexibility allows them to consider other evidence, such as family circumstances at the time of death or wishes expressed in a will.

What steps she is taking to reduce the level of exposure to children of diesel emissions from buses operating near schools.

The Government shares the concern about the impact diesel bus emissions have on air quality, and ultimately to children's health. The NO2 programme has provided £576m to support local authorities (LAs) to improve air quality in areas of nitrogen oxide exceedances. This funding is for LAs to scope and develop measures; implement, monitor and evaluate their measures; and provide mitigation funding for local people and businesses affected by their measures. Clean Air Zones have also been implemented in places where the local evidence shows they are the quickest route to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution. The most effective way to reduce bus emissions and improve air quality is to achieve an all zero emission bus (ZEB) fleet. As of March 2025, 12.4% of the bus fleet across England was zero emission, however we need to make further progress in accelerating bus decarbonisation. We legislated in the Bus Services Act 2025 to ultimately prevent bus operators from using new non-ZEBs on local bus routes in England. This measure will provide confidence to the sector and stimulate the investment needed to deliver a fully zero emission fleet alongside the improved air quality benefits. Separately, in April we announced £38m to deliver an additional 319 ZEBs through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas programme. Furthermore, the recent announcement of £15.6 billion over five years, to improve local transport in some of our largest city regions, allows local leaders to play a more active role in the delivery of local bus services and allocate some funding toward decarbonising their local fleets. Our smaller cities, towns and rural areas will also receive £2.3 billion from the Local Transport Grant.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle repeated retrospective planning applications designed to delay enforcement action on projects which have already had permission rejected.

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local planning authorities have various powers to decline to determine planning applications. These include the power to decline to determine a retrospective planning application where an enforcement notice has already been issued (section 70C) and the power to decline to determine repeat planning applications (section 70A).It is for local planning authorities to decide when and how they use these powers.

Whether his Department has considered the potential merits of reviewing the current approach to mental capacity assessments, particularly in relation to addiction and conditions which may involve fluctuating capacity, such as short-term dementia.

On 18 October 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced the intention to launch a public consultation on the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) in 2026. The consultation will cover a revised Code of Practice and will incorporate changes in case law, legislation, and good practice in the application of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).The LPS as introduced by the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 aims to deliver streamlined processes and assessments for authorising deprivations of liberty, including for individuals with fluctuating capacity. This consultation will seek the views of those affected, and people involved in their care and welfare. The responses from this consultation will be used to inform a final MCA Code of Practice which will be laid in Parliament.

Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) the blackout challenge and (b) other physically harmful trends on social media.

Under the Online Safety Act, services need to put in place protections for all users from content which is illegal. There are additional protections for children from harmful content, including content that encourages or promotes dangerous stunts or challenges, serious violence or injury, and content encouraging ingestion, inhalation or exposure to harmful substances.Ofcom’s guidance states that asphyxiation challenges like the ''blackout challenge’’ are examples of dangerous stunt and challenge content. Therefore, services likely to be accessed by children are required to protect children from this content by taking measures such as filtering out harmful content from children's algorithmic feeds.

How many homes his Department manages; and how many such homes are (a) single units, (b) family units and (c) HMOs.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) currently manages some 133,000 permanent and temporary Single living Accommodation bedspaces and 47,059 Service Family Accommodation properties across the UK. The Department does not manage any Houses of multiple occupation (HMO).

What discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on the potential trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the potential merits of requiring imported chicken meat to meet the United Kingdom's animal welfare standards.

The UK has been in negotiations for a modern and ambitious free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council since June 2022. Throughout these negotiations, we have proactively engaged with a diverse range of stakeholders across sectors and regions, to inform negotiation decisions.The Government has made a clear manifesto commitment to promote the highest standards when it comes to food production.GCC states are not significant exporters of poultry. Currently the GCC is unable to export poultry to the UK due to sanitary and phytosanitary requirements. These requirements will not change as part of a free trade agreement.

Representing the Church Commissioners, how many rites of deliverances have been carried under Church of England deliverance ministry guidance in each of the last 10 years; and how many of these were children.

This is not a matter for the National Church Institutions and no data or records on numbers or type of deliverance ministry cases are held centrally. The House of Bishops determines Guidelines for Deliverance Ministry and oversees resources and training for this ministry, but how deliverance ministry teams operate within dioceses is the responsibility of each individual diocesan bishop. The Church of England has published the following information on its website about best practice in this area, regarding safeguarding, which includes children, vulnerable adults or where an individual is thought to be suffering from a mental disorder. https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-e-manual/safeguarding-children-young-people-and-vulnerable-adults/section-41-deliverance-ministry

What steps she is taking to ensure the provision of full (a) training and (b) guidance on (i) arthritis and (ii) other long-term fluctuating health conditions for PIP assessors.

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment evaluates how an individual’s condition affects their ability to live independently, rather than focusing solely on the nature or severity of their condition. The assessment considers whether a person can carry out specific activities safely, reliably, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time frame. The process does not assess individuals based on their ‘best days’; instead, it takes into account the overall impact of a condition over time, specifically considering functional limitations that occur on more than 50% of days within a given period. All health professionals (HPs) are fully qualified in their health discipline and have passed strict recruitment and experience criteria. They are also required to be registered with the appropriate regulatory body. The department authorises HPs to conduct assessments only after suppliers demonstrate that the HP has successfully completed a department approved training and appraisal programme. This process confirms that HPs possess a sound understanding of the clinical aspects and likely functional effects of a broad range of health conditions. As of September 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) took over responsibility for the Core Training and Guidance Material (CTGM) used within the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS). This material is provided by DWP to HAAS assessment suppliers, who are required to incorporate all relevant CTGM content related to specific conditions and assessment policies into their final training products. DWP has provided suppliers with specific CTGM on rheumatoid arthritis, alongside a broader suite of training materials covering a range of long-term, fluctuating health conditions. These contain clinical and functional information relevant to the condition and is quality assured to ensure its accuracy from both a clinical and policy perspective.

What steps her Department is taking to support disabled people who will never be able to work in North West Cambridgeshire constituency.

The social security system will always be there for those who can’t work.As part of the recent announcements, we are making changes to the rates in Universal Credit, we will ensure that the incomes of those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work have their incomes protected.We will also guarantee that for both new and existing claims, those in this group will not need to be reassessed in future.

What assessment his Department has made of the ability of the ophthalmology sector to deliver timely care in (a) Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB and (b) in England in the context of the proposed changes to the 2025/26 NHS Standard Contract and Payment Scheme.

Whilst no specific assessment has been made of the proposed 2025/26 NHS Standard Contract and Payment Scheme for ophthalmology services in England, or specifically for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board, we are committed to ensuring that timely treatment is available across all specialties and all areas. As set out in the Plan for Change, we will ensure a return to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment, by March 2029. We have already made progress, delivering on our commitment to provide two million extra appointments as a first step to achieving this.We have also published our Elective Reform Plan, which sets out an expectation that performance against the 18 week standard will increase from 58% in December 2024 to 65% by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement by March 2026.Planning guidance for 2025/26 also sets clear targets, including reducing the elective waiting list, but gives local systems greater control and flexibility over how local funding is deployed to best meet the needs of the people they serve.