Written questions by Rushworth.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether everyone with a legacy Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement that expired on 30 December 2025 secured a new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements have been accepted since September 2025; and how many farmers have been invited to apply for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier since September 2025.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what the average waiting time is for applicants between between being invited to apply online by the Rural Payments Agency to secure a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement and securing a signed agreement.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 on Northern Ireland.

This month has shown just how volatile the world is and the importance of the investment this Government is making in our defences.My assessment is that the Defence Growth Deal’s potential is transformative for businesses small and large across Northern Ireland.

How many and what proportion of payments were made through the Child Maintenance Service collect and pay system in each of the last three years.

The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025, and detailed quarterly statistics on the number of CMS Arrangements available on Stat-Xplore.The table CMS Arrangement 1: Service Type and Paying Status by Quarter shows the number of CMS arrangements by service type for each quarter from March 2016 to September 2025. The table provides figures for the number of Collect & Pay arrangements for which the Paying Parent paid some child maintenance during the quarter, and those where no payment was made.Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

How many paying parents were newly recorded as being in arrears by the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last 24 months.

The information requested is not readily available and providing it would incur disproportionate cost. The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to take responsibility for paying for their children, the Service will not hesitate to use the range of enforcement powers available to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. CMS has a wide range of strong enforcement powers including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The CMS also introduced powers to enable the deduction of child maintenance directly from a wider range of accounts, including certain joint and business accounts, and target complex earners via a calculation of notional income based on assets. The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Unitaid; and what steps she is taking to fulfil funding commitments to Unitaid.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer of 20 October 2025 given to question 80764.

Whether the interest accruing on the frozen £2.5 billion proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club is subject to UK taxation.

HM Treasury and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are unable to comment on the tax affairs of specific taxpayers. UK source interest is chargeable to UK tax. The quantum and timing of that charge are dependent on the status of the recipient and the precise nature of the arrangements that lead to that interest.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the interest accrued on the frozen £2.5 billion proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club is intended to benefit the proposed foundation to support victims of the war in Ukraine; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that no part of these funds benefits sanctioned individuals.

The Government is determined to see that the frozen proceeds, including the accrued interest, from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine. Restrictions imposed through UK sanctions laws will ensure that the proceeds do not benefit sanctioned individuals.

With reference to page 6 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, when he plans to announce the locations of the six new always-on munitions factories; and if he will publish the details of the site-selection criteria allowed by national security.

We are committed to ensuring the Defence industry is a powerhouse for economic growth through strengthened industrial relationships and domestic investment. As published in the UK Defence Footprint the North East region has seen £178 million of Defence spending in 2024-25. We have committed £6 billion this Parliament towards munitions, as outlined in the Strategic Defence Review 2025, which supports defence capacity whilst generating local jobs and economic prosperity. This investment includes £1.5 billion for building six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK to deliver an 'always on' pipeline, locations and arrangements of which are being assessed through ongoing work. We plan for construction of the first six new munitions factories to begin in 2026.

With reference to page 6 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what discussions his Department has had with (a) Durham County Council, (b) the North East Mayor and (c) industry representatives on the potential location of an always-on munitions factory in the North East.

We are committed to ensuring the Defence industry is an engine for growth through strengthened industrial relationships and domestic investment. As published in the UK Defence Footprint the North East region has seen £178 million of Defence spending in 2024-25. We have committed £6 billion this Parliament towards munitions, as outlined in the Strategic Defence Review 2025, which supports defence capacity whilst generating local jobs and economic prosperity. This investment includes £1.5 billion for building six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK to deliver an 'always on' pipeline, locations and arrangements of which are being assessed through ongoing work. Whilst it is currently premature to comment on specific site proposals and their assessment, more detail will be available once the necessary preparatory work has been completed.

With reference to page 6 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of locating at least one of the proposed always-on munitions factories in County Durham.

We are committed to ensuring the Defence industry is an engine for growth through strengthened industrial relationships and domestic investment. As published in the UK Defence Footprint the North East region has seen £178 million of Defence spending in 2024-25. We have committed £6 billion this Parliament towards munitions, as outlined in the Strategic Defence Review 2025, which supports defence capacity whilst generating local jobs and economic prosperity. This investment includes £1.5 billion for building six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK to deliver an 'always on' pipeline, locations and arrangements of which are being assessed through ongoing work. Whilst it is currently premature to comment on specific site proposals and their assessment, more detail will be available once the necessary preparatory work has been completed.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure schools provide mandatory (a) CPR training and (b) defibrillator use; and what systems are in place to monitor implementation across schools.

All state funded schools are required to teach first aid as part of the statutory health education set out in the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance. Independent schools are required to cover health education as part of their responsibility to provide personal, social, health and economic education.The statutory RSHE guidance includes basic first aid for primary school children, for example dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries, and pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, for example specifically how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators and how to use them.Schools also have the autonomy to decide how they teach first aid, including teaching additional topical content and which resources to use. Many schools incorporate additional content, which can include how pupils should deal with a first response emergency situation, including how to respond to knife wounds, drug misuse and road traffic injury.The department’s defibrillator programme completed in 2023 and was the largest rollout of defibrillators across England to date and provided over 20,000 defibrillators to almost 18,000 schools, ensuring that all state-funded schools in England have access to a device.Defibrillators are designed so they can be used by anyone with no prior training. As part of the department’s roll out, we provided awareness videos to schools showing how simple defibrillators can be to use, and asked schools to share these videos in staff meetings and assemblies.

What progress she has made with Cabinet colleagues on implementing the Pride in Place programme.

For too long, people have watched their towns and neighbourhoods’ decline. Through the Pride in Place programme, we’re cutting through bureaucracy to put money directly in the hands of local people. As it stands, almost 250 places will receive a share of £5bn from Spring next year to help them reclaim beloved local assets and drive renewal, street by street.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Norway’s decision to purchase Type 26 frigates from BAE Systems on levels of supply chain opportunities for businesses in the North East.

I refer the hon. Members to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence (Lord Coaker), on 16 September 2025 to Question number HL10176 in the House of Lords. The Norwegian Government’s announcement on 31 August 2025, that it had selected the UK as a strategic partner for their acquisition of Type 26 warships, will sustain around 4,000 jobs across the UK’s supply chain until well into the 2030s. This is the largest ever UK warship export deal by value and it is expected to provide a £10 billion boost to the UK economy and support more than 400 British companies across all regions, including the north east of England. It is a huge vote of confidence in the UK’s defence industry and supply chains, which are supported by small and medium enterprises.

What steps UK Research and Innovation is taking to help increase technological capabilities in battery cell production.

The Faraday Battery Challenge funds battery related research, development of battery materials and technologies, and encourages investment into the UK’s world-class battery facilities. An example of investment into UK facilities is the Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre (AMBIC), due to open in Q2 2025. AMBIC will provide innovation capability for the synthesis and processing of battery materials right through to the prototyping of commercially attractive batteries. The £12 million facility will bring together scalable and commercially relevant equipment into one entity to fast-track battery materials development.