Written questions by Witherden.

What progress has been made on providing step-free access at Ruabon station.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to accept the recommendation of the Animal Welfare Committee's report entitled The welfare impacts on pigs of high concentration CO2 gas stunning and of potential alternative stunning methods, published on 16 October 2025, to prohibit the use of high concentration CO2 as a method of stunning for pigs.

Awaiting answer.

Whether his Department has made contingency arrangements in the event of Royal Mail becoming insolvent.

The Department develops and maintains contingency plans for a range of scenarios as part of its regular resilience planning. This regular planning includes contingency plans for the insolvency of Royal Mail as the universal service provider.

How many people are (a) receiving Employment Support Allowance in March 2026 and (b) have experienced ‘failed transitions’ from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit; and what steps he is taking to ensure recipients are not being left without support if they are unable to complete the administrative processes for the transition.

a) Statistics for the number of people on Employment and Support Allowance are published quarterly. The latest statistics for August 2025 are available in the ESA data tables on Stat-Xplore - Table View. b) Statistics for the number or people invited to Move to Universal Credit are published quarterly. The latest statistics for December 2025 are available in the People invited to Move to Universal Credit data tables on Stat-Xplore - Table View. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance(opens in a new tab) on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide(opens in a new tab)DWP recognise some claimants may find moving to Universal Credit challenging and we are committed to providing the right support. Migration notices signpost customers to our helpline, GOV.UK and Help to Claim (provided by Citizens Advice). Contact via these routes allows free and confidential support to be provided, based on individual need, from claim initiation to the first full payment. Customers who have not claimed Universal Credit within two weeks of their deadline enter the Enhanced Support journey, which provides tailored and flexible assistance and can include phone calls and home visits to complete the process. Support offered to customers does not cease once a Universal Credit claim is made. A range of further support is available including a Complex Needs Toolkit and District Provision Tool for Work Coaches to use in identifying and signposting claimants to appropriate local services, including housing support, Mental Health Services and advocacy and Social Care. Where customers cannot use digital channels, DWP offer regular phone support and face-to-face appointments. Additionally, Jobcentre staff are trained to discuss complex needs and vulnerabilities and record these along with reasonable adjustments on the Universal Credit account, including different communication channels, home visits or support from an authorised representative, including an Appointee to act on their behalf. DWP regularly reviews its support to optimise our services and remain committed to supporting vulnerable claimants and welcome feedback. This is in addition to DWP’s internal quality monitoring, which supports agent personal performance and assurance.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the sale of unethical fur products.

Fur farming is banned in the UK. Restrictions also apply to imports including fur and fur products from seals, cats and dogs. Other long-established controls include those covering fur from species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. On 26 March the Government published the Opinion on the responsible sourcing of fur by our expert Animal Welfare Committee and will carefully consider its findings. The Government has also published the summary of responses to the call for evidence on the fur trade in Great Britain, which was held under the previous government in 2021 jointly with the Scottish and Welsh Governments. Building on this, the Government will now bring together a working group on fur, with involvement from both industry experts and those who support restrictions on the trade in fur, to explore concerns and the different ways in which they could be addressed.

What support his Department providing to people that require access to heating oil in the medium to near term.

The UK benefits from strong and diverse security of fuel supplies. We are aware that some customers have been experiencing delays or difficulties in receiving heating oil deliveries. This reflects an increase in demand, rather than issues with supply. We are in regular contact with industry to ensure our supply chain remains resilient and the sector is working hard to reach customers as quickly as possible. We have been clear that suppliers must follow the UKIFDA Code of Practice and the Chancellor has recently announced £53m allocated to the Crisis Resilience Fund to ensure low income families across the UK are supported to access heating oil when required.

What are the qualifying criteria for "most vulnerable households" in the provision of heating oil support.

Local authorities have flexibility to determine eligibility for heating‑oil support under the Crisis and Resilience Fund, applying their own discretion to identify the most vulnerable households facing immediate financial difficulties as a result of rising heating‑oil prices. Local authorities can use a combination of application‑based routes, referrals and their professional judgement to identify individuals in need. National datasets, such as census data, can help local authorities understand where reliance on heating oil is more prevalent and inform local targeting.

With reference to the Schools White Paper, whether moving to all schools being part of school trusts means academy trusts.

In the Schools White Paper, we introduced a new term ‘school trusts’ to refer to existing academy trusts and new trusts, including academy trusts established by local authorities or local area partnerships. We will also update co-operative academy school trust model articles of association so that they effectively support purposeful, large-scale cooperation.

With reference to his Statement of 29 January 2026, what assessment he has made of the reasons why the findings of the 2007 research report did not lead to a targeted public communications campaign to affected women.

The Secretary of State reviewed the 2007 Report on Automatic Pension Forecasts before coming to his decision on the Ombudsman’s investigation. The 2007 Report concluded that “overall…the evidence suggests negligible influence of the APF on pensions knowledge and retirement planning behaviour”, and around this time the Department stopped sending Automatic Pension Forecasts. We have placed the 2007 report in the House library, where it can be read in full. The report is also available here: Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts.

With reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on changes to women's State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) economic; and (b) social impact on 1950s-born women in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr.

The Government carefully considered the findings of the Ombudsman’s report on the communication of changes to women’s State Pension age, and a detailed response including an Equality Analysis has been deposited in the House library.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of exemptions permitting the use of birds of prey in fox hunting activities; and whether it plans to review those provisions.

The department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of exemptions permitting the use of birds of prey in fox hunting activities and has no plans to review those provisions.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help increase access to arts and culture.

The Government is committed to making arts and culture accessible to everyone. We invest £600 million annually through Arts Council England to support access to arts and culture across the country. Our £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere investment will save over 1,000 local cultural venues, restoring pride in place and national renewal. This government’s Curriculum Review will ensure every child receives a rich arts education. We will soon respond to the Hodge Review, which offered recommendations to ensure that creativity is accessible to all.

What steps she is taking to help ensure adequate security provision for the Palestinian Embassy in London.

The Government takes the protective security of diplomatic missions extremely seriously.The UK’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate, but it would not be appropriate to comment in detail on those arrangements.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of lengthening the qualifying period for settlement from five years to ten years for young adults and children under Appendix Private Life to the Immigration Rules.

The earned settlement model, proposed in A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026. The consultation directly seeks views on retaining the current arrangement, whereby children and young adults who grew up in the UK without immigration status my settle five years after regularising that status. Details of the earned settlement scheme will be finalised following that consultation. The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessment, which we have committed to publish in due course.

How he plans to reduce disability benefits by up to £580 million a year.

We are reducing the frequency of Personal Independence award reviews to deliver more WCA re-assessments after they were stopped during Covid-19. We will also significantly increase the share of face-to-face assessments, enabling assessors to better understand the impact of conditions upon claimants. The combined impact of all these measures is expected to see a reduction in spending across the UK of £1.9b between 2026/27 and 2030/31.

How much the Digital ID scheme will cost.

I refer the honourable Member to my answer to PQ93098.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he has taken to make sure that digital ID can not be made a requirement for accessing a wide range of public and private services.

Digital ID will only be mandatory for a person who is going through a right to work check. There will be no other mandatory requirement to have the ID.The Government is not mandating the use of digital ID to access other public or private services. People can still prove their identity using physical documents and non-digital alternatives outside of right-to-work checks if they prefer.

What steps he is taking to ensure that mandatory digital ID would not put the population’s personal data at risk of data breaches by hackers and foreign adversaries.

Security is a core principle of the new national digital credential that government is building, and will follow National Cyber Security Centre advice and international best practice. Data will be federated, not centralised, minimising risks by keeping information securely stored where it already is. Advanced encryption and regular penetration testing will be part of a wider infrastructure to help protect against cyber threats, fraud, and hacking. The system will comply with GDPR, operate strict legal firewalls, and empower individuals to have more control over what data is shared. All of these elements will help ensure there are robust safeguards to protect personal data from hostile actors.

If he will publish details of his Department new private finance model for building neighbourhood health centres and the business case completed for it.

The Department and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) will continue to work with the market to further develop the new Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for neighbourhood health centres (NHCs) with further engagement next year. The final design and development of this new PPP model for NHCs will be led by NISTA and co-designed by the Department.The Department has no plans to publish the NHC PPP Feasibility Programme Business Case. Publication is not standard practice for business cases outside of the Government Major Projects Portfolio.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of the humanitarian aid budget for (a) the Gaza conflict and (b) all global humanitarian crises is specifically allocated for (i) social protection mechanisms and (ii) targeted cash grants for older people; and what specific steps the Department is taking to ensure that (A) age, (B) gender and (C) disability are considered by implementing partners to prioritise older people in the delivery of assistance.

We recognise that people with existing vulnerabilities, including older people, can be disproportionately affected by humanitarian crises. All organisations which receive Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funding are required to demonstrate commitment to equality and inclusion in their work, to ensure our assistance reaches those in greatest need. The UK is actively supporting humanitarian efforts in Gaza - we are providing £78 million for humanitarian and early recovery support for Palestine this financial year. This includes the UK's support to UK-Med, which has enabled 800,000 patient consultations to take place in Gaza, including supporting vulnerable groups and the elderly.