Written questions by Gordon.

Innovation and Technology, whether guidance has been issued to video game developers on compliance with the Online Safety Act 2023.

The Department regularly engages with Ofcom on a wide range of online safety matters, including online gaming. Ofcom has published a range of guidance and tips to support businesses in complying with the Online Safety Act. Specific guidance for the gaming sector can be found here: Gaming: know the online safety risks, the rules, and how to comply Ofcom is committed to ensuring the new rules are clearly explained to services, and we are committed to helping small businesses navigate regulations

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the findings of the independent report on loot boxes commissioned by the Government in 2023; and whether she plans to publish that report.

The Government is committed to ensuring games are enjoyed safely and responsibly by everyone and that, where they contain loot boxes, there are appropriate protections in place for players of all ages.To improve those protections, industry-led guidance was published in 2023 with a 12-month implementation period after which DCMS commissioned independent academic research into its effectiveness. We will publish the research shortly, alongside our next steps.

Whether she plans to review the Video Games Expenditure Credit to support smaller video game studios.

The Government recognises the importance of the creative industries, including the key role they play in driving economic growth, and the video games sector is specifically supported through the tax system and through funding. Video games companies benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC), which provides a generous tax credit of 34 per cent on UK video games development costs. In 2023-24, £327 million of Corporation Tax was relieved through video game tax relief. VGEC makes no distinction between large and small game studios. Any video game production company can qualify as long as it meets the eligibility criteria. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has committed to a new £30 million Games Growth Package over three years to back the next generation of start‑up games studios and talent, and drive inward investment in the sector.

What guidance his Department provides to integrated care boards on supporting vulnerable people, including those with mental health conditions, cognitive impairment or learning disabilities, to safely self-administer insulin.

Improving the integration between community mental health services and other physical health services and meeting the holistic needs of people with severe mental health problems is a priority, as set out in the Community Mental Health Framework.Recognising the continued need to further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework, which sets out how services must effectively assess, plan, and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.The Health Services Safety Investigation Body recently published a report Insulin: supporting safe self-administration for patients in the community with a mental health problem, which recommended that NHS England and the Department develop a strategy for improving collaboration between mental health teams and specialist diabetes services. A formal response to this recommendation will be published in May 2026.

If he will publish a national implementation plan on insulin safety for those with mental health conditions.

Improving the integration between community mental health services and other physical health services and meeting the holistic needs of people with severe mental health problems is a priority, as set out in the Community Mental Health Framework.Recognising the continued need to further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework, which sets out how services must effectively assess, plan, and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.The Health Services Safety Investigation Body recently published a report Insulin: supporting safe self-administration for patients in the community with a mental health problem, which recommended that NHS England and the Department develop a strategy for improving collaboration between mental health teams and specialist diabetes services. A formal response to this recommendation will be published in May 2026.

How his Department plans to improve the understanding, identification and management of Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people with Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) receive support and care which meets their needs. NHS England will continue to work closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to understand emerging areas for consideration in national guidance and has committed to share the current T1DE pilot site evaluation outcomes, when available, with NICE to ensure findings are considered in the development of future guidance.To reduce insulin related harm, the National Health Service’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards, with more information available at the following link:https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/supporting-hospital-teams-with-safe-inpatient-diabetes-care/ GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration. To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework. The framework sets out how services must effectively assess, plan and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.

What assessment he has made of the potential cost implications for the NHS of insulin-related harm arising from inadequate discharge planning and community support.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people with Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) receive support and care which meets their needs. NHS England will continue to work closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to understand emerging areas for consideration in national guidance and has committed to share the current T1DE pilot site evaluation outcomes, when available, with NICE to ensure findings are considered in the development of future guidance.To reduce insulin related harm, the National Health Service’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards, with more information available at the following link:https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/supporting-hospital-teams-with-safe-inpatient-diabetes-care/ GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration. To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework. The framework sets out how services must effectively assess, plan and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.

What steps he is taking to improve coordination between community mental health teams and specialist diabetes services.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people with Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) receive support and care which meets their needs. NHS England will continue to work closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to understand emerging areas for consideration in national guidance and has committed to share the current T1DE pilot site evaluation outcomes, when available, with NICE to ensure findings are considered in the development of future guidance.To reduce insulin related harm, the National Health Service’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards, with more information available at the following link:https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/supporting-hospital-teams-with-safe-inpatient-diabetes-care/ GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration. To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework. The framework sets out how services must effectively assess, plan and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of targeted oncology training places announced in the National Cancer Plan for areas with higher vacancy rates on the expansion of the clinical academic workforce.

The recently published National Cancer Plan sets out that the National Health Service will use training places more directly as a lever to support improvements in operational performance. This includes prioritising training places in trusts, including in rural and coastal areas, where vacancy rates are higher and performance is lower.The Department and NHS England will work with the royal colleges to encourage resident doctors and internal medicine trainees to specialise in clinical and medical oncology, where possible, to address vacancy and performance pressures.In 2025, there were 157% more medical oncology training places than in 2015. Medical oncologists are a core component of the clinical academic workforce, contributing both to frontline patient care and to the development and delivery of cancer research.

Whether the 10 Year NHS Workforce Plan will include measures to (a) increase the clinical academic workforce and (b) ensure that all regions have access to a strong clinical academic base.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is the United Kingdom’s largest funder of clinical academic training. The NIHR delivers a comprehensive research career pathway, from internships and predoctoral fellowships through to research professorships, for the full range of clinicians working across England, providing the skilled research workforce in universities and NHS trusts to lead research and help train future generations of clinicians. The NIHR invests over £220 million each year in research training programmes.

When the 10-Year NHS Workforce Plan will be published.

We will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026.

Whether in person support will also be provided where necessary in addition to the digital first prehabilitation offer for people with cancer set out in the National Cancer Plan.

The National Cancer Plan sets out that we will deliver new quality standards for prehabilitation across the country in 2028 to help patients get healthier before treatment. The new standards will ensure access to prehabilitation services and that they fit around patients’ lives. This will include in person support where that is more appropriate for the patient and bringing services into the community and closer to patients’ homes.Part of that will include the roll out a national digital first prehabilitation offer through the NHS App and other digital channels. This will help support patients closer to home, where that is their preference.

If he will make it policy to extend funding for Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating pilot programmes to ensure (a) they do not collapse and (b) a national network of specialist treatment centres can be established.

Funding for the Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots was time-limited with the expectation that once the national funding expires, responsibility for considering the future provision of T1DE services would sit with the relevant integrated care board (ICB) who are responsible for planning and commissioning diabetes treatment and care.NHS England has previously extended the initial two-year funding term, which has enabled the sites to run for much longer than initially expected. NHS England is providing evaluation data to the ICBs to support local decision making. The pilot sites will receive confirmation in relation to any future national funding shortly.

If he will take steps to help ensure that Access to Work awards for blind and partially sighted customers are not reduced at renewal where there has been no change in job role or level of sight loss.

Access to Work provides support for individual needs within the workplace, above and beyond the employer’s reasonable adjustments.When an award is renewed, Access to Work case managers consider all relevant evidence and current guidance to ensure that the support offered continues to be appropriate for the customer to carry out their job.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing Access to Work support worker hours at renewal for blind and partially sighted customers on (a) job retention and (b) workplace safety.

The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support.

When he plans to respond to the letters of 7 October 2025 and 8 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough with case reference TG09539.

The Department apologises for the significant delay in responding. We regret that this falls short of expected standards. A response was sent on 10 February.

When he intends to respond to the emails of 7 October 2025 and 5 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG10331, on a constituent's issue with their Bounce Back Loan.

The Department for Business and Trade aims to respond to correspondence within 15 working days, but in some instances it can take longer. A response to the correspondence of 5 January has now been sent to Tom Gordon MP. The department apologises for not responding to the original correspondence of 7 October.

What steps he is taking to ensure newly retired civil servants receive their pension on time.

The previous government awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023. The administration transferred to Capita on 1 December 2025 and the first payroll ran successfully in the same month.We recognise that a number of pension scheme members have experienced delays in receiving their pension payments. The Cabinet Office is meeting regularly with Capita to review their performance, identify priorities, and agree actions to improve the overall processing and service. We continue to work with our administrator, Capita, to increase the processing of retirement quotes. Alongside this, Capita is increasing staffing in key areas, such as the contact centre, to increase the level of support for members.

Innovation and Technology, when she intends to respond to the letters of 1 August 2025, 23 September 2025, and 18 December 2025 from the Hon. Mem. for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG09406, on the Online Safety Act.

I wrote to the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough on 16 January. The Department sincerely apologises for the exceptional delay in responding on this occasion, and we regret that this fell short of expected standards.

With reference to the 2024 National NHS Staff Survey Results, if he will publish data on staff wellbeing indicators for (a) clinical radiology and (b) clinical oncology, including the data by specialty for (i) q10b on additional paid hours worked, (ii) q10c on additional unpaid hours worked, (iii) q11c on work related stress and (iv) q12b on burnout.

The Department does not hold this data nor are there any plans to collect NHS Staff Survey data from any additional occupational groups.As reported in the 2024 NHS Staff Survey, 30.24% of respondents reported having felt burnout because of their work. Data taken from the NHS Staff Survey cannot however be used to identity trends in specialities.