Written questions by Easton.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor delivery of the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, (b) provide stable multi-year funding for its implementation, including UKCVAM, (c) publish milestones and progress updates, and (d) support regulatory changes to increase the uptake of non-animal methods, including delivery of the strategy’s 2026 commitments.

The Government’s strategy Replacing animals in science strategy is setting up governance structures, including a Ministerial board, to oversee progress and ensure momentum is maintained. £60m of ringfenced, multiyear funding has been provided to secure long-term investment for the strategy’s measures, including UKCVAM and the preclinical translational models hub, through the 2025 Spending Review. Transparent targets and milestones, alongside KPIs will be published starting in 2026. Current legislation requires alternatives to animals to be used wherever available, so there are no current plans to change legislation.

Whether he plans to make additional funding available to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to meet the costs arising from the 2023 data breach.

It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to set a budget for Departments, and for the Minister for Justice to allocate funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The Government is providing the Executive with a record settlement over the Spending Review period, averaging £19.3bn per year. This is the largest in the history of devolution.On 17 December 2025, the Northern Ireland Executive committed to providing £119m to the Department of Justice to fund the costs of the data breach.Concerns about the implications of costs associated with the data breach should be raised via the existing mechanisms in the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed EU (a) taxes and (b) charges on small packages entering the EU on Northern Ireland, including parcels sent within the United Kingdom internal market.

We are aware of changes to the EU’s rules of low value imports and the announcement in December of its intention to introduce customs duty on these goods from 1 July 2026. At Autumn Budget 2025, the Chancellor announced the removal of the UK's relief from customs duty on goods below £135 from March 2029 at the latest. There is currently a consultation on these changes that closes on 6th March 2026. We are committed to ensuring that the current facilitations available for parcels under the Windsor Framework continue to operate. This means that goods eligible to move under the UK Carrier Scheme and the UK Internal Market Scheme will continue to do so. These schemes are designed to protect goods moving within the UK internal market from incurring duty. The benefits of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement will also continue to be available. The Government continues to engage with industry and the EU to ensure any applicable arrangements are implemented correctly and to minimise any negative impacts on Northern Ireland consumers and businesses.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on proposals to prohibit the import into the UK of hunting trophies; and when she expects to bring forward legislation to implement such a prohibition.

The Government is committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern. The department continues to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can implement a robust ban. Timeframes for introducing legislation will be provided once the Parliamentary timetable for future sessions is determined.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking, bilaterally and with international partners, in response to reports of arbitrary detention, torture and executions of protesters in Iran; and whether she plans to make further designations under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 in relation to individuals responsible.

I refer the Hon Member to the statement the Foreign Secretary made to the House on 13 January, and her responses to the questions raised in that debate.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations her Department has made to the Government of Syria on protecting the rights of religious minorities, such as Christian Orthodox people, Protestants and Catholics.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer given on 18 September 2025 to Question 74583.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations her Department has made to the Government of Syria on recent sectarian attacks on members of the Alawite minority in Homs.

Further to the answer given on 18 September to question 74583, I raised this issue with the Syrian Foreign Minister during his visit to London in November, and we continue to monitor the situation closely.

How many applications have been (a) received, (b) awarded and (c) refused under the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme; and in how many refused cases the applicant was in receipt of an occupational injury award, including (i) Civil Service Injury Benefit and (ii) an equivalent injury pension.

The Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme is a devolved matter and is run by the Victims’ Payments Board on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive. Statistics on applications are publicly available on the Victims’ Payments Board’s website.

When she expects the independent inquiry into grooming gangs to commence taking evidence; and what steps she is taking to support cross-Government cooperation with the inquiry.

On 9 December 2025 the Home Secretary announced Baroness Anne Longfield as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, alongside panellists Zoë Billingham CBE and Eleanor Kelly CBE. She also published the draft Terms of Reference, which she has asked the Chair to consult on. The final version will be published by 31 March 2026, after which the inquiry will formally commence. Under the Inquiries Act 2005, the conduct and procedure of the inquiry are a matter for the Chair.The Home Secretary has been clear that the inquiry will act without fear or favour, identifying individual, institutional and systemic failure, inadequate organisational responses, and failures of leadership. The government is fully committed to supporting the Inquiry.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of procuring residential accommodation for asylum seekers in Northern Ireland on (a) the availability of and (b) waiting times for social housing.

Accommodation for people seeking asylum in Northern Ireland is procured by Home Office Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract providers from the private rented sector and does not draw on social housing stock. Northern Ireland is not part of the Full Dispersal arrangements, so only those who claim asylum in Northern Ireland are accommodated there. On that basis, the Department does not assess a direct impact on either the availability of, or waiting times for, social housing.

Whether her Department holds information on whether accommodation providers or subcontractors have used third-party agencies to purchase residential properties in Northern Ireland intended for use in accommodating asylum seekers.

Home Office accommodation Providers procure accommodation on behalf of the Home Office for use as asylum accommodation, this can be either via purchasing or letting accommodation available on the property market and they work with a range of landlords and agents to do so.

With reference to (a) the report of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on communication of changes to women’s State Pension age and (b) the Work and Pensions Committee’s recommendations of May 2024 on compensation for women born in the 1950s affected by those changes, what the Government's policy is on establishing a compensation scheme for that cohort; and what assessment has been of the implications for Government policy of recent legal challenges regarding the basis on which compensation was declined.

The Secretary of State announced in his Oral Statement of 11 November that we will retake the decision made last December as it relates to the communications on state pension age. Information that was not considered at the time of the original decision has come to light. In retaking the decision, we will review the evidence alongside evidence previously considered.The process to retake the decision is underway and we will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of duty-free sales arrangements under the Windsor Framework on Northern Ireland’s airports; and whether she has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on enabling passengers travelling from Northern Ireland airports to (a) Great Britain and (b) third countries to access duty-free sales on the same basis as passengers travelling from other UK airports.

Excise duty is due on excise goods due to be consumed in the UK. There are no plans to allow individuals moving from one part of the UK to another to purchase duty free goods. Passengers travelling from Northern Ireland to a place outside the UK and the EU are entitled to purchase duty free goods in the same way as passengers travelling from Great Britain to a place outside the UK. Duty free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU would require the application of personal allowances, to prevent the uncontrolled flow of tax-free goods into either Northern Ireland or the EU. The enforcement controls required for this would run counter to the shared ambitions of the UK and the EU set out in the Windsor Framework and the principle of the frictionless movement of people and goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current regulatory framework for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in (a) food and (b) drinking water.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) aims to keep levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food as low as reasonably achievable and is keeping the issue of PFAS under review. Food business operators have a legal responsibility to ensure that any food they place on the market complies with general food law, which states that food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe. Where products are found to breach these requirements, local authorities have the power to take enforcement action. The Committee on Toxicity (COT), an advisory body which provides independent scientific advice to the FSA, is currently undertaking an assessment of PFAS. This assessment includes an extensive review of the available data and derivation of updated health-based guidance values where possible. Drinking water quality policy is wholly devolved and the following response is in relation to England only. Defra and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) are working together to consider potential regulatory updates to England’s drinking water quality legislation based on DWI’s recommendations. The DWI have issued guidance to water companies on PFAS. Concentrations of ‘sum of 48 PFAS’ reported as greater than 0.1 micrograms (or 100 nanograms) must be reported to the DWI as a water quality event and all necessary actions to reduce concentrations below this value must be taken. No treated water samples in 2024 were reported in Tier 3 (≥0.1 micrograms/L), supporting the effectiveness of industry mitigation strategies.

What steps his Department is taking to implement increased defence expenditure to improve the preparedness and readiness of the armed forces.

As outlined in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, Defence will increase expenditure to transform the Armed Forces into a more lethal integrated force, equipped for the future. On 25 February 2025, the Prime Minister announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War—rising to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, and to 3% in the next Parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow. We have already boosted defence by £5 billion this year. The Defence Investment Plan will set out how the Ministry of Defence will deliver the vision of the Strategic Defence Review including steps to improve preparedness and readiness of the Armed Forces.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what her Department’s policy objectives are in relation to the UK’s support for Ukraine over the next 12 months.

I refer the Hon Member to the answers provided by the Foreign Secretary during departmental questions on 2 December, and to the statement made to the House by the Prime Minister on 25 November.

For what reasons part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were not eligible for a pension under the terms of service at the time of their employment; and whether the Department has made any assessment of options for retrospective recognition or provision.

Full time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) had an automatic entitlement to become members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS). Part-time members of the UDR were engaged under different terms to full- time, regular members of the Regiment and were not part of the AFPS. These terms were similar to those of the Territorial Army and reflected that part-time engagements were often on an irregular, intermittent and short-term basis. The Ministry of Defence values greatly the contribution of all those who served within the UDR, but there are no plans to review the pension entitlement for part-time members.

Whether individuals currently residing on a UK Ancestry visa and working towards Indefinite Leave to Remain under the existing five-year residency requirement will be required to meet the proposed ten-year residency rule in proposed changes to immigration rules.

We are currently holding a public consultation on new settlement rules. Following that, we will provide details of how this initiative will work, including on any transitional arrangements for people already in the UK.

o ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the introduction of national identity cards.

The design and delivery of the national digital identity credential are subject to a public consultation, which will launch in the new year. The feedback received from members of the public and wider stakeholders will inform our final approach and enable a more accurate assessment of costs.While an early multi-year estimate from the OBR has been reported, we do not recognise it as an accurate cost for the programme. The scope of the scheme, and therefore its cost, have yet to be decided.Any costs in this Spending Review period will be met within existing settlements, and a full consultation will be launched in the new year.

What assessment he has made of the impact of the Windsor Framework on trade between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Government is committed to the UK internal market. That commitment was set out in Labour’s manifesto and we have made meaningful progress on it. We have established Intertrade UK to promote trade across the full UK internal market. Over 15,000 businesses are now registered to use the UK internal market scheme to benefit from trading across all four nations. Earlier this month, an independent report confirmed that 96% of goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland did so within the UK internal market.