Written questions by Coghlan.

If she will work with the ICO and CCS to review safeguarding risks posed by current ePEP platforms and consider mandatory independent cybersecurity audits and NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit compliance.

Awaiting answer.

What steps she is taking to ensure that all electronic Personal Education Plan systems used by local authority Virtual Schools meet robust national minimum security and data protection standards, particularly for special category data relating to trauma, health and emotional wellbeing of looked-after children.

Awaiting answer.

What guidance her Department plans to issue requiring Virtual School Heads to conduct appropriate due diligence and Data Protection Impact Assessments on third-party ePEP providers.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the level of potential harm to looked-after children if weaknesses in ePEP systems lead to data breaches or inadequate safeguarding of their personal information.

Awaiting answer.

How many Late Entry Officers are employed in (a) each of the Army’s 32 infantry battalions and (b) in Welfare, QM, MTO, RCMO and training officer roles.

Awaiting answer.

How many Late Entry Officers were commissioned in the last year, and of those how many were employed in in Welfare, QM, MTO, RCMO and training officer roles.

Awaiting answer.

When the Rt Hon Member for Dorking and Horley will receive a response to his correspondence dated 27 April 2026 on an International Letter of Request for the late Police Constable, Hannah Byrne.

Awaiting answer.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with social media platforms, such as TikTok, on compliance with UK GDPR regarding the use of default opt-in settings for training generative AI models on user-generated content.

Awaiting answer.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to prohibit the manufacture, sale and fitting of flip plates and similar devices allowing vehicle registration marks to be obscured while a vehicle is in use on the road.

Awaiting answer.

Whether she has had discussions with police forces, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other enforcement bodies on the impact of the legality of the manufacture, sale and fitting of flip plates and similar devices designed to obscure vehicle registration marks on road traffic enforcement.

Awaiting answer.

Whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of requiring decibel readings of exhaust noises to be recorded during the MOT test for motorcycles and other road vehicles.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly publishes data on MOT failures by vehicle type and failure category. Vehicle noise is included within ‘noise, emissions and leaks’. The full MOT dataset is also available on GOV.UK in anonymised form, so users can carry out their own analysis. For vehicles and motorcycles, the current visual and audible check as part of the MOT is sufficient to confirm an exhaust is properly silenced, as accurate exhaust noise measurements are not considered practical to measure accurately at all MOT test centres.

If she will require the publication of disaggregated MOT failure statistics identifying major defects relating specifically to exhaust noise separately from other categories.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly publishes data on MOT failures by vehicle type and failure category. Vehicle noise is included within ‘noise, emissions and leaks’. The full MOT dataset is also available on GOV.UK in anonymised form, so users can carry out their own analysis. For vehicles and motorcycles, the current visual and audible check as part of the MOT is sufficient to confirm an exhaust is properly silenced, as accurate exhaust noise measurements are not considered practical to measure accurately at all MOT test centres.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2026 to Question 108514 on Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions, what steps he is taking to support those pensioners not yet receiving their civil service pension and facing financial hardship that have exhausted their interest-free bridging loans or interim lump sum payments.

Awaiting answer.

Whether she has made an assessment of the impact of the current 20% VAT rate on independent hot food retailers; and if she will consider aligning the VAT treatment of hot takeaway food with that of cold takeaway food.

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK's second largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26. Hot takeaway food is subject to the 20 per cent standard rate of VAT. This ensures parity of treatment with food sold in restaurants, which is also subject to the standard rate. A tax relief for hot takeaway food would come at a cost to the Exchequer, reducing the revenue available for vital public services, and would have to represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that owners of dogs on the Index of Exempted Dogs can maintain the continuous third-party public liability insurance following the withdrawal of the Dogs Trust Companion Club cover on 30 June 2026; what discussions she is having with insurers on alternative provision; and if she will publish guidance on ensuring that responsible owners do not face unintentional non-compliance due to a lack of accessible insurance options.

Defra is working to ensure owners of banned breed dogs can remain compliant with the legal requirement to hold third-party public liability insurance beyond 1 July 2026. Defra has published guidance on the GOV.UK page and contacted all registered owners to inform them that no action is required at this stage. Defra will share further guidance which will be published on GOV.UK in early June.

What plans he has for support mechanisms for frontline NHS workers (a) that experience abuse and (b) whose patients disclose emotionally difficult topics to them.

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including, security, training, and emotional support for staff affected by violence or abuse.The Department and NHS England are working with NHS Employers and trade unions to strengthen support for staff in the NHS workplace by improving security, ensuring cases are reported and investigated, providing better training for staff on de-escalating and dealing with incidents, as well as enhancing post-incident support for staff.Additionally, staff have access to a ‘trauma-informed care’ e-learning module, which forms a suite of sessions promoting trauma-sensitive practice in health and social care. The training recognises that staff can be exposed to trauma at work and helps to support NHS staff to become more trauma-sensitive in the way care is delivered.

With reference to the 15 October 2025 report Investing in the NHS: empowering the sector to drive productivity, renewal and growth, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the report's recommendation to enable local authorities to invest in the NHS by ending the double-counting of expenditure by both local authorities and the NHS.

The Government welcomes the report Investing in the NHS: empowering the sector to drive productivity, renewal and growth and recognises the case it makes for unlocking additional investment in National Health Service infrastructure, including through stronger partnership with local government.We also recognise the importance of capital investment in repairing and rebuilding our healthcare estate. This is why, as confirmed at the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Department’s capital budgets will rise to £15.2 billion by the end of the Spending Review period (2029/30), delivering the largest ever health capital budget and a four-year capital settlement.However, any change in this area would need careful consideration to maintain proper control of public spending, clear accountability and value for money. The Department will therefore keep the recommendation under review as part of its wider work to support long term, sustainable capital investment and to enable local systems to plan and deliver infrastructure more effectively.More broadly, significant reforms to the capital regime set out in our 10-Year Health Plan will give more power to the frontline and simplify and accelerate the capital approvals process, allowing systems and providers to plan strategically and deliver schemes faster.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that privacy protections do not prevent public scrutiny of political donors.

The government is strengthening the rules on political donations to increase transparency and accountability, protect against foreign or illicit influence, and maintain public confidence in our democratic system. Reportable donations are already published by the Electoral Commission for public scrutiny, and we intend, through secondary legislation, to commence existing declaration requirements for donations above the relevant threshold. This will require anyone making a political donation above £11,180 to declare any benefits linked to their donation. This will improve transparency around the true source of a donation. A political party must not accept a donation above that threshold unless the declaration is provided.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Warm Homes Plan’s funding allocation on the retention of the skilled retrofit workforce; and what steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are included in delivery frameworks for home energy upgrades.

The Warm Homes Plan will create 180,000 high-quality jobs in energy efficiency and clean heating by 2030. Chapter Six of the plan outlines the actions that the Government will be taking to support and facilitate growth, jobs and innovation. This includes establishing a new Workforce Taskforce in partnership with the Trade Unions Congress, the £8 million Warm Homes Skills Programme, and an extension of the Heat Training Grant. I also recently led the ECO Supply Chain Transition Task and Finish Working Group which met on Tuesday 17 March to discuss support for the workforce affected by the closure of ECO. The group will coordinate sub-contracting and unblock barriers to SMEs and local supply chains accessing additional work on our expanded capital investment programmes.

Whether he has considered the potential impact of the proposed timeline for the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild programme on the involvement of the new unitary authorities.

Published on 17 March 2026, the Neighbourhood Health Framework empowers local leaders to develop and scale neighbourhood health. It provides clarity and consistency to support joined-up partnership between integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and other partners. Through Health and Wellbeing Boards, they will work together to develop locally led Neighbourhood Health Plans and align approaches to commissioning to support the integration of health and care services. However, local ICBs will remain directly responsible for commissioning services within Neighbourhood Health Centres and not the local authority.