Written questions by Doogan.

What estimate he has made of the Investment Fund for Scotland management fees paid to (a) DSL Business Finance, (b) FSE Group and (c) Maeven (i) to date and (ii) during the life of the Fund.

The British Business Bank routinely commissions independent evaluations of its programmes to quantify their impact and an overall assessment of performance and value for money. An interim evaluation of the Investment Fund for Scotland (IFS) programme is expected to be commissioned during the first five years of the Fund’s operation. Fees paid to individual managers is commercially sensitive information and therefore not able to be published.

How many Investment Fund for Scotland applications have been (a) received and (b) approved for each of the funds administered by (i) DSL Business Finance, (ii) FSE Group and (iii) Maeven; and what was the average time taken to consider a funding application by (A) DSL Business Finance, (B) FSE Group and (C) Maeven.

The £150 million Investment Fund for Scotland was launched in November 2023 and provides debt and equity finance to Scottish businesses. Similar funds are available in Wales, Northern Ireland, and three regions of England. As at November 2024, the Investment Fund for Scotland had provided over £10 million of finance to 26 businesses. Updated information will be published by September 2025. The British Business Bank does not publish information on numbers of applications received or hold information on time taken to review applications. All investment decisions are taken by the fund managers who analyse the application and complete due diligence.

How much has been allocated from the Investment Fund for Scotland to businesses to date; and what estimate he has made of the amount that will be allocated in each year of the Fund's operation.

A total of £150 million has been committed to the Investment Fund for Scotland. Three fund managers have been contracted to provide £110 million of this total in debt and equity finance to small businesses. The British Business Bank has retained the remaining £40 million in reserve, which will be allocated during the life of the fund depending on market conditions and fund performance. The funding has initially been split approximately 45% to equity and 55% to debt. The expectation is that the funding will be fully deployed during the first five years.

Whether (a) she and (b) Ministers from her Department have met with insurance company Unum since 4 July 2024.

Details of ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK and can be found here(opens in a new tab). There have been no meetings with Unum.

If she will make an estimate of the potential cost to the public purse of the Bank of England's Quantitative Tightening programme (a) since July 2024 and (b) since its commencement in November 2022.

Since October 2022, HM Treasury has transferred £85.9bn to the Bank of England to cover losses arising from the Asset Purchase Facility, of which £25bn was transferred since July 2024. This covers losses incurred from net interest costs and the sale and redemption of bonds as the portfolio is unwound. Data on these quarterly cash transfers between HM Treasury and the Bank of England are made publicly available by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its monthly Public Sector Finances publication. The data are available at the following link under the ONS series ID MF7A in worksheet PSA9B: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/datasets/publicsectorfinancesappendixatables110

What guidance his Department has issued on ensuring that consumers receive compensation when (a) a business enters liquidation and (b) there is evidence to suggest that business has knowingly defrauded customers prior to liquidation.

If a business enters formal insolvency, consumers can refer to the guidance on the UK government's website (Gov.UK) for information on recovering their money for undelivered goods or services. The guidance advises consumers to contact their card provider to request a refund or, alternatively, submit a claim to the insolvency office holder. If there is evidence of misconduct by the insolvent business, it should be reported to the insolvency office holder, who will investigate and if necessary take appropriate action.

On what date GB Energy's annual report and accounts will be published.

Clause 7 of the Great British Energy Bill requires Great British Energy to report its accounts to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. It also requires the Secretary of State to lay a copy of these before Parliament. As The Bill has not yet received Royal Assent, we are unable to confirm a specific date on which the first annual reports and accounts will be laid before Parliament.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 36131 on F-35 Aircraft: Procurement, if the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry will meet with the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens to discuss that answer.

I would be happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss that answer.

What the average monthly flying hours are for each F-35 by airframe since they entered full operational capability.

Average monthly flying hours of individual airframes is not a metric that is collated and as the information is not held in this format it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The metric that is collated is the total airframe hours since delivery for which I refer the hon. Member to the Answer to Question 34922 on 6 March 2025.

What the budget is for GB Energy in the 2024-25 financial year; how much and what proportion of that budget has been spent; and what GB Energy has spent its funding on.

Great British Energy (GBE) was allocated £11.1million for 2024/25, and a further £125 million was allocated in the Autumn Budget 2024 to set up GBE in FY 25-26. This will enable GBE to begin the roll out of local projects alongside other functions. Information on departmental expenditure is made publicly available the usual way through the Department's annual report and accounts.

If he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the 2015 memorandum of understanding between Ireland and the UK on defence.

The Defence MOU between the United Kingdom and Ireland underscores the breadth of our bilateral relationship with Ireland. Since it was signed in 2015, we have enhanced cooperation in exchanging information, exercises and training, UN mandated International peacekeeping, crisis management operations, capability developments, and cyber defence and security, among many other areas of cooperation. The Ministry of Defence keeps effectiveness of these arrangements these under regular review including through staff talks.

When each F-35 entered into service.

I am withholding the requested information as it would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

How many hours have been flown in each UK F35 since they entered full operational capability.

The total flying hours accumulated for each airframe from first flight of each airframe to December 2024 is as follows.Airframe tail number - Total Hours flown ZM135 1,088ZM136 1,058ZM137 795ZM138 976ZM139 976ZM140 858ZM141 721ZM142 945ZM143 867ZM144 758ZM145 872ZM146 847ZM147 589ZM148 533ZM149 816ZM150 550ZM151 650ZM152 425ZM153 380ZM154 533ZM155 389ZM156 558ZM157 411ZM158 504ZM159 653ZM160 488ZM161 587ZM162 357ZM163 323ZM164 286ZM165 83ZM166 86ZM167 63ZM168 98ZM169 151

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of children globally who will be impacted by the funding cuts to Official Development Assistance.

The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security, and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used, including our work supporting children, will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments.

Which minister is responsible for overseeing progression of The Payment Services (Contract Terminations Amendment) Regulations 2024.

I am the minister responsible for the progression of this policy. The Government is preparing to lay these regulations in Parliament in due course.

What definition of family farm was used when developing changes to inheritance tax relief for (a) business and (b) agricultural assets.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. The Government’s assessment relates to claims for agricultural property relief and business property relief. The qualifying conditions for these reliefs are set out in Part 5 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984. Guidance on agricultural property relief is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/agricultural-relief-on-inheritance-tax and www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm24000. Guidance on business property relief is available at www.gov.uk/business-relief-inheritance-tax and www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm25000.

Whether Ofgem have made an estimate of the relative costs per KM of installing (a) overhead, (b) underground and (c) offshore electricity transmission cables for energy transmission infrastructure.

Ofgem estimates of the relative costs of overhead, underground and offshore electricity transmission cables vary significantly depending on various factors such as technology types, voltage levels and locations. Due to commercial sensitivity, Ofgem cannot not share specific estimates. However, as set out in the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s 2012 study, offshore cables have considerable cost and technical challenges and can have substantial impacts on the marine environment. Undergrounding is usually by open trenching with costs between 5-10 times those of overhead lines.

What the disregarded capital limit on pension credit was in each of the last 15 years; and if she will increase the disregarded capital limit in line with inflation since the last increase.

The capital disregard in Pension Credit has been set at £10,000 since 2009 and will remain at that level in 2025/26. Capital over £10,000 reduces weekly entitlement by £1 per £500 of capital. Unlike with working age income related benefits, there is no upper capital limit. Benefit rules, including capital disregards in income related benefits, are kept under regular review. There are no plans to increase the capital disregard in Pension Credit.

What is the average wait time for callers to HMRC helplines; what action is being taken to reduce wait times on HMRC helplines; and if she will make it her policy implement a freephone service when wait times are high.

Information regarding the average speed of answer is published as part of HMRC’s monthly performance report:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports HMRC know that their service levels have, until recently, been below published standards. They aim to answer calls as quickly as possible but wait times may be longer than usual during busy periods. HMRC received extra funding last year to recruit more customer service advisers to help improve telephony performance. They met their helpline service standard in Quarter 3. HMRC do not have plans to introduce a freephone service. HMRC helplines use 03 numbers (0300 or 0345), which cost the same as landline 01 or 02 numbers, but actual call charges depend on the customer's phone provider. For mobile networks, 03 numbers are typically included in airtime plans, but customers should verify with their specific network provider. HMRC is a public body and does not profit from customer contacts.

What recent discussions she has had with Network Rail on the steps it is taking to ensure the health and wellbeing of neighbours impacted by rail maintenance.

I am replying as Minister responsible. I am not aware of any discussions between the Secretary of State and Network Rail on this issue. The health and wellbeing of lineside neighbours is a key consideration for Network Rail in undertaking any essential rail maintenance work. These are reflected in Network Rail’s safety management system arrangements, which covers how they manage operations and connected activities to ensure that disturbance is minimised as far as reasonably practicable, whilst upholding their statutory duties on safety and performance.