Written questions by Chowns.

With reference to the acknowledgement of my letter of 7 January 2026, its referral in error to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the subsequent allocation of reference MC2025/27941 on 16 March 2026, (a) what steps her Department is taking to improve the handling of and response times to correspondence received from Members and (b) when she will provide a full written response to that letter.

HM Treasury recognises the important role Parliament has in holding the Government to account and the need to provide full and timely responses to requests for information. Treasury Ministers have received significant volumes of correspondence since the Budget, which has led to a backlog. In response, officials are working with Ministers’ offices to prioritise and clear outstanding cases as quickly as possible. Additional resource has been secured to assist Ministers’ offices with drafting and clearances. The Treasury correspondence unit has also recently recruited two additional drafting officials to ensure appropriate resourcing of this important function and are working across the department to prioritise responses. A response to case MC2025/27941 was issued on 27th April 2026 to the hon. Member for North Herefordshire.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the UK's Investor-State Dispute Settlement Scheme on foreign policy goals.

The UK is party to 77 Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) that contain Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). The UK’s international investment agreements aim to enhance opportunities for UK businesses to expand overseas, with commitments that seek to limit the barriers they face, make it easier to navigate local rules, and ensure investments are treated lawfully, and protected against unfair or arbitrary action. These are fully consistent with our foreign policy goals and our economic ambitions for the country. We keep the operation of these provisions under review.

With reference to her email of 7January 2026 acknowledging receipt of my letter ref MC2025/27941, whether she will set out (a) the reasons for the widely differing changes to rateable values and (b) her Department’s longer-term projections for reliefs to reduce the business rates burden on the hospitality sector.

At the Budget, the Valuation Office (VO) announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties. The VO are independent and are happy to talk to ratepayers if they have queries about how a rateable value has been assessed. Ratepayers can also challenge their rateable value through the online Check and Challenge process if they believe it is incorrect. The Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion to protect ratepayers against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. This means most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15 per cent or less in 2026/27, or £800 for the smallest. The Government has also introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties. In addition, this year, every pub and live music venue is receiving 15 per cent off its business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget. Bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further two years.

Whether the Government has considered establishing a low-cost, specialist tribunal or ombudsman to handle procurement disputes more quickly and affordably than the current High Court process; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of such a body on (a) improving access so that more SMEs can challenge procurement decisions and (b) deterring unlawful decision-making.

At present, the Cabinet Office has two free services to address procurement concerns.The Procurement Compliance Service (PCS) investigates contracting authorities’ compliance with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023 and, where appropriate, may issue recommendations and/or guidance. Generally, the PCS considers potential non-compliance at systemic and institutional levels.The Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS) helps to protect suppliers, and potential suppliers to the public sector, by providing a free, anonymous, and confidential way to report poor public sector procurement practices, including contract management issues and late payment issues. PPRS considers specific instances of poor practice.Both services aim to improve access for SMEs by giving them a more accessible route to raise concerns and are intended to improve procurement practices in the long term. Specific PPRS reviews may lead to reconsideration of decisions being made during live procurements only.As part of the package of reforms I announced on 26th March, the Cabinet Office is reviewing the entire procurement process to find ways to open up more government contracts to SMEs and British Businesses. We will issue new guidance on government procurement reforms shortly.

Whether he has had recent discussions with Ofgem regarding the adequacy of the support offered by energy companies to people living with brain injuries, including conditions such as aphasia, and registered on the Priority Services Register.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with the industry regulator Ofgem on a range of issues. DESNZ is working closely with other Government Departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care, on the National Data Library household income ‘Kickstarter’ project to test how public sector data can be better joined up to improve access to government programmes. This will pave the way for better targeted help, ensuring those who are struggling to pay their bills get the support they need.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the risk of the possibility of arms supplied from the UK to Israel being used to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in Iran and Lebanon.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 2 April in response to Question 122968.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the risk of the possibility of arms supplied from the UK to the USA being used to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in Iran.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 2 April in response to Question 122968.

Whether the Government plans to publish data on (a) the number and outcomes of procurement challenges and (b) the costs incurred by both contracting authorities and suppliers in such cases.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.

What assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in North Herefordshire compared with national averages.

Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of ‘respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of ‘respiratory conditions’ for North Herefordshire and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025)2025/26 (April 2025 to February 2026)North Herefordshire735700England612,876676,170Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Herefordshire can be found at the following link:https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/par/E92000001/ati/502/are/E06000019/iid/90933/age/314/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

How many UK exports of highly hazardous substances listed in Parts II and III of GB Prior Informed Consent Regulation are exported using the waiver from explicit consent from the importing country; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of exports permissible under changes to Article 14 Chemicals (Health and Safety)(Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026.

Information about waivers used in the past five years under the Great Britain (GB) Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulations is in the table provided below: Year Exports notifiedWaivers used for export202596212 (1.2% of exports notified)202485324 (2.8% of exports notified)202391421 (2.3% of exports notified)202291922 (2.4% of exports notified)2021101725 (2.5% of exports notified) Prior to 2021, and so during the time when the United Kingdom was a member of the European Union, waivers were issued by the European Commission. The current waiver provision in the GB PIC Regulations applies hazard criteria to the use of the waiver for those chemicals that are listed under the Rotterdam Convention (i.e., those chemicals listed in Part 3 of the GB PIC list). This goes beyond what the Convention requires and potentially creates a barrier to the export of a chemical that falls within these criteria when the importing country fails to respond to repeated requests for consent to import. In order to facilitate regulatory decision-making, harmonise conditions, and create greater clarity for businesses, the draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 includes an amendment to Article 14(7) in the GB PIC Regulations. This will ensure the same waiver conditions apply to all chemicals that require explicit/prior informed consent to import.

If the Health and Safety Executive will publish a regularly updated list of GB exports of highly hazardous substances listed in Annex II and III of GB PIC that are permitted using the waiver for explicit consent, including (a) the importing country, (b) the UK company, (c) the substance exported and tonnage band and (d) the reasons for which the export met the waiver conditions.

There is no statutory requirement to publish information on waivers used under the Great Britain (GB) Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulations. However, each year, companies have to report the name of the chemical in the GB PIC list that they have exported or imported during the previous calendar year, the quantity of the chemical, and the name of the importing or exporting country. The Health and Safety Executive, as the Designated National Authority, publishes that information on its website: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pic/annual-reporting.htm.

What steps she is taking to help parents whose children cannot attend mainstream school where there are no local alternative providers.

We want more children with special educational needs and disabilities to achieve and thrive in their local mainstream school which is why we are investing in making mainstream schools more accessible.We also recognise the need for more specialist places which is why we’re supporting councils with £3.7 billion in high needs capital between 2025 and 2030. This will fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, accessibility adaptations, and special school places for those that need them.

Pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2025 to question 86273, which variables determine whether the automated system is able to identify two sets of monthly earnings in one Universal Credit assessment period.

In most cases, claimants who receive two sets of monthly earnings in one Universal Credit assessment period are identified automatically and their award is corrected. This reflects established policy intent and is implemented through system coding based on data received from HM Revenue and Customs. However, a small number of cases are not picked up by the automated process because of the complexity of the claimant’s individual circumstances. This usually arises in situations where earnings do not follow a consistent or standard pattern, making them harder for automated systems to assess accurately. This can include irregular pay patterns or variations in how employers report earnings through Real Time Information (RTI). In these cases, earnings may not follow a standard pattern that the system can correct automatically, and manual intervention is required to ensure the claimant receives the correct Universal Credit entitlement.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales to combine their flood risk assessment maps.

The Environment Agency’s (EA) flood mapping enables delivery of flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) in line with Government policy. EA flood risk is modelled differently from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) because it better supports how flood risk is managed locally and nationally. Border communities may benefit from reviewing flood risk across both nations, and customers can align both nations flood risk mapping should they choose. The EA and NRW do work closely on FCRM cross boundary planning matters.

Whether funding to tackle water pollution caused by highways will be included in the budget of Road Investment Strategy 3.

The third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) includes funding to enable National Highway to continue delivering on its 2030 Water Quality Plan, and to mitigate pollution from a total of 190 – 250 drainage assets (outfalls and soakaways) that pose the greatest pollution risk.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department’s Worker priority change of circumstance service in supporting health services, such as the Ledbury Health Partnership GP surgery, to address staffing requirements.

Awaiting answer.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a introducing an expedited process for frontline healthcare organisations requiring Certificates of Sponsorship to support visa renewals.

Working alongside the DHSC-funded Regional Partnerships, UKVI have already established a process for expediting the processing of applications for the social care sector.This supports visa renewals and those care workers who have been impacted by their employer's licence being revoked. This involves a letter of support from the relevant Director for Adult Social Services (DASS) being issued to a specific UKVI mailbox which receives preferential consideration over other priority services.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK-made weapons components are not used in violations of international humanitarian law by allied states.

The Business and Trade Secretary is responsible for licensing the export of military goods. In his decisions he draws on advice from the Foreign Secretary, including with regard to compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL).Under the UK’s robust export licensing criteria, the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. We review all new licence applications on this basis. We also keep all our extant licences (which typically last for two years) under continual review.Should licences be found to no longer be consistent with the criteria, the Government can amend, suspend or revoke them.

Whether any components manufactured in the UK have been supplied for use in the Tomahawk missiles used in US military operations against Iran since 28 February 2026.

The UK works closely with the US on many defence priorities, and our supply chains are of course both complex and intertwined. As part of longstanding convention, we do not comment on military operational details.

What assessment has been made of the risk of UK-made weapons components being used to inflict civilian casualties in Iran.

We are appalled by all reports of civilian deaths – in both Iran and the region. Innocent civilians should never be caught in the crossfire. The Business and Trade Secretary is responsible for licensing the export of military goods. In his decisions he draws on advice from the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary. All licences are assessed in line with the robust Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and are kept under careful and continual review as standard.