Written questions by McMurdock.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Clean energy upgrades for hospitals and military sites, published on 5 February 2026, whether (a) Basildon hospital and (b) any hospitals in Essex will receive funding to improve energy efficiency.

Basildon Hospital will receive £246,460 of funding for LED lighting energy efficiency upgrades. Other sites from the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to receive funding for LED lighting energy efficiency upgrades are: Braintree Community Hospital - £130,680Broomfield Hospital - £1,976,876Orsett Hospital - £330,532Southend Hospital - £620,965St Michael's Hospital – £354,777 Colchester Hospital is also receiving £137,940 for solar PV and is part of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

What proportion of graduates supported by Jobcentre Plus enter roles classified as graduate-level employment.

We do not capture data on the number of graduates entering graduate schemes or graduate-level employment. The latest published DfE data shows that the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.(opens in a new tab)

Pursuant to her Department’s new story entitled, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, what metrics will be used to evaluate the success of the new deepfake detection evaluation framework.

The purpose of the new evaluation framework is to enable government and law enforcement to assess the performance, robustness and operational value of deepfake detection tools. The framework evaluates detection tools against a range of technical and operational criteria, including accuracy, false‑positive and false‑negative rates, resilience to adversarial attacks, and usability within high‑volume investigative workflows. Success will be measured through the provision of clear, comparable performance metrics that support evidence‑based procurement decisions and ensure frontline users have access to the most effective technologies.

With reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, what steps she is taking to coordinate with he international counterparts to tackle deepfake generation targeted at British citizens abroad.

There has been strong interest from international partners, many of whom participated in the recent Deepfake Detection Challenge live event. The Government will continue to work closely with these partners to share best practice, exchange technical insights and promote aligned approaches to the detection and mitigation of synthetic media threats.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled, Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, what proportion of exemption requests for those who cannot use digital tools has been rejected.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled, Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, how many exemption requests for those who cannot use digital tools HMRC has received to date.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

What steps is he taking to help ensure JobCentre Plus provides effective support to graduates seeking graduate-level employment.

We do not capture data on the number of graduates entering graduate schemes or graduate-level employment. The latest published DfE data shows that the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.(opens in a new tab)

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, whether any of the £80 million investment will be allocated to colleges and universities in Essex.

On 5 February the Ministry of Defence announced that, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy skills package, it is directly investing £80 million into the Higher Education sector to increase the capacity on key defence-related courses and invest in new facilities and cutting-edge technology to ensure we have the skilled workforce the sector requires in the future. This funding will be distributed by the Office for Students (OfS) as part of a Strategic Priorities Grant competition which all eligible Higher Education institutions in England will be able to apply for. OfS are an independent body running a fair and transparent competition. The competition opened on the 12 February with competition guidance published on their website. We welcome applications from colleges and universities across England including in Essex.

With reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, is she will publish an evaluation of the deepfake detection framework.

The evaluation framework is a security‑sensitive tool designed to support government and law enforcement in protecting the public from synthetic media threats. Publishing the framework would risk revealing information that could be exploited by adversaries to bypass or undermine defensive measures. For this reason, the framework will not be published.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, what plans his Department has to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the funding competition to increase student places on strategically-relevant defence courses.

On 5 February the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced that, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy skills package, it is directly investing £80 million into the Higher Education sector to increase the capacity on key defence-related courses and invest in new facilities and cutting-edge technology to ensure we have the skilled workforce the sector requires in the future. This funding will be distributed by the Office for Students (OfS) as part of a Strategic Priorities Grant competition which all eligible Higher Education institutions in England will be able to apply for. We have worked with the OfS to help shape the competition criteria to ensure that institutions receiving this funding will be networked into the defence industry and wider sector and are able to support students to consider a career in the defence industry. The OfS will monitor the institutions and the specific projects that receive this funding and we are working with them to ensure that this monitoring aligns with the MOD’s strategic aims for this funding.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Student skills investment to boost UK defence industry, published on 5 February 2026, what are the key performance indicators that his Department will use to measure the success of the Defence Universities Alliance.

The Defence Universities Alliance was announced as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy in September 2025 to create a strategic network of UK universities who are publicly committed to partnering with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the defence industrial sector. It aims to advance high quality defence research, encourage more skilled graduates to consider careers within the defence sector and strengthen and promote the partnership between the MOD, academia and defence industry. We are in the process of establishing the Alliance and will work with its founding members to establish a baseline and measure its success. Further details will be announced in due course.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, whether HMRC has undertaken an equality impact assessment of the implementation of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on older and digitally excluded sole traders and landlords.

HMRC has been accepting applications for exemption from Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax since 29 September 2025. As of 31 January 2026, we have received 1,271 applications for exemption from MTD for Income Tax on the grounds of digital exclusion. As of 31 January 2026, decisions had been made on 881 applications, with 661 granted exemptions from the MTD for Income Tax requirements. HMRC has assessed the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax on compliance costs and administrative requirements across different customer groups, including self-employed individuals, small businesses, and landlords. The latest published assessment is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK Equalities are also considered as part of this impacting. The government is clear that where a taxpayer cannot use MTD for Income Tax, for example due to age or disability, they can apply for exemption from the MTD requirements.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Clean energy upgrades for hospitals and military sites, published on 5 February 2026, whether the £9 million to be delivered in partnership with Great British Energy is separate from the £74 million energy upgrades.

The £9 million is part of the £74 million of funding for clean energy upgrades announced on 5 February 2026. Solar PV and battery installations are being delivered in partnership with Great British Energy.

What information his Department holds on the proportion of graduates that enter graduate employment schemes within one year of completing their studies.

We do not capture data on the number of graduates entering graduate schemes or graduate-level employment. The latest published DfE data shows that the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.(opens in a new tab)

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Clean energy upgrades for hospitals and military sites, published on 5 February 2026, whether any of the funding for new batteries and solar panels will go to (a) Basildon hospital and (b) other hospitals in Essex.

Basildon Hospital was not one of the hospitals to receive funding for batteries or solar PV as part of the announcement on 5 February 2026. However, it did receive £246,460 of funding for LED lighting energy efficiency upgrades. As for other hospitals in Essex, Colchester Hospital received £137,940 for solar PV as part of the announcement.

With reference to her Department's news story, Government leads global fight against deepfake threats, published on 5 February 2026, whether she plans to repeat the Deepfake Detection Challenge to continue testing the technical challenges of deepfake detection and identifying opportunities.

The Deepfake Detection Challenge has enabled extensive engagement across government policy teams, operational users, and the wider national security community to understand current and emerging threats. The Government will continue to evaluate deepfake detection capabilities to ensure tools remain effective against emerging techniques, and operational users have up-to-date information for procurement decisions.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Clean energy funding to be tied to stronger workers’ rights, published on 4 February 2026, what mechanisms his Department will use to (a) monitor and (b) enforce compliance with the Fair Work Charter by offshore wind firms.

Signing the fair work charter will be a condition of Clean Industry Bonus eligibility at the point of application. Enforcement during the delivery phase will be set out in the Charter’s governance chapter. It will set out the dispute resolution process agreed by industry and trade union representatives.

What steps is he taking to help improve price transparency for veterinary services.

Competition issues and pricing practices in the veterinary services market are currently being examined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of its market investigation into veterinary services for household pets. The CMA is expected to publish its final report by March. The Government will consider the CMA’s final findings and respond to the report within 90 days of its publication.

What estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of funding undergraduate courses that do not lead to sustained graduate-level employment.

All first-degree subjects typically lead to high rates of sustained employment, with Longitudinal Education Outcomes data showing that the proportion of graduates in “sustained employment with or without further study” five years after graduation ranges from 77.4% to 92.2% across subjects (in the latest available data, i.e. the 2022/23 tax year). This compares to a 68.0% employment rate among working-age non-graduates (in the latest Graduate Labour Market Statistics release, i.e. for 2024).Current administrative data does not provide a breakdown of outcomes by whether employment is at graduate-level. Similarly, evidence is not available on the breakdown of government costs of student finance at course or subject level.Courses with specific quality concerns related to graduate outcomes are addressed through the Office for Students quality regime.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months, published on 5 February 2026, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the requirement to maintain digital records and submit quarterly tax updates under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on sole traders and landlords.

The government is undertaking a range of activities to ensure those needing to use Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from April 2026 are ready and able to do so successfully. This includes targeted media campaigns, awareness letters, developing guidance, and working with the software industry to ensure a broad range of MTD‑compatible products is available, to suit different needs and budgets. Free options will support those with the simplest affairs. MTD will help businesses and landlords keep on top of their tax affairs. It places small businesses on a more digital footing, with digital tools helping to reduce errors and making annual tax returns easier. HMRC’s latest published assessment of the potential impact of MTD for Income Tax across different taxpayer groups is available at: Extension of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment to sole traders and landlords - GOV.UK