Written questions by Naish.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of children expected to be impacted by planned reductions to Official Development Assistance spending on nutrition programmes in 2025-26.

Our 2025/26 Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations reflect the first step as we begin to pivot to a lower ODA budget. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) - which considers impacts on women and girls and wider equalities - was an essential part of how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) made these decisions. Final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations were published in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts on 22 July alongside the EIA. As confirmed by the EIA, the allocations process for 2025/26 has protected against disproportionate impacts on women and girls and people living with disabilities.The UK remains committed to tackling gender inequality around the world and we are placing women and girls at the heart of our international work.

What steps she is taking to improve the reliability of eVisa share codes.

We are committed to ensuring that the transition to eVisas is as smooth as possible for all status holders. The Home Office has a robust support model in place to facilitate this transition. There is no plan to change the UKVI Account Terms & Conditions. We already operate a process of ex gratia payments where the Home Office is found to be at fault, and this will not change with the introduction of eVisas. Our online immigration status services are designed to be highly resilient, with rigorous testing and concurrent services in place to ensure efficiency. We consistently monitor our online services to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Where technical issues do arise, there are fallback provisions in place to enable status to be confirmed through alternative means such as the Home Office’s dedicated UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre which can assist users who are experiencing technical issues and where necessary, enable a person’s status to be verified through alternative means. On sharecode reliability, we have not identified problems with the share code mechanism itself. The system is designed to invalidate codes in the following circumstances:Expiry after 90 days – Share codes are time-limited to prevent indefinite access to personal immigration data.Status updates – If a user’s immigration status changes after a share code is generated, the code is invalidated to ensure that the migrant has had a chance to review and share the most current status.On carrier eVisa verifications, if someone’s carrier, for example, airline, rail company or other transport provider, is unable to check a person’s permission to travel to the UK, the carrier may contact the UK Border Force Carrier Support Hub for advice, 24/7. This service is for carriers only.We do not collect data on how many times people have been refused airline boarding and UK entry as a result of eVisa issues. This data would rely on either a customer or airline notifying the Home Office and therefore could not be classed as a reliable data source Information requested regarding the breakdown of reported eVisa issues is not available from published statistics. The relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.We have carefully considered possible options for offline backup versions of eVisas. Information on a printed document would not allow demonstration of real-time immigration status, and therefore is not a secure method of sharing and proving immigration status in a way that gives confidence to the user and the checker.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has to help (a) advance gender equality and (b) protect women’s and girls’ rights through multilateral negotiations.

I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave him on 9 September to Question 71594.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reductions in ODA on levels of funding for programmes with gender equality objectives.

Our 2025/26 Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations reflect the first step as we begin to pivot to a lower ODA budget. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) - which considers impacts on women and girls and wider equalities - was an essential part of how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) made these decisions. Final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations were published in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts on 22 July alongside the EIA. As confirmed by the EIA, the allocations process for 2025/26 has protected against disproportionate impacts on women and girls and people living with disabilities.The UK remains committed to tackling gender inequality around the world and we are placing women and girls at the heart of our international work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has specified (a) targets and (b) benchmarks for gender equality spending from the ODA budget as a (i) principal and (ii) significant objective.

As we transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Government is reviewing existing commitments. Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29 will be informed by impact assessments, ahead of publishing multi-year allocations.Data on ODA spend is available in the Statistics on International Development publications, which are available for 2023 and provisionally for 2024. Data is available broken down by sector for the 2023 publication, including social sector spending on health and education, and humanitarian aid. Further information and annual reviews on specific programmes, including those with a specific focus on equalities, can be found on GOV.UK's Development Tracker.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment the Department has made of the potential merits of funding more programmes that support gender equality as their main objective.

The UK remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and stands in solidarity with women's rights organisations who are on the frontline of that fight. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) recognises that advancing gender equality and breaking down the barriers faced by women and girls is essential to development and to delivering the missions of this government overseas.The FCDO is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work. This will ensure we maximise the impacts for women, girls, and marginalised groups across all our spend and through our diplomatic levers, including by driving innovation to generate sustainable funding flows for women's rights.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the UK Visas and Immigration account terms and conditions in relation to liability for losses arising from inability to access an eVisa.

We are committed to ensuring that the transition to eVisas is as smooth as possible for all status holders. The Home Office has a robust support model in place to facilitate this transition. There is no plan to change the UKVI Account Terms & Conditions. We already operate a process of ex gratia payments where the Home Office is found to be at fault, and this will not change with the introduction of eVisas. Our online immigration status services are designed to be highly resilient, with rigorous testing and concurrent services in place to ensure efficiency. We consistently monitor our online services to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Where technical issues do arise, there are fallback provisions in place to enable status to be confirmed through alternative means such as the Home Office’s dedicated UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre which can assist users who are experiencing technical issues and where necessary, enable a person’s status to be verified through alternative means. On sharecode reliability, we have not identified problems with the share code mechanism itself. The system is designed to invalidate codes in the following circumstances:Expiry after 90 days – Share codes are time-limited to prevent indefinite access to personal immigration data.Status updates – If a user’s immigration status changes after a share code is generated, the code is invalidated to ensure that the migrant has had a chance to review and share the most current status.On carrier eVisa verifications, if someone’s carrier, for example, airline, rail company or other transport provider, is unable to check a person’s permission to travel to the UK, the carrier may contact the UK Border Force Carrier Support Hub for advice, 24/7. This service is for carriers only.We do not collect data on how many times people have been refused airline boarding and UK entry as a result of eVisa issues. This data would rely on either a customer or airline notifying the Home Office and therefore could not be classed as a reliable data source Information requested regarding the breakdown of reported eVisa issues is not available from published statistics. The relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.We have carefully considered possible options for offline backup versions of eVisas. Information on a printed document would not allow demonstration of real-time immigration status, and therefore is not a secure method of sharing and proving immigration status in a way that gives confidence to the user and the checker.

Whether she will publish quarterly breakdowns of eVisa issues by (a) category, (b) access failure, (c) incorrect data, (d) share-code errors and (e) outcomes.

We are committed to ensuring that the transition to eVisas is as smooth as possible for all status holders. The Home Office has a robust support model in place to facilitate this transition. There is no plan to change the UKVI Account Terms & Conditions. We already operate a process of ex gratia payments where the Home Office is found to be at fault, and this will not change with the introduction of eVisas. Our online immigration status services are designed to be highly resilient, with rigorous testing and concurrent services in place to ensure efficiency. We consistently monitor our online services to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Where technical issues do arise, there are fallback provisions in place to enable status to be confirmed through alternative means such as the Home Office’s dedicated UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre which can assist users who are experiencing technical issues and where necessary, enable a person’s status to be verified through alternative means. On sharecode reliability, we have not identified problems with the share code mechanism itself. The system is designed to invalidate codes in the following circumstances:Expiry after 90 days – Share codes are time-limited to prevent indefinite access to personal immigration data.Status updates – If a user’s immigration status changes after a share code is generated, the code is invalidated to ensure that the migrant has had a chance to review and share the most current status.On carrier eVisa verifications, if someone’s carrier, for example, airline, rail company or other transport provider, is unable to check a person’s permission to travel to the UK, the carrier may contact the UK Border Force Carrier Support Hub for advice, 24/7. This service is for carriers only.We do not collect data on how many times people have been refused airline boarding and UK entry as a result of eVisa issues. This data would rely on either a customer or airline notifying the Home Office and therefore could not be classed as a reliable data source Information requested regarding the breakdown of reported eVisa issues is not available from published statistics. The relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.We have carefully considered possible options for offline backup versions of eVisas. Information on a printed document would not allow demonstration of real-time immigration status, and therefore is not a secure method of sharing and proving immigration status in a way that gives confidence to the user and the checker.

How many times people have been refused (a) airline boarding and UK entry as a result of eVisa verification problems since 1 January 2025.

We are committed to ensuring that the transition to eVisas is as smooth as possible for all status holders. The Home Office has a robust support model in place to facilitate this transition. There is no plan to change the UKVI Account Terms & Conditions. We already operate a process of ex gratia payments where the Home Office is found to be at fault, and this will not change with the introduction of eVisas. Our online immigration status services are designed to be highly resilient, with rigorous testing and concurrent services in place to ensure efficiency. We consistently monitor our online services to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Where technical issues do arise, there are fallback provisions in place to enable status to be confirmed through alternative means such as the Home Office’s dedicated UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre which can assist users who are experiencing technical issues and where necessary, enable a person’s status to be verified through alternative means. On sharecode reliability, we have not identified problems with the share code mechanism itself. The system is designed to invalidate codes in the following circumstances:Expiry after 90 days – Share codes are time-limited to prevent indefinite access to personal immigration data.Status updates – If a user’s immigration status changes after a share code is generated, the code is invalidated to ensure that the migrant has had a chance to review and share the most current status.On carrier eVisa verifications, if someone’s carrier, for example, airline, rail company or other transport provider, is unable to check a person’s permission to travel to the UK, the carrier may contact the UK Border Force Carrier Support Hub for advice, 24/7. This service is for carriers only.We do not collect data on how many times people have been refused airline boarding and UK entry as a result of eVisa issues. This data would rely on either a customer or airline notifying the Home Office and therefore could not be classed as a reliable data source Information requested regarding the breakdown of reported eVisa issues is not available from published statistics. The relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.We have carefully considered possible options for offline backup versions of eVisas. Information on a printed document would not allow demonstration of real-time immigration status, and therefore is not a secure method of sharing and proving immigration status in a way that gives confidence to the user and the checker.

Whether she will (a) set and (b) publish service standards for responding to eVisa error reports.

We are committed to ensuring that the transition to eVisas is as smooth as possible for all status holders. The Home Office has a robust support model in place to facilitate this transition. There is no plan to change the UKVI Account Terms & Conditions. We already operate a process of ex gratia payments where the Home Office is found to be at fault, and this will not change with the introduction of eVisas. Our online immigration status services are designed to be highly resilient, with rigorous testing and concurrent services in place to ensure efficiency. We consistently monitor our online services to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Where technical issues do arise, there are fallback provisions in place to enable status to be confirmed through alternative means such as the Home Office’s dedicated UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre which can assist users who are experiencing technical issues and where necessary, enable a person’s status to be verified through alternative means. On sharecode reliability, we have not identified problems with the share code mechanism itself. The system is designed to invalidate codes in the following circumstances:Expiry after 90 days – Share codes are time-limited to prevent indefinite access to personal immigration data.Status updates – If a user’s immigration status changes after a share code is generated, the code is invalidated to ensure that the migrant has had a chance to review and share the most current status.On carrier eVisa verifications, if someone’s carrier, for example, airline, rail company or other transport provider, is unable to check a person’s permission to travel to the UK, the carrier may contact the UK Border Force Carrier Support Hub for advice, 24/7. This service is for carriers only.We do not collect data on how many times people have been refused airline boarding and UK entry as a result of eVisa issues. This data would rely on either a customer or airline notifying the Home Office and therefore could not be classed as a reliable data source Information requested regarding the breakdown of reported eVisa issues is not available from published statistics. The relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.We have carefully considered possible options for offline backup versions of eVisas. Information on a printed document would not allow demonstration of real-time immigration status, and therefore is not a secure method of sharing and proving immigration status in a way that gives confidence to the user and the checker.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to publish annual reports on the outcomes of ODA spending on (a) gender equality initiatives and (b) whether the (i) principal and (ii) significant objectives of that spending has been achieved.

As we transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Government is reviewing existing commitments. Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29 will be informed by impact assessments, ahead of publishing multi-year allocations.Data on ODA spend is available in the Statistics on International Development publications, which are available for 2023 and provisionally for 2024. Data is available broken down by sector for the 2023 publication, including social sector spending on health and education, and humanitarian aid. Further information and annual reviews on specific programmes, including those with a specific focus on equalities, can be found on GOV.UK's Development Tracker.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of children expected to be impacted by the planned reductions to Official Development Assistance spending on health programmes in 2025-26 in (a) Democratic Republic of Congo, (b) Mozambique, (c) Zimbabwe and (d) Ethiopia.

To assess the impact of decisions on Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations in 2025/26, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) conducted an equality impact assessment (EIA). While this did not capture the requested information and the data cannot readily be obtained for the purposes of answering this question, the EIA we have published confirmed we have avoided disproportionate negative impacts on women and girls and people living with disabilities in our 2025/26 ODA allocations.

What capital funding streams are available to academy trusts for essential playground (a) repairs and (b) replacement.

The government has given a long-term commitment for capital investment to improve the condition of schools and colleges across England through to 2034/35. It is investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance and renewal, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.The department supports local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided school bodies, who are responsible for keeping buildings and grounds safe and well-maintained, by providing capital funding to improve the condition of their estates.The majority of capital funding is provided through annual School Condition Allocations to large responsible bodies, such as local authorities and large multi-academy trusts, to decide how to invest in improving the condition of their estates, including playgrounds. Small or stand-alone academy trusts and sixth form colleges bid for funding for essential condition projects through the Condition Improvement Fund.Schools also receive a small annual capital allocation, Devolved Formula Capital, to spend on their own capital priorities, such as replacing or upgrading playground equipment.Further details about capital funding for 2025/26 are published on GOV.UK.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of including a target of at least 80 hours of enrichment activities in the enrichment framework.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Rushcliffe to the answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62871.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to prevent the (a) collection and (b) sharing of personal data by tracking pixels when using (i) police, (ii) council and (iii) other public websites for reporting (A) crimes and (B) abuses.

The use of online tracking technologies—such as tracking pixels—are regulated by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), which require user consent unless certain limited exemptions apply. Where these technologies collect personal data, the UK's data protection laws also apply. Under the UK GDPR’s lawfulness principle, organisations must ensure that any processing is not only compliant with data protection rules but also lawful more broadly. For public sector organisations such as the police and local authorities this includes acting lawfully under the Human Rights Act 1998.The Data (Use & Access) Act 2025 modernises PECR so that the Information Commissioner has the tools he needs to enforce the legislation effectively.

Whether her Department plans to (a) monitor and (b) limit the level of parking fees at airports.

The Department for Transport has no plans to monitor or limit the level of parking fees at airports. The provision and charging of car parking at airports (including drop off and pick charges) is a matter for the airport operator as a commercial business to manage and justify.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing draft duty relief for (a) consumers, (b) pubs and (c) breweries in (i) Rushcliffe and (ii) rest of the UK.

The Chancellor’s draught rate cut at Autumn Budget 2024 applied to approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This took a penny of duty off a typical strength pint.Draught beer and cider now pay 13.9% less in duty than their packaged equivalents – an increase of over 50% on the previous draught discount of 9.2%.The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of communication by Teachers’ Pensions with scheme members.

Teachers’ Pensions employs a wide range of communication methods to contact members of the scheme including via member portal, website, telephone contact centre, webchat, text messaging, post, email and social media platforms.The department regularly discusses the frequency, timeliness and content of key member updates with Teachers’ Pensions and how they are made available to relevant members.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) introduce (i) licensing and (ii) regulation for dog and cat rescue centres and (b) prevent fraudulent operations at unregulated rescue centres.

This Government will introduce the most ambitious plan to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Department has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of an overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more detail of plans in due course.

With reference to to project 12 of her Department's publication entitled Non-technical summaries for project licences granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act between January – March 2025, what the title is of the guidelines which specify the numbers of animals used in each study.

The legislation relating to placing a Medical Device on the market is The Medical Devices (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1478/contents/made).We are working with regulators to see how advances in technology can and will reduce use and phase out use in some areas.Although much research can be done without using animals, there are still purposes where use of live animals is essential, as the complexity of whole biological systems cannot be reliably replicated using alternative methodologies. Animal testing is therefore often required by all global medicines regulators, including the UK’s Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).Applications for animal research must conform with all legal requirements set out in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This includes, applying the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement); the replacement of animals with alternatives, the reduction of the number of animals used to the minimum possible and the refinement of any techniques to reduce the harm suffered by the animals to the minimum.