Written questions by Reynolds.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the British Council’s capacity to meet its Covid-era loan repayments on staffing levels and the closure of overseas offices.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I provided on 13 October in response to question 906060, and to the oral evidence provided to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 9 December by the Permanent Under-Secretary to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and on 16 December by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, where these issues were addressed at length.

What the scope and timescale will be for the review of the childcare system; and what estimate she has made of the number of working parents in Windsor and Maidenhead who are unable to access Government-funded childcare places due to insufficient local provider capacity.

The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. As announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, the department will lead a review of childcare provision. This review aims to simplify the system for providers and families, improving access and strengthening the impact of government support. The department does not hold the specific data requested. The department publishes information on the number of parents that have obtained eligibility codes (to allow them access to the expansion to the early education entitlements) and how many of those codes have been validated by a childcare provider. These figures are available for each local authority. It should be noted that failure to validate a childcare eligibility code does not always mean the parent could not find a place and some parents may obtain an eligibility code but chose later to not use it. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6c795555-7148-4429-b1e3-08de39895a0e. The data is as of 22 September 2025. Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities must ensure sufficient childcare provision to meet parental requirements in their area. Parents unable to secure a government-funded place should contact their local authority if they cannot access a place.

What steps she is taking to help increase early years workforce recruitment and retention in Windsor and Maidenhead; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of her proposed funding rate increases on provider ability to offer competitive wages in that area.

The department is supporting recruitment through our national ‘Do something Big’ marketing campaign and financial incentives to new and returning educators in areas of most need. Our delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, is supporting local authorities and providers with one-to-one targeted support. We are committed to strengthening career pathways and championing early years teachers as part of our Best Start in Life strategy. To boost retention and attract new talent, we plan to more than double the number of funded training places on early years initial teacher training by 2028, and roll out a new degree apprenticeship route, with financial support for employers to deliver this. In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling the government’s commitment to funded childcare since 2023/24. This will fund a full year of the expanded entitlements and an above inflation increase to funding rates. These increases also continue to reflect in full forecast cost pressures on the early years sector, including National Living Wage increases announced at the Autumn Budget 2025. Early education is delivered by a mixed market who set their own rates of pay. It is then up to those providers how they choose to spend this funding.

Whether mainstream or special free school projects in the Maidenhead constituency are affected by the review of the free schools pipeline set out in her written ministerial statement of 15 December 2025.

There are no mainstream or special and alternative provision free schools planned in the Maidenhead constituency. In line with the statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to the House on 15 December, we are making a funding package available to the local authority so they can deliver the places planned for the school themselves more quickly and with a greater focus on mainstream inclusion where appropriate. There is one planned special school in Windsor and Maidenhead local authority For the planned special school in Windsor and Maidenhead, the local authority has a choice about whether to continue with the school or take the funding package. The department will fund the capital delivery of schools the local authority chooses to proceed with in the usual way. Local authorities have until 27 February 2026 to make their decisions, and we will confirm the total funding for all local authorities, as well as the schools that are going ahead, in due course after that date.

What plans he has to review medal eligibility criteria for armed forces personnel injured in acts of terrorism while serving in the UK but not on operational deployment.

All UK medallic recognition is at the behest the monarch. He is advised by a Cabinet Office led system of committees that consider the merits of individual endeavour in various fields. I am aware of calls for a specific acknowledgement for Service personnel who are injured in the course of their military careers, either during military conflict or through incidents of terrorism. For that reason, officials in the Ministry of Defence are considering this issue, looking at whether a defined ‘Injury Medal’ would be the best method of recognition in such circumstances, and whether such an award would be viable. This work is at an early stage, and it would not be appropriate to speculate on whether such an award may be instituted, nor precisely what it might look like in terms of eligibility.

Whether the Government has set a target date by which no veteran should be sleeping rough in England; and what resources have been allocated to achieve this objective.

This Government is fully committed to ensuring that all veterans across the UK have access to the support they need on housing. That is why we have committed an additional £12 million to ensure the continuation of the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme. Op FORTITUDE will also be extended, putting the service that has already supported over 1,000 veterans on a sustainable footing. These programmes will deliver three years of support services across the UK for veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness. On 11 December 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published A National Plan to End Homelessness. The Ministry of Defence contributed to this strategy including committing to ensuring that all councils are aware of service provision in their area to support veterans at risk of homelessness.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria her Department uses to determine the level of UK humanitarian assistance in response to natural disasters in developing countries.

The level of UK humanitarian assistance provided in response to a natural disaster will be based on a number of factors, including the vulnerability of the affected population, capacity of the affected country's government to respond, the number of people affected or in need, and contributions from other donors towards the crisis.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the proposed timeline between January 2027 and December 2029 in the F Gas Regulation consultation for the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump sector to implement the safety measures required for the transition to alternative refrigerants with flammability or toxicity characteristics.

The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to include mandatory training and certification requirements for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump technicians handling alternative refrigerants as part of the proposed reforms to the F Gas Regulation phasedown schedule.

The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.

Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential costs and benefits of a hybrid phasedown scenario that would maintain the existing phasedown schedule until 2030 before transitioning to the Medium Ambition Scenario, compared to the High Ambition Scenario proposed in the F Gas Regulation consultation.

The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to Sri Lanka beyond the initial humanitarian assistance announced in response to Cyclone Ditwah.

The level of UK humanitarian assistance provided in response to a natural disaster will be based on a number of factors, including the vulnerability of the affected population, capacity of the affected country's government to respond, the number of people affected or in need, and contributions from other donors towards the crisis.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions her Department has had with the (a) World Bank, (b) International Monetary Fund and (c) Asian Development Bank on financial support for Sri Lanka's post-Cyclone Ditwah recovery.

The level of UK humanitarian assistance provided in response to a natural disaster will be based on a number of factors, including the vulnerability of the affected population, capacity of the affected country's government to respond, the number of people affected or in need, and contributions from other donors towards the crisis.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much UK humanitarian assistance was provided to Sri Lanka following Cyclone Ditwah in November 2025.

The level of UK humanitarian assistance provided in response to a natural disaster will be based on a number of factors, including the vulnerability of the affected population, capacity of the affected country's government to respond, the number of people affected or in need, and contributions from other donors towards the crisis.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed SESRO reservoir on the environment of the Thames Valley.

Assessments to understand the potential impacts of SESRO have been developed by Thames Water, working with environmental regulators, as part of the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) gated planning process ahead of formal planning stages. For SESRO to proceed it will need to obtain a Development Consent Order as well as environmental permits. Through the Development Consent Order process, a full environmental impact assessment will be required to understand all environmental impacts from the scheme and to identify mitigation needed to protect the environment through both construction and operational phases. The Environment Agency (EA), along with other environmental regulators, is a statutory consultee for the process. Environmental assessments will also be required for any permits needed for the scheme, for which the EA is a regulator.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of the overseas development assistance budget was allocated to rapid disaster response in developing countries in 2024-25.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 26 November in response to Question 92339.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered alternative water supply schemes to the proposed SESRO reservoir in the Thames Valley.

The need for SESRO has been determined through statutory Water Resources Management Plans which are developed by water companies to show how they will manage supply and demand for the next 25 years. Water company plans adopted the outputs of the Regional Plan developed by Water Resources South East Water which appraised over 2400 options to meet water demand in the region. This included reservoirs, transfers, recycling schemes, new and redeveloped sources. All available options were compared through best value modelling, and SESRO was selected as a preferred option for the southeast and included in Thames Water’s Water Resources Management Plan.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many responses his Department has received from (a) refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump industry representatives, (b) small and medium-sized enterprises and (c) trade associations representing environmental technology businesses to the F Gas Regulation consultation.

The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.

Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative estimate her Department has made of the cost to consumers of (a) the proposed SESRO reservoir and (b) a Severn-to-Thames water transfer pipeline.

Water Resource Management Plans, which are approved by regulators, ensure that the strategic options pursued by water companies provide the best value for customers. Expenditure on infrastructure and customer bills are also controlled by Ofwat to minimise costs to billpayers. Defra are working to minimise bill impacts of any strategic resource option through the Water Delivery Taskforce, which brings together regulators and water companies to find cost-effective solutions.

What advice his Department has received on whether changes to the inflation indexation methodology of the Feed-in Tariff scheme would constitute a material change to the contractual terms agreed with scheme participants.

The Feed-In Tariff scheme does not involve individual contracts between generators and government. Accredited generators may have entered into contracts with their energy suppliers in relation to their FIT payments, but their entitlement to those payments arises from legislation and the standard conditions of the electricity supply licence. Any changes to the indexation methodology would follow the statutory process for changing those conditions.

What steps he is taking to prevent sudden cardiac deaths in people aged 35 and under.

To reduce the risks of sudden cardiac death, NHS England has published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions which includes services for young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification and is working with a broad range of stakeholders as part of the review.