Written questions by Reynolds.

Whether she has plans to review the Childcare Sufficiency Duty.

Through our Best Start in Life strategy, we are focused on reforming the childcare system, delivering on our plan for change. We will act to increase affordability and accessibility, improve quality and ensure our workforce is valued and respected. This government continues to prioritise and protect investment in the early years, which is why we are investing over £1 billion more in the early years entitlements next year compared to 2025/26 to deliver a full year of the expanded entitlements, and an above inflation increase to entitlements funding rates.It is important to continue to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places. While we do not retain data on settings closures, we continually monitor the sufficiency of childcare in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. The department has regular contact with them, and all other local authorities in England, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. The 2025 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers shows that England-wide early years places increased to 1,620,800 (+1%) between 2024 and 2025.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the consistency between the number of beagles licensed for use in scientific experiments approved by the Home Office between January and December 2025 and the Government's Replacing Animals in Science strategy published in November 2025.

No assessment has been made of the of the consistency between the number of beagles licensed for use in scientific experiments approved by the Home Office between January and December 2025 and the Government's Replacing Animals in Science strategy. The Labour Manifesto commits to partnering with scientists, industry and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing. It is not yet possible to replace all animal use due to the complexity of biological systems and regulatory requirements for their use. Any work to phase out animal testing must be science-led, in lock step with partners.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that Ofwat's successor regulator has sufficient powers to place a failing water company into Special Administration on grounds of environmental non-compliance, as well as insolvency.

As set out in the Water White Paper, we will create a powerful new regulator, bringing together the relevant functions from the existing regulators (of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England) into one new body. The new regulator will be able to deliver better services for customers, joined-up regulation and a cleaner environment for nature and the public. The bar for the Special Administration Regime is high. As per existing legislative requirements, evidence is needed that a company is insolvent or they are in such serious breach of their principal statutory duties or an enforcement order that it is inappropriate for the company to retain its licence. As set out in the White Paper, to ensure the regulator can act decisively should the high bar for Special Administration be met, we will ensure companies have appropriate contingency Special Administration Regime (SAR) plans, setting out how they would ensure that any special administrator, once appointed, would be able to maintain delivery of critical services and facilitate restructuring or sale if SAR is triggered.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to communicate to mortgage lenders the Government's guidance that buildings under 11 metres in height do not require an EWS1 form.

Officials in my department have regular engagement with financial sector stakeholders. Lenders have been encouraged to move away from the use of EWS1 forms for buildings of all heights, and instead to rely on a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW). An EWS1 form is not a government, legal or regulatory requirement. Not all lenders ask for an EWS1, but whether they do, remains a commercial decision.

What the value of exports facilitated by his Department was in each of the last five financial years by destination country.

The Department supported businesses to deliver export wins worth £16.9bn in 2020/21, £17.3bn in 2021/22, and £19.6bn in 2022/23. In 2023/24 over £36bn and almost £24bn in 2024/25 export wins were delivered.The Department does not provide country-specific wins due to the risk of disclosing commercially sensitive deals.

What the average time is between a parent with care requesting a Financial Investigation Unit referral and the referral being actioned; and how the Department monitors compliance with internal timeframes.

Data on the average time from a parent initiating a referral request to the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) and that referral being actioned are not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.All cases which are accepted by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) for investigation are assessed, and appropriate evidence obtained to fully inform the course of FIU action. The length of time required to complete the FIU action will depend on the complexity of fraud. Criminal cases of course can take much longer, due to their complexity.

How many cases in the last three years involved child maintenance payments being incorrectly refunded to the paying parent due to clerical error; and what steps the Department is taking to reduce such errors.

This information is not readily available and providing it would incur disproportionate cost.The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) works to ensure cases are kept up to date and payments are processed accurately, with controls in place to minimise incorrect refunds. The introduction of the View Parent Finances screen further improves clarity and compliance by giving caseworkers a clearer, simplified view of complex financial information.

What steps the Child Maintenance Service takes to (a) verify and (b) obtain up‑to‑date addresses for paying parents in cases where enforcement action cannot proceed due to the absence of a confirmed address.

The Government is committed to ensuring parents meet their financial obligations to their children. Where a paying parent fails to take responsibility for paying their child maintenance and cannot be traced, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will take immediate action and do everything within its powers to trace the paying parent. In addition to information provided by parents, CMS undertakes a series of trace checks to verify the paying parent’s address. These checks draw on several approved information sources, including; cross government databases, real time information from HM Revenue & Customs, credit reference agencies, employers and Local Authorities.The CMS have a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those parents who consistently refuse to meet or evade their obligations to provide financial support to their children. We are committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families to ensure compliance.The statistical information requested in not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

In the past year what has the average time been for the Child Maintenance Service to obtain a verified address for a paying parent once a caseworker identifies that one is missing; and what processes are in place to minimise delays where child maintenance arrears are accruing.

The Government is committed to ensuring parents meet their financial obligations to their children. Where a paying parent fails to take responsibility for paying their child maintenance and cannot be traced, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will take immediate action and do everything within its powers to trace the paying parent. In addition to information provided by parents, CMS undertakes a series of trace checks to verify the paying parent’s address. These checks draw on several approved information sources, including; cross government databases, real time information from HM Revenue & Customs, credit reference agencies, employers and Local Authorities.The CMS have a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those parents who consistently refuse to meet or evade their obligations to provide financial support to their children. We are committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families to ensure compliance.The statistical information requested in not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Food and Rural Affairs, what timeline and industry roadmap he has established for ending male chick culling.

The Government has set out in the recently published Animal Welfare Strategy that it will encourage the egg industry to move away from the practice of killing day-old chicks. The Government will discuss with them a roadmap to reach the objective of ending male chick culling.

When his Department last reviewed the Child Maintenance Service’s policy framework for modern shared‑care arrangements; and whether the Service plans to reform its policies on cases where both parents actively share day‑to‑day parenting responsibilities.

The Government recognises that shared care arrangements can play an important role in supporting children to maintain relationships with both parents after separation. In the child maintenance system, shared care is reflected in the maintenance calculation. Where a child stays overnight with the paying parent for at least one night a week on average, the amount of maintenance due is reduced to reflect the care provided. If the Child Maintenance Service is satisfied that both parents have equal day-to-day care for the child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.

What level of recurrent funding has been identified by NHS England to fund the recommendations of new treatments considered by NHS England’s next Clinical Priorities Advisory Group Prioritisation meeting in Spring 2026.

NHS England is not able to provide the level of recurrent funding identified at this point to support the next Clinical Priorities Advisory Group prioritisation meeting. This would risk disclosing commercially confidential information.

If NHS England Specialised Commissioning will consider a second prioritisation meeting this year of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group to reduce the 20 treatments currently being considered, in addition to the meeting in Spring 2026.

NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) prioritisation meetings are held annually and are aligned to NHS England's annual financial planning cycle.The next prioritisation meeting is planned for spring 2026, where policies that are ready and require investment decisions will be considered. It is expected that up to 20 such policies will be considered at that meeting. CPAG also meets monthly to consider clinical policies and service specifications that are categorised as cost saving or cost neutral, enabling progress to be made outside of the annual prioritisation round.There are currently no plans to hold an additional prioritisation meeting this year beyond the meeting scheduled for spring 2026.

What plans his Department has to review the internal complaints process of the Child Maintenance Service.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS), as part of the Department for Work and Pensions, follows the Department’s standard complaints procedure. The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience. The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.

What steps National Highways is taking to ensure the provision of timely and accurate physical diversion signage during planned and unplanned road closures.

National Highways follows the standards GG903 and GG907 outlined in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) for diversion routes for unplanned events and planned works and activities. These standards require NH to coordinate with customers and local traffic authorities and to conduct Customer Audits and annual engagements. National Highways monitor diversion routes for unplanned events through the National Highways operational reporting team.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that National Highways' contractors adhere to reporting requirements when closing sections of the Strategic Road Network; and what data National Highways holds on contractor compliance with those requirements in the last 12 months.

National Highways requires its contractors to inform National Highways’ Regional Operations Centres before closing any part of the SRN to allow appropriate signs, signals, and customer communications to be put in place.In the financial year 24/25, over 90% of the overnight closures planned by early afternoon went ahead as expected. National Highways’ traffic monitoring systems allows them to verify the status of road closures in real time.

Whether National Highways is required to ensure that all planned and emergency road closures are integrated into live satellite navigation systems.

There are no requirements for National Highways to ensure that all planned and emergency road closures are integrated into live satellite navigation.However, National Highways publishes information detailing all its planned and emergency work closures. Where available these details are published in advance.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) implications for his Department's policies and (b) investment in UK digital infrastructure of recent survey evidence on barriers to competition in the UK cloud market.

There are currently no plans to undertake such an assessment. The Competition and Markets Authority’s cloud services market investigation examined the state of competition in the market. The Government remains committed to supporting investment in high‑quality, secure and resilient digital infrastructure across the UK.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the impact of delays to competition solutions in the cloud services market on market concentration; and what consideration she has given to the implications for growth and innovation in the technology sector.

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers. The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone

Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the resilience of UK critical digital services in relation to the level of concentration in the cloud infrastructure market.

In July last year, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud market investigation identified a number of potential competition concerns which may impact the resilience of UK’s digital infrastructure. The CMA recommended that its Board consider prioritising a future Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into cloud services under its new digital markets powers. The Government is committed to promoting a competitive and innovative digital economy and therefore prioritised the commencement of these powers last year, alongside a clear expectation that they be used to support competition and innovation in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and decisions on which markets to investigate are a matter for its Board alone.