Written questions by Shastri-Hurst.

What assessment her Department has made of mandating CitizenAID training within the national curriculum.

All state-funded schools are required to teach about first aid as part of the statutory health education set out within the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance. Independent schools are required to cover health education as part of their responsibility to provide personal, social, health and economic education.The statutory guidance includes basic first aid for primary school children. For example, dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries. Pupils in secondary schools will be taught further first aid. For example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.Schools also have the autonomy to decide how they teach first aid and which resources to use, so schools are free to incorporate citizenAID’s materials into their lessons if they choose to.The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum, which includes considering whether any additional content is needed, including first aid and life-saving skills.

How many 3M Combat Arms Earplugs V2 his Department purchased between 2003 and 2015.

3M Combat Arms Ear Plugs V2 were purchased by the Ministry of Defence during this period, however records of the quantities purchased are no longer held.

What the average annual workforce and activity cost is of the (a) Regular Army Infantry Battalion, (b) Army Reserve Infantry Battalion, (c) Royal Armoured Corps Regular Army Regiment and (d) Royal Armoured Corps Army Reserves Regiment.

We do not hold a central record of detailed workforce costings and activity at the granular unit level requested.

What the (a) workforce and (b) other costs are to maintain the (i) 4th Light Brigade Combat Team, (ii) 20th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, (iii) 102 Operational Sustainment Brigade and (iv) 1st Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade Combat Team at (A) routine levels of readiness and (B) full strength.

We do not hold a central record of detailed workforce costings and activity at the granular unit level requested.

What his timetable is for implementing fixed recoverable costs to clinical negligence claims.

Currently, the Government is considering the way forward on a wide range of matters, including clinical negligence costs reform, and we will announce our position in due course.

How many 3M Combat Arms Earplugs V2 his Department has purchased in the last five years.

The Ministry of Defence holds no records of any 3M Combat Arms Earplugs V2 being purchased in the past five years.

Pursuant to he Answer of 27 January 2025 to question 24346 on NHS: Standards, how many additional Value Weighted Activity appointments have been delivered since 5 July 2024.

Between July 2024 and November 2024, the latest available data, there were 1,635,136 more value-weighted activity appointments compared to the period July 2023 to November 2023.This includes elective ordinary and day case admissions, outpatient first appointments, and outpatient follow-up appointments with a procedure. It does not include other outpatient follow-ups, or diagnostic tests, except for endoscopy tests which are included within elective admissions or outpatient procedures as appropriate.Including diagnostic tests, between July 2024 and November 2024, the latest available data, there were 2,199,579 more appointments compared to the period July 2023 to November 2023.

On how many occasions he has met representatives of each medical Royal College since 5 July 2024.

Meetings with external organisations are routinely disclosed in the Department’s transparency publications. Two returns have been published since 5 July 2024, one in September, and one in December. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings#2024

Which appointments will count towards the plan to deliver 40,000 more NHS appointments a week.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission, and we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.Appointments will be defined as those in scope of the Value Weighted Activity metric, which is used to measure elective activity as set out in NHS Operational Planning guidance, together with the key diagnostic times from diagnostic waiting times statistics. Value Weighted Activity includes elective ordinary admissions and day cases, outpatient first appointments, and outpatient follow-up appointments with a procedure. This excludes outpatient appointments without procedure, to ensure that the appointments we are counting are high value for patients. Elective admissions for endoscopies are also excluded to avoid the double counting of diagnostics.Further information about the delivery of the additional appointments will be published at the earliest opportunity.

How he is measuring the delivery of 40,000 more NHS appointments a week.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission, and we will deliver an additional two million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.The Department regularly monitors the number of appointments the National Health Service is delivering using internal management information. Official measurement of the additional appointments will be published at the earliest opportunity.

What progress the Health and Safety Executive has made in its review of the Approved Code of Practice and guidance in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 on provision of disposal facilities in workplace toilets; and whether the Executive plans to hold a public consultation on any changes.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are reviewing the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and guidance of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 regarding provision of disposal facilities in workplace toilets. This work is included within the government’s wider plans under Make Work Pay, and HSE will hold appropriate consultation in due course.

What estimate she has made of the costs to HMRC of processing changes to rates of National Insurance contributions.

Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs) covering recent changes to rates of National Insurance contributions (NICs) are available on GOV.UK and include information about estimated costs associated with these measures. A TIIN covering employer NICs changes announced at Autumn Budget was published by HMRC on 13 November. These changes included a change in the rate of employers’ National Insurance. The TIIN confirmed that HMRC would need to make IT changes to implement this package of measures, and that the total cost of changes required was estimated to be circa £900,000.

What proportion of the Defence Medical Services cadre is operationally fit to deploy.

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces. Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released. Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel, or indeed other specialised professions, could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that police resources for tackling knife crime at a local level are used effectively.

This Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve knife crime over the next decade.As part of the £1 billion increase for policing in 2025-6 set out by the Home Secretary at the provisional police funding settlement, the Home Office is providing £49.7m for the continuation of the Violence Reduction Unit programme in 20 areas across England and Wales.VRUs are delivering a whole system approach to tackling violence, including knife crime, bringing key local partners together to understand the local drivers of violence, and agree and deliver a coordinated response, including delivery of early intervention and prevention programmes aimed at diverting young people from involvement in crime and violence.We will continue to build on, and learn from, this work during the development of our new Young Futures Programme

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the UK's space-based (a) positioning, (b) navigation and (c) timing capabilities, in the context of encrypted and alerting services.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently have any UK space-based position, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities, nor any plans for a future space based PNT system. The MOD works closely with the National PNT Office, in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to develop proposals for the UK Government’s PNT capabilities as part of the cross-Government initiative, concerning future space-based and non-space-based PNT solutions.

What estimate she has made of the increase of tax paid by hospices as a result of changes to National Insurance contributions rates.

The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. The OBR do not forecast NICs receipts at a sector level. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help deter Russian interference in democratic processes in the UK.

Protecting the integrity and security of UK democratic processes from threats of foreign interference is a priority across government.The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools and powers they need to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats. The Act includes the Foreign Interference Offence and the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), both of which will contribute to the toolkit available to law enforcement and the intelligence agencies to disrupt foreign interference activity, protect the British public and address the evolving threat to our national security.The Defending Democracy Taskforce also seeks to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign influence. The Taskforce works across government and with Parliament, the UK’s intelligence community, the devolved administrations, local authorities, the private sector, and civil society on the full range of threats facing our democratic institutions.In recent years, the UK has taken several measures to clamp down on the malign activities of the Russian State and its intelligence services, which have been supported across Parliament. These include the expulsion of 24 Russian intelligence officers from the Russian Embassy; the sanctioning of individuals responsible for malign activity against the UK and our allies; and exposing Russia’s malicious cyber activity.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to help deter malign Iranian activity in the UK.

Iran's malign activity is unacceptable. In response the to the regime's human rights violations, nuclear weapons programme, malign influence internationally and state threats, the UK has more than 450 sanctions designations in place on Iranian individuals and entities. The UK has also sanctioned the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety.We will continue to use all tools at our disposal, to protect the UK and its overseas interests against any threats from the Iranian state.

What estimate she has made of the value of charity given to (a) state schools and (b) local communities by independent schools in each of the last five years.

The department does not collect data about the value of charity given to state schools and local communities by private schools. Therefore, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not made an estimate of its value in each of the last five years.The Independent Schools Council, which represents over 1,400 private schools belonging to an association, publishes an annual report which sets out the support private schools give to schools in the state sector through partnership working and bursaries.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing bus fares on customers.

The previous bus fare cap was unfunded beyond 2024. The Government is stepping in and investing over £150 million to ensure single bus fares in England outside London remain capped at £3 throughout 2025. The cap ensures that millions can continue to trave...