Written questions by Heylings.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that individuals involved in civil justice proceedings who do not have substantial financial means to obtain barristers or paid legal advice are afforded adequate protections, support and access to justice.

Supporting access to justice for everyone in England and Wales is a key objective for this Government, and the Government recognises the important role that legal aid plays in helping some of the most vulnerable in society access legal advice.Individuals who are unable to pay for legal advice or representation for civil justice issues may be eligible for legal aid, subject to the scope of legal aid and the eligibility rules on financial thresholds and the merits of the case as set out in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) and its supporting secondary legislation. Applications must generally pass a means and merits test. The means test assesses an applicant’s financial eligibility (including their capital e.g. savings), income and access to welfare benefits. The merits test assesses the merits of the case including the likelihood of success and the benefit to the applicant.This Government is delivering the first major fee uplift for civil legal aid since 1996, investing an estimated £20 million in housing and immigration law once fully implemented. In addition, the Government’s Public Office (Accountability) Bill will provide the largest expansion of civil legal aid in a decade by ensuring bereaved families have access to non-means tested legal aid for all inquests where a public authority is an interested person.The Government also continues to fund the activities of advice charities to bolster the delivery of legal support services – both in person and online - for people experiencing civil justice problems. The Ministry of Justice is providing nearly £20 million of multi-year funding, extending our existing legal support grant programmes for 59 frontline organisations (including a range of services such as some regional Citizens Advice and Law Centres, other community-based advice services, and online information) to September 2026 to help people resolve legal issues, and providing a new grant that will run from October 2026 to March 2029. We are also working with the sector, via the Legal Support Strategy Delivery Group, to drive improvements to the sector.

How many hours over the past year has gas generation been online and setting the wholesale price, used not meet power demand but to meet system inertia requirements.

Generation activated to meet the system’s inertia requirements does not set the wholesale price. NESO meets system inertia requirements through procuring in the balancing and ancillary service markets, rather than the wholesale market. The wholesale market operates on the principle of marginal pricing, where the most expensive technology required to meet demand sets the price. However, the balancing market operates on a “pay as bid” model, where generators are paid based on the price they bid into the market, rather than the marginal price.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of adding chalk streams to the list of irreplaceable habitats in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included explicit recognition of chalk streams as features of high environmental value.We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 99556 on Electricity: Prices, what progress he has made on the reformed national pricing delivery plan; and what his timeline is for publishing that plan.

The Reformed National Pricing Delivery Plan is a key part of our vision for the future GB electricity system. We published the delivery plan today.

What discussions his Department has had with the General Medical Council on the (a) effectiveness and (b) adequacy of that organisation's guidance entitled Good practice in proposing, prescribing, providing and managing medicines and devices, published on 5 April 2021, on shared care agreements for people with ADHD.

Building on the work of the independent ADHD Taskforce, on 4 December 2025 my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism, which will inform our approach to ensuring appropriate support is in place.The independent review published an interim report on the 31 March 2026 which sets out key findings from the data and evidence reviewed so far, learning to date from discussions with people, including people with lived experience, and organisations as well as setting out plans for the next phase of the review and the key questions to address in more detail.The Department has made no specific assessment of the effectiveness of shared care agreements with independent sector providers for patients prescribed ADHD medication or held discussions with General Medical Council on their guidance.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring the installation of dynamic roadside electric vehicle charging pricing totems, including on the functioning of the market, the level of competition, and the potential impact on consumers.

The Department for Transport has not made such an assessment.  However, Government is modernising electric vehicle charging signage on major A-roads. Changes now allow larger electric vehicle charging hubs to be signposted from major A-roads. We are also working with local authorities to make it easier to provide signage to and about charging facilities on local roads and to ensure drivers have the best possible information at the roadside.

Innovation and Technology, what measures her Department is taking to hold online platforms to account for preventing fraud on their services prior to the full commencement of the Online Safety Act 2023’s provisions relating to scam advertising.

The Online Safety Act lists certain fraud offences as ‘priority offences’, meaning regulated services must already prevent users encountering user-generated fraudulent content, swiftly remove it if it appears, and mitigate and manage the risk of their services facilitating fraud. Ofcom, the independent regulator, has robust powers to act if it finds services are failing in their regulatory duties.Services designated as Category 1 and 2A (large user-to-user and large search services respectively) will have additional duties to tackle paid-for fraudulent advertising. Ofcom aims to publish its register and consult on the additional duties – including on fraudulent advertising – in summer 2026.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 94271 on Royal Mail: Takeovers, what discussions he has held with the EP Group since December 2025 on meeting the terms of Royal Mail’s agreements with the Communication Workers Union on workforce pay and conditions, in particular workforce pay and conditions for new entrants.

The Secretary of State has been in regular contact with Dave Ward, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), and Daniel Křetínský, the owner of EP Group, including chairing three trilateral meetings since December 2025 to encourage both sides to reach an agreement.The Government is pleased to note that the CWU and Royal Mail have reached an agreement on the implementation of Universal Service Obligation reforms and on new entrant terms and conditions.

Communities and Local Government, for what reason the (a) Housing Delivery Test is calculated separately for Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council and (b) five-year housing land supply is assessed jointly for Greater Cambridge.

I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.

Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on considering potential changes to national planning policy to enable joint Housing Delivery Test scoring in areas with aligned spatial strategies across multiple local planning authorities.

I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Housing Delivery Test outcomes on the operation of the five-year housing land supply and the application of the presumption in favour of sustainable development in Greater Cambridge.

I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Housing Delivery Test outcomes on the delivery of strategic housing sites in Greater Cambridge, including Northstowe and Waterbeach.

I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of applying the Housing Delivery Test on a joint basis across Greater Cambridge.

I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.

Communities and Local Government, what timetable he has set for concluding his Department’s consideration of potential changes to the Housing Delivery Test methodology in relation to Greater Cambridge.

I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.

Whether he has made any assessment of the potential merits of leveraging private investment in the gas-to-heat-pump transition by underwriting a net saving to the consumer.

Our ambition is to ensure that clean heat is the most attractive and natural option for people when upgrading or replacing their heating system. That means driving down upfront costs, helping with financing and grants, and ensuring everyone can reap the financial benefits with cheaper electricity and smart tariffs. The recent Budget took unprecedented steps to drive down electricity costs for all households, while those with electric heating stand to benefit most.

What assessment he has made of the potential benefit of encouraging the use of (a) smart energy tariffs and (b) consumer-led flexibility to lower bills for households and businesses.

Consumer Led Flexibility (CLF) can play a key role in lowering household and business electricity bills. CLF, including that facilitated through the uptake of smart tariffs, gives those who choose to participate greater control over their energy usage, and the opportunity to save money. The Clean Flexibility Roadmap includes a chapter on CLF with 42 actions to support it which are being delivered. It also set out on pages 8-9 typical electricity bill savings for those participating in it based on prices current at the time.

What his timeline is for rolling out the trial for discounted energy bills in areas of high wind generation.

The trial will launch this winter and we anticipate that it will run until Spring 2028. Measures will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows to enable the government to make enduring changes based on the results of the trial.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce seabird mortality from fisheries bycatch in UK waters.

Defra recognises that accidental bycatch in fisheries is one of the greatest threats faced by sensitive marine species such as seabirds. To tackle this, Defra funds numerous programmes and projects including: Clean Catch, which is carrying out a seabird bycatch monitoring and mitigation trial in the North Sea whitefish fishery; the Bycatch Monitoring Programme (BMP) which provides essential observer data on incidents of sensitive species bycatch; the ongoing Bycatch Risk Prioritisation Framework to assess species vulnerability to bycatch in all fisheries in the UK; a Seabird Bycatch Action Plan for England. Defra also plays an international leadership role, for example tabling a recent proposal to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) recommending modifications to fishing gear which have been proven to reduce seabird bycatch in longline fisheries. While not yet adopted, this helps lay the pathway for future work on addressing seabird bycatch in international tuna fisheries.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the UK meets commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030.

The Government is committed to achieving the goals and targets adopted under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Domestically, in England, the Environmental Improvement Plan and delivery of the legally binding targets under the Environment Act form a core pillar of meeting the commitments. Internationally, the UK is increasing investment in biodiversity and works extensively through international partnerships to support global capacity development. A comprehensive assessment of our progress towards delivering the 2030 GBF targets can be found in the UK’s 7th National Report to the CBD, which was published on 27 February 2026.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve the condition and management of protected sites for nature in England, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

The Department is taking action to improve the condition and long-term management of protected nature sites, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). We have set an interim target in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 (EIP25) for 50% of SSSI features to have actions on track to achieve favourable condition by December 2030. The EIP25 also reiterated this Government’s ambition to have 75% of protected sites in favourable condition by 2042. The published delivery plan sets out how we will achieve this and can be found online here: Protected sites Environment Act target delivery plan - GOV.UK Natural England is improving how SSSIs are monitored and ensuring that action on the ground is focused where it is most needed. This covers practical work such as helping farmers adjust land management, supporting catchment-wide efforts to improve water quality, and using proportionate regulatory action to prevent further harm to sensitive sites. Protected Site Strategies, which are spatially based restoration plans, will deliver targeted action for priority sites to restore and improve their condition by addressing environmental pressures such as pollution. The Nature Restoration Fund will provide a more strategic, long-term approach to managing impacts of new development on protected sites and species by pooling payments from multiple developers in order to deliver conservation measures at scale and maximise environmental outcomes.