We aim to introduce this bursary early next year. Further information on how eligible households can apply and how the bursary will be paid will be released in due course.

We aim to introduce this bursary early next year. Further information on how eligible households can apply and how the bursary will be paid will be released in due course.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that National Health Service organisations have the appropriate workforce to support the delivery of clinical trials, including trials of brain cancer treatments.

Decisions about the composition and deployment of clinical research teams are for individual host organisations, based on their research portfolio, clinical priorities, patient population, and workforce requirements. This may include the appointment of research nurses with specialist expertise in particular disease areas where this is appropriate.

The Government does not currently mandate a particular staffing model but provides support with funding through the National Institute of Health and Care Research to develop the capacity and capability to deliver research, expecting host organisations to ensure that they have the appropriate resources and expertise to deliver the clinical research undertaken at their sites.

To support households with the cost of living, the Government is removing VAT from electricity bills this winter. Around 29 million households across the UK are expected to benefit from this change.

The new zero VAT rate for domestic electricity will replace the existing reduced VAT rate (5%). Anyone currently benefiting from the reduced rate will benefit from the new zero rate.

Some park home residents purchase their electricity from the park home site owner rather than directly from a licensed energy supplier. Where electricity is not individually metered and charged based on actual consumption, the electricity supply may be treated as part of the pitch fee and can therefore be subject to the same VAT treatment as that charge.

The Government legislated in February of this year to establish a financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets. This regime requires firms to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) where they are undertaking regulated activities in or to the UK. The new regulated activities include safeguarding cryptoassets that are in scope of the regime, and this extends to private keys. Firms authorised by the FCA must meet robust standards, including on risk management, operational resilience, and financial crime controls.

All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Our guidance for considering asylum claims is available on GOV.UK at: Assessing credibility and refugee status: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Each individual assessment is made against the background of relevant case law and the latest available country of origin information. This is based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national, and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office. Our assessment of the situation of a given group in a given country, is set out in the relevant country policy and information note, which is available on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-policy-and-information-notes

We are committed to giving every child the best start in life by ensuring that all families can access consistent, high-quality and non-judgmental infant feeding support that meets their needs, regardless of how they choose to feed their baby. Informed consent and shared decision-making are established principles of healthcare and reflected in national antenatal and postnatal guidance. The guidance supports women and parents to make informed choices about infant feeding, based on relevant evidence-based information and their individual needs, circumstances, and preferences. National guidance does not prevent early supplementation while breastfeeding. Where supplementary feeds are being considered, healthcare professionals should provide relevant information and support and discuss the woman’s circumstances and preferences, and agree an appropriate feeding plan.

I refer the Hon Member to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on antenatal and postnatal care, which is available at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng201/resources/antenatal-care-pdf-66143709695941

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng194/resources/postnatal-care-pdf-66142082148037

We are committed to giving every child the best start in life by ensuring that all families can access consistent, high-quality and non-judgmental infant feeding support that meets their needs, regardless of how they choose to feed their baby. Informed consent and shared decision-making are established principles of healthcare and reflected in national antenatal and postnatal guidance. The guidance supports women and parents to make informed choices about infant feeding, based on relevant evidence-based information and their individual needs, circumstances, and preferences. National guidance does not prevent early supplementation while breastfeeding. Where supplementary feeds are being considered, healthcare professionals should provide relevant information and support and discuss the woman’s circumstances and preferences, and agree an appropriate feeding plan.

I refer the Hon Member to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on antenatal and postnatal care, which is available at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng201/resources/antenatal-care-pdf-66143709695941

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng194/resources/postnatal-care-pdf-66142082148037

The Government treats severe space weather, including geomagnetic storms, as a national resilience risk. Preparations include continuous monitoring and forecasting by the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre, cross-Government coordination led by UK Space Agency in BIST, and sector engagement through severe space weather governance groups.

Government is refreshing the National Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy to strengthen preparedness, response and recovery arrangements and will publish in due course. Work is also under way with government departments, regulators, industry and international partners to improve impact assessments, contingency planning, exercising and public communications.

Children remain eligible for the free entitlement until they either start in reception at a state-funded school or reach compulsory school age.

A child attending a state-funded reception class on a part-time basis is entitled to additional free hours at another provider if the child’s parents have a 30 hours eligibility code. The maximum number of free hours in both the school reception class and another provider is 1140 hours per year.

Children who start on a staggered basis are not considered part-time and are counted as taking up a full-time place, with full-time attendance expected by the end of September.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for City of Durham on 16 April 2026 to Question 125554.

Parents are free to choose the childcare that is right for them and their children, and childminders are not prevented from caring for related children. However, the restriction on funding relatives is set out in the Childcare Act (2006). Section 18(4) of this Act specifically excludes care provided for a child by a parent or other relative.

This approach avoids creating an incentive for adults to register to become childminders and being paid to look after related children that they are already looking after on an informal basis. Allowing childminders to receive funding for looking after related children would not be an effective use of public money.

A local authority can choose to fund a childminder providing childcare for a related child, but this would have to be from local authority funds independent of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

Although childminders cannot receive entitlements funding for related children, flexibilities within staff-to-child ratios can be used to enable childminders who are caring for related children to avoid limiting the income they can earn.

We have no plans to change this long-standing position at this time.

Of the £1.5 billion, £775 million was allocated to be paid as lump sums to with profits non-annuitants, and £625 million allocated to With-Profit-Annuitants (WPAs) to be paid annually for the duration of the annuity, as they were the most vulnerable group. This includes a £100 million contingency fund to ensure there is provision for annuitants, should they live longer than their actuarial forecast and brings the total allocated to WPAs up to £725 million.

Government recognises that the expiry of Renewables Obligation support from April 2027 could affect the commercial viability of generators in a sector which supports hundreds of jobs. As set out in the Methane Action Plan, Government is exploring the implementation of a long-term methane capture scheme with appropriate transitional arrangements.

DESNZ and Defra are giving careful consideration to the potential impact of proposals on workforce capacity and undertaking a rigorous value for money assessment. No final decisions have we been made and we will consult on the proposals later this year.