The Government committed to updating Parliament on British steel every four sitting weeks for the duration of the period of special measures being applied under the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025.

The Government’s priority remains to maintain the safe operation of the blast furnaces at British Steel. Government officials are continuing to provide on-site support in Scunthorpe, ensuring uninterrupted domestic steel production and monitoring the use of taxpayer funds.

On funding, the position remains that all Government funding for British Steel will be drawn from existing budgets, within the spending envelope set out at the 2025 spring statement. To date, we have provided approximately £555 million for working capital, covering items such as raw materials and salaries. This will be reflected in the Department for Business and Trade’s accounts for both 2025-26 and 2026-27.

Next steps

The Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill has completed its passage in the House of Commons and has entered the House of Lords. Given the information currently available to us, the Government are strongly minded to use the powers in the Bill to bring British Steel into public ownership in the future, subject to the public interest being satisfied and taking into account all the relevant facts at that time.

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Following the decision to leave the EU and the related end of our association with the Erasmus+ scheme, the last Government introduced the Turing scheme. The scheme has been the UK Government’s global programme for students to study and work abroad, funding students studying across the UK and British overseas territories, in higher education, further education and schools.

The scheme is about to start its sixth year and applicant education providers will shortly be informed of the outcome of their application. I can confirm a budget of up to £78 million for the Turing scheme for the 2026-27 academic year.

The Government decision to associate with Erasmus+ in 2027 will build on the Turing scheme’s success in opening up world-class opportunities for learners, educators, young people and communities, while further strengthening our partnership with the European Union. Our renewed participation in Erasmus+ will increase the opportunities available to young people across the UK. We will therefore transition to this broad, expanded Erasmus+ in the 2027-28 academic year, ending the Turing scheme as Erasmus+ placements begin.

The Turing scheme has delivered strong outcomes in widening access to international opportunities, with the proportion of students funded who are from a disadvantaged background increasing from 39% in 2021-22 to 56% in 2024-25, with an estimated 61% planned in 2025-26. It has also provided additional funding for students with special educational needs and disabilities, additional support needs or additional learning needs.

We will build on the success of the Turing scheme through maximising the opportunities that our association to Erasmus+ brings, including supporting the participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with additional needs. Erasmus+ offers a broader scope of activity than the Turing scheme, providing opportunities not only for students but also for staff, and extends to the adult education, youth and sport sectors. The programme also supports a wide range of institutional partnerships and policy development. These activities help drive quality, encourage research links and enhance international reputation.

Like the Turing scheme, Erasmus+ offers additional funding to help participants with fewer opportunities, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, take part in mobility opportunities.

We expect that over 100,000 people in the UK could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities through Erasmus+ participation in 2027.

Erasmus+ participants can travel to any European Union member state, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye. As part of Erasmus+, grant holders in some sectors can also allocate up to 20% of project funding to support international mobilities to some countries that are not associated with the programme. Erasmus+ also supports global collaboration through partnership projects, with opportunities to involve non-partner countries under certain actions.

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I am pleased to provide an update on the Government’s approach to strengthening minimum energy efficiency standards in the non domestic private rented sector, following our previous consultations and extensive recent engagement with industry, investors, local authorities and other stakeholders.

The Government consulted in 2019 and 2021 on proposals to raise non-domestic PRS MEES to EPC B, reflecting the role of energy efficiency in cutting bills, strengthening energy security and supporting the transition to net zero. Since then, we have continued to engage closely with stakeholders on how these proposals would work in practice across a diverse commercial building stock.

Listening carefully to that feedback, the Government have now confirmed their intention to implement a revised and proportionate approach that maintains ambition where it delivers the greatest benefits, while providing greater flexibility for smaller businesses and landlords.

In practice, this means that from 2031 it is proposed that private rented non-domestic buildings over 1,000 square metres in England and Wales will be required to meet a higher energy efficiency standard of EPC B, where cost-effective. This offers a more targeted approach compared with the original proposal, which would have applied across the entire non-domestic building stock. Initial modelling suggests that raising the standard for the largest premises could save those tenants £360 million per year on their energy costs by 2031.

The intention is for buildings below 1,000 square metres to continue to be subject to the current EPC E minimum standard.

The previously consulted interim EPC C milestone for 2027 will not be taken forward, giving landlords and tenants more time to plan investment and retrofit works in a way that suits their buildings and lease structures.

Existing flexibility mechanisms, including the seven-year payback test and exemptions, will remain in place, ensuring that only improvements that are practical, affordable and cost-effective will be required.

The changes to raise MEES to EPC B for larger buildings will take effect following the successful passage of secondary legislation through Parliament.

This targeted approach focuses action where it delivers the greatest benefits, helping tenants in the largest buildings to save energy and reduce bills, protecting them from future energy shocks. While continuing to improve the poorest performing buildings through the existing EPC E standard, we are giving additional flexibility to our SMEs and high streets to upgrade their buildings over time, with no set deadline for going beyond this level. With a fair and proportionate timetable, the policy supports business investment, reduces exposure to volatile energy prices and strengthens UK energy security.

We will publish the Government’s consultation response in due course, setting out further detail on the policy and implementation of the threshold, and aim to introduce legislation and supporting guidance at the earliest opportunity.

We will continue to work closely with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that the pathway to EPC B is fair, clear and deliverable.

We look forward to continuing the dialogue with industry as we move into the next phase of delivery.

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The harms of viral harmful content do not end online. They can spill into our streets and destabilise communities. Recent incidents—including the disorder following the Southport attack in summer 2024, unrest in Leicester in 2022, and events following the tragic murder of Henry Nowak—demonstrate how online activity can intensify real-world harm at moments of vulnerability.

As set out in “Protecting What Matters”, the Government will go further where needed to protect communities, including by ensuring the Online Safety Act’s crisis response provisions are fit for purpose.

Today I am laying before Parliament draft amendments to Ofcom’s codes of practice on illegal content and the protection of children. These strengthen expectations on platforms to respond effectively where their services contribute to risks to public safety during crises.

The Online Safety Act places clear duties on user-to-user services to protect users, including through systems and processes to tackle illegal content and that which is harmful to children. Ofcom, as the independent regulator, sets out in its codes the steps providers should take to meet these duties.

Following parliamentary scrutiny, Ofcom’s initial codes came into force in March and July 2025. They established a proactive, systems-based approach to tackling illegal harms and protecting children.

These amendments go further. They set an expectation on relevant services to have effective crisis response arrangements, mitigate risks associated with content on their platforms, and work closely with law enforcement where public safety is at risk. This strengthens how platforms address harms such as violence, abuse, hate, extremism and foreign interference.

Ofcom has submitted the draft amendments, which I am laying before Parliament for scrutiny. Subject to the usual 40-day period, the updated measures will come into force 21 days after the codes are issued.

These amendments build on existing collaboration between Ofcom and platforms on crisis response. Following recent unrest in Belfast, Ofcom has written to online service providers to remind them of their duties under the Online Safety Act to assess and mitigate the risks of illegal content, including material that stirs up hatred or incites violence. As Ofcom said in its letter, platforms do not need to wait before they start implementing stronger measures.

These changes mark a further step in implementing the Online Safety Act and strengthening protections for communities. Ofcom will continue to keep the codes under review to address emerging harms. This Government are fully committed to using all available levers to protect the public from harms that originate and spread online.

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I am today updating the House on the Government’s review of the airports national policy statement and the next stage in that process.

In October 2025 I announced that the Government would review the ANPS to support the delivery of additional airport capacity at Heathrow airport. In November 2025 I confirmed the Government’s decision to use the north-west runway scheme promoted by Heathrow Airport Ltd to inform that review.

I can today confirm that the Government have completed our review and are launching a public consultation on a draft revised national policy statement—now renamed the Heathrow expansion national policy statement—to clarify that it applies only to Heathrow expansion and its associated infrastructure.

This delivers on the commitment I made to consult on an amended policy statement by summer 2026 and marks another important milestone in the Government’s ambition for a decision on development consent application within this Parliament.

Heathrow is the United Kingdom’s only hub airport. It connects businesses to global markets, supports trade and tourism, and plays a vital role in the movement of passengers and freight. Heathrow has operated at or near capacity for many years and demand for aviation is expected to continue growing in the decades ahead. Expansion therefore has the potential to improve connectivity, strengthen resilience and support economic growth across the United Kingdom, with better connections and a third runway capable of boosting the UK economy and supporting more than 60,000 jobs.

The draft HENPS provides the planning policy framework against which any future application for expansion at Heathrow airport would be considered. It sets out the Government’s assessment of the need for additional airport capacity at Heathrow, explains why the north-west runway scheme has informed the review, and establishes the requirements that any future proposal would need to satisfy.

This document does not grant development consent, and nor does it approve any specific expansion scheme. Any application would remain subject to the statutory development consent order process, including independent examination by the Planning Inspectorate.

However, it is an important milestone and step forward. The review has considered developments since the ANPS was designated in 2018, including updated aviation forecasts, changes in legislation and wider Government policy. It has also considered how the Government’s four tests for Heathrow expansion should be applied.

On Economic Growth: Expansion must deliver a credible and meaningful contribution to UK-wide economic growth, supported by a clear plan for how benefits—for example, jobs, productivity and connectivity—will be realised.

On Carbon: The scheme must be compatible with the UK’s legally binding climate targets, including carbon budgets and net zero.

On Air Quality: Expansion must not cause new breaches of legal air quality limits, taking account of appropriate mitigation.

On Noise: Impacts must be limited so that noise is no worse than current levels—2024 baseline—with reductions where possible, supported by effective mitigation.

As set out in the draft HENPS, the Government consider that the development covered by the Heathrow expansion NPS is critical to national growth and therefore plan to designate expansion at Heathrow as critical national growth infrastructure. This is a signal of the importance the Government place on the need for expansion and will be an important additional factor in the planning balance.

On surface access—how passengers and staff travel to and from the airport—the draft HENPS requires promoters to demonstrate how increased passenger demand would be accommodated on the transport network and how any necessary road and rail improvements would be delivered. We are publishing a surface access vision document alongside this to set our expectations.

Alongside the draft HENPS, the Government are also today publishing an updated appraisal of sustainability, habitats regulations assessment and other supporting documents.

Draft HENPS consultation

The Government are committed to ensuring that decisions are informed by robust evidence and meaningful public engagement. The consultation on the draft HENPS will run for over 10 weeks, closing on 1 September 2026. Alongside the consultation, a nominated parliamentary Select Committee will undertake parliamentary scrutiny on the draft HENPS.

This consultation provides an important opportunity for local communities, businesses, local authorities, environmental organisations and other interested parties to provide their views before any final decision is taken.

Following the consultation, the Government will carefully consider all responses and the parliamentary Select Committee’s report before deciding whether to designate an amended national policy statement. Any amended HENPS will be published and laid in Parliament and will be subject to a vote in this House prior to having legal effect.

Broader programme progress

The consultation on the draft HENPS forms part of a wider programme of work to support a modern, resilient and sustainable aviation sector.

The Civil Aviation Authority continues to develop the regulatory framework that would apply to any future expansion proposal, with a focus on affordability, financeability, cost-efficiency and consumer protection. The Government will continue to work closely with the regulator as it develops its approach, while respecting the regulator’s independence. The CAA anticipates publishing its final decision on recovery of early costs and direction of travel on preferred regulatory model this summer.

The Government are also progressing our airspace modernisation programme and will shortly publish updated air navigation directions and guidance to support a more efficient, cleaner and quieter aviation system. Airspace modernisation is needed irrespective of the planned runway expansion. Its purpose is to make UK airspace more efficient, resilient, quieter and cleaner—not to provide a shortcut to airport expansion.

Alongside this consultation, the Government are announcing a review of the jet zero strategy, with an updated strategy to be published in early 2027. This review will consider the latest evidence on aviation decarbonisation and assess progress in delivering existing commitments.

The Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill, which is separate from the Heathrow expansion programme, will support growth, strengthen consumer protections and modernise the regulatory framework for the aviation sector more widely.

Next steps

I will update the House on the outcome of the consultation and parliamentary scrutiny process in due course.

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