theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Alison Bennett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times he has met Baroness Casey since (a) 5 July 2024 and (b) 3 January 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 62692 on Air Ambulance Services: Contracts, if he will take steps to establish which air ambulance organisations hold contracts with NHS organisations in England. \p Karin Smyth: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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Sarah Hall:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of people who have been admitted to hospital after losing their PIP in each month in the last three years. \p Karin Smyth: The information requested is not collected centrally.
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Sarah Bool:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to include information on aplastic anaemia on the NHS website; and what criteria is used to determine which rare diseases are featured. \p Ashley Dalton: Working under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as aplastic anaemia.

There are over 7,000 rare diseases, often needing highly specialised input, and so the National Health Service website is not always the most appropriate platform to disseminate such information. At this stage there are no plans to add aplastic anaemia to the website.
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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer will provide a specific breakdown by (a) breast cancer subtype and (b) hormone receptor status. \p Ashley Dalton: We are committed to improving the lives of those diagnosed with both primary and secondary breast cancer. The Department does not hold the information to make a comparative assessment of the average spend per patient with primary or secondary breast cancer.

Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment is a strategic priority for the National Health Service. NHS England commissioned new clinical audits on primary and metastatic breast cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments. On 12 September 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published their State of the Nation Report on breast cancer. Officials at the Department and NHS England are in the process of considering the audit’s findings and what any next steps could be. To drive up the completeness of data for breast cancer, progesterone receptor status is already collected as part of the NHS Cancer Outcomes and Services Data set. No specific breakdown is available at this time.
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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the 2013 mandate to accurately collect and collate data on cancer recurrence is being fully implemented. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is committed to ensuring that data on cancer is complete and of sufficiently high quality. The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) collects recurrence data for non-primary cancers via data submissions as part of the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset (COSD). The COSD has been the national standard for reporting cancer in the National Health Service in England since January 2013, and provides a helpdesk and data liaison service to support data completeness.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-08)

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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide routine access to circulating tumour DNA blood tests to support the (a) detection and (b) treatment of breast cancer. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department remains committed to improving faster and earlier detection of breast cancer and will work to ensure that patients have timely access to lifesaving, innovative treatments. We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over four million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment. There are no current plans to provide routine access to circulating tumour DNA blood tests.

The Government’s wider investments into breast cancer research include a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, including lobular breast cancer. We are also proud to have invested £29 million into the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden National Institute for Health and Care Research Biological Research Centre in 2022, supporting their efforts to strengthen research into cancer, including breast cancer.
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Mr Clive Betts:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce a national cancer medicines advisory group for England. \p Ashley Dalton: The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, and research and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. We are considering what governance mechanisms will be appropriate to deliver the ambitions of the National Cancer Plan, including how we could improve treatment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-08)

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Wendy Chamberlain:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) guidance, (b) training and (c) minimum standards are provided to work coaches supporting clients with learning difficulties. \p Sir Stephen Timms: All Work Coaches new to DWP receive mandatory learning to support vulnerable customers and complex needs as part of their induction and onboarding, this includes helping customer who need additional support.

DWP Work Coaches also receive comprehensive training to support individuals with additional needs. This learning begins with the core Work Coach learning journey, and is reinforced through ongoing, point-of-need learning throughout their role. Key topics include:
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of Personal Independence Payments claims are related to an ongoing mental health condition for the last 12 months for which data is available. \p Sir Stephen Timms: PIP is assessed on the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability rather than a diagnosis. Information on claimants whose primary health condition is a mental health condition can be found on Stat Xplore. The information you need can be found on the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ table. You can use the “month” filter to select the previous 12 months for which data is available, and the ‘Disability’ filter can be used to select those under mental health conditions. The “table options” setting can be used to select “percentages”.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
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Adam Thompson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that there is clear understanding within (a) her Department and (b) employers of which payments and benefits from employers are treated as income for the purposes of child maintenance calculations. \p Andrew Western: CMS staff have a clear understanding of what is classed as income from training and internal guidance.

With regards to employers, income included in the basic child maintenance calculation is the same as that used in HMRC calculations of taxable income. There is therefore no requirement for employers to make additional or separate reports of income for child maintenance purposes as the CMS take this information directly from HMRC, and therefore no requirement for employers to understand what constitutes income for child maintenance purposes. In cases where the CMS request ongoing child maintenance payments are deducted directly from salary, this is done by issuing a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO). When a DEO is served, the CMS provides the employer with the precise figure to be deducted.

However, this does not cover all income that an employer may pay an individual. Where a paying parent is the director of their limited liability company, they are legally an employee of that company and are treated the same as any other employee for child maintenance purposes but may receive additional income as a result of their employment status, for example, dividends, which are not routinely included in the standard child maintenance calculation. In these circumstances, this income is only included within the calculation if the receiving parent in the case applies for a variation.

Caseworkers are fully supported in processing variation applications through training and internal guidance.
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Josh Babarinde:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support jobseekers in Eastbourne. \p Alison McGovern: The Get Britain Working White Paper published in November set out plans to deliver fundamental reform of our health, employment and skills system, that will help support economically inactive people in all areas in England get back into work.

We committed to:

The Greater London area will host several Trailblazers, covering both inactivity and youth. This will involve working closely with a range of local partners, including those based in West London. Additional funding will also be given to the Greater London Authority to support the development of their local Get Britain Working plan, to cover the four sub-regional London partnership areas delivering Connect to Work.
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of integrating health and social care services with access to welfare advice. \p Alison McGovern: As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform on 30 June, we are investing an additional £300 million over the next 3 years, enabling us to go further and faster on our new planned investment in work, health and skills support offers. This means our Pathways to Work Guarantee is now backed by an investment of £2.2 billion by 2030. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

As part of our mission driven Government, regular cross-Government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions and has a range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell, as well as support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.

Building on our WorkWell, Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies and Connect to Work programmes, we will ensure people with a health condition have access to the holistic support they need. In the Government’s Pathways to Work green paper, we further committed to developing a support guarantee, so that disabled people and those with a health condition get the work, health and skills support they need to access and thrive in employment. We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential impact of early years support on long-term mental health barriers to employment. \p Alison McGovern: DfE published statistics estimated that in 2024 over 1 in 6 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) had a mental health condition compared with 1 in 13 in 20122.

As part of our mission driven Government, regular cross-Government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. The Government has an ambitious goal of an 80% employment rate: we do not want to just support people who are closest to the labour market nearer towards it, but focus on the people who, and the places that are, furthest away from the labour market. A crucial part of this is improving the support that we offer to those with mental health conditions. Current measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.

Building on our WorkWell, Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies and Connect to Work programmes, we will ensure people with a health condition have access to the holistic support they need. In the Government’s Pathways to Work green paper, we further committed to developing a support guarantee, so that disabled people and those with a health condition, including those with mental health conditions get the work, health and skills support they need to access and thrive in employment. We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision.

1 Is work good for your health and well-being? An independent review - GOV.UK

2 NEET age 16 to 24, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has a target for narrowing the disability employment gap. \p Alison McGovern: The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap as part of an ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%. The Government has published a set of key indicators, including the disability employment rate gap, which is monitored regularly to assess progress and identify influencing factors.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of decreases in levels of spending welfare on the capacity of the Household Support Fund. \p Alison McGovern: Social security spending is forecast to increase. We are providing £742 million in England to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. And we secured the first ever multi-year settlement for the HSF – now the Crisis & Resistance Fund - until 2029 to give councils certainty over funding. This will ensure vulnerable households in the most need can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. We have shared guidance and documentation ahead of the launch of the scheme, arranged and facilitated a series of Delivery Plan Drop-in and LA Knowledge Share sessions, to support LAs with completing Delivery Plans and with planning for the new scheme. No further assessment has been made.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the disability employment gap in (a) Bournemouth and (b) the South West. \p Alison McGovern: The disability employment gap is monitored and published in the official statistics release The employment of disabled people 2024 - GOV.UK in data tables LMS008, LMS009 and LMS010. This includes statistics on the South West region, parliamentary constituencies Bournemouth East, Bournemouth West and local authority area Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

The disability employment gap for 2020 to 2022 was 23.6 percentage points for the South West, 23.8 percentage points for Bournemouth East, and 35.2 percentage points in Bournemouth West. This compares to the UK wide disability employment gap of 27.4 percentage points for 2020 to 2022. This is the latest period for which reliable data is available.

Estimates below national level are based on smaller sample sizes and should therefore be used with caution.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support unemployed women back in to work. \p Alison McGovern: Tackling child poverty and reaching an 80% employment rate are key Government objectives. The Get Britain Working White Paper outlines plans to transform the jobs and careers service into a more inclusive, skills-focused system that helps people find and progress into meaningful work. Women are more likely to have the main childcare responsibility in the family and more likely to provide care for loved ones who have a disability or health condition, which can be barriers to moving into work. Supporting more women into work is essential to increasing household income, reducing child poverty and reaching an 80% employment rate. This is supported by the work of the Child Poverty Taskforce.

Lead carers and part-time carers receive personalised support from work coaches who tailor expected work or job search hours based on individual circumstances including the age of their youngest child or other circumstances which limit the customer’s ability to work, for example a health condition. Employment support includes skills assessments, training referrals, careers advice, job search assistance, volunteering opportunities and financial help for the costs of moving into work through the Flexible Support Fund. The Government also provides a range of support for childcare costs for eligible working parents including the upfront costs. We also take seriously the impact of menopause as a barrier to work, so on World Menopause Day, the Government appointed Mariella Frostrup as the new Menopause Employment Ambassador. The Menopause Employment Ambassador is working closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing the menopause.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Andrew Western: We are unable to provide this information without incurring disproportionate costs.
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Sarah Hall:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people on PIP are on (a) 4 points and (b) 3 points, by (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary constituency. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Under the current criteria a claimant to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) must score between eight and 11 points across the 10 daily living activities to get the standard rate of the daily living component, or 12 points or more for the enhanced rate. They also need to score between eight and 11 points across the two mobility activities for the standard rate of the mobility component and 12 points or more for the enhanced rate.  Anyone scoring below eight points for either component is not entitled to PIP.
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Wendy Chamberlain:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the 5 week wait for Universal Credit on housing arrears owed to (a) local authorities and (b) social housing providers. \p Sir Stephen Timms: No such assessment has been made.

The Government is reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. Procedures are in place to support customers having difficulty in managing their housing payments. Payment of housing costs and rent arrears can be made direct to landlords. Direct payment requests are considered on a case-by-case basis and can be considered at the start or at any point during the UC claim to support the tenancy for the home the customer currently lives in. The need may be identified in the Service Centre, Jobcentre or requested by the claimant, their appointee, caseworker, or landlord advising of a vulnerability, rent arrears or risk of eviction.
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Charlotte Nichols:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2025 to Question 61211 on Asbestos: Ovarian Cancer, if she will direct the Health and Safety Executive to collect data on asbestos-related ovarian cancer cases. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Collecting data on individual cases of asbestos-related ovarian cancer is not feasible due to difficulties attributing them to historic exposure with confidence. Significant resource would be needed to produce estimates based on epidemiological evidence. These are likely to be small in comparison to other asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma (which is more clearly linked to past exposure) and would have considerable associated uncertainty.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 May 2025, Official Report, column 2, whether the Personal Independent Payment assessments review will include (a) equality and (b) employment law experts. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We have launched a review of the PIP assessment, which I am leading. Through the review, we want to make sure the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence.

The review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders, to ensure that a range of views and voices are heard.

I have now spoken to a range of stakeholders to gather views on how best to approach the review. Proposed Terms of Reference have been published. I will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review, including to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 May 2025, Official Report, column 2, what assessment she has made of the potential value of the review being completed before changes to eligibility for Personal Independence Payments come into force. \p Sir Stephen Timms: As I stated in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, Official Report, column 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after the comprehensive review of the PIP assessment which I am leading to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future.

We are committed to co-producing this review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. The review is expected to conclude in Autumn 2026.

Over the summer we will engage widely with stakeholders to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.
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Mr Toby Perkins:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people currently claiming Carer’s Allowance who would be expected to lose their allowance due to the proposed changes to the Personal Independence Payment. \p Sir Stephen Timms: As I made clear in my statement to the House, Hansard, 1 July, col 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, which I am leading, and which will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future. The review is expected to conclude in autumn 2026.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of different approaches to the treatment of military compensation payments across welfare benefits means tests on claimants. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit (UC).

The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support – which are being replaced by UC – as well as in Pension Credit. Armed Forces Independence Payments are also fully disregarded in these benefits and can allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.

By default, the first £10 of a War Pension or AFCS award is also disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to fully disregard them if they so wish.

Additionally, War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.

The treatment of military compensation payments contrasts with other schemes with a disablement element. For example, the Firefighters Compensation Scheme and the Police Pension Scheme have no income disregards applied at all, as any disablement elements form part of their occupational pension and so these are taken fully into account.

The treatment of military compensation payments also contrasts with Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard.

The £10 weekly disregard for War Pension or AFCS awards in legacy income-related benefits was introduced in recognition of the sacrifices made by service personnel in active service for the country.

There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits.
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Paul Holmes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with her Australian counterpart on negotiating a new reciprocal social security agreement for the uprating of UK State Pensions for UK pensioners residing in Australia. \p Torsten Bell: The Department has not engaged with their Australian counterparts on negotiating a new reciprocal social security agreement.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help reduce waiting times for referrals to the Pensions Ombudsman for people in Yeovil constituency. \p Torsten Bell: The Pension Ombudsman (TPO) has been experiencing over several years a significant increase in customers complaining about their pensions or schemes and this trend is continuing. This has impacted on waiting times. TPO does not hold specific information on referrals received from people in the Yeovil constituency.

DWP has allocated additional funding to TPO to reduce waiting times. TPO has also implemented an Operating Model Review (OMR) programme to improve the efficiency of its operations. This is beginning to have a positive impact on waiting times.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of recent trends in the number of referrals to the Pensions Ombudsman in Yeovil constituency. \p Torsten Bell: There has been no direct assessment of the potential implications for policies of recent trends in the number of referrals to the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) in the Yeovil constituency. The implications of trends in referrals to TPO more widely are kept under review and taken into consideration when agreeing TPO annual resource requirements.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what contracts their Department has with Palantir. \p Andrew Western: Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase the powers of (a) enforcement and (b) collection of the Child Maintenance Service. \p Andrew Western: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.

If someone chooses not to pay their maintenance themselves, the CMS has administrative powers which means CMS officials can deduct maintenance directly from a paying parent’s wages, from their bank account, or from their benefits.

The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children including forcing the sale of a property.

The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 proposed regulations to support the introduction of administrative liability orders (ALOs), removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order. Introducing this process should enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and get money to children more quickly. We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament by the end of this year.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the collection of late payments by the Child Maintenance Service. \p Andrew Western: The Government is dedicated to ensuring parents meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support and the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to pay their child maintenance, the CMS will not hesitate to use its enforcement powers, including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.

Statistics on child maintenance arrangements and collections are part of the CMS quarterly statistics published on gov.uk in tables 4 and 5 of the National Tables.  The below information is from the latest publication for data up to March 2025.

The CMS has a low percentage of unpaid maintenance with 7% (£713.1 million) of the total maintenance due to be paid since the CMS began in 2012, still to be collected through Collect & Pay. This has steadily fallen since the 17% due to be paid in March 2015.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal on her Department. \p Andrew Western: In May, the UK concluded a landmark economic deal with the US. This deal protects jobs in the automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors - sectors that employ over 320,000 people across the UK. In addition, an estimated 260,000 jobs are supported by the auto industry in the wider economy.

The Government remains focused on making sure British businesses can feel the benefits of the deal as soon as possible.

The Government is continuing discussions on the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal which will look at increasing digital trade, enhancing access for our world-leading services industries and improving supply chains.

My Department stands ready to support the ongoing negotiations with the US, led by the Department for Business and Trade.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to animal welfare in the Spending Review 2025. \p Daniel Zeichner: This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Prime Minister announced that we will be publishing an animal welfare strategy later this year.

The allocations for projects and programmes will be set now following the Spending Review. This will build on the support already available through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, which includes access to testing for priority diseases and advice to continually improve the health, welfare and productivity of farmed animals through funded vet visits.
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Ellie Chowns:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the farming budget is used to meet legally-binding (a) environmental targets under the Environment Act 2021 and (b) emissions reduction targets under the Climate Change Act 2008. \p Daniel Zeichner: As a result of the spending review and determination of the farming budget for this period:
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the dangerous dogs control scheme in Calgary, Canada. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government has reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership Taskforce to explore measures to promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. As part of this work, the taskforce may look at international models of dog control. We look forward to receiving its findings and recommendations in due course.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with food retailers on the prices of (a) staple food items, (b) cereal, (c) milk, (d) butter and (e) beef. \p Daniel Zeichner: Ministers and Defra officials regularly engage with food retailers and producers on a wide range of food supply issues, including affordability and access to staple items such as cereal, milk, butter, and beef. These discussions form part of our ongoing efforts to ensure a resilient and fair food supply chain.

While pricing decisions remain a matter for individual businesses, we recognise the pressures facing both consumers and retailers. The Government continues to monitor food price trends closely and Defra’s Food Strategy, announced in December, will be considering how easily our citizens can access affordable, safe, nutritious, healthy food and we’ll be working across government and with the food supply chain to find solutions.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support (a) food producers and (b) suppliers facing rising input costs. \p Daniel Zeichner: Annual variations in farm input costs are driven by global markets. UK fertiliser farm gate prices are tied to movements in the international market, and UK fertiliser suppliers compete for market share providing the best price they can for farmers. In the 12 months to April 2025, the price index for agricultural inputs decreased by 0.4%.

We are also working with colleagues in DESNZ to ensure all farmers can reap the benefits from clean energy.

The Government’s Farming Productivity Review is currently being led by Minette Batters and will culminate after 6 months in a report setting out recommendations to Government, industry, and farmers to support profitability in farming.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) retailers and (b) hospitality with the potential impact of changes to (i) National Insurance Contributions and (ii) National Minimum Wage on food prices. \p Daniel Zeichner: ONS data for May 2025 shows CPI food price inflation was 4.4%, up from 3.4% in April 2025. This is due to range of factors, including the strength in some commodity prices, this year’s exceptionally dry spring and geopolitical concerns etc.

We have protected the small businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all this year, and more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from the changes to employer NICs that came into effect from 6 April 2025.

The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage is set following a recommendation from the Low Pay Commission. In making that recommendation the LPC is required to take into account the effects of that rate on business, competitiveness the labour market and the wider economy. By seeking expert and independent advice from the Low Pay Commission, we are able to ensure that the right balance is struck between the needs of workers, the affordability for businesses and the impact on the economy

As part of the plan for change, the Government is developing a food strategy to transform the food system and make good, healthy food more accessible and affordable and to realise the potential within the food sector itself. We are meeting retail and hospitality representatives regularly as well as others in the food and drink industry, civil society, and citizens to work up shared goals and priorities.
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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April to Question 45559 on Nitrogen Dioxide: Pollution Control, which localised hotspot in the Greater Manchester Urban Area reporting zone is delaying compliance until 2026. \p Emma Hardy: The Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan is currently being implemented. Greater Manchester’s modelling identifies localised hotspots in 2026 at A34 Bridge St, A34 Quay St, A664 Shudehill, Lever St in Manchester and A49 Chapel Lane and King St West in Wigan. These sites are expected to become compliant in 2026 once measures are implemented.
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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April to Question 45559 on Nitrogen Dioxide: Pollution Control, which localised hotspot in the Reading and Wokingham Area reporting zone delayed compliance until 2024. \p Emma Hardy: The localised hotspots that inform our estimates of when each reporting zone is predicted to become compliant are set out in the following table. The predicted years of compliance in Question 45559 were based on 2023 data. For each zone, the hotspot location with the highest 2023 annual average NO2 concentration has been given, as that site drives the predicted compliance year.

This data is based on data gathered under the previous Government.

Reporting Zone

Estimated Compliance Year

Hotspot Location

Measured 2023 Concentration µg/m3

Bristol Urban Area

2031

Colston Avenue, Bristol

48.9

Coventry and Bedworth

2026

Holyhead Road, Coventry

45.9

Eastern

2026

Southend Arterial Road, Basildon

48.9

Greater London Urban Area

2024

A201 (City of London), A501 (Westminster)

41.9; 41.6 (modelled value)

Liverpool Urban Area

2029

Pembroke Place, Liverpool

49.7

Nottingham Urban Area

2024

Ilkeston Road, Nottingham

41.1

Portsmouth Urban Area

2026

Alred Road, Portsmouth

43.7

Reading and Wokingham Urban Area

2024

Malcolm Place, Reading

42.6

Sheffield Urban Area

2031

Brightside Lane, Sheffield

48.8

The Potteries

2032

Etruria Road, Stoke-on-Trent

58.4

West Midlands Urban Area

2032

Moor Street Queensway, Birmingham.  Priory Queensway, Birmingham

51.5, 51.5

West Yorkshire Urban Area

2029

Shipley Airedale Rd, Bradford

47.8
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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April to Question 45559 on Nitrogen Dioxide: Pollution Control, whether Coventry is the only (a) city and (b) town in the Coventry and Bedworth zone delaying compliance until 2026. \p Emma Hardy: All NO2 exceedances delaying compliance in the Coventry and Bedworth zone are in the city of Coventry. Bradford is the only city, and Keighley is the only town, in the West Yorkshire Urban Area delaying compliance with the NO2 limit value. All NO2 exceedances delaying compliance in the Eastern zone are in the town of Basildon.

The 2023 compliance assessment reported one exceedance of the annual mean limit value for NO2 in the South East reporting zone - on the A34 in the Vale of White Horse. This road link is part of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) which is managed by National Highways.
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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of basing the calculation of Extended Producer Responsibility fees on volume. \p Mary Creagh: The Government is not considering the adoption of a units-based metric. In accordance with the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, Extender Producer Responsibility disposal fees for packaging are calculated in £ per tonne of household packaging placed on the market. Producers report the packaging they supply on a weight basis, and the costs for managing different material types, such as glass, are apportioned according to relevant cost drivers for their collection and management, including the volume of the container in bins and collection vehicles. This ensures the fair apportionment of costs between material types in line with the regulations.