theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-16 conversation_19
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-16 conversation_19

Lord Walney:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the security implications of the annual al-Quds day marches which this year resulted in the arrest of 10 people on charges of racial hatred, public order offences and the assault of an emergency worker. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: During this year's Al Quds day march and counter-protest, the Metropolitan Police Service put public order conditions in place. While there were 10 arrests at last year's Al Quds day protest, in 2025 one arrest was reported on the day. The Government supports the police in using their powers to respond to unlawful behaviour, but the use of these powers is a matter for police who are operationally independent.

Met Police Public Order Conditions set out  (pdf, 883.4KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-16)

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Lord Alton of Liverpool:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 8 December 2021 (HLWS439), what plans they have to publish the review of asylum seeker right to work policy. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Government will later this year publish a new white paper on immigration covering a wide range of issues, including enforcement of the rules governing eligibility to work.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-16)

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Lord Kempsell:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve attainment in numeracy of primary school pupils, particularly in regard to basic arithmetic. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: High and rising standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances.

The department funds the Maths Hubs programme, which is supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. Local Maths Hubs provide school-to-school support focussed on mathematics subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers. The national network of Maths Hubs across England aims to raise the standard of mathematics education from reception to age 18. Maths Hubs deliver the Mastering Number programme, which is designed to encourage the use of mastery methods to teach solid number sense, to primary schools.

Through the department’s Accelerator Fund, we are also supporting up to 800 nurseries to complete the Maths Champions programme this year. Maths Champions is an evidence based professional development programme, proven to improve children’s mathematics and language outcomes by an average of three additional months.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-16)

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Lord Clement-Jones:To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Ofcom regarding the implementation of measures in the Online Safety Act 2023 to combat fraud. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: DSIT regularly engages with Ofcom on the implementation of the Online Safety Act. The Act will help tackle online fraud, including fraudulent advertising. Since 17 March 2025, all services are required to take measures to tackle illegal fraud.

Further fraudulent advertising duties on Category 1 and 2A services will come into effect once the register of categorised services and the relevant codes are in place. Ofcom plans to publish the register this summer and then consult on the draft codes of practice for the remaining duties by early 2026. We anticipate the duties will come into force around a year later.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-16)

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Lord Freyberg:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Vallance of Balham on 25 March (HL5666), what further details they will provide on meetings Ministers from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have held with external stakeholders abroad, including the names of the companies and individuals involved. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a range of external stakeholders abroad.

Ministerial meetings and engagements are published through quarterly transparency reports on GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Coffey:To ask His Majesty's Government how many people with EU Settlement Scheme status are currently living in the UK. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Hogan-Howe:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average time taken from complaint to police misconduct hearing in England and Wales. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Home Office publishes data on police misconduct annually as part of its statistical series on police misconduct and criminal investigations. In addition, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) publishes data annually on the police complaints system.

Data is collected and published on the total time taken to finalise cases. A case is considered finalised once all resultant actions have concluded, including criminal proceedings, appeals and any associated reviews. The majority of these cases do not result in formal misconduct proceedings.

For cases involving police officers that were finalised in the year ending 31 March 2024, it took on average (median) 111 calendar days to finalise conduct matter cases and 311 calendar days to finalise recordable conduct matters. It took on average 133 working days for complaint cases to be finalised in the same time period. Data on police complaints covers police staff as well as police officers.   Last year, the Home Secretary announced a review into systemic barriers to timeliness in the police misconduct system, which is due to commence in the near future.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Coffey:To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently registered on the EU Settlement Scheme as (1) settled, and (2) pre-settled. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The latest available statistics for the EU Settlement Scheme are for the period up to 31 March 2025 and can be found on GOV.UK here: How many grants of settlement are made via the EU Settlement Scheme? - GOV.UK.

They show that there have been just under 4.2 million grants of settled status and just under 2.9 million grants of pre-settled status since the Scheme's inception. Of these, some applicants have since progressed to settled status meaning that, as of 31 March 2025, there were approximately 1.6 million remaining people holding pre-settled status.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Foster of Bath:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 4 June (HL7658), in what contexts relating to border controls they describe British citizens as "UK nationals", and for what reasons. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: In this specific context, this was in reference to the need for UK nationals to register for the EU’s Entry / Exit System once it has been implemented.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Wigley:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of autistic adults who are in full-time work. \p Baroness Sherlock: The Annual Population Survey (2023/24) estimates that there were 788,000 people - 1.9% of the UK working-age (16 to 64) population - who self-reported autism as a main or secondary long-term health condition. Of which, 281,000 (36%) were in employment, including 163,000 (21%) in full time employment.

Source: Annual Population Survey - unpublished
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26, published on 26 June, what is the specific purpose and intended use of contextual metrics for integrated care boards. \p Baroness Merron: The NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 will not be used to score integrated care boards’ (ICBs) performance or to assign them to performance categories or segments. This is to allow them to focus on the substantial changes to their organisational function and form, alongside efforts to meet their running cost reduction plans.

However, ICB data will continue to be collected, monitored, and reported against the full suite of metrics. These will be used during NHS England’s regular performance conversations with ICBs and to inform the use of intervention powers, should NHS England deem this necessary to support improvement.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the redundancy costs as a result of job cuts in NHS England and integrated care boards (ICB) this financial year; and whether ICB redundancy payments will come from existing ICB budgets. \p Baroness Merron: Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of the abolition of NHS England, we are clear on the need for a smaller centre, as well as reducing integrated care board running costs and National Health Service provider corporate costs, in order to deliver value for money for the public and empower our health system to improve health and care for patients. Good progress is being made, with the Department and NHS England having announced voluntary exit or redundancy schemes.

We have recently announced the Spending Review settlement, which provides an additional £29 billion of annual day-to-day spending in real terms by 2028/29, compared to 2023/24. Ahead of asking the NHS to commence a multi-year planning round we are now carefully reviewing how the settlement is prioritised, including making provision for redundancy costs. At this stage it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while transition planning is ongoing.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Campbell-Savours:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 July (HL8754), what was the breakdown of costs mentioned in the Answer for 2023–24 between products related to (1) colostomy, and (2) ileostomy. \p Baroness Merron: Further to the previous answer of 4 July 2025 to Question HL8754, the breakdown of the total Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) figure is as follows:

These figures exclude a large number of other stoma appliances that could not be clearly identified as colostomy or ileostomy from their name, although some of these other appliances will be used as colostomy or ileostomy appliances.

The NIC is the basic price of a product excluding VAT. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees and allowances paid to pharmacists and appliance contractors for the service they provide to the NHS, or prescription charge income received, where the single charge or Prescription Prepayment Certificate fee is paid, or foregone, where prescriptions are dispensed free of charge.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how implementing hiring quotas to encourage the recruitment and training of more British doctors will affect the hiring costs of the NHS. \p Baroness Merron: No assessment has been made. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. Over the next three years we will also create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need.

We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Jopling:To ask His Majesty's Government how many babies were born in each of the past three years to surrogate mothers; and in how many cases the surrogate mother has claimed parentage of the child contrary to the wishes of the genetic parents. \p Baroness Merron: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual data, available on their website, which includes births from surrogacy at United Kingdom licensed fertility clinics. The following table shows the number of live births from in vitro fertilisation among surrogates at UK licensed fertility clinics in each of the last three years for which information is available:

Year of treatment

Number of live births

2021

105

2022

90

2023

95

Source: HFEA dashboard data, available at the following link:  https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/hfea-dashboard/

Data on the HFEA dashboard is rounded to the nearest five to ensure patient confidentiality. The data is as recorded by the HFEA on 1 May 2025, and reflects the data on this date, and may change over time. This does not represent the total number of births from surrogacy in the UK, only those that have been carried out within UK licensed fertility clinics.

Information is not held by the Government on cases where the surrogate mother has claimed parentage of the child contrary to the wishes of the genetic parents.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Deech:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to extend the 14-day limit on human embryo research. \p Baroness Merron: The Department has no current plans to extend the 14-day limit on human embryo research.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Deech:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the regulation of stem cell-based embryo models by (1) secondary legislation, (2) a code of practice, or (3) the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. \p Baroness Merron: No formal assessment has been made of the regulation of stem cell-based embryo models.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published Modernising Fertility Law in November 2023, which made a number of recommendations for legislative change, including around its regulatory powers. Ministers have met with the HFEA Chair and discussed the emerging regulatory challenges.

The Government is considering the HFEA’s priorities for changing the law and will decide how to take this forward at the earliest opportunity.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 23 June (HL8243), what specific actions they are taking in response to the rise in whooping cough infections. \p Baroness Merron: Significant efforts have been made to raise awareness of the importance of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, vaccination. These include targeted campaigns using social media, digital screen graphics, and community outreach. The National Health Service actively promotes vaccination for pregnant women to protect their newborns. NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency have launched a joint maternal vaccination campaign, supported by a comprehensive communications toolkit. This includes a maternal vaccine postcard translated into seven languages, which has been distributed to 200 general practices in areas with lower vaccine uptake.

To improve accessibility, community pharmacies in areas of high deprivation and low uptake are now commissioned to offer vaccinations, making it more convenient for individuals to get vaccinated.

Within the NHS, efforts are underway to enhance the recording and monitoring of vaccinations, ensuring accurate data collection to assess the programme’s effectiveness.

The NHS Public Health and Equalities team regularly produces articles that are shared through community and faith-based channels, including radio, podcasts, and local publications. Additionally, NHS England’s resources are disseminated through pregnancy and parenting forums such as Tommy’s and the National Childbirth Trust, as well as other community and faith organisations. These materials are used across websites, email newsletters, and social media platforms.

Recent data shows a consistent seven-month upward trend in maternal pertussis vaccination rates, rising from 59% in May 2024 to nearly 73% by March 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to launch an urgent review of sarcoma care and treatment in NHS England. \p Baroness Merron: Between April 2024 and April 2025, the Faster Diagnosis Standard performance for suspected sarcoma improved by 13.1%. However, more needs to be done to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients, especially for rarer cancers such as sarcoma.

The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as sarcoma, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. The Government is committed to backing innovative clinical research ecosystem in the United Kingdom so that British patients can be among the first to benefit as we make the National Health Service fit for the future.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the Department will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, by ensuring that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including sarcoma.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of sarcoma care and treatment in NHS England. \p Baroness Merron: Between April 2024 and April 2025, the Faster Diagnosis Standard performance for suspected sarcoma improved by 13.1%. However, more needs to be done to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients, especially for rarer cancers such as sarcoma.

The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as sarcoma, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. The Government is committed to backing innovative clinical research ecosystem in the United Kingdom so that British patients can be among the first to benefit as we make the National Health Service fit for the future.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the Department will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, by ensuring that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including sarcoma.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Kempsell:To ask His Majesty's Government what public resources are being used by the NHS or other public bodies to research psychedelic treatments; and whether they are considering the use of those treatments by the NHS. \p Baroness Merron: The Government has funded two high quality research awards concerning psychedelic treatments over the past five financial years, totalling £2,947,596. The first is a placebo-controlled, randomised, proof of concept trial to investigate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of psilocybin therapy in opioid use disorder, with an award identification code of NIHR206736, which aims to understand if the psychedelic compound psilocybin, together with psychological support, could be a safe and effective way of preventing relapse in individuals with opioid addiction. The second is a feasibility randomized controlled trial of single-dose psilocybin in unipolar depressive disorder resistant to standard treatments, with an award identification code of CS-2017-17-007, which aims to conduct a randomised controlled trial of psilocybin in patients with treatment resistant depression, to investigate whether an open label trial design is feasible and practical in that patient group, and to collect the data needed to design future trials.

The Department recognises the importance of research in identifying and developing safe and effective medicines, including those derived from controlled substances. The Department is working closely with the Home Office and other key stakeholders across the Government to review the recommendations of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ report that considered the barriers to research regarding Schedule 1 controlled drugs. The Home Office will publish their response in due course, and the Department will support further work to remove the barriers to this type of research, enabling research that can improve people’s health and wellbeing, whilst maintaining the necessary controls for safety.

The Government wants National Health Service patients across the United Kingdom to be able to benefit from timely access to safe, clinically effective, and cost-effective new medicines. Any company wishing to bring a medicinal product to the market in the UK needs to apply to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for a marketing authorisation, and must engage with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. This is the basis of all decisions on the funding of medicines by the NHS.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord West of Spithead:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to build a large nuclear power station using European pressurised reactor technology after the completion of Sizewell C. \p Lord Wilson of Sedgefield: This Government is committed to nuclear power. As set out in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, nuclear will play an important role in delivering clean power by 2030 and beyond, providing clean, stable and reliable power. No decision has yet been taken on whether to pursue a future large-scale project beyond Sizewell C.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Foster of Bath:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to replace trees and hedgerows removed during the construction of Sizewell C and the associated infrastructure. \p Lord Wilson of Sedgefield: Sizewell C was granted development consent following the Planning Inspectorate’s examination of Sizewell C’s Development Consent Order (DCO) application and all works are fully in line with DCO permissions.

Sizewell C report that the project has carried out advanced planting of 4,000 more trees than it has removed, and when the power station is complete, 42 hectares of woodland will have been created, amounting to between 50,000 and 100,000 trees and shrubs, plus additional hedgerows. Sizewell C has also created three nature reserves around the site – and three further nature reserves are being created locally to further mitigate for any land take.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Grey-Thompson:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to boost (1) literacy, and (2) communication skills, of children aged 0–5 years old. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: Giving young children the best start in life is the foundation of the government’s Opportunity Mission. The department has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. We will measure progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028.

To support early language and literacy skills, the department is:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Grey-Thompson:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide support to families with (1) children in early years, and (2) school-age children, in poverty. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a fully funded strategy this autumn, tackling the root causes of poverty across four themes: increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, boosting financial resilience, and strengthening local support, especially in the early years.

Family hubs offer vital services from birth to age 19, or to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities; supporting health, education, and wellbeing, particularly for families in poverty. In 2025/26, £126 million will be invested through family hubs and Start for Life to give every child the best start in life.

An additional £57 million for the Start for Life services was announced in January, covering mental health, infant feeding, breastfeeding, and access to local services.

Early education support includes 15 funded hours for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and all 3 and 4-year-olds. A 45% uplift to the Early Years Pupil Premium was announced in December 2024 to improve outcomes.

Through the Spending Review, the government is expanding free school meals, which are expected to lift 100,000 children out of poverty, and has committed to free breakfast clubs and limiting branded school uniform requirements specifically for school aged children.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Baroness Penn:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the per-pupil funding when taking into account increased National Insurance contributions costs and increased eligibility for free school meals in each year of the Spending Review 2025 (CP1336); and what assessment they have made the level of per-pupil funding in those years compared to (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: ​​The department is providing schools with over £930 million in the 2025/26 financial year to support schools with the increases to employer National Insurance contributions from April 2025. This funding will be rolled into the schools national funding formula from 2026/27, ensuring that this additional funding forms an on-going part of schools’ core budgets. Total schools funding will increase by a further £4.2 billion, by the end of the Spending Review period.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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The Lord Bishop of Oxford:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of therapeutic packages that can be funded through the adoption and special guardianship support fund limit of £3,000 per child per year. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The number of therapeutic sessions available to a child after a specialist assessment funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is dependent on a variety of factors. This includes the cost of the specialist assessment, the cost of the therapy and in which financial year the specialist assessment was completed. It is also important to note that additional funding may be made available by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency beyond that provided by the ASGSF, therefore increasing the amount of therapy available, should the specialist assessment recommend this.

The department estimates that £3,000 of funding will fund an average of 19 to 20 hours of therapy. This is a significant package of support, which may be tailored to meet a child’s individual needs.

Outcomes measurement tool data enables the efficacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from outcomes measurement tools for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment comes to an end, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.
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Lord Touhig:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 30 May (HL7545), whether they will meet pupils of Meath School in Ottershaw in respect of UNICEF UK's "Rights Respecting Schools Award"; and whether they plan to provide funding for the scheme in England. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The government is committed to upholding the principles of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and safeguarding the rights of children, as we continue to do through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

We know that some schools choose to follow the UNICEF scheme ‘Rights Respecting Schools Award’, which puts children’s rights at the heart of school policy and practice, and we welcome that commitment to promoting the rights of children. However, there are no plans to provide funding for the ‘Rights Respecting Schools Award’ scheme in England.

All schools in England have specific duties to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils and prepare them for the opportunities and responsibilities of adult life.

Schools in England are required to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Citizenship education is an effective way of doing this, and we expect teachers to reinforce these values as well as to support pupils’ SMSC development.

Ministers welcome the opportunity to meet children and would be grateful for requests to be sent to the office of my hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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The Lord Bishop of Oxford:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assess the impact of the adoption and special guardianship support fund changes on (1) adoptive and kinship placement disruption, and (2) adopter recruitment. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The new criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This includes reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which will be made available in the House Libraries in due course.

The department routinely monitors data on adoptive and kinship placement disruption, as well as on adopter recruitment. The department is working closely with Adoption England to improve its monitoring of placement disruption and is funding them to deliver specific projects designed to improve adopter recruitment and family support.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the creation of artificial human DNA; and whether they plan to implement regulation on the artificial creation of human life. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: HMG is committed to fostering responsible innovation in engineering biology and safely unlocking the benefits of the technology. Government engages regularly with experts responsible for research practices in engineering biology, including through the Engineering Biology Responsible Innovation Advisory Panel.

UKRI also plays a key role in fostering a culture of responsible innovation and promoting good research practices in biological research. UKRI recognises the importance of high ethical standards within research and has rigorous processes in place to ensure the research it funds conforms to all relevant ethical, legal and regulatory requirements.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_26

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to follow the recommendation in the report by the Animal Welfare Committee, Advice on emergency culling for the depopulation of poultry affected by high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) – consideration of ventilation shutdown (VSD), published in June 2023, that research should be undertaken to identify products that could be used as an in-feed or in-water sedative/anaesthetic/culling method as an alternative to ventilation shutdown as a culling method for poultry. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) leads government action on animal disease control in Great Britain. APHA and its contractors utilise a range of culling methods to humanely remove birds on infected premises where highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or other notifiable disease has been confirmed.

One of the Animal Welfare Committee’s key recommendations was that ventilation shutdown should not be used for the culling of any poultry in disease control procedures due to the unacceptable impact on bird welfare.

Whole house gassing represents a better option, and this approach is deployed as a priority. Operational plans for the deployment of whole house gassing and other approved culling methods take account of the epidemiological risk for each case.

We are continuing to consider whether there are additional humane culling methods, such as high expansion nitrogen foam for poultry, that could be utilised but there are currently no plans for research into in-feed or in-water medications.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_27

Lord Sikka:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to propose legislation under which organisations with criminal convictions would be prevented from owning and controlling water supply and wastewater services. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: This Government is committed to holding water companies to the highest standards of environmental and corporate responsibility. We are taking robust action to strengthen accountability and enforcement across the sector.

This includes the Water (Special Measures) Act, which delivers the most significant increase in enforcement powers for regulators in over a decade. Rules issued by Ofwat on fitness and propriety will require companies to test whether senior individuals meet specified standards and prevent the appointment of individuals to these roles where standards are not met.

In addition, the Environment Agency and Ofwat have also launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company discharges ever undertaken. These can lead to criminal prosecution and unlimited fines.

The Government is also conducting the largest review of the water sector since privatisation through the Independent Water Commission. This will examine how the sector can better deliver for customers and the environment, including the effectiveness of current ownership and governance arrangements. The Commission final report is due to be published this summer, and the Government will respond in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_28

Lord Sikka:To ask His Majesty's Government how many criminal convictions have been secured by regulators against Southern Water since privatisation. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: Since the privatisation of water and sewerage companies in 1989, all ten Water and Sewerage companies which discharge into English waters have been convicted of criminal offences including Southern Water. Details of the enforcement action taken against water companies by regulators are available on the relevant regulators’ websites.

We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, the regulators will not hesitate to hold companies to account. The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 provides the most significant increase in enforcement powers for the regulators in a decade and ensures that imprisonment is always available as a sentencing option to the courts where investigations by the environmental regulators have been obstructed.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_29

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger:To ask His Majesty's Government when they will lay a statutory instrument containing activity regulations to fully implement the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: We continue to engage with stakeholders including the tourism industry and animal welfare groups to explore both legislative and non-legislative options to take forward changes to low-welfare activities abroad.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_30

Lord Sikka:To ask His Majesty's Government on what dates (1) Thames Water, (2) Yorkshire Water, and (3) Northumbrian Water, paid in full the respective fines of £104 million, £47 million and £17 million announced by Ofwat on 6 August 2024. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: The Water Industry Act 1991 requires Ofwat to publish a draft decision for consultation if it is going to impose an enforcement order or a penalty as a result of an enforcement case. Following the period of consultation, Ofwat considers all responses received and takes these into account when making its final decision.

On 20 March 2025 Ofwat announced the conclusion of its wastewater enforcement case into Yorkshire Water securing an enforcement package of £40 million to be paid by the company.

On 28 May 2025 Ofwat issued an enforcement order and financial penalty to Thames Water. This was the final decision in two investigations looking into the operations of Thames Water, which faces penalties totalling £122.7 million, including £104 million for the wastewater investigation. This penalty has not yet been paid. Ofwat set out that Thames Water should pay the fine by 20 August.

On 4 June 2025 Ofwat announced the conclusion of its wastewater enforcement case into Northumbrian Water securing an enforcement package of £15.7 million to be paid by the company.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_31

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering:To ask His Majesty's Government how much plastic waste is exported to other countries, and what steps they will take to reduce the amount exported by disposing of the plastic sustainably. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: Data on the amount of plastic packaging exported for recycling is published by the Environment Agency on the National Packaging Waste Database. 569,205 tonnes of plastic packaging waste was exported for recycling in 2024.

As part of the drive towards a circular economy we want to recycle more plastic waste and have developed policies aimed at stimulating investment in the UK’s own reprocessing capacity. Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers will significantly increase the volume of plastic material collected for recycling. In England, Simpler Recycling, will enable consistent, more streamlined separate collections of dry mixed recycling (plastic, metal, glass), paper and card, and food waste from all households, businesses and relevant non-domestic premises. Meanwhile, reforms such as the packaging regulations and the plastic packaging tax will ensure that more products are made from recycled materials in this country and will support investment in recycling in the UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_32

Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the visit to Bahrain by the Director of the Gulf Strategic Fund Programme, how many meetings he held with non-governmental organisations during that visit, including civil society actors and human rights defenders; what was the source of funding of the trip; and how many officials accompanied him. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: The Gulf Strategy Fund (GSF) Manager visited Bahrain from 1-2 June. This visit aimed to help the GSF Manager familiarise himself with the Bahrain GSF Programme, understand its local impact, and review outcomes to inform future programme strategy. During his visit, he met Bahraini governmental and non-governmental actors, as well as Embassy staff. Only Embassy officials accompanied the Fund Manager to the meetings. The visit was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_33

Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they provided any advice or recommendations to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) regarding visits or technical assistance support to Bahrain in the past 12 months; and if so, on what dates. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has not provided any advice or recommendations to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) regarding visits or technical assistance support to Bahrain in the past 12 months.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_34

Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to continue maintaining and publishing the list of human rights priority countries in the Human Rights and Democracy Reports. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: This Government is firmly committed to furthering human rights around the world. We do this by investing in building partnerships, including with civil society, and by drawing on our diplomatic and development levers to deliver meaningful change on the ground. In December 2024, I, as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Minister for Human Rights, set out our five priorities for promoting and protecting human rights.

They are: 1) defending civic space; 2) upholding the rule of law; 3) championing equal rights for all; 4) supporting accountable, effective, inclusive institutions; and 5) responding to global challenges, including climate, conflict and technology by prioritising human rights and governance principles.

Our focus will be how we address these priorities and themes across all countries rather than single out an individual country in our published annual report.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_35

Baroness Anelay of St Johns:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to update the text of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative strategy published on 28 November 2022; and if so, when and why they plan to do so. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: This Government's determination to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains resolute. We are fully implementing the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy. In the last year alone, through PSVI, we have contributed to three landmark cases on CRSV as a crime against humanity and supported almost 60,000 survivors. At the same time, we are considering our future approach to PSVI to best harness the UK's development, defence, and diplomatic capabilities to tackle this appalling crime in a context of rising conflict and increasing prevalence of CRSV. We will continue to engage closely with survivors as we develop our future approach.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-07-10 conversation_36

The Earl of Caithness:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to ensure that correspondence from a member of Parliament to a chief executive officer of a non-departmental public body is answered by the chief executive officer. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: The Guide to Handling Correspondence, sets out the guidance for Government departments and executive agencies to follow in responding to correspondence from members of Parliament. While it is not mandatory for correspondence from members of Parliament to be answered by Chief Executive Officers of non-departmental public bodies, correspondence responses should be high quality and answered within set timeframes.