theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Katie White:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Natural England on the potential merits of increasing access to nature in order to benefit physical and mental health. \p Mary Creagh: The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and is working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. This is why we have set out our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new national river walks and three new national forests in England, expanding access to the great outdoors. We have also committed to ensuring that everyone lives within a 15-minute walk of a green or blue space. Delivering this commitment will drive increased access to nature for both physical and mental health.

We work closely with Natural England on delivering enhanced access to nature and hold regular discussions on this topic. For example, we collaborate closely on delivery of the King Charles III England Coast Path, the new Coast to Coast National Trail, and Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework. We will continue to work together as we drive forward our commitments in this area.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Number 10 press release entitled UK to deliver on 5% NATO pledge as Government drives greater security for working people, published on 23 June 2025, if he will list his Department's (a) projects and (b) programmes by directorate that will contribute to the resilience and security element of national security spending for each year between 2025-26 and 2034-35 inclusive; and if he will list the amount of spending for each item (a) in real terms (b) as a proportion of concurrent forecast GDP. \p Daniel Zeichner: We will set out detailed plans for meeting this new target at the appropriate time. The government will continue to report to NATO on delivery against the headline investment pledge and the split in line with NATO’s reporting schedule.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 57278 on Water Charges, if he will make it his policy to prevent water companies from using (a) rising block tariffs and progressive and (b) seasonal water metering for households. \p Emma Hardy: The Government welcomes companies’ willingness to trial innovative new approaches to charging customers in order to make bills more affordable and improve water efficiency, putting pounds back in the pockets of working families.

Several water companies are trialling a range of progressive charging approaches. Ofwat as the regulator requires companies to ensure all trials are consistent with good practice principles. Through these trials the sector will learn how to best support households with their water bills.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Ellie Chowns:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure that the process of appointing the new Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection protects its independence. \p Mary Creagh: The Chair role is appointed by the Secretary of State acting jointly with the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The appointment will be conducted in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments as regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The role will be publicly advertised, and an Advisory Assessment Panel, including a Senior Independent Panel Member, will be appointed to assess candidates objectively against the published criteria. The appointment will also be subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by a Parliamentary Select Committee.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Navendu Mishra:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for publication of the animal welfare strategy; and if he will make it his Department's policy to ban male chick culling as part of the strategy. \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.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 sets out strict requirements to protect the welfare of animals at the time of killing, including male chicks from the egg production sector. Permitted killing methods for chicks, such as gas stunning and maceration, are based on scientific research and assessment to ensure birds are spared any avoidable pain, distress, or suffering. In recent years there has been rapid global progress in the development of technologies that allow chicks to be sexed in-ovo (within the egg), and we welcome the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage farmers to farm sustainably. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government is backing British farming. We are prioritising investment that supports the government’s Plan for Change and building on the Secretary of State’s work to reform Defra to drive growth while maintaining a steadfast commitment to farming, food security, and nature’s recovery.

We are providing farmers and land managers with the support needed to help restore nature, which is vital to safeguard our long-term food security and build resilience to climate change. There are currently record numbers of farmers taking part in farming schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive. As of April 2025, these schemes supported 885,000 hectares of arable land being farmed without insecticides; 330,000 hectares of low input grassland being managed sustainably; and 85,000 kilometres of hedgerows being protected and restored.

In the recent spending review, we committed to carrying on the transition towards paying to deliver public goods for the environment, with over £7 billion directed into nature’s recovery between 2026 and 2029. This includes environmental farming schemes (£5.9 billion), tree planting (£816 million) and peatland restoration (£85 million).
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has considered developing a national mentoring scheme pairing experienced dog breeders with first-time breeders to help promote (a) high welfare and (b) informed practices. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs provides advice to owners thinking of breeding from their dogs and a list of sources of further information they can access. The Code can be found here: Code of practice for the welfare of dogs - GOV.UK.

Owners considering breeding from their dogs can also access sector best practice such as the Canine and Feline Sector Group’s Code of Practice for Dog Breeding or advice published by the Royal Kennel Club.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Chris Hinchliff:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role will organically certified produce have in achieving 50 percent of public sector catering contracts from British producers or those certified to higher environmental standards. \p Daniel Zeichner: We have published a new national procurement policy statement, which sets out expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards. We are currently considering the policy options available to deliver further on our ambitions for public sector catering, including the role of organic produce.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Esther McVey:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the UK Health Security Agency news announcement of 21 May 2025, how much he has spent on testing mosquitoes through the Vector-Borne Real-time Arbovirus Detection and Response programme; and what the Ct value was for the PCR tests which located fragments of the West Nile virus in two mosquitoes. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Vector-Borne RADAR (Real-time Arbovirus Detection and Response) programme is a three-year funded collaborative grant worth £1.15 million which is 80% funded by Defra / UK Research & Innovation, and 20% by each of the collaborative organisations, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the British Trust for Ornithology, the Institute of Zoology and the UK Health Security Agency.

Approximately 50,000 mosquitoes across 6,000 pools in 2023 and 2024 combined have been screened from across southern and eastern England.

The programme retrospectively screened 2,000 Aedes vexans mosquitoes that were trapped in Gamston, Nottinghamshire in July 2023. These were split into 200 pools of 10 mosquitoes and screened using three separate rt-PCRs. Two pools were positive for West Nile virus (WNV) RNA (Ct values 30.7 -33.4 across all three PCRs).

More significantly, the positive RNA extracts were also submitted for GridION sequencing (an Oxford Nanopore based system). One pool amplified a 402bp region of the WNV genome, with a read depth of c500 reads which generated a consensus sequence showing a conserved section of the WNV genome and clusters with WNV lineage 1a sequences from Europe, the Middle East and North America.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities on the use of fixed-penalty notices for households for minor waste receptacle issues. \p Mary Creagh: In England, local authorities have limited powers to issue fixed penalties to households relating to waste receptacle requirements. Defra is not proposing changes to this position as part of Simpler Recycling reforms and has not conducted discussions with local authorities on the use of these powers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Gavin Robinson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of veterinary medicine to treat botulism in cattle in Northern Ireland. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government is committed to taking steps to support the availability of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland after the end of 2025.

Regarding the botulism vaccines, the situation will not change. Veterinary surgeons can continue to access the vaccines after 31 December; in the same way they do now.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Seamus Logan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2025 to Question 53765 on Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund, whether he has held discussions with his counterpart in the Scottish government on this fund. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Fishing & Coastal Growth Fund will be investing £360 million over the next 12 years. Ministers are committed to working closely with the industry and local communities in order to ensure investment is targeted to where it is needed most. As part of that planned engagement we will work closely with Devolved Governments. We will look to provide more details on the fund, including devolution, at the earliest possible opportunity.
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Esther McVey:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff network events took place in his Department in May 2025; and what the names of those events were. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra can confirm that during May, no staff network events were recorded centrally by HR.
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Irene Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to end the use of enriched cages for hens in England. \p Daniel Zeichner: I refer the Hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby, Ian Byrne, on 16 May 2025, PQ 50228.
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Fred Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many water supply outages there were in Plymouth in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, (c) 2024 and (d) 2025. \p Emma Hardy: Under the Security and Emergency Measures Direction 2022 (SEMD), all water companies must report to Defra any water outages that impact over 5,000 properties or will last over 24 hours.

In 2025, one incident affecting Plymouth was reported to Defra.  Between 21 April and 23 April, a burst water main at a Dousland Water Treatment Works caused a water supply outage to approximately 9,800 properties in Plymouth.

There were no water supply outages in Plymouth reported to Defra in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will set out the procurement mechanism used by the Environment Agency to award the contract for the Environment Agency Community Engagement Platform (National) 2024 to Hello Lamp Post Limited; and if he will publish the procurement agreement. \p Emma Hardy: The contract is available on contracts finder via Environment Agency Community Engagement Platform (National) 2024 - Contracts Finder.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department had with the Paymaster General regarding UK-EU trade and environmental standards prior to the UK-EU summit in London on 18 May 2025. \p Daniel Zeichner: Ministerial colleagues have had and maintain regular discussions with the Cabinet Office and other relevant departments on UK-EU trade and environmental standards.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Leader of the House, if she will make an estimate of the number of Government announcements which were made in the House of Commons prior to a Ministerial announcement in the media since July 2024. \p Lucy Powell: The Ministerial Code is clear, when Parliament is in session the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance to Parliament. This is an important principle that the government stands by.

As of 9th July 2025 there have been 185 oral statements in 165 sitting days – more than one per day and more than in the previous session.

While the Government remains committed to making the most important announcements on the floor of the House, we do need to balance this with the time available for both government and backbench business.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 62940 on Occupational Money Purchase Schemes, what steps she is taking to encourage awareness of collective defined contribution schemes by (a) employers and (b) employees. \p Torsten Bell: The Department for Work and Pensions 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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Ayoub Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to assess the adequacy of the clarity of the application process for the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment for bereaved applicants. \p Torsten Bell: The eligibility criteria for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers, while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs.

We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints. This includes the eligibility criteria, application process, customer experience, processing times and administrative costs.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) reduce pensioner poverty and (b) increase pension benefit uptake. \p Torsten Bell: The Government is committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the financial security and dignity they deserve. The State Pension is the foundation of support for older people and together with the private and workplace pensions system provides for security in retirement. That’s why we have made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which will see the forecast annual spend on people’s State Pensions rise by around £31 billion.

In April this year, the basic and new State Pensions increased by 4.1%, benefitting 12 million pensioners by up to £470 this year. That’s up to £275 more than if pensions had been up rated by inflation. The standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit, which provides a vital safety net for around 1.4m pensioners on the lowest incomes, also increased by 4.1%. Pension Credit can passport pensioners to a range of extra support including help with rent, council tax reduction, fuel bills (via the Warm Home Discount scheme and Cold Weather Payments) and a free TV licence for those over 75. We have been running the biggest Pension Credit campaign since Autumn 2024. Our drive to maximise Pension Credit take-up has seen the Department receive around 285,600 claims from July 2024 to May 2025 with almost 60,000 extra awards on the comparable period the previous year. Further promotional activity is planned from this Autumn through to the end of the financial year with the campaign aimed at eligible pensioners, their friends and their family.
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Ellie Chowns:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 57896 on Funeral Payments, how many applicants (a) responsible for funeral costs and (b) in receipt of a qualifying benefit did not receive a social fund funeral expenses payment because (i) there was an immediate family member or (ii) a close relative of the deceased who was not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, in each of the last five years. \p Torsten Bell: The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Institute for Fiscal Studies' report entitled The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children’s outcomes, published in May 2025. \p Alison McGovern: The Institute for Fiscal Studies' report offers interesting insight into parental employment support provided through Sure Start. We will consider the findings and reflect on learning as part of DWPs key strategic aims.

The Department is actively engaged in supporting families including through the work of the child poverty taskforce. The value evidence and analysis as part of this policy making process. The taskforce will consider this report and others in this work.
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David Baines:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help tackle child poverty in St Helens North constituency. \p Alison McGovern: In St Helens North, there were 6,670 children in UC households in November 2024. There are 7,634 pupils (28.3%) known to be eligible for free school meals in St Helens. In 2023/24, there were 7,096 (33.8%) children in in relative low income after housing costs. Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a priority for this Government. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty, including children in the St Helens North constituency.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

As a significant downpayment ahead of Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2 billion including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

Our commitments at the 2025 Spending Review come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the disability employment gap on (a) the public purse and (b) trends in the level of economic growth. \p Alison McGovern: The Department has published analysis which estimated the costs to the economy of working age ill-health or disabilities that prevent working in the UK, to be between £240 and £330 billion.

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap, as part of a clear 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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Cat Eccles:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Budget Statement 2024, the Spring Statement 2025 and the Spending Review 2025, what forecast she has made of levels of child poverty during this Parliament. \p Alison McGovern: The Department publishes the estimated impact of specific policies where appropriate. The Department, for example, recently made public the impact of the expansion of the Free School meal extension announced as part of the Spending Review 2025. The impact assessment can be found here [Free School Meals expansion - Impact on poverty levels - GOV.UK].

The impact demonstrated that Free School Meals will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year [including Barnett impact]

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a priority for this Government. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

As a significant downpayment ahead of Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2 billion including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

Our commitments at the 2025 Spending Review come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
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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 Health and Social Care on the potential impact of the NHS 10-Year Plan on (a) levels of employment and (b) the cost to the public purse of (i) health and (ii) incapacity benefits. \p Alison McGovern: The Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care Joint Work and Health Directorate was set up in recognition of the significant link between work and health and to improve employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions. The Directorate is staffed by officials in both Departments who report to both Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Work and Pensions Ministers. The Secretaries of State and Junior Ministers for Work and Pensions and for Health and Social Care meet on a regular basis.

We know that good work is generally good for health and wellbeing and that there are many disabled people who want to work. Our Pathways to Work Guarantee will provide work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions claiming out of work benefits.

The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan. The Plan will break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work. Neighbourhood health services will support people to access services closer to home, which will benefit people whose disability may make travelling challenging.

NHS Health and Growth Accelerators are testing a novel approach where local NHS systems are supported to increase – and are held accountable for – the impact they have on people’s work status. If those Accelerators are successful, we will expect all integrated care boards (ICBs) to establish specific and measurable outcome targets on their contribution to reducing economic inactivity and unemployment based on this model. In developing that approach, we will expect ICBs to seek the closest possible collaboration with local government partners – including mayors and strategic health authorities in particular – so that citizens benefit from a seamless work, health and skills offer in their area

The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care are working together and will continue to do so as the package of reforms is developed in detail.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help protect (a) jobs and (b) supply chains which are dependent on British Steel. \p Sarah Jones: Steel is a priority for this Government. As shown with the passing of the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act on 12 April, this Government will not hesitate to take unprecedented steps to safeguard the future of steelmaking in the UK, protecting jobs, national security and supply chains.

Since the legislation was passed on 12 April, we have acted round the clock to secure the raw materials needed to keep the blast furnaces operating safely at Scunthorpe. British Steel, the UK’s only manufacturer of rail, has secured a new £500 million long-term supply contract with Network Rail, and the statutory redundancy consultation initiated by British Steel’s owners, Jingye, has been cancelled, removing the immediate risk to 2,700 jobs.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to take steps to help support domestic manufacturing of playground equipment. \p Sarah Jones: The Industrial Strategy launched in June 2025 sets out this government's plans to kickstart an era of economic prosperity. A new approach, it will create a more connected, high-skilled and resilient economy where every person, place and business can flourish.

The accompanying Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan sets out specific support for manufacturers, outlining how government will work with industry to build resilience, champion innovation, support businesses to scale up and develop a skilled future workforce.

The Plan features interventions focused on six frontier industries – batteries, automotive, aerospace, space, agri-tech, advanced materials as well as cross-sector measures supporting the wider manufacturing ecosystem.
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Ian Roome:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to increase the uptake of statutory paternity leave. \p Justin Madders: The Government is committed to making life better for families. Through the Employment Rights Bill we are making Paternity Leave a ‘day one’ right, which will bring an extra 32,000 fathers and partners into scope of the entitlement. On the first of July we launched the Parental Leave Review, which presents a much-needed opportunity to consider our approach to the system of parental leave and pay. All current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements, including Paternity Leave and Pay, will be in scope.
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Ian Roome:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of Shared Parental Leave. \p Justin Madders: The Government know that the arrival of a child, whether through birth or adoption, is a transformative time in a family’s life. On the first of July, we launched the Parental Leave Review, which presents a much-needed opportunity to consider our approach to the system of parental leave and pay. All current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements, including Shared Parental Leave and Pay, will be in scope.
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Katie White:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, following the recent appointment of a Small Business Commissioner, what further steps he is taking to help ensure SMEs can access support. \p Gareth Thomas: Late payments are one of the biggest problems facing small businesses in the UK.

Government has already taken steps to tackle the issue through the launch of a new Fair Payment Code which will encourage and highlight businesses with the best payment practices.

We will soon be laying secondary legislation which will make it a requirement for large companies to include payment performance data in their annual reports.

Finally, we will be launching a public consultation in the coming weeks which sets out measures that will go even further to tackle late payments, including additional powers for the Small Business Commissioner.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Mr Angus MacDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on the potential impact of the visit by the trade envoy to Israel to Haifa in May 2025 on the UK's foreign policy in relation to Israel. \p Gareth Thomas: The UK’s Trade Envoys play a crucial role in supporting HMG’s growth priorities, through helping deliver the industrial and trade strategies and attracting foreign direct investment to the UK. Lord Austin, in his capacity as Trade Envoy, visited Israel to continue to support these key UK businesses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with independent SMEs on the impact of his Department's policies. \p Gareth Thomas: The UK has 5.5m SMEs and we are committed to hardwiring their voice into government policy, engaging with them in various ways including through roundtables, visits and events.

Hundreds of individual SMEs have been engaged across all sectors and regions as part of co-designing our SME Strategy, including through roundtables across key areas, such as High Streets, Markets and Finance as well as specific policy events such as at Wilton Park.

Engagement with individual SMEs will continue to be a priority pre and post-launch of the SME Strategy to assess the impact of these policies on SMEs across the UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on corporate governance. \p Justin Madders: The Government intends to upgrade the existing reporting and audit regulator, to expand the regulator’s scrutiny to the largest private companies and to hold company directors to account for serious failures in their duties connected with company accounts.

It will bring forward its planned legislation when Parliamentary time allows.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Alex Burghart:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Business Secretary announces new DBT non-executive directors, published on 17 December 2024, if he will publish the correspondence to and from the Commissioner for Public Appointments to obtain permission to appoint Nita Clarke without open competition. \p Justin Madders: I fully respect the principles of public appointments and the Governance Code for Public Appointments was fully adhered to in this process: the rationale for appointing without competition was made public at the time of announcement, following consultation with the Commissioner, and there is no requirement under the Code to publish this correspondence. A fair and open competition was undertaken with a strong field of applications. However, it needed to be strengthened further by the appointment of Nita Clarke, who is bringing vital skills in employee engagement, partnership and employee voices in the workplace drawn from a long and distinguished career including as Vice President for Employee Relations at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Josh Babarinde:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that services provided through the Buy with Confidence Scheme complete satisfactory work. \p Justin Madders: The Buy With Confidence scheme is run solely by local authority Trading Standards departments.

Local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales operate independently from central government and are responsible for the provision of Trading Standards services. This includes responsibility for assessing businesses joining the scheme, business compliance and enforcement if things go wrong.

DBT has strengthened consumer law enforcement through the implementation of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The Act gives local authorities the ability to apply to the courts for civil sanctions to impose monetary penalties on businesses who exploit their customers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Alex Burghart:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the planned (a) commencement and (b) implementation dates are for each substantive policy provision of the Employment Rights Bill. \p Justin Madders: On 1 July the Government published the Employment Rights Bill Implementation Roadmap. The Roadmap provides clarity for employers and workers on how and when Government will engage and consult on the detailed implementation of Bill measures once it becomes law, and when measures will take effect.

The Roadmap outlines several phases of commencement including following Royal Assent, in April 2026, in October 2026, and in 2027. As part of our Plan for Change we are working at pace to deliver on our commitment to Make Work Pay, engaging and consulting throughout to make sure we get the detail right.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57280 on Local Government: Reorganisation, what estimate she has made of the change in public sector net borrowing from local government reorganisation in each of the next four financial years; and whether she plans to limit the levels of that reorganisation. \p Darren Jones: HM Treasury has not undertaken an assessment of the impact of local government reorganisation on local authority borrowing nor the impact on public sector net borrowing. The OBR will continue to update its forecast for overall local government borrowing at each fiscal event, in line with standard practice.

The government announced its plans for local government reorganisation in the English Devolution White Paper on 16 December 2024. The ambition is to replace two-tier authorities with suitably sized unitary councils to create simpler structures, strengthen disjointed services and help councils pursue efficiencies. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government received interim plan responses from all areas in March. Surrey councils submitted their final proposals on 9 May 2025, and all other areas invited will be submitting their final proposals later this year. The government will set out next steps in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Ellie Chowns:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on conditions attached to the spending of the farming budget to ensure (a) value for money, (b) increased food security and (c) environmental targets are met. \p Darren Jones: The Chancellor and I have regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a range of matters.

Defra’s settlement will invest more than £2.7 billion a year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026-27 until 2028-29. This will protect the natural ecosystems underpinning food production, boosting food security and delivery of our environmental targets. We are increasing value for money, and accelerating progress towards our environmental targets, by rapidly winding down subsidy payments that do not provide a return on investment to increase funding for Environmental Land Management schemes from £800 million in 2023-24 to £2 billion by 2028-29.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Alex Burghart:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2024 to Question 54793 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty, what proportion of the costs will come from the (a) Ministry of Defence and (b) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office budgets. \p Darren Jones: The payments to Mauritius will be split between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Ministry of Defence. They will be published in the normal manner alongside other departmental spend in the annual accounts.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many exemptions have been approved for Permanent Secretary remuneration to exceed the band maximum since 4 July 2024. \p Darren Jones: Since 4th July 2024, two Permanent Secretary roles have been approved to exceed the Permanent Secretary pay band.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 62537 on Crown Estate: Northern Ireland, for what reason the rent income received from public authorities in Northern Ireland was higher in 2020 than any of the dates listed. \p Darren Jones: The higher rental income received from public authorities in Northern Ireland in 2020, compared to the years listed in the response to Question 62537, was due to a one-off backdated rent payment. Specifically, in 2020, a backdated rent invoice was issued covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 5 April 2020. This resulted in a significant uplift in reported income for that year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Sarah Hall:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the (a) financial oversight and (b) delivery assurance of major infrastructure projects. \p Darren Jones: The government oversees some of the UK’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects. We are committed to enhancing the oversight and assurance of these projects through a series of reforms, including streamlining approvals and strengthening assurance. It will be better integrated and carried out by multi-disciplinary teams at critical stages of projects. For mega projects in particular, the government has announced new budgeting and governance arrangements to ensure better planning and transparency of our biggest, transformational projects, in line with recommendations from the Office for Value for Money. We are also improving transparency around investment decisions by publishing business cases for major projects and programmes. These changes, set out in the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, will support better value for money and more consistent, reliable delivery across major infrastructure projects.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-09)

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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of a reduction on the savings limit on Individual Savings Accounts on savers. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment. Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) help people save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience.

The Government recognises the important role that cash savings play in helping households build a financial buffer for a rainy day. The Government also wants to see more consumers participate in capital markets and benefit from the long-term financial security and returns that investing can provide.

The impact of any changes to ISAs would be set out in a tax information impact note. The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.