Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure regular, independent assessment of the safety of high-risk complex buildings similar to that required for bridges and tunnels.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced a new regime to improve the safety of higher-risk residential buildings, overseen by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Dutyholders must report safety issues, maintain a golden thread of information, produce a safety case report, and engage residents.
Through the building assessment certificate process, the BSR assesses whether dutyholders are meeting their legal duties and taking reasonable steps to manage building safety risks. These measures provide independent oversight and support the ongoing management of building safety risks.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to set up an independent structural research organisation, in the model of the Building Research Establishment.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government considers that public sector testing and research capacity is an essential part of an effective building safety regime. In December 2025, the Government confirmed that it would take forward work to establish new public sector testing capacity to enable both enforcement testing and research testing to be performed. This will provide regulators and the Government with increased capacity and an authoritative voice on building safety.
The Government sought views on models for delivering this new capacity in the Construction Products Reform White Paper, published in February 2026.
We intend to publish the Government response to the White Paper consultation later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they intend to allocate to upland peat restoration; and what plans they have to ensure such restoration occurs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to peatland restoration, and we have recently extended the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme for a further year, until March 2027.
This scheme has already restored around 28,000 hectares of peatland and this extension will support the restoration of thousands more hectares, including in the uplands.
As a condition of funding, delivery partners provide regular reports on restoration progress.
Upland peatland restoration is also being delivered through Environmental Land Management schemes, including Landscape Recovery, which supports restoration through 20-year agreements.
We have also launched the £1.15 million Peatland Restoration Sector Capacity Grant Scheme to boost peatland skills, training, apprenticeships and equipment across the sector.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that physician associates do not act as prescribers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The law does not currently allow physician assistants (PAs), still legally known as physician associates, to prescribe.
The General Medical Council, which regulates PAs, states on its website that PAs cannot prescribe, even if they hold prescribing rights from a previous profession and have previously been authorised to prescribe in that role by their employer.
Employers and system regulators, alongside professionals, are responsible for ensuring that individuals do not work outside of their scope of practise.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the results of the lamb welfare consultation on proposed changes to castration and tail docking methods, which closed on 9 March.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently analysing the consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State on 9 June 2026 (UIN 7005), why they concluded that banning castration and tail docking of lambs was not the correct approach; and whether they will make their statement publicly available.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises that there are situations where completely removing the need for these procedures is not feasible and would not reflect the evidence base or sectoral needs and could result in unintended negative consequences for animal welfare. There remain cases, such as where there is a high risk of flystrike, where these procedures may still be justified. This is set out in the consultation documentation.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what information they have about the reasons and justification for transferring of the sexual assault case against US pilot Captain Jacob Wulfson from the UK civil justice system to the UK military one; in how many other cases has such a transfer been made in the past five years; and whether they have any plans to stop such transfers.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Following the deeply distressing case involving US Captain Wulfson, government officials are working closely with Cambridgeshire police to establish the full facts of how jurisdiction was enacted. This case is extremely concerning, and our thoughts are with the victim.
The Visiting Forces Act (1952) sets out the legal basis for how jurisdiction for criminal offences should be decided between the UK civil authorities and a Visiting Force’s service court martial. This is implemented in practice by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the UK courts as part of the criminal justice system.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need for funding and support for countries in Africa to treat patients with HIV and cryptococcal meningitis and to make treatments for these diseases available in mainstream healthcare services following cuts to USAID
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington
The Government supports countries across Africa through its investments in multilateral health partners, helping to strengthen health systems and deliver HIV prevention, testing and treatment services, including for opportunistic infections such as cryptococcal meningitis. Through the Global Fund, the Government has supported the introduction and expansion of cryptococcal meningitis treatment in countries where it was previously unavailable or severely constrained.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding and support they (1) provide, and (2) plan to provide, to countries in Africa to treat patients with HIV and cryptococcal meningitis and to make treatments for these diseases available in mainstream healthcare services following cuts to USAID.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington
The Government supports countries across Africa through its investments in multilateral health partners, helping to strengthen health systems and deliver HIV prevention, testing and treatment services, including for opportunistic infections such as cryptococcal meningitis. Through the Global Fund, the Government has supported the introduction and expansion of cryptococcal meningitis treatment in countries where it was previously unavailable or severely constrained.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the legislative proposals in California (Assembly Bill 1864) and New York (Assembly Bill 3283) to mandate synthetic nucleic acid synthesis screening; and what plans they have to make the UK's current voluntary screening guidance mandatory.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
The Government continues to evaluate the UK’s approach to synthetic nucleic acid screening on an ongoing basis. This is informed by consideration of international developments, including Assembly Bill 1864 in California and Assembly Bill 3283 in New York, as well as other international partners approaches to screening. In October 2024, the UK was the second country in the world to publish Guidance to promote the screening of synthetic nucleic acid customers and sequences. The Guidance delivers on the UK’s commitment to ensure responsible innovation in engineering biology by championing legitimate use and mitigating the risk of misuse of synthetic nucleic acids.