Baroness Redfern

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.

The government committed in its manifesto to banning the import of hunting trophies.

Ministers are reviewing policies, which will be announced in due course, including the consultation on the Fur Market in Great Britain. Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The report that they produce will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.

We have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and this Labour Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.

Food labelling legislation means that food, including sauces and condiments, needs to include back of pack nutritional information, which includes total sugar content.

In addition, Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling is intended to support healthier choices by communicating complex nutritional information to consumers in a way that is easy and quick to understand. The United Kingdom was one of the first to introduce a national Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling system, and the voluntary Multiple Traffic Light scheme has been in place across the UK since 2013. It is widely used by consumers and some businesses.

In 2020, the Government and the devolved governments at the time held an evidence-gathering consultation on Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling. This considered whether improvements were needed to the UK’s Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling scheme and invited views on international examples of labelling, including the use of warning labels.

If changes to Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling are required in future, we will publish findings and consult again on the proposed policy changes.

We are increasing cyber resilience across the National Health Service. Over £338 million has been invested to date, and in March 2023 the Cyber security strategy for health and social care: 2023 to 2030 was published, outlining ambition in this area. The new Government are delivering the Cyber Improvement Programme, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, that addresses the changing cyber risk landscape, expands protection and services, and reduces the risk of a successful attack across the healthcare sector.

Health and care providers continue to demonstrate alignment to the cyber resilience standards through the Data Security Protection Toolkit submission, supported by the Cyber Improvement Programme.

Work continues to be delivered to meet the 2030 target, including a suite of work to develop and grow the cyber workforce in an evolving threat environment. The programme is looking to further strengthen existing national cyber security controls for health and care, which already includes continuous cyber monitoring through NHS England’s Cyber Security Operations Centre, national-scale defences from cyberattack, such as Secure Boundary, and nationally provided cyber incident response contracts in the event of a cyber incident.

The Department invested £10 million of funding into the NHS Breast Screening Programme in 2023, providing 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 service upgrades, targeted at areas with the greatest challenges of uptake and coverage. This extra capacity aims to boost the uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, tackle health disparities, and contribute towards higher early diagnosis rates, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.

In addition, the Digital Transformation of Screening (DToS) programme seeks to design, deliver, and implement a more sophisticated and future-proof digital system for all screening IT systems. Although we know the new system will offer us huge improvements, it is important that the programme is introduced without interrupting the delivery of breast screening services. A full replacement of the IT systems will only take place when the DToS programme can replicate what the current National Breast Screening System does.

The Department supports the role and structure of statutory integrated care systems (ICSs) in both commissioning health services to meet the needs of their populations, and bringing together commissioners and other partners to plan and deliver joined up health and care services that improve the lives of people who live and work in their area.

The organisations within an ICS include the National Health Service, local government, social care providers, charities, and other organisations working together to provide more joined up care for people, and to improve the outcomes for their populations. NHS England has set out the four core purposes for the ICSs, which are as follows:

- improve outcomes in population health and healthcare;

- tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access;

- enhance productivity and value for money; and

- help the NHS support broader social and economic development.

The Government is committed to supporting local government and recognises the challenges it faces. To give councils the stability and certainty they need to plan for the long-term, and flexibility to spend their funding where it’s needed most, we will provide multi-year funding settlements and end wasteful competitive bidding. We will share further detail on our plans in due course.

The Government is committed to supporting local government and recognises the challenges it faces. To give councils the stability and certainty they need to plan for the long-term, and flexibility to spend their funding where it’s needed most, we will provide multi-year funding settlements and end wasteful competitive bidding. We will share further detail on our plans in due course.