Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish ophthalmology waiting times in order to address regional variations in and inconsistent commissioning of sight-saving treatment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment across all specialties, including in ophthalmology services. As of May 2026, the proportion of waits below 18 weeks has increased from 65.7% in July 2024 to 74.1% in May 2026, an 8.4 percentage point improvement. This data is published on the NHS.UK website.
We are taking specific steps to improve services like ophthalmology. NHS England accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
In May 2026, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme released a best practice guidance for the care of patients with glaucoma, and this will be the first in a series of best practice documents for ophthalmology conditions. The aim of this series is to standardise the patient pathways in use across England in line with best practice, which will enable the most complex and most at risk to be seen more quickly by specialist ophthalmology teams.
Specific measures to address regional variations and inconsistent commissioning in ophthalmology include the Public Health Outcomes Framework eye health indicator, which continues to track the rate of sight loss for age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. This information is available to commissioners and can be used to drive improved local outcomes and interventions. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of medicines for eye conditions such as age-related macular degeneration. Integrated care boards are legally required to fund NICE-recommended medicines in line with NICE’s recommendations.
From next year, we are also introducing NHS Online, which will help reduce patient waiting times across England by giving people on glaucoma pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. NHS Online will deliver the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointment and assessments in its first three years across all specialities. We are also committed to expanding the number of surgical hubs, which provide dedicated and protected elective capacity to drive improvement in six specialities, including ophthalmology.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farmers in accessing the Sustainable Farming Initiative 2026 budget, and in forward planning for 2027 and 2028.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Sustainable Farming Initiative 2026 (SFI26) Window 1 opened last month for small farms with between three and 50 hectares and also farms without an existing Environmental Land Management agreement.
This Government is specifically targeting these two groups because it wants to bring more of them into SFI.
Defra is publishing updates on how much of each application window’s budget has been allocated on the department’s Farming Blog, so farmers can follow the rate of applications.
Window 2 is planned to open from September 2026 for all farms.
This department will announce the timing of the SFI27 offer in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure British steel is not undercut by high-emission imports when free Emissions Trading Scheme allocations are phased out.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government is introducing a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) from 1 January 2027 to ensure imported carbon-intensive goods face a carbon price comparable to that paid by UK producers under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. The CBAM will apply to imports of iron and steel and is designed to address carbon leakage. Alongside this, the UK ETS Authority has consulted on the treatment of free allocations for CBAM-covered sectors to ensure a managed transition while maintaining carbon leakage protection for UK manufacturers.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to expand the British Industry Supercharger programme to include a larger proportion of the steel industry and related sectors, including the scrap metal sector.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade intends to conduct a review of the British Industry Supercharger this year, which will include a review of eligibility criteria. However, any changes to eligibility criteria, or other parts of the policy, are subject to public consultation and ministerial approval. All stakeholders, including those in the steel and scrap metal sectors, are encouraged to engage with this review when the opportunity arises and present all relevant evidence.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to strengthen domestic supply chains for steel to support the delivery of the Defence Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is committed to creating the right conditions in the UK for a competitive and sustainable steel industry. The sector provides vital support to the UK’s defence capabilities, including specialist cast and forged steel components for a range of defence programmes. The department publishes its future pipeline for steel requirements, enabling UK steel manufacturers to better plan and bid for upcoming contracts.
The National Security Strategy, Strategic Defence Review, and Defence Industrial Strategy set out how a strong industrial base is critical for maintaining our national security infrastructure. While steel used in our major Defence programmes is generally sourced by our prime contractors from a range of UK and international suppliers, Ministry of Defence (MOD) procurement activity will continue to apply PPN 022, a policy aimed at increasing the use of British-produced steel in public contracts. The MOD also supports the recently published UK Steel Strategy which sets out a long-term plan to revitalise the UK steel sector and restore domestic production to sustainable levels.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to strengthen regulation of waste carriers and brokers, and to encourage intelligence-sharing and enforcement coordination between relevant regulators.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has recently laid legislation that will replace the light-touch waste carriers, brokers and dealers registration system with a new waste controllers and transporters system under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. This new regime will mean that operators will need to undergo stricter background checks and demonstrate technical competence to be granted a permit.
The Joint Unit for Waste Crime brings together law enforcement partners to tackle serious and organised waste crime and has already developed an enhanced intelligence sharing approach to enable this. Under the Waste Crime Action Plan, Defra is working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office to undertake a review of the end-to-end multi-agency response to waste crime, including areas such as information sharing. The review will identify opportunities to strengthen how agencies work together and will aim to strengthen existing intelligence sharing structures.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to establish a single reporting route for all waste crime incidents in order to enable a national dataset of related information.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The EA has commissioned a waste crime reporting Crimestoppers campaign which launched on 20 May 2026 and is set to finish in July/August. This radio and social media campaign aims to increase public awareness, understanding, and reporting of waste crime. The Crimestoppers campaign is featured on the Environment Agency website, and any communications on social media are amplified by Defra. The public should report any information regarding individuals or organised networks anonymously by visiting the Crimestoppers Illegal Waste Dumping page or by calling their 24/7 hotline at 0800 555 111.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to end recruitment freezes in radiology and cancer centres in order to meet cancer diagnostic and treatment referral targets.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to the National Health Service meeting all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. NHS England continues to work towards its March 2027 cancer performance ambitions, including improvements in diagnostic and treatment waiting times.
Recruitment decisions are matters for individual NHS trusts, which are responsible for ensuring they have the workforce required to deliver safe and effective services.
The Government continues to support workforce growth across cancer services and there were more clinical oncology and radiology doctors working in NHS England in April 2026 than in April 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recruitment freezes in cancer centres on the likelihood of the NHS achieving its targets for 62-day cancer referrals in the NHS Medium Term Planning Framework.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to the National Health Service meeting all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. NHS England continues to work towards its March 2027 cancer performance ambitions, including improvements in diagnostic and treatment waiting times.
Recruitment decisions are matters for individual NHS trusts, which are responsible for ensuring they have the workforce required to deliver safe and effective services.
The Government continues to support workforce growth across cancer services and there were more clinical oncology and radiology doctors working in NHS England in April 2026 than in April 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recruitment freezes in radiology on the likelihood of the NHS achieving its targets for cancer diagnostic test waiting periods in the NHS Medium Term Planning Framework.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to the National Health Service meeting all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. NHS England continues to work towards its March 2027 cancer performance ambitions, including improvements in diagnostic and treatment waiting times.
Recruitment decisions are matters for individual NHS trusts, which are responsible for ensuring they have the workforce required to deliver safe and effective services.
The Government continues to support workforce growth across cancer services and there were more clinical oncology and radiology doctors working in NHS England in April 2026 than in April 2025.