Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce safeguards to allow academics to speak freely on all matters, in particular measures to prevent dismissals or sanctions of university staff.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom in universities. Academics must be allowed to test the truth of the ideas that shape society and to participate in the free exchange of ideas, including where this causes shock and discomfort.
On 28 April 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, signed commencement regulations of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, enabling additional provisions to come into force from 1 August 2025. These provisions include strengthened duties on higher education (HE) providers in relation to securing and promoting the importance of freedom of speech and academic freedom. The provisions make clear that academic staff must be able to question received wisdom and present new, controversial, or unpopular ideas without risking their privileges, jobs, promotions, or future roles at their provider.
Further guidance on employment and promotion of academic staff in relation to freedom of speech is set out in paragraphs 145 to 153 of the Office for Students’ Regulatory advice 24.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and fund the development of the bionics and advanced prosthetics industry, including through companies such as Open Bionics, and to ensure the wider adoption and availability of those technologies through public health services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government support the bionics and advanced prosthetics industry by funding end-to-end innovation, from early-stage research and development to clinical trials and evidence generation, via Innovate UK and the National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR).
Through NIHR, the Department funds innovative research through multiple programmes and broader infrastructure investments. The NIHR supports a range of projects developing next-generation bionic and prosthetic technologies. NIHR-funded initiatives include: the Starworks Child Prosthetics Network; the Rebel Hand Project, which is developing smart prosthetic hands for children; the Virtual Reality Prosthetics Training System; and the Brain Injury Sensory Prosthetic, which is using augmented reality for vision rehabilitation. These examples illustrate the broad support for innovation in bionics and advanced prosthetic development.
The Government is committed to ensuring that patients have access to high-quality prosthetics while supporting British innovation in healthcare technology. The NHS Supply Chain plays a vital role in supporting our health service, delivering significant value, and thereby ensuring more resources are directed to frontline patient care.
The NHS Supply Chain’s Prosthetics, Components and Associated Products Framework is due to launch on 24 November 2025 to replace the Artificial Limbs Framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products to provide clinical choice in order to meet patient need. The full product range, which encompasses bionics and advanced prosthetics along with repair componentry, will be made available from 12 compliant suppliers.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support and resources they plan to provide to support research and development for in vitro gametogenesis, and the wider reproductive technologies industry.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government, through UK Research and Innovation’s Medical Research Council (MRC), supports a broad range of biomedical research, including in reproductive health, developmental biology and genetics. MRC’s applicant-led funding opportunities are open to proposals within its remit. MRC also funds large-scale, challenge-led transformative research through its Institutes and Centres of Research Excellence. All research is subject to appropriate ethical review.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - 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 sleep deprivation on mental health and national productivity, and what steps they are taking to address that issue and to promote sleep health.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While no such specific assessment has been made, we recognise the potential impact of sleep deprivation on mental health.
NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression offer low-intensity therapy which may include interventions around sleep hygiene. Individuals who are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression can be referred by their general practitioner, or can self-refer, to NHS Talking Therapies.
Individuals can also access helpful resources on sleep problems on the NHS Every Mind Matters website.
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Prioritisation Board has recently agreed to prioritise digital technologies that deliver cognitive behavioural therapy interventions for insomnia and insomnia symptoms as a topic for the development of HealthTech guidance.
Advice for healthcare professionals is also available from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on its website.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - 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 that the ongoing work to create an official definition of Islamophobia does not exacerbate anti-Muslim sentiment.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has established the Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition working group to advise the Government on the appropriate and sensitive language to describe, understand and define unacceptable treatment, prejudice, discrimination and hate targeting Muslims or anyone who is perceived to be Muslim. The Government is committed to ensuring that efforts to define Anti-Muslim hatred/ Islamophobia contribute positively to tackling the issue, informed by extensive engagement with a wide range of communities and views.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the study relating to ultra-processed food and national dietary guidelines published in Nature Medicine on 4 August; and what steps they will take to ensure that national dietary guidelines take account of food processing.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A randomised, crossover trial evaluating the effects of ultra processed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health was published by Dicken et al in Nature Medicine on 4 August 2025. A formal assessment of the study has not yet been carried out.
United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on robust independent risk assessments by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). The SACN assessed the evidence on processed foods and health in a position statement in 2023 and a rapid evidence update in April 2025.
The SACN has concluded that the observed associations between higher consumption of ultra processed foods and adverse health outcomes are concerning. The SACN recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and which are low in fibre
The SACN has made a number of research recommendations to help understand whether processing is a risk factor, over and above the nutrients and energy intake. The SACN will consider the evidence published since its rapid evidence update, including this study, at its horizon scanning meeting in 2026.
The UK’s national food model, The Eatwell Guide, which is based on the SACN’s recommendations, already indicates that many foods classified as ultra processed, such as crisps, biscuits, cakes, confectionery, and ice cream, are not part of a healthy, balanced diet. It advises that people should eat more fruit and vegetables and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less red and processed meat and food and drink that is high in sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt.
The Government continues to invest in research on ultra processed foods through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the findings in the report National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published on 16 June, what plans they have to provide compensation to victims.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is making reforms to better support victims of child sexual abuse and prioritise their rights, including making it easier for victims to pursue compensation claims in the civil court.
The Government has included a measure in the Crime and Policing Bill to remove the three-year time limit for victims to bring civil personal injury child sexual abuse claims, so that claims do not need to be brought within three years of turning 18. This change is significant because we know that it can take decades for survivors to disclose sexual abuse.
Victims, including children, who suffer a serious physical or mental injury as a direct result of a violent crime such as physical and sexual abuse, may also be able to access compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Payments under the Scheme are an expression of public sympathy and are intended to be an acknowledgment of the harm that eligible applicants have experienced.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) has worked to improve its service for compensation applicants, including providing its staff with specific training on the impact of psychological and emotional trauma in sexual abuse cases, and guidance on applying the exceptional circumstances discretion to sexual abuse cases - particularly child sexual abuse.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the evidence-base for the use of ketamine to treat trauma-related mental health conditions, and whether they plan to provide such treatments through NHS mental health services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ketamine does not have a marketing authorisation in the United Kingdom for use in the treatment of any mental health conditions. Esketamine nasal spray, an isomer of ketamine, is licensed for treatment-resistant depression that has not responded to at least two different antidepressants in the current moderate to severe depressive episode in adults, and for the treatment of adults with a moderate to severe episode of major depressive disorder, as acute short-term treatment for the rapid reduction of depressive symptoms, which, according to clinical judgement, constitutes a psychiatric emergency.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new, licenced medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.
The NICE has been unable to recommend esketamine for treatment-resistant depression due to uncertainties in its clinical and cost-effectiveness. It is not therefore routinely funded by the NHS in England for any indication.
The NICE was unable to make recommendations on the use of esketamine nasal spray for the treatment of major depressive disorder because the marketing authorisation holder did not provide an evidence submission.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential neurodevelopmental impacts in children from prolonged screen time using mobile phones and social media, and how any such assessment informs public health guidance for families and schools.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2018, the United Kingdom’s Chief Medical Officer commissioned independent researchers at University College London to map published research on screen time, social media, and children and young people’s mental health. Their findings were published by the National Institute for Health Research.
On 7 February 2019, the Chief Medical Officer published a commentary on this research, alongside their advice for parents and carers, and their recommendations for other stakeholders. They determined that the evidence was insufficiently conclusive to support the Chief Medical Officer’s evidence-based guidelines on optimal amounts of screen use or online activities, such as social media use.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of psychedelics in the treatment of mental health; and what steps they are taking to support advanced research in this sector.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has conducted scientific advice meetings with research organisations developing drugs with psychedelic properties for the treatment of mental health conditions. The MHRA does not conduct research, however they enable clinical trials research to take place and have procedures in place to review marketing authorisation applications submitted to them, with regard to the drug’s quality, safety and effectiveness.
The Department of Health and Social Care commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which has invested £1.1 million in a randomised controlled trial to examine the feasibility, safety and efficacy of the use of psilocybin in people with treatment-resistant depression.
The NIHR also invests in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies through its infrastructure. For example, the Imperial Biomedical Research Centre aims to investigate the potential of treating psychiatric disorders with psychedelics. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies.