Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to increase protections to the lives of unborn children.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Existing criminal offences relating to foetuses are contained in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929. The Government has no plans to change these.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to stop any killing of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by Russian armed forces.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

We condemn Russia's barbaric assault against Ukraine's civilian population. The Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights reports that at least 13,341 civilians have been killed since February 2022. We have been clear that Russia's delaying of peace process to stop the bloodshed will only strengthen our resolve to help Ukraine to defend itself and use our sanctions to restrict Putin's war machine. Our latest sanctions of 17 June impact across Russia's financial, military and energy sectors.

The UK holds Russia accountable for the treatment of any prisoner in their custody. Members of the Ukrainian armed forces who are captured by Russia are entitled to Prisoner of War status and must be provided all the rights and protections afforded to them in accordance with the Geneva Convention. We condemn the exploitation of Prisoners of War for political and propaganda purposes. We regularly use our public communications and statements, including at the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to draw attention to Russia's treatment of Ukrainian Prisoners of War, calling on Russia to comply with international humanitarian law and demanding accountability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many nurses have been trained in England in each of the past three years.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Higher Education Statistics Agency publishes data on the number of students qualifying from higher education courses in the United Kingdom, and this includes information on a broad ranges of undergraduate nursing courses. The published data is not detailed enough to allow for the reliable identification of all students completing courses which specifically lead to registered nursing status.

As a proxy for the number of students completing nursing courses each year, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) publish information on the number of UK trained nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England.

The following table shows the number of UK trained nurses joining the NMC register in England for the first time by financial year:

Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council, March 2025 Annual Data Report.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the number of illegal immigrants in the UK has increased or decreased since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

By its very nature, it is not possible to know the exact size of the illegal migrant population in the UK, and so the Home Office under successive governments has not been able to publish any official estimates of that population.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to help farming and rural communities following the announced cuts to DEFRA's budget and the increase in inheritance tax on family farms.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

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, in fact, increasing the budget for sustainable farming and are investing more than £2.7 million a year in farming and nature recovery. Funding for the Environmental Land Management Schemes paid to farmers will increase by 150% from £800 million in 23/24 to £2 billion by 28/29. Overall farmers and land managers will benefit from an average of £2.3 billion a year through the Farming and Countryside Programme, and up to £400 million from additional nature schemes, including those for tree planting and our peatlands.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many employees of arm's-length bodies receive more than £100,000 in salaries and other benefits.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Cabinet Office does not hold the information requested. Pay for senior officials in arms-length bodies (ALBs) is set by the employing ALB and/or the sponsor department.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much they expect to contribute to the European Union under the trade agreement reached on 19 May.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

There will be implementation costs associated with the UK-EU reset agreement, which will be confirmed in due course once we have negotiated the details of the agreement. This will include proportionate contributions in specific and limited areas, such as where access to specific IT systems will help to remove trade barriers for UK firms or manage biosecurity risks. The UK will also negotiate fair financial contributions to the Erasmus+ programme which will reflect the benefits of participation. We will not be making general contributions to the EU budget.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of their policy of inheritance taxation for agricultural land on (1) family farms in Northern Ireland, and (2) the United Kingdom's food security.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.

Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional or national breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the Government has set out that the reforms are expected to result in up to around 520 estates across the UK claiming agricultural property relief paying more inheritance tax in 2026-27. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.

The Government’s decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 provided £5 billion over two years for farming and land management in England, which will restore stability and confidence in the sector, strengthening food security alongside nature’s recovery. This is the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether customs declarations will be required for goods covered by the EU-UK 'reset' agreement; and whether Northern Ireland will be subject to continuing ‘dynamic’ alignment with EU rules for such goods.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The new Windsor Framework customs arrangements introduced on 1 May will remain in place, in addition to the arrangements put forward for sanitary and phytosanitary goods (SPS) at the UK-EU Summit. The arrangements introduced on May 1 ensure that goods sent to or from consumers will not be subject to customs declarations or duty. We have also introduced a range of schemes to support businesses by removing unnecessary checks and paperwork; over 10,000 businesses are already signed up to the UK Internal Market Scheme.

The new UK-EU Common Understanding agrees to remove a broad and wide-ranging set of requirements for sanitary and phytosanitary goods and plants moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

When implemented, there will be no need for SPS paperwork such as health certificates to move agrifood or plant products to Northern Ireland, no mandatory identity or physical checks on those goods, no need for Plant Health Labels when moving plants for planting, seed potatoes, and used agricultural machinery, and no bans on ‘high risk’ plants.

The continued application of the Windsor Framework would provide for Northern Ireland maintaining its privileged unique dual access to both the European Union Single Market and the United Kingdom internal market.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many hotels are being used to accommodate migrants; how many migrants are being housed in hotels across the United Kingdom; and whether those numbers have increased or decreased since July 2024.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

According to the latest official data, published on 22 May 2025, there were 32,345 individuals staying in hotel accommodation as of 31 March 2025.

The current number of hotels in use is lower than it was at the time of the election, and significantly lower than the peak of 400 in use in autumn 2023.