Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, regarding the UK-funded World Food Programme cash assistance for conflict-affected Lebanese, (1) in which areas of Lebanon is the assistance is being delivered, (2) which organisations are acting as implementing partners and (3) what safeguards are in place to ensure that UK-funded assistance does not benefit Hezbollah.

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

The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) Lebanon programme provides funding to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Lebanese Internal Security Forces (LISF) through targeted capacity building. In Financial Year 2025/26, UK assistance enabled LAF border deployments, training, essential equipment provision, and greater interoperability between the LAF and LISF. Palladium supports the delivery of UK funded programmes by providing technical advisory capacity.

World Food Programme (WFP) and other direct partners, including under the ISF, undergo enhanced due diligence to ensure strong controls preventing aid diversion, including risks of diversion to terrorists. UK cash assistance for vulnerable Lebanese households is distributed via WFP and downstream partners SHEILD, World Vision, Lebanese Red Cross and Caritas Lebanon and channelled nationwide through the Lebanese government's Shock Responsive Safety Net (SRSN) which targets the most vulnerable conflict affected families based on acute humanitarian needs. All funding is provided through reputable financial service providers.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what UK programmes were used to provide funding to the government of Lebanon or the Lebanese armed forces to support the dismantling of Hezbollah in the financial year 2025/26.

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

The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) Lebanon programme provides funding to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Lebanese Internal Security Forces (LISF) through targeted capacity building. In Financial Year 2025/26, UK assistance enabled LAF border deployments, training, essential equipment provision, and greater interoperability between the LAF and LISF. Palladium supports the delivery of UK funded programmes by providing technical advisory capacity.

World Food Programme (WFP) and other direct partners, including under the ISF, undergo enhanced due diligence to ensure strong controls preventing aid diversion, including risks of diversion to terrorists. UK cash assistance for vulnerable Lebanese households is distributed via WFP and downstream partners SHEILD, World Vision, Lebanese Red Cross and Caritas Lebanon and channelled nationwide through the Lebanese government's Shock Responsive Safety Net (SRSN) which targets the most vulnerable conflict affected families based on acute humanitarian needs. All funding is provided through reputable financial service providers.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what role the company Palladium International Ltd plays in delivering UK-funded programmes in Lebanon.

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

The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) Lebanon programme provides funding to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Lebanese Internal Security Forces (LISF) through targeted capacity building. In Financial Year 2025/26, UK assistance enabled LAF border deployments, training, essential equipment provision, and greater interoperability between the LAF and LISF. Palladium supports the delivery of UK funded programmes by providing technical advisory capacity.

World Food Programme (WFP) and other direct partners, including under the ISF, undergo enhanced due diligence to ensure strong controls preventing aid diversion, including risks of diversion to terrorists. UK cash assistance for vulnerable Lebanese households is distributed via WFP and downstream partners SHEILD, World Vision, Lebanese Red Cross and Caritas Lebanon and channelled nationwide through the Lebanese government's Shock Responsive Safety Net (SRSN) which targets the most vulnerable conflict affected families based on acute humanitarian needs. All funding is provided through reputable financial service providers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the United Kingdom remains internationally competitive in attracting cell and gene therapy trials, including CAR-T; and to ensure that patients can access innovative treatments without delay.

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

The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and delivering better patient care, to make the United Kingdom a world-leading destination for clinical research including cell and gene therapies such as CAR-T. We are working to fast-track clinical trials to drive global investment into life sciences, improve health outcomes, and accelerate the development of medicines and therapies of the future, including gene therapy treatments.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, across the development pathway.

The NIHR Industry Hub, launched in October 2025, provides a single front door for companies in England, coordinating research infrastructure into one coherent, streamlined offer.

NIHR infrastructure offers innovators access to world-leading expertise, facilities, and support for the delivery of clinical trials, strengthening the UK’s position as a partner of choice for cell and gene therapy studies. The NIHR’s Biomedical Research Centres and Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres support early translational and experimental medicine studies, offering world-leading scientific expertise and clinical capability for complex, early phase, and first-in-human trials, including CAR-T. This helps de-risk development and attract cutting-edge studies to the UK.

NIHR’s Clinical Research Facilities provide specialist environments and the skilled workforce required to deliver these complex therapies safely and efficiently. To improve delivery at scale, the NIHR’s Research Delivery Network and Commercial Research Delivery Centres are established to support rapid and efficient delivery of clinical trials and provide dedicated capacity and capability across the country. This will further enhance the UKs competitiveness by improving the speed and reliability of study setup and delivery.

In addition, the NIHR supported Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres (ATTCs) play a key role in the development of advanced therapy medicinal products clinical trials. By developing national infrastructure, standardising delivery pathways, and supporting centres across a range of geographies, ATTCs help ensure that advanced therapies can be delivered beyond a small number of highly specialised sites.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of progress toward the target set in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, published on 16 July 2025, to reduce clinical trial set-up time to 150 days by March 2026.

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

The Government is committed to cutting the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up, to under 150 days by March 2026, with the aim of making the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical trials.

Data published on 15 April 2026 on GOV.UK as part of the UK Clinical Research Delivery Programme’s key performance indicators report show that average set-up times for commercial interventional clinical trials have reduced from 169 days to 122 days, when comparing the same period this year to last. This is significant progress toward the Government’s target to cut clinical trials set-up times to within 150 days.

The target set in the Life Sciences Sector Plan is that by March 2026, 95% of commercial interventional trials in England deliver set up within 150 days. Data published on 15 April 2026 on GOV.UK as part of the UK Clinical Research Delivery key performance indicators report shows that 78% of commercial interventional studies starting set-up in September 2025 met the 150-day target.

Performance data against the target will be published monthly with the final view of all studies that commenced set-up by March 2026 published in October 2026.