Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the suspension of accreditation of the British Board of Agrément on the number of new building products coming to market.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
UK’s National Accreditation Body (UKAS) is appointed as the UK’s national accreditation body under the UK Accreditation Regulations 2009. UKAS is an independent organisation and operates under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with government.
Whilst it is not for government to comment on an ongoing regulatory process undertaken by an independent organisation, UKAS itself has published a statement (attached) confirming the suspension of all scopes of BBA’s accreditation on 26 February 2026 after identifying non-conformities against the relevant standards. UKAS confirms the suspension could remain in place for up to 9 months, during which BBA cannot issue new certificates on new building products under UKAS accreditation during its suspension. This does not prevent the BBA from offering conformity assessment services, but the BBA must not imply that these are UKAS accredited. Existing accredited certificates will remain valid until their expiry date.
The government will continue to engage closely across the sector to understand any further implications, including impacts on assurance routes, market confidence and the availability of certification services, and will keep the position under close review as it develops.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to BBC reports on 19 May, why Ravi Mehta, a 36 year old disabled patient, has remained in hospital for eight months after being declared fit for discharge.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our statutory hospital discharge and community support guidance, published jointly with NHS England, sets out that integrated care boards (ICBs), and local authorities (LAs) are responsible for planning and delivering local hospital discharge services. Working together, ICBs and LAs should deliver an appropriate support package, based on an individual’s assessed needs, to enable safe discharge.
South East London ICB has worked with Mr Mehta and his family over several years, including during his current admission, to support his assessed needs. Their approach is informed by the need for clinical safety, to meet governance responsibilities, and to secure a sustainable long-term care package, including procuring another specialised provider. The ICB remains committed to supporting safe discharge as soon as can be enabled.
NHS England continues to monitor ICBs to ensure they discharge their functions through robust and timely assurance mechanisms.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the national police inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal has sufficient funding and resources.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
To date, the Home Office has provided over £6m of funding to support this investigation, including up to £2.8m in 2026-27.
The allocation of resources to police investigations is an operational decision.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many disabled people of working age remain in hospital despite being declared fit for discharge because their local integrated care board has declined to pay for their care in the community.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not hold this data. NHS England publishes monthly data on the number of patients who remain in hospital despite no longer meeting the clinical criteria to reside and the reasons for this. However, this does not specify whether delays are attributable to decisions by integrated care boards on funding community care packages; additionally, the data is at an aggregate level so cannot be linked to disability status or age.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 27 November 2025 (HL12262), why annual totals of reports they have received via the HSA4 abortion notification form of women who have died within 14 days of taking at-home abortion medication prescribed by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service would risk the identification of individual patients; and how many of those reports they have received in total in the past four years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to review the release of abortion statistics, to ensure the trustworthiness, quality, and value of these statistics, and also to mitigate the disclosure of sensitive information. Following the 2023 abortion statistics publication, all data is rounded to the nearest five. This aligns with the Code of Practice for Statistics and enables the Department to release more detailed information to the public.
We apply Statistical Disclosure Control with the aim to prevent the release of data that could identify individuals. This is particularly important when counts are low or zero, as small numbers increase the risk of disclosure. As a result of this change, counts of zero can mean no or a small number of procedures in the given field.
From 2020 to 2023, the number of deaths recorded via the HSA4 form for abortions where either one or both abortion medications were administered at home and had been prescribed by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service was zero, rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Please note that this is the number of cases recorded in the statistical datasets used for publication, which are a snapshot of the data at the time it was compiled, and therefore will not include late submissions or changes.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the financial pressures on local councils arising from internal drainage board levies in areas where they have increased in recent years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government supports and values the vital work internal drainage boards (IDBs) undertake in managing water levels and reducing flood risk, benefitting communities, businesses and farmers.
In recognition of IDB cost increases and the impact on local authority special levies, the government announced as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement Policy Statement, that it will provide £5 million in funding for the local authorities most impacted by IDB levies in 2026/27. This follows the £5 million grant awarded in 2025/26. As in previous years, allocations for the 2026/27 IDB levy support grant will be announced in due course once IDB levy data has been received towards the end of the financial year.
We recognise the need to ensure IDBs are set up for the longer term. Defra and MHCLG have commissioned a research project into IDB funding and costs, which launched in early September and will close in summer 2026.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 November (HL11324), how many reports they have received via the HSA4 abortion notification form of women who have died within 14 days of taking at-home abortion medication prescribed by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in each of the past four years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is unable to provide this information as to do so would risk identifying individuals due to the small numbers involved.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (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 develop a sustainable funding solution for internal drainage board levies; and whether the funding support provided to councils will be further increased in the financial settlement.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports and values the vital work internal drainage boards (IDBs) undertake in managing water levels and reducing flood risk, benefitting communities, businesses and farmers.
The Government’s £91m IDB Fund is supporting greater flood resilience for farmers and rural communities. IDBs are delivering projects that are already benefiting over 400,000 hectares of farmland and over 200,000 properties.
In recognition of IDB cost increases and the impact on local authority special levies, the government announced on 20 November 2025 as part of the 2026/27 Local Government Finance Settlement Policy Statement, that it will provide £5 million in funding for the local authorities most impacted by IDB levies. This follows the £5 million grant awarded in 2025/26. Allocations for the 2026/27 IDB levy support grant will be announced in due course.
However, we recognise the need to ensure IDBs are set up for the longer term. In response to rising financial pressures on IDBs, and the farmers and local authorities who fund their work, Defra and MHCLG have commissioned a research project into IDB funding and costs. This is focussed on financial efficiency, value for money, and the broader benefits which IDBs deliver for local communities. It will include examination of whether any changes are needed to their funding model. The research project was launched in early September and will close in summer 2026.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women have died after taking six misoprostol tablets that were prescribed (1) by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service after a telephone consultation, and (2) after a face-to-face consultation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967, registered medical practitioners must notify the Chief Medical Officer of abortions within 14 days. The Department collects information on abortions via the HSA4 abortion notification form. The form does not record the number of misoprostol tablets prescribed by the abortion provider nor whether they received a telephone consultation, therefore the Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Aerospace Technology Institute has provided grants using public funds to (1) British Airways, (2) Airbus, (3) Polvair Plc, (4) Farnborough International, (5) Cadence Design Systems, (6) GKN Aerospace, (7) Spirit AeroSystems, and (8) Bombardier, since 2014; and if so, how many grants in each case.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) is an independent advisory organisation to government and industry and does not itself award grant funding. Grants under the ATI Programme are awarded by Innovate UK on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to support innovation in the UK aerospace sector. Details of all ATI Programme grants, including recipients and values, are published by Innovate UK and can be accessed online at: https://www.ukri.org/publications/innovate-uk-funded-projects-since-2004/