Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Responsible Dog Ownership Working Group last met.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The steering group of the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce last met on 9 December 2025.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has she made of the effectiveness of her Department's engagement with reports produced by the Animal Sentience Committee.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra greatly values the work of the Animal Sentience Committee in ascertaining whether, in their view, ministers across Government have appropriately considered how policy decisions might affect the welfare of sentient animals.
As required under the Animal Welfare Sentience Act 2022 Defra fulfils its statutory duty by formally responding to those reports that fall within the Department’s remit. Where the Committee makes recommendations, these are considered in future development or implementation of the policy as appropriate.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role the Responsible Dog Ownership Working Group has in (a) improving animal welfare and (b) improving public safety.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce is exploring measures to promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog.
The taskforce is considering four themes: educating the public on how to stay safe around dogs, training for both dogs and their owners, enforcement, and improving data on dog attacks. Defra looks forward to receiving the findings and recommendations from the taskforce in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for a) reviewing and b) strengthening penalties for cruelty against wildlife.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The commitment to review and look to strengthen penalties for cruelty against wildlife - so they are consistent with higher levels of sentencing available for animal welfare offences against pets and livestock - was made in the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025. Any strengthening of penalties for cruelty against wildlife will require primary legislation, and Defra will seek to deliver this change as soon as a suitable primary vehicle is identified. The strategy document itself states there is an aim to achieve the changes and improvements set out within it by no later than 2030.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the training provided to GPs on prescribing risk-reducing drugs to women at increased risk of breast cancer.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.
We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in GPs, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, the biggest increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP Contract in 2025/26 is bigger than the 5.8% growth to the National Health Service budget as a whole, demonstrating our commitment to shifting resources to the community.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a national register to capture and integrate the data of all women at increased risk of breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England provides England’s national resource for data and analytics on cancer, rare diseases, and congenital conditions.
The NDRS already serves as a national register for women at very high risk of breast cancer. NDRS curates and quality assures the collected data to ensure sufficient accuracy and completeness. The NDRS works closely with the very high risk National Breast Screening Programme to ensure safe and robust identification of women at very high risk of cancer. The integration of this data within the wider NDRS cancer data infrastructure maximises the use of this data which helps with service planning, evaluation, and improvement, and reduces the fragmentation and siloing that would occur with standalone registers.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the accuracy of data collected on all women at increased risk of breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England provides England’s national resource for data and analytics on cancer, rare diseases, and congenital conditions.
The NDRS already serves as a national register for women at very high risk of breast cancer. NDRS curates and quality assures the collected data to ensure sufficient accuracy and completeness. The NDRS works closely with the very high risk National Breast Screening Programme to ensure safe and robust identification of women at very high risk of cancer. The integration of this data within the wider NDRS cancer data infrastructure maximises the use of this data which helps with service planning, evaluation, and improvement, and reduces the fragmentation and siloing that would occur with standalone registers.