Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in response to the strategic assessment by the Joint Intelligence Committee titled, Nature security assessment on global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security, what steps is his Department taking to coordinate climate security and resilience measures across Government.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The findings of the Joint Intelligence Committee’s assessment are being integrated into cross-government work, including the National Adaptation Plan, to ensure that climate and nature risks are reflected in resilience planning.
As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, Defence recognises climate change and nature degradation as persistent transnational challenges that will increasingly shape the operating environment. The Department is reducing carbon emissions and supporting nature recovery both to address these challenges and to enhance operational effectiveness and warfighting readiness.
Lessons from the conflict in Ukraine have reinforced the operational risks associated with reliance on fossil fuels. For example, diesel generators can be detected by Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) drones from significant distances, increasing vulnerability on the battlefield. Defence is therefore continuing to invest in technologies that reduce such vulnerabilities and improve operational resilience.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether some integrated care boards are capping neurodevelopmental assessments without informing GPs or patients.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for planning and commissioning services to meet the needs of their local populations, including making decisions about how best to manage demand and capacity within available resources. There is guidance for the use and implementation of the contractual levers available to ICBs, detailed in the NHS Standard Contract Technical Guidance. Use of these must not restrict patients’ choice for provider.
Where an ICB has taken a decision to pause or manage activity within a Right to Choose pathway, it is for that ICB to determine and apply any local prioritisation criteria, taking account of clinical need and patient safety. It is the responsibility of the local system to decide whether to publish criteria, and to ensure that patients, families and the public are communicated with clearly and provided with appropriate information.
NHS England provides guidance and oversight to ICBs to support them in meeting their statutory duties, including in relation to patient choice. The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient. Patients’ Right to Choose is set out in legislation and no changes are being made to this legal right. Further information on the choices available for patients is available on the NHS Choice framework at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-choice-framework
In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/autism-diagnosis-and-operational-guidance/
This guidance intends to help the National Health Service to improve autism assessment services and to improve the experience for those referred to a service.
The Medium Term Planning Framework, published 24 October 2025, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing existing and new guidance, as published.
In December 2025, the Government launched an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. This independent review will inform our approach to enabling people with ADHD and autistic people to have the right support in place to enable them to live well in their communities. The final report is due to be published in the summer.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the national security assessment entitled Global Biodiversity Loss, Ecosystem Collapse and National Security, published on 20 January 2026.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are integrating the Assessment into strategic planning and working with partners across government to ensure that climate and nature-related threats to national resilience are considered systematically.
As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, Defence recognises climate and nature crises as persistent transnational challenges that will shape the operating environment. This has been confirmed by the Ukraine battlefield, where signatures from ISR drones are visible from many miles away.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has considered introducing free bus travel for people aged 16 to 21 in education or training.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is providing substantial multi-year funding to local authorities to improve bus services, which can be used to support local fare initiatives, including free or discounted bus travel for young people, where local authorities choose to do so.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) what assessment he has made of the impact of increased employment costs on the ability of small and medium-sized businesses to offer apprenticeships (b) whether his Department plans to provide additional financial support to employers to sustain apprenticeship opportunities for young people.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government provides significant financial support to help employers to take on apprentices. This is part of our record-breaking investment of £3.3 billion in the Growth and Skills Levy this year and £1bn of additional investment across the Spending Review period.
We are introducing a new employer hiring payment of £2,000 for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October, as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months. Employers hiring apprentices aged 18-24 who have been on Universal Credit for over six months will also be eligible for the new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant from June 2026.
Additionally, from August 2026, we will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for eligible people aged 16-24. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care.
The government also pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. On top of this, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
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 protect vulnerable groups during periods of extreme heat.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) carries out communication activity with the Met Office to ensure health systems and the public are aware of periods of hot weather, the risks of heat on health and what action they should take.
UKHSA delivers the Adverse Weather and Health Plan and Weather-Health Alerting System, which provides alerts for the public and public sector organisations to prepare for impacts of adverse weather including heat. More information about the plan and system is available at the following two links respectively:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-weather-and-health-plan
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/weather-health-alerting-system
Risks to health are communicated via Heat-Health Alerts. Amber and Red alert to the greatest risk to health of vulnerable people. They include enhanced communications to support partner organisations and the public to take action to minimise health harms and to look out for the vulnerable. Heat-Health guidance and checklists are available for both health and social care professionals and the public.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies on the pig industry’s installation of flexible immobilisation cages.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As stated in the Animal Welfare Strategy, the Government wants to work with the industry so that it ends the use of pig farrowing crates and transitions to alternative systems. An impact assessment will be drafted in preparation for a consultation on this issue.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the UK’s level of resilience to climate risks ahead of the Climate Change Committee Well Adapted UK report.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has a statutory duty under the Climate Change Act 2008 to assess climate risks to the UK every five years in the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). CCRA3 was published in January 2022 and sets out the Government’s current assessment.
We welcome the Climate Change Committee’s newly published Well-Adapted UK report and Independent Assessment for the fourth CCRA. This will inform the Government’s CCRA4 which is due to be published in January 2027.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to publish research priorities for alternative methods to animal testing to support its phasing out.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has published a strategy to support alternatives to the use of animals in science.
In the strategy, we commit to publishing areas of research interest, detailing a list of alternative methods research and development priorities to coalesce UK scientists in this area and to incentivise partnerships between research organisations, Clinical Research Organisations and industry.
We will publish this by the end of this year.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the UK’s reliance on food imports in the context of increasing climate-driven supply shocks.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Food Security Report, published by Defra every three years and last published in 2024, sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain shocks.
The UK has a resilient food system, producing around 65% of all food consumed here. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production and ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.
In most scenarios, the UK’s ability to access supply from diverse sources is vital to its resilience.