Alicia Kearns

No company in the UK should have forced labour in its supply chain. The Department for Business and Trade will continue to assess and monitor the effectiveness of the UK's existing measures, alongside the impacts of new policy tools that are emerging, to ensure it can best tackle forced labour in supply chains, and work with businesses and international partners to understand the impact of measures to combat forced labour.

The Secretary of State’s conclusions are set out at paragraphs 4.107 and 4.109 of the Decision Letter.

It is important to note that the question for the Secretary of State was whether this issue was a relevant planning matter, which is a different question from whether, as Ministers agree, this is an important matter more broadly. The Decision Letter references other regulatory routes that are available to control the ethical and legal sourcing of solar panels.

Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in taking such decisions and the fact that a legal challenge to the decision could be made, Ministers cannot comment on this case beyond what is in the Decision Letter. This approach is set out in the Planning Propriety Guidance on nationally significant infrastructure decisions.

(a) The issue of ethical sourcing of solar panels for the Mallard Pass development are set out in paragraphs 4.104 to 4.107 of the Secretary of State’s Decision Letter.

(b) Issues raised in section 3.9.92 of the Examining Authority’s Report are considered in paragraphs 4.104 to 4.107 of the Secretary of State’s Decision Letter.

The full reasons for the Secretary of State’s planning decision on the Mallard Pass project are set out in the Decision Letter. Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in taking such decisions we are not able to give any further information at this stage, in line with the Planning Propriety Guidance on nationally significant infrastructure decisions.

The Department currently monitors the geographical location of solar developments through the Renewable Energy Planning Database. We plan to broaden the scope of this database to provide information on the area and types of agricultural land used by existing solar projects and those in the planning pipeline.

No company in the UK should have forced labour in its supply chain. We will be working with colleagues across Government to tackle the issue of Uyghur forced labour in supply chains.

We are also relaunching the Solar Taskforce, which will focus on identifying and taking forward the actions needed to develop supply chains that are resilient, sustainable and free from forced labour. This will support the significant increases in deployment of solar panels needed to meet our ambition of tripling the UKs solar power capacity by 2030.

The award of a £71.5 million Project Gigabit contract to the broadband supplier CityFibre to connect around 38,600 rural and hard-to-reach premises across Leicestershire and Warwickshire will deliver fast, reliable broadband, with the work due to commence in August. This contract includes homes and businesses in the Rutland and Stamford constituency that would otherwise miss out on a gigabit-capable connection. Parts of Rutland and Stamford are also set to benefit from other Project Gigabit contracts, including the £68.6 million contract that CityFibre is delivering across Cambridgeshire and surrounding areas.

National Highways has completed a number of safety improvements to the A1 near Stamford in recent years, such as resurfacing, associated road markings, and improved lighting and signage. National Highways will undertake further work south of Grantham commencing this autumn.

The recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% is included in the National Health Service’s priorities and operational planning guidance for 2024/25. This provides clear direction for the integrated care boards (ICBs) to support delivery of timely diagnoses.

The latest dementia diagnosis rate reported by NHS England for the end of June 2024 was 65%. Timely diagnosis of dementia is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia in any local area can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well with the condition, and remain independent for as long as possible.

To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, NHS England has funded an evidence-based improvement project for two trusts in each region, 14 sites in total, to pilot tools to improve the diagnosis of dementia and the provision of support in care homes.

Additionally, the Dementia Intelligence Network was commissioned to develop a resource for local health systems to support investigation of the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates. This work aims to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support at a local level to enhance diagnosis rates.

The Department has asked distinguished surgeon Professor Lord Darzi to investigate the problems that are affecting the National Health Service. The Government will then begin work on an ambitious programme of action, a 10-year plan to put the NHS back on its feet. That includes the NHS in our rural and coastal areas, as well as the NHS in urban areas.

People across the country are not getting the mental health support they need, which is why the Government will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This should help people in rural areas, including farmers, to be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.

The UK has repeatedly condemned the attack at Banjska and its destabilising effect in the region. The UK has repeatedly urged Serbia's leaders to help bring those responsible to justice and to take action to stop the illegal flow of weapons into Kosovo. The UK has discussed these issues with Kosovan Ministers and officials on a number of occasions. On 18 July, the Foreign Secretary discussed regional stability and reinforced its importance with both President Osmani and President Vucic at the European Political Community Summit.

The stability and security of the Western Balkans is a key priority for the new government. The Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and I recently met a number of Western Balkans leaders, including at the European Political Community and NATO Summits; discussions included efforts to promote stability, security and prosperity for mutual interests.

We are also working with European and US allies to strengthen collective international engagement on the Western Balkans to resolve conflict legacies and risks, promote economic development, tackle organised crime and help to build stable, inclusive and prosperous societies - including through approaches empowering women. We continue to play a key role in KFOR.

I recently met the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak to discuss these issues, and welcomed Bosnia and Hercegovina Presidency Chair Becirovic to the FCDO.

The UK does not tolerate attempts by the authorities of Hong Kong or China, or any other country, to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK. We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously. This involves taking a proactive approach to countering the most acute forms of state-directed threats to individuals.

The National Security Act 2023 strengthens our legal powers to counter foreign interference, including those actions which amount to transnational repression, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with additional tools to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats.

Anyone who thinks they might be a victim should report incidents or suspicious activity to the Police.

The Government does not routinely comment on the detail of operational matters or specific threats. But the UK will always stand up to threats from foreign states. This government will always take threats to the UK incredibly seriously.

Iran’s malign activity, including the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK.

In concert with partners, the UK Government will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and its overseas interests against any threats from the Iranian state, including malign influence.

As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence issues.

More generally, the government’s first duty is to protect our national security and keep our country safe. We keep potential threats to the UK under constant review and, where necessary, we use all the tools at our disposal to mitigate these threats.

When it comes to China this Government will take a consistent, long term and strategic approach, rooted in UK and global interests. We will cooperate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must, including on issues of national security.

The Government will keep the list of proscribed organisations under close review, as we seek to protect the UK from the threats that we face. However, we will not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.

The Government is clear that Iran’s malign activity, including the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK. The UK already maintains sanctions on over 400 Iranian individuals and entities covering human rights abuses and nuclear proliferation, including sanctioning the IRGC in its entirety. The Government will continue to consider what further steps may be taken to deter Iran’s malign activity.