Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
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 potential impact of imported pork produced using farrowing crates on the competitiveness of UK farmers that do not use farrowing crates.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports both a competitive farming sector and the need to maintain high animal welfare standards in the UK.
No such assessment has been undertaken. No data is held on the production method of imported pork.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that digital banking services are (a) compliant with inclusive design principles outlined in the Financial Inclusion Strategy and (b) accessible to people with disabilities.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Earlier this month, I published the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy setting out an ambitious programme of measures to improve financial inclusion and resilience for underserved groups across the UK. This includes a key focus on digital inclusion and access to banking and considers accessibility as a cross-cutting theme across all areas under the strategy, in recognition of the particular challenges individuals can face in relation to this, including those with a disability or low literacy skills.
The strategy includes a range of specific interventions for both Government and industry to address these issues, including launching an industry-led working group which will examine how to make financial products more accessible and meet specific needs. This work will begin in early 2026 and the group will report on progress to HM Treasury every six months.
More widely, the Government continues to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent regulator of the UK’s financial services sector, to ensure that all customers get the right support with their financial products and services. FCA guidance highlights the actions firms should take to understand the needs of customers who may be vulnerable, such as individuals with a disability, and to consider these needs appropriately. This includes offering multiple channels of communication to their customers where possible, to ensure their products are accessible.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty also seeks to raise the standard of care expected from firms for all customers. It aims to deliver products and services that offer fair value and are designed to meet customers’ needs and seeks to increase firms’ focus on delivering good outcomes and preventing harm.
In addition, under the Equality Act 2010, all service providers must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their services are accessible to all.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that open banking initiatives under the Financial Inclusion Strategy are accessible to consumers with (a) low digital literacy and (b) limited internet access.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Earlier this month, I published the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy setting out an ambitious programme of measures to improve financial inclusion and resilience for underserved groups across the UK. This includes a key focus on digital inclusion and access to banking and considers accessibility as a cross-cutting theme across all areas under the strategy, in recognition of the particular challenges individuals can face in relation to this, including those with a disability or low literacy skills.
The strategy includes a range of specific interventions for both Government and industry to address these issues, including launching an industry-led working group which will examine how to make financial products more accessible and meet specific needs. This work will begin in early 2026 and the group will report on progress to HM Treasury every six months.
More widely, the Government continues to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent regulator of the UK’s financial services sector, to ensure that all customers get the right support with their financial products and services. FCA guidance highlights the actions firms should take to understand the needs of customers who may be vulnerable, such as individuals with a disability, and to consider these needs appropriately. This includes offering multiple channels of communication to their customers where possible, to ensure their products are accessible.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty also seeks to raise the standard of care expected from firms for all customers. It aims to deliver products and services that offer fair value and are designed to meet customers’ needs and seeks to increase firms’ focus on delivering good outcomes and preventing harm.
In addition, under the Equality Act 2010, all service providers must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their services are accessible to all.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that financial products and services meet the accessibility requirements set out under the (a) Consumer Duty and (b) Financial Inclusion Strategy.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Earlier this month, I published the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy setting out an ambitious programme of measures to improve financial inclusion and resilience for underserved groups across the UK. This includes a key focus on digital inclusion and access to banking and considers accessibility as a cross-cutting theme across all areas under the strategy, in recognition of the particular challenges individuals can face in relation to this, including those with a disability or low literacy skills.
The strategy includes a range of specific interventions for both Government and industry to address these issues, including launching an industry-led working group which will examine how to make financial products more accessible and meet specific needs. This work will begin in early 2026 and the group will report on progress to HM Treasury every six months.
More widely, the Government continues to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent regulator of the UK’s financial services sector, to ensure that all customers get the right support with their financial products and services. FCA guidance highlights the actions firms should take to understand the needs of customers who may be vulnerable, such as individuals with a disability, and to consider these needs appropriately. This includes offering multiple channels of communication to their customers where possible, to ensure their products are accessible.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty also seeks to raise the standard of care expected from firms for all customers. It aims to deliver products and services that offer fair value and are designed to meet customers’ needs and seeks to increase firms’ focus on delivering good outcomes and preventing harm.
In addition, under the Equality Act 2010, all service providers must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their services are accessible to all.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has commissioned on (a) reproductive health incomes and (b) other long-term health effects of occupational exposure to hazardous medicinal products among nursing staff; and what assessment he has made of the costs to the NHS of sickness absence related to such exposure.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not commissioned any research on the reproductive health outcomes or long-term health effects of the occupational exposure of nursing staff to hazardous medicinal products. No assessment has been made of the cost to the National Health Service of sickness absence related to this.
Sickness absence is managed at an organisational level across the NHS. NHS organisations have their own policies and procedures in place to manage and reduce sickness absence, including any reasonable adjustments to allow people to return to work and/or prevent future absence. It is important that employers across the NHS take a preventative and proactive approach to supporting their staff and keeping them healthy.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with counterparts in (a) Austria, (b) Sweden, (c) Switzerland, (d) Norway, (e) Germany, and (f) New Zealand on their (i) banning and (ii) phasing out of farrowing crates for pigs; and what assessment she has made of the outcomes of those bans on (A) sow welfare, (B) piglet mortality, (C) farming sector viability, (D) farm-level adaptation, and (E) regulatory enforcement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have regular engagement with counterparts in other countries on farmed animal welfare issues, including on cages and other close confinement systems.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
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 potential impact of a ban on farrowing crates on pig production capacity.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully, including impacts on the pig industry.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) nurses and (b) other healthcare professionals exposed to hazardous medicinal products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of (a) nurses and (b) other healthcare professionals exposed to hazardous medicinal products.
Any incidents involving staff exposure to hazardous medical products are reported and handled through local National Health Service body reporting procedures. Risk assessments should be undertaken routinely and mitigations put in place to minimise any environmental exposure to health care professionals (and others) relating to “hazardous medicinal products”.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the use of (a) biological safety cabinets, (b) closed-system drug-transfer devices and (c) other engineering controls during (i) preparation and (ii) administration of hazardous medicinal products; and whether he plans to provide funding for NHS trusts to implement those controls.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) are substances hazardous to health subject to The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) (COSHH) employers, including NHS Trusts, are required to comply with the requirements of these regulations.
The regulations require employers who prepare and administer substances hazardous to health to undertake a risk assessment, the purpose of which is to make valid decisions about the measures needed to prevent, or where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately control the exposure of their employees to substances hazardous to health.
If it is not reasonably practicable for an employer to prevent exposure, the regulations require that the exposure of employees is adequately controlled and through the risk assessment process that the employer considers and identifies the control measures that should be implemented. Priority should be given to those controls that contain or minimise the release of contaminants and the spread of hazardous substances into the workplace.
The Approved Code of Practice and guidance to the COSHH regulations provides employers with detailed information and guidance on the requirements of the regulations. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has also produced specific guidance on it’s website on the Safe handling of cytotoxic drugs in the workplace, which are one particular type of HMP.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to (a) (i) develop and (ii) adopt a list of hazardous medicinal products and (b) require safety data sheets for finished medicines; and if he will take steps with the Health and Safety Executive to make such a list publicly available to NHS employers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no current plans to develop or adopt a list of hazardous medicinal products. The GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals Regulations 2009 (GB CLP) is disapplied to medicinal products in their finished state as outlined in Article 1(5)(a) of GB CLP.
Furthermore, the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulations 2006 include an exemption from the need to provide a safety data sheet (SDS) for substances and mixtures intended for medicinal products. This occurs to avoid duplication when other more specific legislation exists to regulate those uses. Medicinal products for human and veterinary use, which are within the scope of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 or the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013, are partially exempt from REACH for this reason. The responsibility for the REACH legislation lies with the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).