Mark Pritchard

UK product safety legislation requires manufacturers or importers placing products on the UK market, including e-bikes and e-scooters, to ensure those products are safe. Regulators have powers to require that unsafe products are removed from sale.

We will introduce a new Bill to ensure the product safety framework keeps pace with modern technology, digital business models and international supply chains. This will better protect consumers and support business growth.

Through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, we are exploring several ways to reduce energy bills by making more efficient use of the energy infrastructure we are building. As part of this we are considering zonal pricing, alongside options for further reform within our current national pricing arrangements. Government is considering these options carefully and will provide more information in due course.

The Online Safety Act 2023 places duties on user to user services to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share illegal content. This includes content that incites violence and content which stirs up religious or racial hatred. The Act is currently being implemented. Ofcom will have a broad range of powers to assess and enforce compliance with the Act, including issuing fines to services that do not comply of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue in the relevant year, whichever is higher.

Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill and that is why pupils are taught how to swim and be safe in and around water at primary school.

Swimming and water safety are compulsory elements of the Physical Education (PE) National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. For example, it includes teaching on how to perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

The department is focusing on a number of measures to support teaching in this area, as part of its ongoing review of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. The public consultation on the revised draft RSHE statutory guidance closed on 11 July 2024. The revised guidance includes a new section called ‘Personal safety’, which outlines that pupils should know how to identify risk and manage personal safety in increasingly independent situations including around roads, railways and water.

It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department will be looking carefully at the consultation responses, re-engaging with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence before setting out next steps to take the RSHE guidance forward.

The department is also working closely with swimming and water safety stakeholders such as the Royal Life Saving Society UK and Swim England to support schools in raising attainment in primary school swimming and water safety. Support and advice from Swim England includes resources for schools and parents, which can be found at the following links: https://www.swimming.org/schools/ and https://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/learn-to-swim-information-for-parents/.

Department officials have also worked alongside the National Water Safety Forum to develop free resources for schools to provide vital water safety knowledge that can go a long way to reduce drowning deaths. These resources can be found on the Royal Life Saving Society website at: https://www.rlss.org.uk/Pages/Category/water-safety-education.

Ofsted’s overall role is to make sure that schools provide high and rising standards for every child through its inspection and reporting process. The School Inspection Handbook does not set any specific expectations for schools regarding site security. However, if inspectors had particular concerns about the adequacy of the physical security of school buildings, those concerns would be reported on.

The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats and directly assisting law enforcers in their investigations.

Defra supports the valuable work of the NWCU. Defra is providing £424,000 for it in financial year 2024-2025. Budgets for 2025-2026 and beyond have not yet been set.

The UKHSA has been running a tick surveillance scheme (TSS) since 2004 which encourages people to send in ticks for identification. The Animal and Plant Health Agency and our veterinary investigation centres are part of this scheme, particularly through our Centre of Expertise for Extensively Managed Livestock. The TSS has so far not detected the Asian Longhorned Tick.

We recognise that over the last few years there has been an expansion in certain tick populations of our livestock and managed deer populations, which can mean both public and animal health risks of tick borne diseases are increasing. In response, we have funded a £6.5 million research programme with BBSRC on vector borne diseases which includes several projects on ticks, livestock and climate impacts.

All new tyres, both UK made and imported, require GB type approval before they are permitted for sale. To gain approval, manufacturers must demonstrate that they achieve a range of technical performance requirements. This includes a minimum wet grip performance which aims to ensure that sufficient deceleration can be achieved, even in adverse weather conditions. In addition, the braking system of the vehicle is required to achieve a minimum stopping performance in a variety of states.

Midlands Connect, a sub-national transport body which researches, develops and progresses transport projects in the Midlands, is prioritising line speed improvements to this railway line over electrification. They are in the process of refreshing the Business Case for line speed improvements, which they plan to submit towards the end of 2024. It will be important to consider a range of options to progress decarbonisation of the rail network, and I expect to receive advice on this matter later this year.

There are no requirements in the goods vehicle operator licensing regime for vehicles used by delivery companies, utility companies, or construction companies to have livery displaying the details of the owning business, and the company using the vehicles at the time.

The goods vehicle operator licensing regime applies to vehicles weighing 3.5 tonnes or more used domestically, and those weighing more than 2.5 tonnes used for the purposes of hire and reward in the European Union.

Vehicles subject to operator licensing must have a disc with the operator licence number displayed. This can be checked on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/find-vehicle-operators to identify the operator responsible for the operation of the vehicle, and the type of licence held.

I refer the honourable member to the answer to question UIN 500, given on the 25 July 2024.

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm men as some of them would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects.

The UK NSC is currently carrying out an evidence review for prostate cancer screening; this includes different potential ways of screening the whole population from 40 years of age onwards, and targeted screening programme aimed at groups of men identified as being at higher-than-average risk such as those with a family history, carriers of the BRCA2 gene and based on ethnicity.

In addition, we are working with Prostate Cancer UK to launch the TRANSFORM trial. The £42 million nationwide screening study will compare the most promising tests to look for prostate cancer in men that do not have any symptoms.

The UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) evidence review for prostate cancer screening is already underway and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan.

The evidence review includes modelling the clinical cost effectiveness of several approaches to prostate cancer screening, including different potential ways of screening the whole population from 40 years old onwards and targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher than average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.

We recognise that despite the hard work of general practice teams, patients are still struggling to access care from general practitioners (GPs). We know that GPs are delivering record numbers of appointments, however, patient satisfaction has dropped nationally.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) must ensure that GP services meet the needs of the local population, and NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB and to publish a summary of its findings. The assessment must consider how well the ICB has discharged its functions, including the duty to improve the quality of services and the duty to make arrangements to involve patients, carers and the public in commissioning plans and decisions that affect them.

Through neurosurgery networks, NHS England will engage with referring clinicians to ensure that patients receive appropriate assessments, diagnostics, and referral pathways to a neuroscience centre when required.

Moreover, the standard of medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. The GMC has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for professional practice.

The training curricula for speciality trainees is set by the relevant Royal College, and has to meet the standards set by the GMC and be formally approved by them. The training curriculum for general practitioner specialty training is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, they instead emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.

General practitioners 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.

NHS England is delivering a range of interventions that are expected to improve early diagnosis and treatment for patients with suspected and diagnosed pancreatic cancer. For early diagnosis, this includes providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those patients at inherited high-risk, to identify lesions before they develop into cancer, and diagnose cancers sooner. New pathways are being created to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types. General practice direct access to diagnostic tests is also being increased.

To improve the consistency of access to treatments, NHS England is funding an audit into pancreatic cancer which aims to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first report is expected in October 2024.

NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time programme has also appointed a team of five specialist clinicians to lead a national review into services for pancreatic cancer patients in England. The workstream supports the delivery of the Optimal Care Pathway, a Pancreatic Cancer UK-led initiative which has brought together 300 health professionals and people affected to agree on how standards of diagnosis, treatment, and care of those patients with pancreatic cancer and their families can be improved, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.

The UK is committed to improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for people in the developing world. The FCDO WASH programmes that are in fragile and conflict affected states including in Chad, DRC, Ethiopia and Mozambique. One example is the £18.5 million 4-year WASH Systems for Health program which works with governments and stakeholders to strengthen the planning, finance, management and accountability systems to improve water and sanitation services. We are also providing UNICEF with £6.25 million over 4 years to strengthen the capacity of governments to provide climate resilient WASH services in countries including fragile and conflict-affected states.

We have repeatedly condemned Russia's illegal military presence and the Russification of Abkhazia, including through the proposed Russian naval base at Ochamchire, most recently in a UN Security Council Statement on the 16th Anniversary of Russia's invasion of Georgia. The UK fully supports Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, including over the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in the face of continued hybrid aggression from Russia.

The UK has taken extensive action to limit Russian energy revenues, including prohibiting the import of Russian liquid natural gas (LNG) and an export ban on energy-related goods to target Russia's longer-term LNG production. The new Government is committed to rigorously enforcing our sanctions, cracking down on those who seek to circumvent them, and to working with partners to constrain Russian revenue which is supporting Putin's illegal war in Ukraine.

We took robust action against Russia's "shadow fleet", alongside allies, at the European Political Community, and will continue to explore further options to strengthen our sanctions regime and enforcement, including in the energy sector.

The conflict in Sudan has created a manmade humanitarian disaster with 8.5 million people facing emergency or famine conditions, more than Gaza, South Sudan, Mali, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan combined. This financial year, UK bilateral ODA to Sudan will increase to £92 million. UK support is being delivered through the UN and other trusted partners, and is providing nutrition, safe drinking water, medical care and shelter. The UK continues to pursue all diplomatic avenues to press the warring parties into a permanent ceasefire, allow unrestricted humanitarian access, protect civilians and commit to a sustained and meaningful peace process.

The Government is supporting farmers and land managers to adapt their business models and access tailored support to do so through the agricultural transition, including through diversification. For example, farmers can access free business advice through the Farming Resilience Fund.

The Government recognises that many farmers may choose to let out part of their estates as furnished holiday lettings (FHLs). Nevertheless, while the government recognises the important role that FHLs have, including those located on farms, in the visitor economy, tax rules currently privilege short-term lets over long-term rentals. The Government will therefore abolish the FHL tax regime from April 2025,which will equalise the tax treatment of landlords’ property income and gains.

The Home Office Homicide Index holds information on the age of victims and whether the offence was initially classified as murder or manslaughter. The data are given in the table.

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 including at the border and those seeking to enter the UK through irregular means.

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

The National Security Act 2023 introduced new and specific sanctions in relation to unauthorised overflying of Defence sites by both conventional and unmanned aircraft. The sanctions range from those applicable to a summary offence for simple, unauthorised flights, up to 14 years imprisonment where the purpose of the flight is one that is prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK. There are no current plans to review these sanctions.