Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of taking legislative steps to set out the strategy’s priority areas for the targeted replacement of animal tests.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government’s new strategy sets out our long-term vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances, achieved by creating a research and innovation system that drives the development and validation of alternative methods to using animals in science. We will provide regular updates on strategy delivery including through a publicly available dashboard. Recognising that the legal framework in the UK already requires that animals are only ever used in science where there are no validated alternatives available, the government currently has no plans to legislate further on this matter.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure the effectiveness of funding for renewable energy projects through the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
An initial budget of £900 million is available for fixed-bottom offshore wind in Allocation Round 7, which is the largest ever initial budget for OFW. The Government has the ability to view unsuccessful bids and adjust the budget later, if it is good value for consumers. The Government has also confirmed budgets of £180m for floating offshore wind projects, £295 million for established technologies such as solar PV and onshore wind, and £15 million for emerging technologies. We expect the budgets and competitive bidding to drive a value for money outcome for billpayers.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken to recover the 6120 missing responses from the Railways Bill consultation; and what steps she is taking to ensure the integrity of the consultation process for future consultations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has written to the Transport Select Committee on this issue, a copy of which can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50296/documents/271772/default/.
We have no evidence of other consultations being affected and are taking all steps necessary to ensure our suppliers prevent a recurrence. This includes reviewing our email filtering system logs for all open consultations and seeking separate external assurance on the configuration of our replacement filtering system.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the strategy Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025, which specific topics or scientific areas the proposed foundational training programme for PhD students and early-career researchers in non-animal technologies will cover.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
These will be developed with stakeholders during the implementation of the Government’s strategy to support replacing animals in science. The strategy also commits to publish biennially from 2026 a list of alternative-methods research and development priorities, coalescing UK scientists around these areas and incentivising partnerships between research organisations, CROs and industry. We would expect this process to inform the topics for the training programme.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond substantively to Question 90841 tabled by the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire on 13 November 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his timeline is for launching the proposed framework to scrutinise additional costs and levies on consumer energy bills.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
At the budget, the Chancellor agreed to subject any additional costs, including new levies, to enhanced scrutiny under a new framework to ensure they are affordable, represent value for money and do not impose unnecessary costs on households and businesses. The development of this new framework is underway with HM Treasury and we will provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his timeline is for publishing the outcome and response to the Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime consultation.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are analysing the feedback received to the consultation on reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime, and will publish a government response in due course.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure her Department's consultations comply fully with the Gunning Principles in the future.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department, its executive agencies and arm’s-length bodies publish a large number of consultations and calls for evidence. The Department conducts consultations in line with the Government Consultation Principles. These state that consultations should last for a proportionate amount of time. The length of any consultation is decided based on legal advice and taking into account the nature and impact of the proposal.
Consultations and calls for evidence are accompanied by other forms of engagement with the public and stakeholders. The Department always aims to publish government responses to consultations in a timely fashion, in line with the Government Consultation Principles, and to keep stakeholders updated on progress.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to launch the study to sequence the genomes of 150,000 adults.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan for England committed to launching a large-scale study, led by Genomics England, to sequence 150,000 adult genomes and assess how genomics can support routine preventive care. Work is now underway to design the study, develop scientific and clinical methodologies, and establish governance in line with major programme standards. Genomics England has commissioned a structured literature review and launched the Genomics, Healthcare and You engagement programme to understand diverse public and professional perspectives on pre-emptive, preventative population healthcare, while building trust and transparency. This engagement will run through 2025/26, with interim findings shaping study design and recruitment strategies which will be developed in 2026/27. Subject to ethics approval, the recruitment and sequencing of participants is expected to begin from 2027.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his planned timeline is for rolling out the Connections Accelerator Service.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As set out in the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the Connections Accelerator Service will be operational by the end of 2025.