Question

To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker what has been the average cost to the House for sitting on a Friday in this session of Parliament.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Average attendance for a sitting Friday in the 2024-26 Parliamentary Session to date is 267 Members, with an average cost in members’ allowances claims for those dates of £84,248.00.

Outside of Members’ allowance claims, the approximate net cost of catering services on a sitting Friday estimated to rise at 3pm are approximately £2,530. This is to provide the additional catering services required, (that would normally be closed on a non-sitting Friday), namely; Peers Dining Room, Peers Guest Room and Peers Long Room. There are additionally approximately £4,500 in police overtime costs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the incorporation of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework into UK corporate reporting and decision-making practices; and what is the timetable for incorporating this framework.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government continues to be a strong supporter of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Defra funds the Green Finance Institute to support UK companies to engage with the TNFD’s recommendations and the UK now has the second highest number of TNFD adopters globally.

The Government has also been a strong supporter of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) since it launched with the goal of creating a global baseline for sustainability reporting standards. The Government has established a process for assessing and endorsing the ISSB’s standards for the UK context and recently published the UK versions of the ISSB’s first two standards: UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2. ISSB is now progressing work on standard-setting for nature, drawing on the work of the TNFD, and aims to publish a draft later this year. Defra, DBT and the Financial Reporting Council are following the ISSB’s work on standard-setting for nature and stands ready to use the established process to assess and endorse it when it is finalised.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the Department of Health and Social Care will update the direct ministerial appointments portal with their appointments in 2026.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department publishes information on Direct Ministerial Appointments on the GOV.UK website and expects to move publication to the portal from April 2026.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 27 March (HL15802), whether they plan to close the national investigation into water and sewerage service companies launched in November 2021 after the consideration of the three pending charges for the second defendant water company.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The three pending charges all relate to Environment Act 1995 Section 110 charges for failing to provide records required within the national investigation into water and sewerage service companies launched in November 2021. They are not the main focus of the investigation which deals with discharges to the environment when not meeting flow to full treatment and insufficient rainfall.

There are no plans to close the investigation after the three charges pending against the second defendant have been settled.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 26 March (HL15523), whether they monitor the percentage of new style Employment and Support Allowance applications that are made for the primary condition of poor mental health.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department monitors the primary conditions recorded for new style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) applications. While primary conditions at application are not routinely published, these can be proxied through analysis of the claimants who are in the assessment phase of ESA, which is the first three months of the claim. The percentage of claimants in this phase with the main disabling condition ‘mental and behavioural’ is available on Stat-Xplore and reproduced in the table below:

Percentage of ESA Assessment Phase caseloads by main disabling condition:

* The latest available data is for August 2025.

* All new applications made to new style ESA are placed into “Assessment Phase”. This lasts for the first 13 weeks of an ESA claim.