Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has received any legal notices, pre-action correspondence and letters before action from Wealden District Council on the proposed use of the Crowborough Training Camp.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has received a Planning Contravention Notice from Wealden District Council regarding Crowborough. We have not received any pre-action protocol letters or letters before action from Wealden District Council.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of ending certain zero-hours contracts on the employment rates of younger people, such as students.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My department has published a robust set of Impact Assessments that provide a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Act, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments
This analysis includes consideration of increases in labour costs for businesses and the subsequent effects, as well as assessments on how the proposed zero hour contract measures could affect different groups in the labour market. The impact on younger people and students will depend on the regulations following consultation, however it is important to note the measures will focus on exploitative zero hours contracts to ensure people are able to access guaranteed hours. For those who want to remain on a zero hours contract, for example many students, they will still be able to.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made on the impact of Ukraine's constrained exports on food-insecure countries; and what contingency plans are currently in place to ensure food-insecure countries are not affected.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine triggered a sharp reduction in global grain supply and a huge shock to global markets. The most recent UN flagship report on global hunger - the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World2025 - has confirmed once again that the war in Ukraine is a major driver of food price volatility and inflation, contributing to rising food insecurity worldwide.
The UK has provided significant support to ensure vital Ukrainian exports continue to reach countries that need them, including coordination with the UN and alignment with EU Solidarity Lanes to maintain export capacity and resilience. Since 2022, the UK has provided £11 million of support for the Grain from Ukraine initiative, and we welcome Ukraine's ambitions in expanding the programme to 'Food from Ukraine'.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of the Republic of Ireland regarding establishing an inquiry similar to the Operation Kenova inquiry in relation to cross-border collusion.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Joint Framework agreed by the UK and Ireland contains clear commitments by the Irish Government on legacy, including to facilitate the fullest possible cooperation of the Irish authorities with a reformed Legacy Commission. This will assist many families whose cases involve cross-border activity where information may be held in Ireland.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of awarding unlimited compensation for unfair dismissal on employment rates.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government will be publishing an Enactment Impact Assessment on the impacts of the Employment Rights Act. This assessment can be found here when published: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of (a) trends in the level of variation in access to NICE-recommended biologic medicines for severe asthma.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. NHS England is working with the health innovation networks and has formed the Respiratory Transformation Partnership. Focusing on improving the outcomes of people living with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), this programme seeks to find scalable ways to decrease premature mortality and bed occupancy from respiratory diseases. Initiatives will seek to improve disease recognition, optimise delivery of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved approaches at neighbourhood level, and uptake of existing and emerging biologic therapies.
The current NHS England severe asthma service specification is being revised by the Specialised Respiratory Clinical Reference Group. The current service specification is available at the following link:
The revised specification will support the management of patients who require further investigation and treatments including biological medicines. The specification will also be updated to reference the most recent clinical guidelines such as the British Thoracic Society, NICE, and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network asthma guideline covering diagnosing, monitoring, and managing asthma in adults, young people, and children, and which is expected to improve outcomes for people with asthma and identify early those who require further investigation and treatments including biologic medicines. This guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng245
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women in Liverpool Walton have been referred to NHS services in connection with PIP implants since 2011.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR), set up in 2016, collects all implant data, and explant data where possible.
Practically, it is always difficult and often impossible to identify a model and product code on an explant. If explanted devices, or patients undergoing explant, cannot be linked to data collected at time of implant, then this often reduces explant data to 'patient, surgeon, location, date'. This in turn makes it impossible to monitor trends in explant/failure.
NHS England is in the process of clarifying and mandating the detail required in the BCIR and other device-related collections.
This will place a greater responsibility on trusts to either identify a device at the point of explant, or to identify the device from internal trust records created during the same patient's implant procedure. This will only be possible if the implant and explant are performed at the same trust. It is then the intention of NHS England to provide the same matching service for implant/explant where the trusts differ.
This solution will, when implemented, give a full, proactive picture of device longevity/risk, for the purposes of research and surveillance, alongside the existing ability to identify patients affected by a device recall notice.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who requested the table-top review of Tier 4 services for personality disorder by NHS England; who is leading that review; and what that review's aims and purpose are.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England London Region Specialised Commissioning is currently undertaking a tabletop review of Tier 4 (T4) Personality Disorder inpatient provision within the London footprint. This review is being led by the Nursing and Quality and Mental Health teams and covers all units providing national T4 Personality Disorder inpatient services, which are all located in London.
The review has been initiated in response to a number of quality and environmental concerns identified within the provision. It will also consider how the current T4 Personality Disorder pathway aligns with national mental health policy, including the NHS Long Term Plan, with a particular focus on the strategic shift from inpatient care towards community-based, multidisciplinary models of support.
The review is assessing the effectiveness of the current service model, its clinical distinctiveness, equity of access, and its alignment with national policy objectives.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent engagement his Department has had with the devolved Administrations in relation to the recommendations of The Hughes Report, published on 7 February 2024; and whether any Ministerial-level discussions are planned with the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While health is predominantly devolved, the Department holds some reserved functions and working together across the United Kingdom on health and social care is ingrained in the values of our National Health Service and social care sector.
The Patient Safety Commissioner’s report covered England-only, however, any response by the Government to the recommendations of the Hughes Report in England will likely have implications for the devolved administrations and their constituents. Engagement between officials across the UK occurs regularly and during an Inter-Ministerial Group meeting on 11 December 2025, the Hughes report was discussed and ministers across the four nations agreed to meet in January 2026 for further engagement.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 93580 on Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services, when the Government expects to publish the modern service framework for mental health.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to publish the modern service framework for severe mental illness in the latter half of 2026.
Engagement on the modern service framework will involve a wide range of stakeholders, such as people with lived experience, clinicians, allied professionals, social workers, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, commissioners, and National Health Service Leaders. We have recruited a third Co-Chair for the Modern Service Framework, Jo Lomani, who is a national mental health co-production lead and expert by lived and living experience, to support the implementation of our lived-experience involvement and co-production strategy. This aims to ensure that people who use mental health services stay at the centre of everything we do.