Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what figures does HM Treasury hold of central government expenditure on contingent labour in each year since 2023-24.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Each Central Government Department publishes details of their contingent labour expenditure within their individual Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) she and (b) each of the Cabinet Office’s special advisers list pronouns on their email signatures when corresponding within government.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There is no mandatory or prescriptive policy regarding the use of pronouns in email signatures.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the department has made of the causes of the higher unemployment-related benefit claimant rate in Leicester East compared to the national UK average; and what targeted support is being provided to reduce this disparity.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government published its Animal Welfare Strategy in December 2025, outlining plans to take coordinated action to improve the welfare of pets. This includes committing to ending puppy farming and the low welfare breeding of dogs. This Government will improve traceability and welfare by consulting on dog breeding reform.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's document entitled Animal welfare strategy for England, published on 22 December 2025, what steps her Department is taking to introduce a ban on the use of cages to breed game birds.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A Call for Evidence on gamebird release, shooting and welfare during rearing in England was launched on 4 September and will run until November 1. This will improve the Government’s understanding of the management and welfare of gamebirds when they are bred and reared, including the use of cages.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment 4she has made of the potential merits of introducing legislation to prevent the breeding and killing of unwanted male dairy calves.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare standards but not all animal welfare improvements are achieved through regulation. It is heartening to see that an increased use in sexed semen by the dairy industry is leading to a reduction in unwanted male dairy calves.
Asked by: Lara Bird (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reversing the decision to allow the English Single malt geographical indication.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
English Whisky has been registered as a geographical indication as the application met the requirements of the regulation. There are no plans by the department to assess reversing this decision. Appeals against this decision submitted by the deadline will be heard by a First-tier Tribunal.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2026 to Question 13144 on Forestry Commission: Appeals, how many current panel members are former employees of the Forestry Commission.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
4 of the 22 members of the Panel for the Formation of Reference Committees are former employees of the Forestry Commission, including individuals who worked for Forestry Commission Wales before 2013 and Forestry Commission Scotland before 1st April 2019.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish the England Tree Action Plan.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain committed to publishing the Trees Action Plan by the end of 2026 as set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards will be put in place for children and young people who, following a review at a transition point, move from an Education, Health and Care Plan to an Individual Support Plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under our proposals, where children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan move to the new system, we will have several safeguards in place. Our transition approach is intended to balance the need to minimise disruption, ensuring children and young people benefit from an improved system.
We will provide support to families, settings and local authorities ahead of implementation, investing over £500 million each year from now until 2029 to ensure the new system is ready to support this cohort.
We are also investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support from key services and health and education practitioners.
For children and young people who transition away from support via an EHC plan, their families will be able to express a preference for a mainstream setting of their choice for the start of their next education phase. We will also ensure that an Individual Support Plan is in place, developed with families, and for them to access provision in the universal and targeted layers once their EHC plan has ceased before an EHC plan is ceased. We are also investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support from key services and health and education practitioners.
We have recently consulted on our proposed reforms and will confirm final decision and further information regarding transition arrangements in due course.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of commissioning the refreshed NHS National Quality Board to develop a Modern Service Framework for Obesity, setting out standards for the delivery of high-quality obesity services, in support of the Government's moonshot to end the obesity epidemic.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Further to the answer provided in the House of Lords on 15 September in response to Question HL2959, I would affirm that community pharmacies have a vital role to play in the delivery of our 10-Year Health Plan, supporting the shift to prevention, providing expert advice on healthy living and weight management, and helping people access the healthcare support that they need closer to home.