Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to support negotiations on the United Nations framework convention on international tax co-operation.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK is committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure inclusive and effective international tax cooperation, and has been actively engaging in negotiations at the UN over a future Framework Convention.

The UK believes that a UN Tax Framework Convention has the potential to further advance international tax cooperation, but to be successful, it needs to be clear in its aims, avoid duplicating initiatives, and seek to secure the broad support and participation of members.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government when, if at all, they plan to introduce extended producer responsibility for textiles.

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

We recognise the importance of continued innovation in the textiles sector and, as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy and evaluate what interventions may be needed. Over the coming months, the Circular Economy Taskforce is identifying specific subject areas, such as extended producer responsibility, requiring deeper exploration to test with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders in the sector. This will ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved before publication in autumn this year.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessments they have made of the potential risks for British researchers and citizens from the lèse-majesté law in Thailand in the light of the arrest of American academic Paul Chambers; and what plans they have to make adjustments to travel advice accordingly.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's travel advice for Thailand highlights the lèse-majesté law in Thailand and the potential penalty for breaking this law. We regularly review our travel advice for each country or territory to ensure it includes up-to-date information and advice on the most relevant issues for British people visiting or living there.

The UK Government regularly monitors the use of lèse-majesté and other defamation-related laws in Thailand and has raised concerns with the Thai authorities. We also regularly observe public court hearings to reinforce the importance of due process and visibly supporting and promoting the work of local human rights defenders.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the article in Nature titled "Why an overreliance on AI-driven modelling is bad for science"; and what steps they are taking, if any, to ensure that research funding and government assessment of research takes account of the risks identified by this article.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The government recognises that AI is having a transformative impact on science, and the UK is positioned to be a world leader in this emerging field.

This will also present novel risks. The UK Metascience Unit is investing £4m to explore AI’s impact on research and improve our understanding of these risks. Insights from this will be used to inform the government’s R&D policy.

We are dedicated to maintaining research integrity amid AI adoption. The UK Committee on Research Integrity (UKCORI) is examining the intersection of AI and research integrity, with recommendations expected this year. Investments in Responsible AI UK and skills training are driving more responsible AI use in science.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to ensuring that passengers using rail replacement bus services in place of trains receive appropriate discounts to fares to recompense them for the inconvenience and lost time.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Passengers using rail replacement bus services are eligible for delay repay compensation if their journey is delayed. There is no compensation for travelling on a rail replacement bus if the journey is not delayed.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the report Computer Says No by the New Britain Project that Britons spend 1.52 billion hours a year dealing with personal administration; and what impact this issue has on overall productivity.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is aware of the claim made in Computer Says No by the New Britain Project that Britons lose 1.52 billion hours annually to personal administration. This figure is derived by extrapolating an average minutes per week per adult across the UK adult population.

The Government recognises the importance of reducing the 'time tax' on individuals. As outlined in A blueprint for modern digital government (CP 1252, January 2025), the Government is developing a new methodology to measure this burden and is committed to reducing it as part of its digital reform programme, to support productivity and improve service delivery.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of general practices which have stopped offering prescriptions for hormones for transgender patients; and what steps, if any, they are taking to ensure that these prescriptions are available to all patients within a reasonable reach of their home.

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

The Department does not hold this data centrally. NHS England is currently carrying out a review of adult gender services, chaired by Dr David Levy, with the aim of producing an updated service specification. The review will examine the model of care and operating procedures of each service, and will carefully consider experiences, feedback, and outcomes from clinicians and patients. It will also look at how to overcome the challenges that some individuals face in accessing a timely prescription.

NHS England has also increased the number of adult gender dysphoria clinics in England from seven to 12, with the rollout of five new pilot adult clinics since July 2020. The rollout of these new clinics is helping to tackle long waiting times.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Afghan women who have applied for asylum in the UK since the fall of Kabul in 2021 have been denied that status; and what provision they are making for such women and their families.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum claims and initial decisions by nationality in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the 'Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release' on GOV.UK. The latest data relates to 2024. Data for the year ending March 2025 will be published on 22 May 2025.

In 2021 Q3 to 2024 Q4, there have been 137 refusals at initial decision to adult Afghan women, of which 44 were to main applicants and 93 to dependants.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of doctors who have applied for specialty training across all 65 medical specialties in terms of (1) individual applicants, and (2) numbers of applications, in each of the past five years; and what is the number of training places available per year in the same time period.

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

The following table shows the total number of applications across all medical specialties for recruitment rounds from 2020 to 2024 in the United Kingdom, alongside the total number of posts available:

Source: NHS England, Medical Specialty Training Competition Ratios.

This data covers all round one and round two specialty training pathway programmes. The Department does not hold information on the number of individual, or unique, applicants that this comprises of. Data for individual specialties is published annually by NHS England and can be found on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format.

We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. This is central to the vision in our 10 Year Plan.

We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to protect vulnerable populations from drug-resistant fungal infections by assessing the risks of agricultural fungicide use for the emergence of clinical anti-fungal resistance within the environment, in line with recent US and EU risk assessment frameworks.

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

This Government recognises the importance of carefully managing pesticide use – including fungicides – to protect the environment and human health, and address the risks of resistance.

The UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP), published in March, sets out the actions we will take to support effective and sustainable pest management. A key goal in the NAP is increasing uptake of integrated pest management – a holistic approach that reduces the likelihood of resistance building by minimising and optimising pesticide use.

When authorising pesticide products, the regulations require the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to consider the potential for resistance development in the target pest organism. Where such resistance is known or anticipated, HSE will place specific limitations on the use of the plant protection product to help mitigate the likelihood and speed of resistance development. Authorisation holders are also required to monitor the resistance situation and report significant changes in resistance status to HSE.

The possible development of resistance in non-target organisms, for example through indirect exposure or the transfer of resistance genes, is not specifically considered. This mirrors international plant protection standards. HSE is considering the latest evidence relating to fungal antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in particular the recent European Food Safety Authority publication.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes annual figures on drug-resistant fungal bloodstream infections, and on the use of antifungal drugs in the human healthcare sector.

Fungaemia (including candidaemia): annual data from voluntary surveillance - GOV.UK (copy attached to this answer)

English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) report - GOV.UK (copy attached to this answer)

UKHSA is one of many collaborators working with the One Health collaborative PATHSAFE programme and the recently announced UK Research and Innovation Fungal One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Network, both established to develop new approaches to tackling AMR.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have conducted a review on the balance of public investment between agricultural genetic modification and alternative strategies for sustainable farming and food security.

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

The Department recognises that we need a variety of approaches to address sustainable farming and food security. For example, the industry-led Farming Innovation Programme funds a range of approaches to address how innovation can increase farming productivity sustainably. This is complemented by Defra’s agri-food science programme which develops R&D to enable sustainable farming and help ensure food security.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government how much public funding has been allocated to research and development for the commercialisation of crops, livestock, foods and micro-organisms produced by agricultural genetic modification since 2014; and what proportion of this funding has been awarded to UK-based companies.

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

Since 2014 UKRI, through BBSRC (approximately £13.9 million) and Innovate UK (approximately £1.35 million), has invested more than £15 million in research involving genetic modification (including genome editing) of crops and farmed animals for agricultural- and food-based research based in the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the needs of disabled asylum seekers and refugees for healthcare, including mental healthcare; and what assessment they have made of enabling asylum seekers with relevant qualifications and cultural knowledge to provide such care.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what analysis they have undertaken of the expected contribution of precision-bred crops and foods to gross domestic product, agritech growth and public revenues; and whether any such analyses have been independently reviewed or validated by the Treasury.

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

The Department has taken an evidence-based approach, underpinned by expert scientific advice and published data, to estimate the impacts of implementing the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023. All estimations are informed by data from independent, reputable sources including market research, scientific papers, and reports by economic institutions.

This includes the Department’s De Minimis Assessment of the impacts of The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025, which has been compiled by Defra economists and reviewed by the Defra Chief Economist. The Treasury does not routinely assess departmental analysis.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of Rohingya refugees being cast into the sea by the Indian navy near the maritime border with Myanmar; and what representations they have made to the government of India about those reports and the treatment of Rohingya refugees.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

We are aware of recent reports alleging that Rohingya refugees have been cast into the sea by the Indian Navy near the maritime border with Myanmar. We understand that the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar will investigate these allegations. The UK Government will examine their conclusions closely. Our High Commission in New Delhi and our diplomatic network across India engage Indian stakeholders on a range of human rights matters, including the situation of the Rohingya refugees, both within and outside of Myanmar. We ask all states to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, which is a fundamental tenet of international law that prohibits states from returning individuals to a territory where they face threats to their lives or freedom.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to maintain the British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa route that offers a pathway to British citizenship for BNO passport holders and their dependents on the basis that a holder can apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years and citizenship after one further year.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.

Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.

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