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.

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