Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk presented by unregulated private pregnancy scans; what actions they plan to take on the issue; and what other consideration they have given to strengthening consumer and health protections on private medical testing, particularly the use of tests not used by the NHS.

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

The Government has not conducted a formal assessment of the risk presented by private pregnancy scans.

Sonography, the use of diagnostic and screening procedures that use ultrasound to examine the body, is a regulated activity in England under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This means that any organisation providing pregnancy scans in England, including those carried out in the private sector, must register their services with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and meet certain legal obligations.

A list of registered providers is available on the CQC website.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the proposal to increase student fee caps in line with forecast inflation in academic years 2026–27 and 2027–28, what estimate they have made of the level of average student debt when students become liable to repay tuition fee loans; and what percentage of those students they expect to pay off those loans in full.

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

For students starting in the 2024/25 academic year, the department estimates the average loan balance at the point of repayment to be £45,600, including interest accrued during study. This data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2024-25.

Under Plan 5 loan terms, 56% of these borrowers are expected to repay their loans in full and had assumed inflationary fee increases. Figures include balance associated with both maintenance and fee loans.

Borrowers will be liable to repay at a fixed percentage of earnings only when earning above the applicable student loan repayment threshold. Repayments are linked to the earnings, and not the rate of interest or the amount borrowed. Those earning below the student loan repayment threshold repay nothing. Where a borrower does not repay their loan in full by the end of the loan term, the remaining balance is cancelled, with no detriment to the borrower.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking both domestically and internationally to protect and support sunfish populations.

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

While not a permanent resident in UK waters, sunfish are known to visit our seas during the summer months to feed. Sunfish are not commercially caught in the UK, and the sale of products derived from them is prohibited under UK legislation. We are taking action to protect and improve the marine environment and are committed to the global target to protect at least 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take in the short, medium and long term following the decision of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury to establish a global phase-out of mercury dental fillings.

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

Following the decision made at the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury we are in the process of planning in detail the short, medium, and longer-term steps to move towards and implement a phase-out of dental amalgam in 2034.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number and value of UK properties held by (1) direct trust ownership, (2) UK companies held via a trust, and (3) overseas companies held via a trust

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This information is not held by MHCLG, DBT or HM Land Registry.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have taken from the report by the Poverty and Environment Trust, Overwhelmed and Oversubscribed, published in August; and what is the timetable for bringing forward legislation to establish local supply rights for community energy schemes.

Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This Government is hugely ambitious about the role that local energy will play in achieving our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower.

Officials read the report with interest and thank the Poverty and Environment Trust for their work on it.

Alongside delivering the 2025/26 Great British Energy Community Fund, Great British Energy is expected to work closely with Community Energy Groups, providing commercial, technical and project-planning assistance to increase their capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in their local areas, in addition to feasibility funding support.

We recognise the requests to take steps to better enable local energy markets and trading to lower bills, support renewables and increase the resilience of the electricity networks. The Department is currently investigating barriers to local supply, and is working with Ofgem, Great British Energy and relevant stakeholders to find solutions that work in the best interests of local generators and consumers.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for covering property developers under money-laundering regulations; and what plans they have to ensure that property developers are regulated for such purposes.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government published its most recent National Risk Assessment for money laundering and terrorist financing in July 2025, which included an assessment of risks for property developers.

While property developers more generally are not in scope of the Money Laundering Regulations, the regulations do apply to estate agencies, and to property developers that make their sales via a separate legal entity. Other property developers fall in scope of the regulations via their financial services and products. The scope of the Money Laundering Regulations is set to ensure that those sectors most at risk of being abused to facilitate money laundering have appropriate, risk-based controls in place to protect themselves, while avoiding undue burdens on businesses and customers.

The Government intends to develop a new public-private strategy focused on anti-money laundering and asset recovery in the coming months. This will respond to the risks identified in the National Risk Assessment, including consideration of whether any further measures are needed to address vulnerabilities in higher risk sectors.

Found: Hansard (2023) House of Lords debate: Contribution by Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, 30 November

Found: Hansard (2023) House of Lords debate: Contribution by Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, 30 November 2023