Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve ventilation and air filtration in early years and school settings, in the light of a recent study which suggests that COVID-19 infection can cause cognitive impairment in children up to 12 months post-infection.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The department supports and works with a wide range of academics to understand research relating to the impact of air quality on school users.

Between January 2022 and April 2023, the department provided over 9,000 air cleaning units to over 1,300 settings that had been identified with poor ventilation. The department has published guidance on how to use CO₂ monitors and air cleaning units, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-co-monitors-and-air-cleaning-units-in-education-and-care-settings.

The department also publishes non-statutory guidance on indoor and outdoor air quality in ‘Building Bulletin 101: Guidelines on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools’ (BB101), which can be found in the attached document and also accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings.

The responsible body, relevant local authority, academy trust or voluntary-aided body are responsible for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of pupils when in their care.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to authorise new badger culls, excluding where they have already made commitments.

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

On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine tuberculosis (TB) rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be undertaken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease. By beating the disease we will end any need to cull badgers.

Existing cull processes, set up under the previous administration, will be honoured to ensure clarity for farmers involved in these culls whilst new measures can be rolled out through work on the new strategy. No new intensive or supplementary badger control licences will be issued, with all existing licences issued under these policies ending by January 2026. Any application for a licence received in respect of a TB hotspot in the Low Risk Area, would be processed by Natural England, as the delegated licensing authority, in accordance with the published policy guidance for this licence type, as introduced by the previous government in 2018.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Coaker on 28 October (HL1530), how many incidents of self-harm deemed to be a deliberate intent to inflict damage or alter oneself through self-injury or self-poisoning, and how many incidences of individuals having thoughts of self-harm or suicidal ideation, have been reported at the Army Foundation College in the past five years; and of those, how many were deemed to be an attempt at suicide.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2024, 103 regular UK Armed Forces personnel at the Army Foundation College Harrogate (AFC(H)) had at least one incident of self-harm recorded. It is not possible to provide the total number of self-harm incidents as the underlying data does not differentiate between new incidents and the on-going treatment of a previous self-harm incident, or the individual’s intention or the severity of the self-harm.

Information is also not centrally compiled about suicidal thoughts or ideation as these are not included in the national guidelines for reporting of self-harm which is defined as an act of self-injury or self-poisoning.

We take all incidents of self-harm extremely seriously and have strong duty of care and safeguarding mechanisms in place to ensure recruits, particularly those who are under 18, have the right support structures. All personnel have access to medical staff and a range of welfare support including Unit Welfare Officers, Padres, the Army Welfare Service and 24-hour confidential helplines. AFC(H) has received praise from both Ofsted and North Yorkshire Safeguarding and Children’s Partnership for its safeguarding ratios and for the welfare and care it provides.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce more stringent biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of African Swine Fever entering the UK, building on the mitigation measures introduced in September.

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

Preventing an outbreak of African swine fever in the UK remains one of Defra’s key biosecurity priorities. UK safeguard measures are in place prohibiting live pigs, wild boar, or pork products from affected European Union (EU) areas from entering Great Britain. Enforcement is carried out by Border Force and Port Health Authority officers at seaports and airports.

Under the enhanced safeguard measures introduced in September, travellers are no longer allowed to bring pork products into Great Britain unless they are produced and packaged to the EU’s commercial standards and weigh no more than two kilograms.

Defra and its agencies continuously review the spread of African swine fever and are ready to introduce further biosecurity restrictions should these be deemed necessary in response to new scientific and risk data. Risk assessments can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animal-diseases-international-monitoring.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to support extirpated species being reintroduced where it is socially and ecologically feasible.

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

The Government supports species reintroductions where they are economically feasible and there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment. All reintroductions in England are expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conservation Translocations. Conservation translocations are the deliberate movement and release of plants, animals or fungi into the wild for conservation purposes. This includes reintroductions, which are one type of conservation translocation.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reconsider the status of wild boar in England, following the move to make the beaver a European protected species in England under the provisions of the Beavers (England) Order 2022.

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

We have no current plans to reconsider the status of wild boar.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage the uptake of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) principles into undergraduate education across medical, nursing, veterinary and allied health professional degrees; and what steps they will take to engage with academic institutions to ensure future prescribers are equipped to advocate and implement AMS practices effectively.

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

The NHS England antimicrobial resistance prescribing workstream has collaborated with the Workforce Training and Education directorate to co-produce, with stakeholders from university schools of pharmacy, an indicative curriculum and competency framework for antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship, as a part of the new initial education and training programme for United Kingdom pharmacists who will graduate with independent prescribing rights from 2025/26. The prescribing workstream has plans to make contact with the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council during 2025/26 to establish how antimicrobial stewardship is taught and examined in undergraduate medical and nursing courses in England, and to support improvement as required.

The UK Health Security Agency has recently updated the antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship competency framework, which is applicable for health students and prescribing courses. The goal of the antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship competency framework is to improve the quality of antimicrobial treatment and stewardship, and therefore reduce the risks of inadequate, inappropriate, and adverse effects of antimicrobial treatment.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) visits the vet schools annually to provide training to undergraduate students on antibiotic stewardship and the responsible use of medicines. The VMD also works with the Vet Schools Council, who are keen to promote antimicrobial research, and raises veterinary student awareness of the importance of the appropriate prescribing of antibiotics. As an example of this, they recently produced a white paper highlighting the importance of collecting and using farm level antibiotic use data to support responsible use of antibiotics.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to integrate work to increase public awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance and responsible antimicrobial use into the 2024 to 2029 five-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance.

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

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) assisted in the development of an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) public awareness target in the 2024 to 2029 National Action Plan (NAP). The target states that ‘by 2029, we aim to increase UK public and healthcare professionals’ knowledge on AMR by 10%, using 2018 and 2019 baselines, respectively’.

The UKHSA will continue to survey the public across the five-year NAP to identify any fluctuations in knowledge from the 2019 baseline. Knowledge on antibiotic use and AMR is lowest amongst 18 to 34-year-olds, therefore we aim to:

• carry out a cumulative public learning campaign aimed at these age groups;
• educate health care professionals to support consultations;
• engage with the national curriculum review to influence the addition of AMR into the national curriculum; and
• continue to develop and update e-Bug resources, increasing accessibility to a wider audience, for example community groups, after school clubs, and home learning.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to classify long Covid as an industrial injury, following the recommendations of the report COVID-19 and Occupational Impacts, published by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council in November 2022; and if so, when.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) can be paid. IIAC's advice is limited to entitlement to benefits under the Industrial Injuries Scheme and does not cover the classification of ‘an industrial injury’ more widely.

In November 2022, IIAC published a Command Paper which recommended five severe post-COVID-19 complications should bring entitlement to IIDB for certain health and social care workers. In November 2024, IIAC published a further command paper which concluded that the 2022 recommendation should be extended to cover certain transport workers.

The department is carrying out a detailed assessment of the recommendations in both reports and will respond in due course.

In its most recent command paper, IIAC concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence available to recommend prescription for further complications following COVID-19 infection, or for further occupations. IIAC will continue to keep the situation under review and monitor the evidence and available data.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support veterinary practices to adopt an aligned approach to antimicrobial use, and increase the use of antimicrobial prescribing guidelines.

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

A key commitment of the AMR National Action Plan is to work alongside the veterinary profession to ensure they are supported to prescribe antibiotics responsibly and support animal health and welfare. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate lead on this work and have funded online training for both farm animal and companion animal vets through the RCVS Knowledge VetTeamAMR (attached: VetTeamAMR – RCVS knowledge) initiative. This provides important advice on how to manage different diseases and conditions where antibiotics are most commonly used, as well as modules on diagnostics, behaviour change, and infection control. The Veterinary Medicines Regulations were revised in 2024 and include provisions which increase the scrutiny on antibiotic prescribing. We have published guidance (attached: Veterinary Medicines Guidance) to help vets comply with the AMR elements of the VMRs and ensure responsible use of antibiotics under the cascade. We also work alongside the veterinary profession through antibiotic stewardship groups to encourage and support the development and dissemination of guidelines to vets (attached: Guidelines and guidance on the responsible use of veterinary medicines). Examples include the recently updated BSAVA/SAMSoc guidance for dogs and cats, the PROTECT ME guidelines for horses, the Pig Veterinary Society prescribing principles and guidance for dairy vets on reducing antibiotic milk residues.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are funding or part-funding the General Medical Council's defence against the legal challenge to the registration of anaesthetist and physician associates; and if so, why.

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

The Government is funding the General Medical Council (GMC) to undertake the work required to introduce regulation for Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) and Physician Associates (PAs), to avoid doctors paying for this through their registrant fees.

A longstanding principle underpinning the introduction of statutory regulation for new professions is that all related-costs, including legal challenges to that work, should be funded by the Government, to avoid other professions cross-subsidising the work involved.

Once regulation of AAs and PAs becomes self-funding, the Government will cease funding the GMC.

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