Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure sugar produced under conditions of modern slavery is not sold in products in the UK.
Answered by Lord Sarwar - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government announced on 4 November that it will legislate to introduce a mandatory, risk-based human rights due diligence regime for the largest businesses, requiring them to identify, assess and address risks of human rights abuses and labour exploitation within their operations and supply chains. The Government will also introduce powers to be able to remove goods made with forced labour from the Great Britain market. These measures will help tackle the risk of sugar and other products produced using modern slavery being sold in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the scope is of their review of environmental monitoring and related governance structures; when they plan to publish the results of the review; and how.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government routinely reviews its capabilities and governance arrangements to ensure they remain fit for purpose. Defra recently undertook a review to inform the development of future policy on strategic monitoring. As the review supports ongoing policy development and contains commercially sensitive information, this Government does not intend to publish the report.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to release their definition of "sustainable management" of soils under the Environmental Improvement Plan.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s definition of sustainable soil management is published in the glossary of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025. It is described as: practices that maintain or enhance the ecosystem services provided by the soil without impairing the functions enabling those services or being detrimental to other properties of the environment.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of soil by volume from construction sites is being treated as waste; and what plans they have to reduce that percentage.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK Statistics on Waste (copy attached) shows that 47.6 million tonnes of waste soil was generated by the construction and demolition sectors in 2024 in England. The percentage of total soil is not known.
Waste soil is treated either by depositing onto or into land, backfilling, or other recovery.
Defra supports the sustainable management of soils and minimising unnecessary disposal to landfill, within the existing regulatory framework.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assurances they have received from Russia regarding the death of a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia from reported pneumonic plague.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the World Health Organization's International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), countries are required to report and verify events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that Russian authorities had provided information through those channels and that subsequently the WHO had identified no evidence of ongoing transmission associated with the event.
The Government has well-established arrangements to detect, assess, and respond to infectious disease threats, including close coordination with international partners and ongoing surveillance of emerging health risks.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of mirror life in relation to antibiotics and the impact of this on public health in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. However, the Government Office for Science has published a comprehensive summary of the public health risks, which is attached for ease of reference.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current number of places available at horticultural and agricultural training colleges in England; how that number compares to (1) five, (2) 10, and (3) 20 years ago; what level of funding is currently provided to these colleges and how that compares with (a) five, (b) 10, and (c) 20 years ago.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Some specialist agriculture and horticulture training institutions are independent specialist colleges, while others are campuses or facilities within larger institutions.
The table below shows the number of students and the amount of total programme funding at the independent, specialist institutions in published 16 to 19 funding data.
Independent specialist agricultural and horticultural or land-based colleges
Academic year | Number of institutions | Number of students | Total programme funding (£) |
2016/2017 | 13 | 19,024 | 115,551,589 |
2021/2022 | 12 | 20,304 | 126,438,856 |
2026/2027 | 9 | 16,805 | 169,468,312 |
Note: Equivalent data is not available for academic year 2006/07.
The student and funding data in the table is not comparable between years because changes in structure (for example, college mergers) have reduced the number of independent specialist institutions of this type.
Using the programme cost weighting element of the 16-19 funding formula as a proxy for the total number of students receiving relevant education, the highest “specialist” programme cost weighting is for land-based subjects studied in specialist provision. Programme cost weighting recognises that this provision costs significantly more to deliver because of the need for specialist facilities, equipment, land, livestock, machinery and smaller teaching groups. Students can attract this both in the independent specialist colleges covered in the table above and in specialist campuses or facilities within larger institutions. The table below shows how many students received this programme cost weighting, although not all students at specialist colleges will necessarily be studying subjects which attract this programme cost weighting.
Academic year | Number of students receiving specialist programme cost weighting |
2016/2017 | 18,822 |
2021/2022 | 17,774 |
2026/2027 | 18,504 |
Note: Equivalent data is not available for the academic year 2006/07.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce regulation about the levels of heavy metals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, pesticides, plastics and toxins in period products, including those with the potential to damage the vaginal and other microbiomes and generate antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The UK's product safety framework requires all products to be safe, including period products. The Government's recent consultation on product safety reform sought views and evidence on what, if any, further measures should be considered. We will be responding to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the risk presented by the lack of specific regulation of materials used in period products; and what work they are supporting and conducting on this issue.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The UK's product safety framework requires products to be safe, including period products. Our product safety reform consultation sought views on what, if any, further measures should be considered. The Office for Product Safety and Standards carried out a literature review of the current evidence base that found that chemical levels across all categories of period products were consistently low and unlikely to pose a significant risk to health. Officials are also carrying out testing to build a better evidence base of chemical levels in period products. We will be responding to the consultation, giving further details, in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of their Prepare campaign for national resilience, what consideration they have given to allowing patients to obtain NHS prescriptions further in advance, or for longer periods, so that patients do not run out of essential medicines in the event of disruption.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prepare Campaign advice is intended to encourage people who rely on medication to order and collect their next prescription in good time, rather than waiting until their current supply has run out or is about to run out.
Prescribing further in advance or for longer periods is a clinical decision, guided by local policies and professional guidance, taking account of patient safety, monitoring needs and medicine availability.
In England, NHS organisations and community pharmacies have continuity arrangements for disruption, including pharmacy closures and electronic prescription outages.
The Department works with NHS England and suppliers to manage supply disruption. A range of established measures can be used, depending on the circumstances, including coordinating mutual aid, the use of alternative medicines, imports and issuing advice to healthcare professionals. Where appropriate, Serious Shortage Protocols allow pharmacists to supply specified alternatives without a replacement prescription.