Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on women and girls of the 39 per cent reductions in bilateral ODA to Afghanistan by 2029.

Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK has committed £315 million to Afghanistan in the new spending review period to address the most severe impacts of Afghanistan's protracted crisis and protect the most vulnerable. While reducing the size of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget for Afghanistan will necessarily have an impact on the scale and reach of the work we do, we have taken steps to limit this. Women and girls will remain central to our approach, as highlighted in the UK international strategic framework on women and girls 2026. Funding allocations for Afghanistan are based on a robust Equalities Impact Assessment and aim to address the rights and needs of women and girls. We also remain steadfast in our commitment that at least half of those reached by UK aid in Afghanistan will be women and girls.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure that their priorities are furthered by multilateral official development assistance spending contributions; and how will UK contributions will be recognised.

Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government remains committed to multilateral institutions. I refer the noble Baroness to the reply to HL2775, which affirms the Foreign Secretary's commitment to international institutions, as set out in a statement on 21 July. On 27 July, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced that the Foreign Secretary will take on the role of UK Governor to the World Bank, which provides around $100 billion in finance per year. In the announcement, the Foreign Secretary stated that in taking on this role, he wishes to send an unambiguous signal regarding this Government's commitment to global leadership on development and climate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 15 July (HL1807), how many licence applications have been withdrawn in response to feedback from the Home Office Regulator during the assessment process, and whether there is a limit on the number of times an application may be revised and resubmitted.

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

In 2024, eight project licence applications and, in 2025, six project licence applications were withdrawn by the applicant. The Regulator does not hold information on the reasons why those applications were withdrawn so cannot comment on whether they were withdrawn in response to regulatory feedback.

Amendments to project licence applications are a routine part of the assessment process, are based on discussions between the Regulator and the applicant and could be about any aspect of the licence. There is no limit to the number of revisions and resubmissions that can be made.

All applications are subject to multiple stages of review prior to submission to the Home Office, including the scrutiny by an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body and sign off by the establishment licence holder. A licence may only be granted where the application satisfies all relevant requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are providing support to strengthen the participation of women in peacebuilding efforts in Columbia.

Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is firmly committed to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Following the launch of Colombia's WPS National Action Plan, which the UK supported, we continue to work with the Colombian Government and civil society to support its implementation. UK funding has helped advance accountability and support for thousands of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Colombia over the last ten years. The UK continues to advocate for women's full and equal participation in peace negotiations in Colombia and on a global scale, which we made clear during the statement delivered by the UK's Chargé d'Affaires to the UN Security Council on 17 June.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement their commitment to establish and publish a cross-government monitoring framework for Women, Peace and Security.

Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government is unwavering in its commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda and is in the process of refreshing the UK's fifth Women, Peace, and Security National Action Plan. The refresh will retain transparent and proportionate governance, monitoring and evaluation arrangements, ensuring transparency, accountability and effective measurement of progress and impact.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what the timetable is for implementing dynamic alignment on export certification with the EU-UK SPS agreement; and what assessment they have made of whether current certification capacity can be sustained throughout that timetable.

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

The UK is currently negotiating an SPS Agreement with the EU. These negotiations are at an advanced stage and expected to remove the requirement for Export Health Certificates. The Agreement will have implications for Official Veterinarians undertaking export certification, including the demand for Export Health Certificate (EHC) services. Defra are working with the veterinary profession and wider industry stakeholders to monitor this capability and ensure an effective and well-managed transition.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and veterinary sector representatives on export certification workforce planning for the transition period to dynamic alignment.

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

The UK is currently negotiating an SPS Agreement with the EU. These negotiations are at an advanced stage and expected to remove the requirement for Export Health Certificates. The Agreement will have implications for Official Veterinarians undertaking export certification, including the demand for Export Health Certificate (EHC) services. Defra are working with the veterinary profession and wider industry stakeholders to monitor this capability and ensure an effective and well-managed transition.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of Official Veterinarians currently undertaking export certification on a full-time basis; and the risk of experienced Official Veterinarians leaving export certification roles before any reduction in certification requirements takes effect.

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

The UK is currently negotiating an SPS Agreement with the EU. These negotiations are at an advanced stage and expected to remove the requirement for Export Health Certificates. The Agreement will have implications for Official Veterinarians undertaking export certification, including the demand for Export Health Certificate (EHC) services. Defra are working with the veterinary profession and wider industry stakeholders to monitor this capability and ensure an effective and well-managed transition.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many animals they have approved for experimentation over the next five years during the year to date; and how this relates to their manifesto commitment to phase out animal testing.

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

The Government’s direction is unequivocal: we want to replace animal testing wherever scientifically possible. The £75 million Replacing Animals in Science Strategy is a practical programme to make that happen—accelerating innovation, validation and adoption so that robust non-animal methods move from development into routine use. Where alternatives do not yet exist, animal use will remain tightly controlled, but our objective is to reduce that dependence progressively and decisively.

Project licences granted in 2026 to date under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 have authorised the use of approximately 3.6 million animals over the lifetime of those licences.

This figure represents the maximum numbers authorised for each workstream of a project licence and does not necessarily reflect the numbers that will actually be used, nor account for the continued use or re-use of animals across a project. As a result, this figure may overestimate the number of individual animals expected to be used under each licence and actual use may be lower.

The number of procedures conducted each year is reported in the annual statistics on scientific procedures. The latest published statistics show that 2.54 million scientific procedures involving living animals were carried out in Great Britain in 2025, this is a decrease from 2.64 million in 2024 and the lowest number under The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

All project licence applications must demonstrate full application of the principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. This means animals cannot be used where a suitable non-animal alternative is available, the minimum number of animals must be used to achieve the scientific objective, and procedures must be refined to minimise harm. These obligations continue throughout the lifetime of a licence.

Found: Chair) Baroness Browning Baroness Cass Lord Dholakia Baroness Freeman of Steventon Baroness Hodgson of Abinger