Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands; and what discussions they have had with the governments of the Faroe Islands and Demark about banning their slaughter.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK ministers and officials regularly raise concerns about the welfare and sustainability implications of cetacean hunts directly with Faroese counterparts. The free trade agreement with the Faroe Islands allows us to raise crucial issues like animal welfare.
UK Ministers and officials highlight our strong opposition to the practice at every appropriate opportunity, including at the last meeting of the UK-Faroe Islands Joint Committee in June 2026, and through our diplomatic channels with the Faroese Representation in London.
UK officials also raised the UK's opposition to cetacean hunting in June 2025 as part of the UK-Faroe Islands fisheries intersessional, and again at head of delegation level during formal UK-Faroe Islands bilateral fisheries negotiations in November 2025. By having strong diplomatic and economic relationships, Defra are able to have frank discussions on this issue.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many acres of (1) Grade 1, (2) Grade 2, and (3) Grade 3a, farmland have solar panels been installed.
Answered by Baroness Curran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that development proposals should take into account the best and most versatile agricultural land, which is land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the agricultural land classification system.
As recorded in Agricultural Land Use In England, the total area of land on agricultural holdings used for solar panels was 9.4 thousand hectares in 2026, showing little change since 2025. Just under half of this area (4.4 thousand hectares) is also grazed or used for agriculture production and the remaining 5.0 thousand hectares is used for solar panels but not for agricultural production.
The Government is now in the final stages of collating further data on the use of agricultural land by renewable energy projects, and we expect to publish that information this year.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 10 September (HL3067), of the animals authorised for use under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 since the beginning of 2026, how many are authorised to be used in procedures classified as severe.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of procedures conducted each year at each severity level is reported in the annual statistics on scientific procedures. The 2026 data will be collected in early 2027 and published as national statistics that year. The latest published statistics show that 17,593 experimental scientific procedures involving living animals were assessed as having an actual severity of severe in Great Britain in 2025. This is in the context of a total of 1.3 million experimental procedures.
Project licences granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2026, to date, have authorised the use of a maximum of approximately 321,200 animals in protocols with a maximum severity classification of severe. This represents less than 8% of the maximum number of animals authorised across all severity classifications.
This figure represents the maximum numbers authorised across project licences and does not necessarily reflect the numbers that will actually be used. In project licence applications, applicants are required to specify the highest severity that an animal could experience under each protocol and estimate the proportion of animals likely to experience that level of severity. Consequently, the number of animals authorised for use in protocols with a maximum severity classification of severe is not equivalent to the number expected to experience severe effects.
This figure also does not account for the continued use or re-use of animals across a project. Taken together, these factors mean that it is likely to overestimate the number of individual animals expected to be used under a licence.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many acres of green belt have been redefined as grey belt in the past year.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is for individual local planning authorities to assess if land is grey belt and to determine whether to amend Green Belt boundaries through the preparation or updating of plans.
The government does not hold data on how much land has been formally identified as grey belt land by local planning authorities.
The government monitors and publishes annual statistics showing the extent of England’s Green Belt, including changes resulting from land being released from, or added to, the Green Belt. The 2024-25 statistics are available on gov.uk here and those for 2025-26 are due to be published on 22 October.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
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.