Baroness Redfern

Government is committed to tackling high industrial electricity prices in the UK. This is why Government has taken action to mitigate high electricity costs for energy intensive industries by continuing the Energy Intensive Industries compensation scheme and implementing the British Industry Supercharger.

The Plan for Steel, which will be published in Spring, will address electricity prices for steelmakers. We are committed to providing up to £2.5bn to rebuild steel industry which will be available through the National Wealth Fund and other routes.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) is appointed by the Secretary of State and holds and vacates office as the Adjudicator in accordance with the terms of their appointment.

The government will undertake the fourth statutory review of the GCA in 2025. The review must consider how much the Adjudicator’s powers have been exercised and assess how effective the Adjudicator has been in enforcing the Groceries Supply Code of Practice over the review period. The government will give all interested parties the opportunity to contribute to this review.

On 9 June 2025, the Government made legislation to reintroduce onshore wind into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime. Government has concluded that low carbon infrastructure entering the NSIP regime, including renewables such as onshore wind, should be deemed as critical national priority infrastructure. Security arrangements for onshore wind farms are a matter for individual developers.

The deployment of rooftop solar is a top priority. Permitted development rights mean most rooftop projects do not require an application for planning permission, including non-domestic arrays of any size, and solar canopies on car parks. New buildings standards will ensure that all newly built houses and commercial buildings are fit for a net zero future. We expect these standards to encourage the installation of solar panels.

Ground mount solar is also needed to meet our 2030 clean power ambitions. Planning guidance makes clear that, wherever possible, projects should utilise previously developed land. Where the development of farmland is judged necessary, lower-quality land should be preferred.

The Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) has been created to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high quality, paid fairly, and have favourable terms and good working conditions.

The OCEJ is engaging widely with industry, experts, and trade unions for a clear assessment of the skills opportunities and challenges. It is working closely with Skills England to ensure that skills systems reforms support the clean energy transition.

This Government is committed to delivering an orderly transition following the decision to wind down the NCS programme from March 2025 and close the NCS Trust when parliamentary time allows.

DCMS is currently working closely with the NCS Trust to agree the full costs of winding down the programme, and closing the NCS Trust.

The Government will publish the National Youth Strategy in 2025. In the interim, in 2025/26 we are increasing the total funding for other DCMS youth programmes, excluding the National Citizen Service programmes which we will be winding down from March 2025. Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course.

This will include allocating over £85m of capital funding to create fit-for-purpose, welcoming spaces for young people, with the new Better Youth Spaces fund allocating at least £26m for youth clubs to buy new equipment and do renovations. This capital funding also allows for the completion of the Youth Investment Fund programme.

We will also launch the Local Youth Transformation pilot, which will test a new way of working and supporting local authorities, providing a package of support to assess, improve and invest in impactful local youth offers to build back lost capacity and sow the seeds for a much-needed rejuvenation of local youth services.

This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers and learners in England and support the industrial strategy.

At this stage, the government has not put targets or limits on the level of flexibility in the growth and skills offer. This will be informed by the result of Skills England’s analysis and engagement, including on where flexibilities will be most helpful for employers.

The single unique identifier for children which the government promised in its manifesto is intended to apply to all children, including those in care, and is part of the solution to improve data sharing to stop children falling through the cracks. The legislation to enable its designation and use is currently before Parliament as part of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.

The government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. By April 2026, the department estimates that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.

The government will also recruit 8,500 mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support.

To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resource hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.

The government is committed to improving early literacy and ensuring children have the best start in life. Strong early foundations are essential for school readiness and long-term educational success. That is why we are focused on strengthening the home learning environment and supporting families from pregnancy through the early years, as part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change. This includes the national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028.

Family Hubs are central to this ambition, providing joined-up support for families across health, education and early years services.

In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence.

On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme as part of the Spending Review 2025. Through our ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign and partnerships with the voluntary sector, we continue to support parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that make a lasting difference to early literacy and school readiness.

The government is committed to improving early literacy and ensuring children have the best start in life. Strong early foundations are essential for school readiness and long-term educational success. That is why we are focused on strengthening the home learning environment and supporting families from pregnancy through the early years, as part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change. This includes the national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028.

Family Hubs are central to this ambition, providing joined-up support for families across health, education and early years services.

In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence.

On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme as part of the Spending Review 2025. Through our ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign and partnerships with the voluntary sector, we continue to support parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that make a lasting difference to early literacy and school readiness.

Whilst the plastic component of filters is of concern, the chemicals, toxins and heavy metals contained within a littered cigarette butt also pose a danger to the environment. For this reason, Defra does not support a move to plastic-free or biodegradable filters which would likely contain the same pollutants and have not been shown to break down quicker if littered in the environment.

Tobacco litter remains a concern for Defra, with cigarette filters consistently scoring as the most littered item in surveys. Local authorities already have powers to punish those who litter them including through prosecution. They can also create smoke free areas through the use of Public Space Protection Orders.

Defra believes the best way to tackle littering of filters is through reductions in smoking rates. We therefore continue to support all initiatives designed to encourage people to quit smoking or prevent them from starting smoking. Indeed, through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, the Government is committed to creating a smoke-free generation, gradually ending the sale of tobacco products across the country and breaking the cycle of addiction and disadvantage.

We will continue to monitor the available evidence on the prevalence of littered cigarette filters before considering further action.

The Government recognises well-managed grouse shooting can be an important part of a local rural economy, providing direct and indirect employment. It also appreciates that many people hold strong views on the issue of grouse shooting and there is evidence to suggest a link between it and crimes against birds of prey. While Defra has not yet made any formal assessment of the potential merits of the licensing of grouse shooting in England, it will continue to work to ensure a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship between grouse shooting and conservation.

We have moved away from the EU’s approach to subsidies to a ‘public money for public goods’ system.

We currently have a record 50,000 farm businesses and half of all farmed land now managed under our schemes – with more money being spent through these schemes than at any point.

Going forward we’ve committed an average of £2.3 billion a year to directly benefit tens of thousands of farmers, including small farmers, supporting farm profitability through investment in research and technology and sustainable food production, at the same time as improving the quality of the water in our rivers, the air we breathe and our spaces for wildlife.

Defra Ministers support the ambition to introduce a close season for hares in England. The hare is a much-loved species, and we fail to give it the protection we should. England and Wales stand out as being among the few European countries not to have a close season for their hares. A close season should reduce the number of adult hares being shot in the breeding season, which runs from February to October, meaning that fewer leverets (infant hares) are left motherless and vulnerable to starvation and predation. A close season is also consistent with Natural England's advice on wildlife management that controlling species in their peak breeding season should be avoided unless genuinely essential and unavoidable.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway supports farmers to improve their animals’ health and welfare through funded vet visits as well as targeted grants. We continue to work with the industry on how the Pathway can encourage improvements in indoor pigs’ welfare.

At the heart of our reforms is the principle that those who can work should work. If you need help into work the government should support you and those who can’t work should be supported to live with dignity.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out reforms to both benefits and employment support. Underpinning the changes to benefits, such as rebalancing Universal Credit rates, is our new guarantee of Pathways to Work employment, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions. This brings our total investment for this group to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

We understand that welfare, employment and health are connected – and that is why we are taking a cross-government approach as we deliver and develop our Plan for Change.

The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Health Plan will ensure a better health service for everyone, by setting out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.

We will continue to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, alongside other departments, as we develop our package of reforms in further detail and to ensure policies are aligned.

The Government is committed to cutting the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up to 150 days by March 2026. England and Wales are streamlining the set-up and delivery of clinical research through a four nation UK Clinical Research Delivery (UKCRD) programme.

The UKCRD programme brings together delivery partners and key stakeholders from across the clinical research sector to achieve the common aim of making the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical trials.

The UKCRD programme has implemented a Study Set-Up Plan, led by the Department on behalf of all four nations. The second and final phase Study Set-Up Plan delivered through the UKCRD was completed in June 2025.

The plan aims to rapidly address the delays affecting clinical research set-up through reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, by standardising commercial contracts, and by removing duplicative steps at sites to create a standardised pathway for pharmacy set-up, to free up workforce capacity.

The Study Set-Up Plan will be supported by a wider suite of complementary activities and designed to support longer-term developments to streamline and reform clinical trials.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The Department is working to fast-track clinical trials to drive global investment into life sciences, improve health outcomes, and accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future.

The Department-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.

The NIHR provides an online service called 'Be Part of Research', which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. This makes it easier for people to find and take part in health and care research that is relevant to them. This is accessible through the NHS App and is currently highlighted on the home page for three months from 7 July 2025

The Department is working with key stakeholders and devolved administrations to develop a UK Research Workforce Strategy to be published in the Autumn 2025. This strategy outlines a vision for embedding research and innovation in routine practice within the National Health Service, primary care, social care, and the public health system over the next 10 years. The strategy aims to build and sustain a strong research environment across all health and social care settings. This will be achieved through a diverse workforce, highly skilled in research and innovation, capable of producing and delivering high-quality research. Following the publication of the United Kingdom-wide strategy, nation-specific implementation plans will be developed. Work has started to develop the implementation plan for England, which will be underpinned by appropriate metrics and allocated to delivery partners.

The Government is committed to cutting the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up to 150 days by March 2026. England and Wales are streamlining the set-up and delivery of clinical research through a four nation UK Clinical Research Delivery (UKCRD) programme.

The UKCRD programme brings together delivery partners and key stakeholders from across the clinical research sector to achieve the common aim of making the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical trials.

The UKCRD programme has implemented a Study Set-Up Plan, led by the Department on behalf of all four nations. The second and final phase Study Set-Up Plan delivered through the UKCRD was completed in June 2025.

The plan aims to rapidly address the delays affecting clinical research set-up through reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, by standardising commercial contracts, and by removing duplicative steps at sites to create a standardised pathway for pharmacy set-up, to free up workforce capacity.

The Study Set-Up Plan will be supported by a wider suite of complementary activities and designed to support longer-term developments to streamline and reform clinical trials.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs that will ensure staff have access to high quality support for occupational health, including support for mental health and back conditions.

The commitment to staff treatment hubs draws on various evidence sources, including the NHS England internal Staff Treatment Access Review which demonstrated the clear productivity and economic argument for investing in the health of our National Health Service staff, particularly focusing on mental health and musculoskeletal treatment services as the main drivers of sickness absence in the NHS, as well as wider sectors.

Following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan on 3 July 2025, work is underway to develop implementation and operational plans for the staff treatment hubs. This will determine factors such as location, budgets, and capacity.