Lord Bailey of Paddington

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting MP) will consider the final recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) on screening for prostate cancer when it is received. At that point, he will decide on implementation, including any changes to guidance around testing that may be required.

It is anticipated that the final recommendation will be provided in early 2026 after the conclusion of a 12-week consultation which opened on 28 November 2025. This seeks views on an evidence review and a draft recommendation to:

• offer a targeted national prostate cancer screening programme to men with confirmed BRCA1/2 gene variants every two years, from 45 years old to 61 years old;
• not recommend population screening;
• not recommend targeted screening of Black men;
• not recommend targeted screening of men with family history; and
• collaborate with the Transform trial team to answer outstanding questions on screening effectiveness for black men and men with a family history as soon as trial data becomes available, and await results of the study to develop and trial a more accurate test than PSA alone, to improve the balance of benefit and harm of screening.

The new hospital scheme for the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust at St Mary’s Hospital is in the scope of the review into the New Hospital Programme.

We are finalising the outcome of the review so we can be honest and upfront with everyone on when we expect the new hospitals to be delivered. As is standard practice, a Public Sector Equality Duty impact assessment will also be completed as part of this process.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will set out further details on the outcome of the review, which will include a new and realistic delivery schedule for the programme, at the earliest opportunity.

I refer the Noble Lord to the written statement I made to the House on the Government's response to Hurricane Melissa on 11 December (HLWS1160).

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

The UK acknowledges the report and shares its concerns regarding human rights violations in Myanmar. We condemn the Myanmar military's airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. The UK is clear that no country should provide arms, funds, or fuel to the Myanmar military. We have implemented 19 sanctions packages since 2021, including 10 targeting aviation fuel imports.

We are clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 and established the Myanmar Witness program to collect evidence of human rights violations. As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we have convened four meetings this year to maintain international focus and press for accountability. We co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution in April and coordinated a joint statement in May calling for an end to violence.

Local Authorities already retain a significant share of business rates income. At Autumn Budget 2025, the government extended existing 100% business rates retention pilots in Cornwall, the West of England, and Liverpool City Region for a further three years, to 2028-29. The government is also developing further proposals for fiscal devolution for Mayoral Strategic Authorities. Further details will be set out through the fiscal devolution roadmap at Autumn Budget 2026.

The current UK property taxes are an important source of revenue for both the Exchequer and Local Authorities. They raise over £75 billion each year to help pay for essential public services. Any reforms to the property tax system would need to carefully consider positive or negative implications for the Exchequer, Local Government finances, taxpayers and the wider economy. The government keeps all taxes under review.

The government has already started reforming the Business Rates system. At Budget, the government introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties.

The government is paying for this through a high-value multiplier on the top one per cent of most expensive properties. This includes many large distribution warehouses, such as those used by online giants. The high-value multiplier is 33 per cent more than the multiplier for small RHL properties.

This is in addition to the support package, worth £4.3 billion, that the government introduced at Budget to protect ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. As a result, over half of ratepayers see no bill increases in 2026/27, including 23 per cent whose bills go down

In addition, the government has announced that pubs, clubs and live music venues will benefit from 20% relief from April 2027 on top of the 15% relief and 2-year real-terms freeze in bills announced earlier this year.

Regarding a tax levied on online sales, while tax policy is kept under review, evidence received from a consultation in spring 2022 under the previous Government on the case for an Online Sales Tax suggested that such a tax would have been extremely complex to design and implement and create undue administrative burden for businesses. This included challenges of defining the boundaries between online and in-store retail, including ‘Click and Collect’ orders. Stakeholders also expected it would lead to higher prices for consumers.

Mayors will decide whether to introduce a levy and, if so, will consult on specific proposals, including how revenue will be used to support growth. This will help them to find an appropriate balance between supporting local economic priorities, including tourism, ensuring a levy is affordable, and providing stability and certainty for businesses. Impacts will depend on local decisions and we expect Mayors to publish a summary of the consultation results and their response, including a final prospectus, and an impact assessment.

The table below contains the number of completed residential and non-residential property purchases by London borough that were subject to Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) with a chargeable consideration over £40,000 from 1 July 2024 to 3 October 2025.

Tackling high street criminality is a priority for this Government. That is why, on 19 May, the Government announced a £30 million crackdown targeting cash intensive business such as candy stores and souvenir shops, over three years. This includes dedicated funding for an enhanced law enforcement response supporting the National Crime Agency, HMRC, Trading Standards and others, and the creation of a new cross-government High Street Organised Crime Unit to tackle this threat. The Unit will identify what more is needed – from stronger powers to better coordination – to respond to this criminal activity and stop it from happening in the first place.

As part of the Government’s work on this issue, the Government is currently consulting on extending the duration of Closure Orders to 12 months, to ensure that criminal businesses can be shut down for longer where appropriate.

Further details about the £30 million package can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-05-19/HCWS32

The Government is committed to upholding the right to lawful protest while ensuring the public are protected from serious disruption or harm.

Under Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 police have the power to impose conditions on protests where necessary. Under Section 13 of the Act, where a chief officer assesses that conditions will not be sufficient to prevent serious public disorder, they can seek an order prohibiting for a period not exceeding 3 months all public processions in that area. The decision to prohibit processions under Section 13 is exceptional and must be agreed by the Home Secretary.

In the Crime and Policing Act 2026, Section 165 requires police to consider the cumulative impact of repeated protests when assessing serious disruption to the life of the community. This may result in conditions being imposed on the timing or route of recurring protests to reduce repeated disruption to residents, businesses and visitors. This provision came into force on 29 June.

Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC led a review of public order and hate crime legislation which considered if existing powers appropriately balance protecting public safety and upholding the right to protest. The review was submitted to the Home Secretary at the end of May and she will review the report in detail before setting out the Government’s formal response and publishing the report.

The Government takes the protective security of diplomatic missions extremely seriously. The UK Government's protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our longstanding policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals' and sites' security.

More broadly in terms of the support available to police officers, through the Police Covenant the Home Office are supporting the police workforce with their physical and mental health.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to relevant agencies under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

For-profit Social Housing Providers have grown in prominence since the 2014 Act first came into force. While it is important that all agencies have the powers they need to tackle ASB, it is also important that changes to the agencies that can use the powers in the 2014 ASB Crime and Policing Act are considered carefully, on a case-by-case basis. The addition of for-profit social housing providers as applicant agencies for Respect Orders, Housing Injunctions and Youth Injunctions remains under consideration, as mentioned in previous answers.

We are, however, legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to extend the power to issue Closure Notices to Registered Social Housing Providers, including For Profit Housing Providers. This will make it easier for Housing Providers to take swift action to prevent disruptive ASB.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to relevant agencies under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to tackle ASB.

For-profit Social Housing Providers have grown in prominence since the 2014 Act first came into force. While it is important that all agencies have the powers they need to tackle ASB, it is also important that changes to the agencies that can use the powers in the 2014 ASB Crime and Policing Act are considered carefully, on a case-by-case basis. The addition of for-profit social housing providers as applicant agencies for Respect Orders, housing Injnuctions and Youth Inductions remains under consideration.

However, we are legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to extend the power to issue Closure Notices to Registered Social Housing Providers, including For Profit Housing Providers. This will make it easier for Housing Providers to take swift action to prevent disruptive ASB.