Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to fund research to establish safe microplastic exposure thresholds and identify key interventions to improve neglected areas, including soil and air quality.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency carried out research to understand if there are potential health risks from exposure to micro and nano plastics through inhalational and oral routes. This was part of the National Institute of Health and Care Research funded Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Exposures and Health.

In addition, the potential impact of microplastic materials on human health has been assessed by the UK Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. The most recent statement was published in 2024, a copy of which is attached.

Under the 2022/23 UK REACH Work Programme, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs initiated a research proposal to investigate the risks of intentionally added microplastics. The evidence project has reviewed their emissions and the risks they pose both to human health and the environment. The project also included a socio-economic assessment. This project is expected to report in early 2025. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh and Scottish Governments will consider its findings once complete.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to tackle rural homelessness.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Homelessness levels are far too high. The Government is taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness, including rural homelessness. As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services has increased by £233 million this year, taking total spend to nearly £1 billion.

The Government is also developing a new cross-Government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness, including rural homelessness.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of polling data on 11 April by Christians Against Poverty, Employment and financial difficulty, what assessment they have made of the levels of problem debt among full-time workers, and what measures they are taking to support full-time workers who are in financial difficulty.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government regularly engages with the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to monitor personal finances and debt levels. The Money and Pensions Service conducts an annual survey of people in financial difficulty. The results of their latest survey were published on 29 February 2024.

To support those in debt to manage their finances, the Government funds national and community-based debt advice services, through the Money and Pensions Service, for hundreds of thousands of individuals and families in need across England. The Government also provides funding for debt advice in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As debt advice is a devolved matter, responsibility for delivering these services rests with those devolved governments.

Funding levels for both the Money and Pensions Service and the devolved governments are regularly reviewed to reflect demand, inflation, and evolving needs.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of polling data on 11 April by Christians Against Poverty, In-person debt advice, what plans they have to address the scale of problem debt.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government regularly engages with the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to monitor personal finances and debt levels. The Money and Pensions Service conducts an annual survey of people in financial difficulty. The results of their latest survey were published on 29 February 2024.

To support those in debt to manage their finances, the Government funds national and community-based debt advice services, through the Money and Pensions Service, for hundreds of thousands of individuals and families in need across England. The Government also provides funding for debt advice in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As debt advice is a devolved matter, responsibility for delivering these services rests with those devolved governments.

Funding levels for both the Money and Pensions Service and the devolved governments are regularly reviewed to reflect demand, inflation, and evolving needs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address (1) the under-representation of women in health data, and (2) the lack of female-only UK clinical trials.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is committed to ensuring that women are represented across all forms of health data, including National Health Service patient data and data that is used for research. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and recognises that increasing the diversity of people taking part in research is key to ensuring the evidence and data generated by research is relevant for the whole population.

On 10 March 2025, the NIHR launched its sex and gender policy, which is expected to come into force later in 2025. A document containing the NIHR’s sex and gender policy is attached. This outlines an NIHR statement of intent on integrating sex and gender into health and care research. Implementing such a policy will ensure research accounts for sex and gender across every stage of the research cycle, thus facilitating funding into topics that impact males and females and, crucially, a greater understanding of how males and females might be impacted differently by the same health condition.

The Department and NHS England fund the Research Engagement Network Development Programme, which aims to increase diversity in research participation through the development of research engagement networks with communities who are often underserved by research, and by ensuring diversity in research is considered by integrated care systems.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of polling data on 11 April by Christians Against Poverty, In-person debt advice, what steps they are taking to expand access to and fund free debt advice services authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government regularly engages with the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to monitor personal finances and debt levels. The Money and Pensions Service conducts an annual survey of people in financial difficulty. The results of their latest survey were published on 29 February 2024.

To support those in debt to manage their finances, the Government funds national and community-based debt advice services, through the Money and Pensions Service, for hundreds of thousands of individuals and families in need across England. The Government also provides funding for debt advice in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As debt advice is a devolved matter, responsibility for delivering these services rests with those devolved governments.

Funding levels for both the Money and Pensions Service and the devolved governments are regularly reviewed to reflect demand, inflation, and evolving needs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of polling data on 11 April by Christians Against Poverty, The inequality of poverty, what steps they are taking to address the higher incidence of deficit household budgets among adults of ethnic minorities compared to white adults.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government is committed to tackling poverty and supporting people into good work will be the foundation of our approach. We are committed to creating a more equal society and supporting economic growth. Talent is widely distributed, and opportunity is not. We are tackling this through our Growth and Opportunity Missions and our £240 million Get Britan Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out details of reforms to employment support to create an inclusive labour market in which everybody, regardless of their background, can participate and progress in work. Further measures addressing inequality are included within the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and the Employment Rights Bill.

Alongside this, the Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Tackling poverty means helping those that need help most and these are often those with protected characteristics. In developing individual policies that contribute to the Strategy, departments do have regard to equalities impacts.

Our plan to Make Work Pay, including increases to the National Living Wage benefiting over three million workers, will help more people stay in work, make work more secure and family-friendly, and put more money in working people's pockets. Women, younger and older workers, workers with a disability, and workers from ethnic minority backgrounds are expected to benefit the most from the April 2025 increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April 2025.

The Fair Repayment Rate will mean more than a million households retain more of their award to meet essential living costs. We will also improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. This increase, announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will be for new and existing customers and will benefit millions of people.

To further support struggling households, we have provided funding of £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of polling data on 11 April by Christians Against Poverty, Child poverty in the UK, what action they are taking to support parents and carers experiencing financial distress.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government is committed to tackling poverty and supporting people into good work will be the foundation of our approach. We are committed to creating a more equal society and supporting economic growth. Talent is widely distributed, and opportunity is not. We are tackling this through our Growth and Opportunity Missions and our £240 million Get Britan Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out details of reforms to employment support to create an inclusive labour market in which everybody, regardless of their background, can participate and progress in work. Further measures addressing inequality are included within the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and the Employment Rights Bill.

Alongside this, the Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Tackling poverty means helping those that need help most and these are often those with protected characteristics. In developing individual policies that contribute to the Strategy, departments do have regard to equalities impacts.

Our plan to Make Work Pay, including increases to the National Living Wage benefiting over three million workers, will help more people stay in work, make work more secure and family-friendly, and put more money in working people's pockets. Women, younger and older workers, workers with a disability, and workers from ethnic minority backgrounds are expected to benefit the most from the April 2025 increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April 2025.

The Fair Repayment Rate will mean more than a million households retain more of their award to meet essential living costs. We will also improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. This increase, announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will be for new and existing customers and will benefit millions of people.

To further support struggling households, we have provided funding of £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of polling data on 11 April by Christians Against Poverty, Employment and financial difficulty, what steps they are taking to address the impact of rising costs of essentials on working households.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government is committed to tackling poverty and supporting people into good work will be the foundation of our approach. We are committed to creating a more equal society and supporting economic growth. Talent is widely distributed, and opportunity is not. We are tackling this through our Growth and Opportunity Missions and our £240 million Get Britan Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out details of reforms to employment support to create an inclusive labour market in which everybody, regardless of their background, can participate and progress in work. Further measures addressing inequality are included within the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and the Employment Rights Bill.

Alongside this, the Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Tackling poverty means helping those that need help most and these are often those with protected characteristics. In developing individual policies that contribute to the Strategy, departments do have regard to equalities impacts.

Our plan to Make Work Pay, including increases to the National Living Wage benefiting over three million workers, will help more people stay in work, make work more secure and family-friendly, and put more money in working people's pockets. Women, younger and older workers, workers with a disability, and workers from ethnic minority backgrounds are expected to benefit the most from the April 2025 increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April 2025.

The Fair Repayment Rate will mean more than a million households retain more of their award to meet essential living costs. We will also improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. This increase, announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will be for new and existing customers and will benefit millions of people.

To further support struggling households, we have provided funding of £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report published on 22 April by Friends of the Earth International, Climate and biodiversity in freefall, particularly the finding that 78 per cent of the top 50 carbon offsetting projects are likely ineffective or worthless.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The UK is a strong advocate for carbon pricing and a pioneer on carbon markets, through domestic action and our support for the uptake of pricing and market schemes globally.

Harnessed properly, carbon markets can help deliver global climate ambition, mobilise much-needed finance to tackle climate change, and deliver cost-effective abatement and wider development benefits. They can play a crucial role in protecting forests internationally and in the UK.

Stakeholders have called for greater clarity on what constitutes a high-quality carbon credit and how credits should be used. Therefore, in November last year the UK Government published a set of guiding principles for high-integrity voluntary carbon and nature markets and in April this year we launched a consultation into steps that can be taken to implement these.

Through our climate finance programmes the UK has helped address the challenges linked with ‘project-based’ forest credits , for example, the ‘leakage’ of carbon emissions. We have worked with countries to develop jurisdictional approaches to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), which cover entire countries or states, allowing greater transparency and the generation of higher-integrity carbon credits.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce cross-subsidy between rural and urban areas for franchised bus services where routes exist that are not themselves profitable.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Local authorities can choose to subsidise bus services, including those that span urban and rural areas, where commercial provision alone is not sufficient to meet the needs of local communities, and where it represents value for money. This is a decision for local authorities to make.

Under franchised bus services, the local authority can have responsibility for all elements of the bus network including routes, timetables and fares. There are many different options available for franchising for local authorities and cross subsidy between profitable and non-profitable routes is a possible feature of some models.

The Government is investing in bus and has committed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. Hertfordshire County Council has been allocated £12.2 million of this funding, helping to improve bus services across the area. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what further steps they plan to take to reduce microplastic pollution.

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

Defra recognises the importance of addressing contaminants in soil, including microplastic pollution. To tackle microplastics in soil, we need to tackle plastics up-stream. The plastic problem is one of management, not removal or eradication, to reduce, reuse, and recycle the material we have and not let it escape into, and damage, our environment.

The Environment Agency is supporting collaborative research which will support future policy and regulatory decisions on microplastics. This includes six investigations with the water industry under the Chemical Investigations Programme, considering generation of microplastics within wastewater treatment works through breakdown of plastic equipment, emerging sewage treatment technologies, and pathways of microplastics from biosolids applied to land to soils and groundwater. The Environment Agency are also conducting research into tyre wear particles and associated chemicals which is due to be published later this year, and supporting National Highways on research into microplastics generated during driving.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the Gambling Commission complies with its obligations under the Gambling Act 2005, including taking regulatory action against operators if necessary to protect vulnerable people from harm.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Gambling Commission is an independent regulator, but as the sponsoring department we have a number of channels available to assess the Commission’s delivery against its objectives and duties, including regular meetings with the Commission’s senior leadership. There are a range of regulatory interventions that the Commission is able to make, and the outcomes of this regulatory action are published on its website. Since 2016/17, the Commission has taken over 100 enforcement actions, and this has resulted in more than £207 million in fines and regulatory settlements being paid by gambling operators.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to redefine affordable housing according to local incomes instead of market rates.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government believes that affordable housing must be affordable to local people and address local needs. This is why we amended the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to give local authorities greater flexibility to deliver the right mix of affordable homes to respond to housing need in their areas, while also making clear that they should address the particular needs of those who require Social Rent homes.

To reflect the government’s commitment to prioritise the building of new Social Rent homes, we amended the definition of affordable housing in the NPPF to provide a separate definition of Social Rent – rather than referring to it as just one of a number of types of affordable housing for rent. We have also committed that new investment to succeed the current Affordable Homes Programme will have a particular focus on delivering Social Rent homes.

We will consider what further steps we can take to support social and affordable housing as part of our intent to produce a set of national policies for decision making in 2025.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce specific legal protection for chalk streams.

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

Chalk Streams will be prioritised as part of the record £11 billion of investment to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows in England and Wales during Price Review 2024, with 75% of such High Priority Sites needing to be improved by 2035 and the rest by 2045. By 2050, we expect no storm overflow spill to cause any adverse ecological harm and spill no more than 10 times per year.

The Government is committed to securing better environmental outcomes alongside securing the development we need and is considering how best to reform environmental assessment processes with this objective in mind.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farmers in the light of dry conditions this spring.

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

The UK has a resilient food supply chain that has frequently demonstrated its ability to adapt when required.

The Met Office’s 3-month weather outlook for May, June, and July indicates near average rainfall is most likely for the UK but with a slightly higher than normal chance of wet weather. Defra is aware of the current concerns around the ongoing dry conditions. However, it is too early to understand the impact of this period of dry weather on livestock, horticulture and crop plantings, and the subsequent impact this may have on yield and quality later in the year at harvest time.

We continue to engage and work closely with the industry and to monitor the weather impacts on domestic food production, through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was established by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the UK market across all key agricultural commodities.

The Government is also engaged with research on climate change and adaptation measures through our work with the Met Office Hadley Centre Food Farming and Natural Environment (FFNE) service.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 5Rights Children and AI Design Code, and what steps they are taking to assess the impact of AI on children.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government recognises the importance of this issue and welcomes proposals on how to ensure technology keeps children safe. The Government engages with a range of stakeholders on the impact of AI, including child safety organisations and experts.

Regarding the impact of AI, the majority of AI systems are regulated by existing regulators, a range of which have specific measures for protecting children. The strongest protections in the Online Safety Act are for children, who will be protected from both illegal content, and legal content which is nonetheless harmful to children, including where that content is AI generated.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the advice to parents from primary schools in St Albans to ban smartphones for children under 14 years old; and whether they plan to ban smartphones for children under 14 years old nationwide.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government is committed to keeping children safe online. The Department for Education’s ‘Mobile Phones in Schools’ guidance is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks. We expect all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.

We are focused on implementing the Online Safety Act which will protect children from both illegal and legal but nonetheless harmful content, including pornography and violent content. We continue to keep under review all evidence of options to protect children online.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 24 March (HL5621), what are the parameters of the task they have set the gambling industry to raise standards, and how this work will be monitored.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As I set out in my speech at the GambleAware Annual Conference, the industry can and should do more to work together to ensure that gambling advertising and sponsorship is appropriate, responsible and does not exacerbate harm. This includes the need for an assessment of current levels of gambling advertising across the full range of channels. The Betting and Gaming Council has commissioned an advertising report which will be published in due course. We will closely consider any findings to inform next steps.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the risk of drought in England this summer, following reports from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology that reservoir levels are 10 per cent less full than they should be.

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

The Environment Agency has declared Prolonged Dry Weather status in Cumbria and Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, and Northeast areas. Drought plans have been activated in these areas to help mitigate any dry weather impacts. Water company reservoir levels in northern and central England are below storage levels expected for the time of year.

The National Drought Group, including the water minister, met on the 7 May to coordinate the strategic management of drought across government, regulators, water industry, and stakeholders. Frequency of these meetings have increased due to the current dry weather situation. Specific actions include:

• Water companies to increase action on leakage and communicate with customers about using water wisely.
• Advising farmers and growers to plan their water needs this summer and seek advice from the Environment Agency and the National Farmers Union if they have concerns.
• Environment Agency to work with fishery owners to ensure dry weather contingency plans are in place

An updated irrigation prospect report has been published to inform the agriculture community of the current water resources situation to help farmers plan their water needs for the summer. The Environment Agency has also issued some restrictions on abstraction licences to protect river flows where these are low.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the White Nile river remains open as a humanitarian supply corridor into Upper Nile in South Sudan.

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

The Government has consistently called for an immediate ceasefire, the protection of civilians, and the safety and security of aid workers in our engagement with the Government of South Sudan and other regional partners. On 27 March, alongside the Troika and other likeminded partners, we called for de-escalation following rising violence. The Minister of State for International Development raised the issue of humanitarian access when she met South Sudan's Foreign Minister on 16 April in the margins of the Sudan Conference, and our Ambassador in Juba called for a ceasefire when he met with South Sudan's President Kiir on 14 May. The UK continues to support our UN partners to advocate for access to those displaced by the current conflict and to continue to deliver a humanitarian response in Upper Nile.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 24 March (HL5621), whether they have commissioned an industry-led assessment of the impact of gambling advertising.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We have set the gambling industry a clear task to do more to work together to ensure that gambling advertising and sponsorship is appropriate, responsible and does not exacerbate harm. The Betting and Gaming Council has since commissioned an advertising report which will be published in due course. We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all key stakeholders to inform next steps in this space and ensure effective measures are in place to protect those at risk.

Strengthened measures on socially responsible incentives (SRI) are being delivered through the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). As the statutory regulator, the implementation date is a matter for the Gambling Commission and the rationale for its decision was set out in their formal response to the SRI consultation.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government why the new rules increasing the safety and simplicity of consumer promotional offers in gambling cannot be introduced sooner than 19 December.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We have set the gambling industry a clear task to do more to work together to ensure that gambling advertising and sponsorship is appropriate, responsible and does not exacerbate harm. The Betting and Gaming Council has since commissioned an advertising report which will be published in due course. We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all key stakeholders to inform next steps in this space and ensure effective measures are in place to protect those at risk.

Strengthened measures on socially responsible incentives (SRI) are being delivered through the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). As the statutory regulator, the implementation date is a matter for the Gambling Commission and the rationale for its decision was set out in their formal response to the SRI consultation.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the effective management of artificial light in new build homes.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Part L of the Building Regulations sets standards for the energy efficiency of new build homes. As part of this, it includes standards for lighting efficacy and aims to minimise the energy needed to appropriately light homes. A consultation on updates to Part L of the Building Regulations closed last year. We are carefully considering the feedback received in advance of publishing the new version of Part L later this year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of lost work-days due to stress, depression, or anxiety in women.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Improving mental health outcomes is critical to achieving the Health Mission aims of reducing years lived with prevalence of ill-health, disability, and premature mortality, reducing the demand for services within the National Health Service. The Centre for Mental Health estimates that in 2022, mental ill health cost the United Kingdom economy approximately £300 billion.

Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement & Support schemes. This demonstrates our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues and provide support for people, including women, to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.

We are continuing to roll out employment advisors in our NHS Talking Therapies services to support people, including women, with common mental health conditions seek and retain employment. Our advisors help people who are in work but struggling or facing difficulties in the workplace, off work sick or looking for work, so we can provide the right support at the right time.

Individuals can also access helpful resources about work-related stress on the Every Mind Matters website, which is available in an online-only format.

Found: six-month post-Royal Assent assessment of the impact of the bill/act on rural areas.186 The Lord Bishop of St Albans

Found: six-month post-Royal Assent assessment of the impact of the bill/act on rural areas.186 The Lord Bishop of St Albans