Lord Black of Brentwood

We continue to engage with stakeholders including the tourism industry and animal welfare groups to explore both legislative and non-legislative options to take forward changes to low-welfare activities abroad.

The Government has received the Low-Welfare Act Coalition’s open letter dated 19 February and a reply will be shared with representatives of the coalition shortly.

The Government welcomes the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices. We are carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations.

The transition to non-cage egg production has been accelerated in recent years by the major supermarkets pledging to stop selling shell eggs from hens kept in colony cages by 2025, and some supermarkets have extended this to products containing liquid or powdered eggs.

We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of cages for laying hens is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.

The Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad.

We are engaging stakeholders including the tourism industry and animal welfare groups on the most effective way to deliver the Act and will be setting out next steps in due course.

In addition, we are committed to introducing ambitious plans to improve animal welfare, including bans on trail hunting, puppy smuggling and farming, and snare traps.

Roadside litter is not only unsightly but can be a threat to the environment. Litter-picking also diverts resources away from other essential road maintenance activities. The responsibility for clearing highway litter and sweeping carriageways is governed by the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Each individual highway authority is responsible for clearing litter on the roads for which it is responsible, including local authority A roads.

Funding for local highway authorities to support them in the delivery of their highway maintenance responsibilities is provided by both the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (for revenue-funded operations including litter-picking) and by the Department for Transport (for capital-funded operations such as roads resurfacing). The Government has already announced that the Local Government Finance Settlement for the 2025/26 financial year will grant councils in England access to over £69 billion in funding, a 6.8% cash-terms increase on 2024/25. The Department for Transport has also announced a £500 million funding uplift for local highway authorities for the 2025/26 financial year which will enable them to deliver improvements to the condition of local highways.

The latest data for 2023/4 on hospital inpatient admissions with a primary diagnosis of 'Osteoporosis with pathological fracture' shows that patients with this diagnosis accounted for 60,760 ‘bed days’, or approximately 0.1% of the overall total number of bed days that year.

The Government recognises that patients around the country, including those suffering from osteoporosis, are waiting too long for care and treatment. Our Plan for Change will get the health service back on its feet and make it fit for the future.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.

The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, usually within three months of final guidance.

The 2025/26 NHS Standard Contract, which applies to all contracts between NHS commissioners and providers, stipulates that, where any service involves or may involve the prescribing of medicines, the provider must ensure that its formulary reflects all relevant positive NICE technology appraisals.

The NICE has also published guidance on developing and updating local formularies, which is intended to support commissioners and healthcare providers in developing formularies that reflect local needs, reduce variation in prescribing, and allow for the rapid adoption of new medicines and treatments. Further information is available on the NICE website, in an online only format.

Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) are a globally recognised care model for secondary fracture prevention. The Government is committed to expanding access to these important preventative services.

FLS provision is ultimately a matter for integrated care boards, who are best placed to make commissioning decisions according to local need. The Department is continuing to work closely with NHS England to develop plans to ensure better quality and access to these important preventive services.

Patients around the country, including those suffering from osteoporosis, are waiting too long for care and treatment. Our Plan for Change will get the health service back on its feet and make it fit for the future.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has confirmed that planning guidance will be published in the new year.

While the information is not collected in the format requested, the following table shows the most recent HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework report, where UKHSA presented an estimated number of HIV-related deaths (30% of all-cause mortality in people with HIV) in England. Below is a summary table:

An in-depth analysis of 2022 deaths showed that 25% (103) of the 402 deaths from known causes were HIV related or possibly HIV related and 14% (55 deaths) included an AIDS-related condition as primary cause of death.

HIV is a priority for the government and, as set out in the Labour manifesto, the government have committed to commissioning a new plan to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030. Ministers have commissioned officials for advice including engaging stakeholders from across the system to build upon the work of the previous Plan.