Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current status of the proposed free trade agreement with the Maldives.
Answered by Lord Stockwood - Minister of State (HM Treasury)
The previous Government, of which the noble lord was a member, launched a public consultation into a potential UK/Maldives FTA in 2023. The Department for Business and Trade has subsequently evaluated its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) programme and decided not to progress a UK-Maldives FTA at this time. It would be inappropriate to speculate on what might or might not be included in an FTA which we are not pursuing.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the free trade agreement with the Maldives will include specific provisions that prioritise tuna caught by low impact methods over industrially caught tuna.
Answered by Lord Stockwood - Minister of State (HM Treasury)
The previous Government, of which the noble lord was a member, launched a public consultation into a potential UK/Maldives FTA in 2023. The Department for Business and Trade has subsequently evaluated its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) programme and decided not to progress a UK-Maldives FTA at this time. It would be inappropriate to speculate on what might or might not be included in an FTA which we are not pursuing.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards for the marine environment they plan to include in any free trade agreement with the Maldives.
Answered by Lord Stockwood - Minister of State (HM Treasury)
The previous Government, of which the noble lord was a member, launched a public consultation into a potential UK/Maldives FTA in 2023. The Department for Business and Trade has subsequently evaluated its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) programme and decided not to progress a UK-Maldives FTA at this time. It would be inappropriate to speculate on what might or might not be included in an FTA which we are not pursuing.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what communication, if any, they have had with the government of New Zealand concerning reports in October 2024 that officials at its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advised the government of that country that plans to repeal a ban on the exploration of offshore oil and gas sources would potentially be inconsistent with its obligations under the UK–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK continues to engage with New Zealand through established channels under the Free Trade Agreement, including regular committee meetings and working groups, to ensure the Agreement is implemented effectively and in accordance with its provisions. The UK raised the issue of oil and gas developments with New Zealand during the Environment and Climate Change Sub-Committee meeting in May 2025.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce secondary legislation under Schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021 to implement due diligence requirements to address illegal deforestation in UK supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the urgency of taking action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation. We will set out our approach to addressing deforestation in the UK’s supply chains in due course.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has had with the Falkland Islands Government and Legislative Assembly regarding the potential introduction of salmon farms to that territory.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Whilst the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly have not raised this issue specifically with Ministers, the natural resources of the Falkland Islands belong to the people of the Territory and their right to develop their natural resources is an integral part of the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination. FCDO Ministers and officials regularly meet with the Legislative Assembly and Falkland Islands Government to discuss issues of importance to the Falkland Islands, including most recently meetings with me and Minister of State Stephen Doughty on 21 and 19 November respectively, in the margins of the Joint Ministerial Council.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce secondary legislation under Schedule 17 to the Environment Act 2021; and what plans they have to review the regulations once implemented.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act includes provisions to make it illegal for larger businesses operating in the UK to use key commodities that have been grown on land that is illegally occupied or used, but the required secondary legislation to operationalise the scheme was not introduced in the last Parliament. The new Government will set out its approach to addressing the use of forest risk commodities in due course.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to carry out a monitoring report of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, including its environmental impact and impact on deforestation; whether they will include opportunities for expert stakeholders to provide their views and evidence; and how often they plan to carry out such a report.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
The Department for Business and Trade intends to cover the UK’s accession to the CPTPP Agreement in a Free Trade Agreement monitoring report. The Department will consider a range of areas for inclusion in this report, including the environment, and it will take account of stakeholder views. The timing of the report will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with their counterparts in the EU regarding the introduction of legislation to ban (1) fur farming, and (2) fur sales.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
No recent discussions have been held with EU member states regarding the introduction of legislation to ban fur farming or fur sales.
We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. This includes commissioning the Animal Welfare Committee to explore current responsible sourcing practices in the fur industry.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the mental health of prisoners.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently working across the entire criminal justice pathway to develop and improve services for offenders with mental health difficulties.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with partners to intervene at the earliest opportunity to ensure that offenders receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Liaison and Diversion Services operate in police stations and courts to identify and assess people with vulnerabilities including mental health issues. Where that individual is subsequently sent to prison the receiving prison will have the relevant information of the individual’s mental health needs to inform the reception healthcare staff so that they can implement appropriate interventions as soon as possible after they arrive.
Health services are available across the estate where assessment identifies treatment needs.
The service specification for prison mental health services was reviewed in 2017-18. This review, led by clinicians in conjunction with stakeholders and informed by experts with experience, was published in March 2018, with all new services being commissioned against it from April 2018. The new specification includes the Royal College of Psychiatrists Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services standards, ensuring equity of quality across the estate.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently consulting on revised Transfer and Remission guidance to ensure that new clinically developed timescales are set which ensure timely and appropriate access to mental health treatment in hospital when necessary, in a clinically safe and well managed way. The consultation ends on 19 July 2019.
The NHS Long Term Plan committed to a new service to support people leaving custody to remain engaged with community-based healthcare services. The reconnect service will support continuity of care when people return to the community.