Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the article "Mitigating the risks of antimicrobial failure", by Dr Wendy Thompson, Callum Wood and Professor Mike Bromley, published by the National Preparedness Commission on 6 September 2024, what assessment they have made of the risk of resistance to fungicides on (1) food security, and (2) human health; and what consideration they have given to adding antimicrobial resistant pathogens to the UK Plant Health Risk Register.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Integrated pest management (IPM) helps support sustainable agriculture and combat pesticide resistance by diversifying the tools used to handle pests. The Government supports farmers’ use of IPM through the Sustainable Farming Initiative’s paid actions. These include optimising chemical pesticide use through precision application. Last year we launched a new IPM guidance page on gov.uk which provides clear and practical information about IPM to support planning and decision making.
We work closely with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, which monitors fungicide resistance development in cereal pathogens, to inform disease management strategies.
Antifungal resistance in humans, which is in part driven by the use of fungicides, is increasing globally and in the UK. Fungicides must be used responsibly to reduce potential risk to public health. The Government is committed to investing in research and development to advance its understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and how it spreads. The AMR National Action Plan’s top 10 research priorities include questions that seek to understand what drives resistance beyond antimicrobials, such as the risks associated with the use of antifungals on human health.
The UK Plant Health Risk Register is a comparison tool used to assess the risk to the UK of non-native plant pests to both cultivated plants and those in the wider environment. It is used to prioritise actions that industry and Government can take to reduce the threat posed by each pest. Resistant strains of plant pests are not evaluated in the risk register because 1) the metrics used to assess non-native plant pest species are not appropriate to the assessment of resistant plant pest strains, and 2) plant health legislation applies to non-native pest species rather than strains of species that are already present in the UK. However, Defra has funded a Review of Antibiotic Use in Crops, Associated Risk of Antimicrobial Resistance and Research Gaps (copy attached) and collaborates with international organisations, such as via the International Plant Protection Convention, on approaches to AMR.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the article "Mitigating the risks of antimicrobial failure", by Dr Wendy Thompson, Callum Wood and Professor Mike Bromley, published by the National Preparedness Commission on 6 September 2024; and what consideration they have given to adding to the national risk register scenarios about specific, acute antimicrobial resistance concerns, including the emergence of resistant strains of the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2024 to 2029 United Kingdom antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plan sets out challenging commitments and targets to confront the risk of AMR across the breadth of human, animal, and environmental health. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs works closely with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, which monitors fungicide resistance development in cereal pathogens, to inform disease management strategies.
Whilst the 2023 National Risk Register classifies AMR as a chronic risk, the Government recognises the potential for AMR to manifest acutely, for example, as an outbreak of a resistant bacterial or fungal infection. The Department of Health and Social Care commissioned the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to produce some realistic worst-case scenarios of the acute risks that AMR poses in the UK. The developed scenarios include bacterial and fungal pathogens and are based upon real-world experience. The UKHSA will now develop plans to use these scenarios to inform incident response and preparedness plans.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what work is being undertaken with the devolved administrations to maintain a central risk management process for antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2024 to 2029 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plan (NAP) is a United Kingdom-wide plan, setting out the challenging commitments and targets for the next five years to confront AMR.
The NAP programme is made up of eight implementation programmes that are responsible for delivering their implementation plans, which collectively contribute to meeting the commitments within the NAP. Each implementation programme records and manages risks within their own governance structures. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own implementation programmes that they manage.
Risks that are deemed cross-cutting to the NAP are recorded within the programme’s UK-wide risk register, owned by the Department. These cross-cutting risks are monitored and discussed at the two programmes delivery boards, which are responsible for monitoring implementation of the NAP, to determine mitigating actions.
High-level, challenging programme risks can be escalated up to the UK AMR Strategy Board, members of which include senior officials from across the One Health sector and all four nations of the UK, who are responsible for providing strategic direction for mitigating large scale risks that jeopardise overall programme delivery.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the data breach experienced by Southern Water as a result of a cyber-attack, what assessment they have made of the adequacy of existing cyber security regulations for UK critical infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The National Cyber Strategy 2022 set outcomes for critical national infrastructure (CNI) (in the private and public sector) to better understand & manage cyber risk and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur. In addition, at CyberUK 2023, the Deputy Prime Minister announced specific and ambitious cyber resilience targets for all CNI sectors (public and private sector) to meet by 2025.
Over the past year, the Cabinet Office has been progressing foundational work to support the creation of common but flexible resilience standards across CNI and do more on the assurance of CNI, including cyber assurance preparedness, by 2030. This includes work to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of all regulation that applies to CNI, including (but not limited to) NIS regulations, and to bring more private sector businesses working in CNI within the scope of cyber resilience regulations.
The Government is also committed to ensuring cyber security in the public sector, which is why GovAssure was launched in April 2023. Under GovAssure, government organisations regularly review the effectiveness of their cyber defences against common cyber vulnerabilities and attack methods. We are currently evaluating the first year’s assessments. GovAssure will enable government organisations to accurately assess their levels of cyber resilience across their critical services, highlight priority areas for improvement and provide the Government with a strategic view of cyber capability, risk and resilience across the sector.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish draft legislation incorporating proposed reforms to the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government remains committed to updating the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 (“NIS Regulations”) as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Whilst we wait for parliamentary time, the government is developing improvements which can be delivered without legislative changes, including:
These actions build on the government’s existing plans, as set out in the £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy, to improve cyber resilience across the economy.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help businesses provide advanced cyber skills training to staff.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Cyber Strategy sets out the importance of reducing cyber risks to businesses. To do this, the Government is supporting the UK Cyber Security Council to define the skills and knowledge needed for cyber roles. The Government is also funding numerous targeted training initiatives such as Cyber Ready and Upskill in Cyber to upskill and retrain those in the workforce, as well as the government-funded Skills Bootcamp opportunities highlighted through our recent Advanced Digital Skills campaign. This is alongside our Cyber Essentials scheme which supports businesses to implement essential technical controls on cyber security.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Ministers, including those at Cabinet level, have used private aircraft on official business during the past 12 months; and, for each journey, what were (1) the destinations travelled to and from, (2) the dates, and (3) the cost of travel.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government publishes details of all Ministers' overseas travel on a quarterly basis.
The other information requested is not centrally held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
It has also been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of protected individuals and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Ministers, including those at Cabinet level, have used military aircraft during the past 12 months; and, for each journey, what were (1) the destinations travelled to and from, (2) the dates, and (3) the cost of travel.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government publishes details of all Ministers' overseas travel on a quarterly basis.
The other information requested is not centrally held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
It has also been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of protected individuals and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the total cost to date of developing, maintaining and testing the UK's emergency alert system; and what plans they have for further tests.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The total cost to date of developing the technical architecture and systems which underpin the emergency alert programme, in addition to the first three years of operational delivery, will be a maximum of £25.3 million.
The contracts which are publicly available on contracts finder include:
The Government Digital Service have a contract with Fujitsu for £1.6 million per year for a three year period, a potential total of £5 million assuming that the contract runs to completion;
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (as was) issued contracts totalling £18.6 million to mobile network operators, as well as further spending on security testing and legal work.
The remaining costs were spent on security testing and legal fees. The specific figures are commercially sensitive and can therefore not be released to the public.
There are no current plans for a further UK-wide, or public, test of the system, though it is likely that there will be further public tests in the coming years to ensure the system is operational to help keep the British people safe.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the draft Audit Reform Bill.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Government has not set a date for publication of a draft Audit Reform Bill. The Government is committed to legislating when Parliamentary time allows.