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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal to cover the ancient Roman site at Richborough with solar panels.

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

Richborough Roman Fort is a scheduled ancient monument protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. We are not aware of any application for solar panels on the site, but are aware of an ongoing planning application in the vicinity of the ancient monument, which is for the Local Planning Authority to decide. It would not be appropriate for the government to comment on an individual planning case such as this, as it may come before Government Ministers for a decision at a later date.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports in the Sunday Times on 26 January of forced labour in bakeries supplying high street supermarkets and a McDonald's franchise, what assessment they have made of the benefits of introducing mandatory supply chain due diligence to identify and prevent exploitation of workers.

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

The UK supports voluntary due diligence approaches taken by UK businesses to identify and prevent exploitation of workers across their operations and supply chains, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

We will continue to assess and monitor the effectiveness of the UK’s existing measures, alongside the impacts of new policy tools that are emerging, to ensure we can best promote responsible business practices and take action where appropriate.