Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to increase protections to the lives of unborn children.

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

Existing criminal offences relating to foetuses are contained in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929. The Government has no plans to change these.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to stop any killing of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by Russian armed forces.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

We condemn Russia's barbaric assault against Ukraine's civilian population. The Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights reports that at least 13,341 civilians have been killed since February 2022. We have been clear that Russia's delaying of peace process to stop the bloodshed will only strengthen our resolve to help Ukraine to defend itself and use our sanctions to restrict Putin's war machine. Our latest sanctions of 17 June impact across Russia's financial, military and energy sectors.

The UK holds Russia accountable for the treatment of any prisoner in their custody. Members of the Ukrainian armed forces who are captured by Russia are entitled to Prisoner of War status and must be provided all the rights and protections afforded to them in accordance with the Geneva Convention. We condemn the exploitation of Prisoners of War for political and propaganda purposes. We regularly use our public communications and statements, including at the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to draw attention to Russia's treatment of Ukrainian Prisoners of War, calling on Russia to comply with international humanitarian law and demanding accountability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many nurses have been trained in England in each of the past three years.

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

The Higher Education Statistics Agency publishes data on the number of students qualifying from higher education courses in the United Kingdom, and this includes information on a broad ranges of undergraduate nursing courses. The published data is not detailed enough to allow for the reliable identification of all students completing courses which specifically lead to registered nursing status.

As a proxy for the number of students completing nursing courses each year, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) publish information on the number of UK trained nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England.

The following table shows the number of UK trained nurses joining the NMC register in England for the first time by financial year:

Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council, March 2025 Annual Data Report.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the number of illegal immigrants in the UK has increased or decreased since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

By its very nature, it is not possible to know the exact size of the illegal migrant population in the UK, and so the Home Office under successive governments has not been able to publish any official estimates of that population.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to help farming and rural communities following the announced cuts to DEFRA's budget and the increase in inheritance tax on family farms.

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

The Government is backing British farming. We are prioritising investment that supports the Government’s Plan for Change and building on the Secretary of State’s work to reform Defra to drive growth while maintaining a steadfast commitment to farming, food security, and nature’s recovery.

We are, in fact, increasing the budget for sustainable farming and are investing more than £2.7 million a year in farming and nature recovery. Funding for the Environmental Land Management Schemes paid to farmers will increase by 150% from £800 million in 23/24 to £2 billion by 28/29. Overall farmers and land managers will benefit from an average of £2.3 billion a year through the Farming and Countryside Programme, and up to £400 million from additional nature schemes, including those for tree planting and our peatlands.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they propose to prevent migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The government is pursing a strategic shift in Border Security, focusing on long-term systemic improvements, smarter, intelligence-led interventions and stronger partnerships across agencies and with countries upstream to target the criminal gangs behind small boat crossings.

The Border Security Command, created in July 2024, and is leading the national response to prevent small boats crossing the English Channel. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will give it statutory authority to coordinate across government and law enforcement.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will also enhance powers for the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement, and police, enable earlier intervention in smuggling operations and improve the ability to detect, prevent, and prosecute smugglers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether there are any serious side effects from taking weight-loss drugs, including Wegovy and Mounjaro; and if so, whether those side effects have been made public.

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

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continually monitors the safety of all medicines, including weight loss drugs, such as Wegovy (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which belong to a group of medicines known as the GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Patient safety is our top priority and no medicine would be approved unless it met our expected standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness. We have robust safety monitoring and surveillance systems in place, and when a safety issue is confirmed, we always act promptly to inform patients and healthcare professionals, and take appropriate steps to mitigate any identified risk.

Importantly, these medicines have been assessed to be safe and effective when used for their licensed indications. This means that if patients have been properly prescribed this by a healthcare professional following a consultation for a medical condition that these medicines are approved to treat, then they should be reassured that the benefits will outweigh risks of taking them.

Like all medicines, GLP-1 receptor agonists can cause side effects. All known side effects for these medicines, including serious side effects, are made publicly available through the Product Information. This is issued at the time of licensing, and is updated as any new side effects are identified. This includes the Summary of Product Characteristics, which is intended for healthcare professionals, and the Patient Information Leaflet, which is provided to patients. These documents are published on the products section of the MHRA website.

In addition, members of the public and healthcare professionals can access anonymised data on suspected side effects reported to the Yellow Card scheme via the interactive Drug Analysis Profiles platform. This ensures full transparency and enables anyone to view the types and numbers of suspected adverse reactions reported for a particular medicine.

Some of the most common side effects are gastrointestinal effects, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. These side effects were observed in clinical trials and make up the majority of Yellow Card reports we receive. Most side effects are mild to moderate in severity or short in duration, but in some cases, they may lead to complications, such as severe dehydration resulting in the need to go to hospital for treatment.

Although infrequent, inflammation of the pancreas, known as acute pancreatitis, has also been reported. This can be serious. The main symptom is severe pain in the stomach that radiates to the back and does not go away. Anyone who experiences this should seek immediate medical help and report the reaction to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of high net worth individuals who have left the UK since the Autumn Budget 2024.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Taxpayers are not always required to inform HM Revenue and Customs when they leave the UK. Some taxpayers outside of Self Assessment might file a P85 form after leaving the UK, but only where they are seeking to claim a repayment of income tax.

Taxpayers in Self Assessment can indicate that they have become non-resident after leaving the UK, but tax returns for the 2024 to 2025 and the 2025 to 2026 tax years are not due to be received by HMRC until 31 January of 2026 and 2027 respectively.

HMRC does not produce statistics on high-net-worth individuals, but does, however, produce statistics on a subset of these individuals in the Non-domiciled taxpayers in the UK statistical release.[1]

[1] The latest release of the Non-domiciled taxpayers in the UK statistics can be found here for the 2022/23 tax year: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-non-domiciled-taxpayers-in-the-uk/statistical-commentary-on-non-domiciled-taxpayers-in-the-uk--2

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of proposals to build a new Chinese Embassy in London.

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

An independent Inspector held a public inquiry which heard a range of evidence for and against the proposals in question. Decisions on planning applications are based on material planning considerations. It would not be appropriate to comment further.