Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current overspends in systems in the NHS, and the impact of those overspends on winter resilience.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of July 2025, there is a total system overspend of £172 million, which includes some of the impact of industrial action and reflects held back deficit support funding. The issues are very concentrated, with six systems accounting for more than half of the total overspend. At the same point last year, systems had overspent by £487 million, so we are seeing strong signs of improvement following the changes made as part of the NHS Financial Reset.
Overspends must be addressed through improved financial management and they should not undermine the National Health Service’s ability to respond to winter pressures. As set out in the 2025/26 Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, the NHS is focused on improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance this winter, including improved hospital flow, reduced ambulance handover times, and improved vaccination uptake among frontline staff.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met the NHS Staff Council since 1 January.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Minister of State for Health meet regularly with individual Agenda for Change (AfC) trade union leaders and with representatives of NHS organisations to discuss matters affecting the NHS workforce.
It is not usual practice for Ministers to attend NHS Staff Council meetings, which are used to discuss policy issues affecting the AfC workforce and to maintain the NHS terms and conditions of service. Accordingly, there have been no meetings between the Secretary of State and the NHS Staff Council as a whole since 1 January.
Both ministers have written to the NHS Staff Council on issues relating to AfC pay, terms, and conditions since 1 January, and Department officials continue to attend meetings of the NHS Staff Council.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the results of the "war game" exercise carried out as part of the NHS's winter preparations.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to publish individual National Health Service system's plans or the outcomes of stress-testing centrally. System winter plans are locally owned and created in order to meet specific local needs and circumstances and are best communicated by NHS organisations locally. Nationally, the actions being taken to prepare for this coming winter are set out in the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26. A copy of this plan is attached.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 4 November 2024 (HL2037), what further progress they have made towards implementing the UK's Forest Risk Commodity regime.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working across Government to agree the most effective way to reduce the impact of the UK’s consumption of forest risk commodities on deforestation.
The Government will set out its approach to addressing UK consumption of forest risk commodities in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings have taken place between ministers, special advisors and officials and representatives of the Resolution Foundation since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Details of ministers’ and certain senior officials’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Special Advisers are required to publish meetings with senior media figures. Meetings with other external individuals and organisations are not collected as part of routine Special Adviser Transparency publications.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the current value added tax threshold on small business growth.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are kept out of the VAT system.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reduction in funding for farming and countryside programmes as set out in the Spending Review 2025 (CP 1336).
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. Farmers will directly benefit from an average of £2.3 billion per year - continuing the average annual farming spend over the last Parliament - supporting farm profitability through investment in research and technology and sustainable food production, at the same time as improving the quality of the water in our rivers, the air we breathe and our spaces for wildlife.
We are determined to deliver value for taxpayers’ money. We have identified efficiencies in the farming budget and opportunities to better target incentives for farmers to deliver environmental benefits. For example, rapidly winding down subsidy payments that do not provide returns on investment, and increasing investment in environmental land management schemes from £1.8 billion in 25/26 to more than £2 billion a year by 28/29.
Public funding will also help leverage more private investment into nature restoration, including through the Landscape Recovery scheme where projects will be co-funded by a blend of public and private investment. This will provide farmers with new income streams and opportunities to be rewarded for nature restoration as well as food production.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to enact the proposed ‘Hugh’s Law’ to extend entitlement to paid leave to the parents of seriously or terminally ill children.
Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has committed to a consultation on support for parents of seriously ill children in 2026, and will continue to work closely with relevant stakeholders as it is developed. There are currently no plans to introduce legislation prior to this consultation as this would pre-empt the outcome.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the introduction of a new property tax.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not comment on speculation about tax changes. The Government keeps all tax policy under review and tax decisions will be made at the Budget, in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the current VAT threshold on small business growth.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
With a VAT registration threshold of £90,000, the UK’s threshold is higher than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are kept out of the VAT system.