Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to assess the impact of the partnership with Google to train civil servants and provide free technology to public sector organisations, announced on 9 July, on the commitments in the Strategic Defence Review 2025.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government views the recent partnership with Google as a strategic step in strengthening civil service digital skills and modernising public services. While this partnership is at an early stage, introducing Google as a major supplier supports diversification and competition in line with the Cloud First Policy, while strengthening public sector buying power to secure better value and innovation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the partnership with Google to train civil servants and provide free technology to public sector organisations, announced on 9 July, on the shape and nature of competition in the UK cloud market.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government views the recent partnership with Google as a strategic step in strengthening civil service digital skills and modernising public services. While this partnership is at an early stage, introducing Google as a major supplier supports diversification and competition in line with the Cloud First Policy, while strengthening public sector buying power to secure better value and innovation.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the level of rising healthcare demand in England over the next five years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Growth in healthcare demand, alongside wider financial considerations and the cost of new commitments for the National Health Service, is analysed in the round as part of the Spending Review process. The outcome of the most recent Spending Review 2025 is given in the Spending Review 2025 policy paper, on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format.
As set out in the document, this level of funding growth will support the NHS to deliver on the Government's priorities, including delivery of the Government’s Plan for Change commitment, meaning that by the end of the Parliament, 92% of patients will start consultant led treatment for nonurgent conditions within 18 weeks of referral.
At the 2025 Autumn Budget the Government protected the NHS envelope announced at the 2025 Spending Review. This will see the NHS in England receiving an over £15 billion real terms increase in annual resource budgets by the end of the period, between 2025/26 and 2028/29.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether ensuring that high-risk men get access to prostate cancer screening will be an objective of the national cancer plan.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including prostate cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s survival rates.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will consider the final recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) on screening for prostate cancer when it is received. He will make a decision on whether to accept the recommendation, including any decisions on implementation at that point.
It is anticipated that the final recommendation will be provided in early 2026 after the conclusion of a 12-week consultation which opened on 28 November 2025. This seeks views on an evidence review and a draft recommendation to:
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the Charity Commission about reports that the Al-Ikhlas Education Centre in Willesden has links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government takes very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism and will respond robustly to evidence of wrongdoing.
While we cannot comment on individual cases, the promotion of extremist views or terrorism in charities is unacceptable. The Charity Commission is alive to the risks of state threats to the charity sector and works with other agencies to protect the sector from the risks of being exploited.
The Charity Commission has consistently been clear that it will respond robustly where there proves to have been wrongdoing and I am confident that it has the ability to do so effectively. They have a range of powers at their disposal including freezing bank accounts, directing trustees to take corrective action, or disqualifying trustees, and will do so as appropriate.
The Charity Commission has published guidance that explains in which circumstances a report about serious wrongdoing should be made, which details should be provided, and what it will do after receiving a report.
Ministers and officials regularly meet with the Charity Commission to discuss a range of issues relating to the regulation of charities.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the Charity Commission about reports of alleged links to Iran of (a) the Abrar Islamic Foundation, and (b) Dar Alhekma.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government takes very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism and will respond robustly to evidence of wrongdoing.
While we cannot comment on individual cases, the promotion of extremist views or terrorism in charities is unacceptable. The Charity Commission is alive to the risks of state threats to the charity sector and works with other agencies to protect the sector from the risks of being exploited.
The Charity Commission has consistently been clear that it will respond robustly where there proves to have been wrongdoing and I am confident that it has the ability to do so effectively. They have a range of powers at their disposal including freezing bank accounts, directing trustees to take corrective action, or disqualifying trustees, and will do so as appropriate.
The Charity Commission has published guidance that explains in which circumstances a report about serious wrongdoing should be made, which details should be provided, and what it will do after receiving a report.
Ministers and officials regularly meet with the Charity Commission to discuss a range of issues relating to the regulation of charities.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the review of raw cane sugar autonomous tariff quota (ATQ) and related considerations, published on 26 November, whether they will publish the data on which they based the conclusion that increasing the ATQ for sugar cane will not impact domestic sugar beet growers.
Answered by Lord Stockwood - Minister of State (HM Treasury)
The Government has published a summary of the factors and evidence which underpinned this decision on GOV.UK: Review of raw cane sugar ATQ and related considerations: 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional staff will be recruited for neighbourhood health centres in the next twelve months.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.
Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.
Integrated care boards will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, including the workforce. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, or deprived inner cities. A 10 Year Workforce Plan will be published in spring 2026, which will set out action to create a workforce to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan.
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 likelihood of the NHS meeting its 2 per cent productivity growth target.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government remains committed to the 2% National Health Service productivity growth target, as set out in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement. This ambition is central to ensuring that the NHS can sustainably meet rising demand.
Recent data indicates good progress. NHS England’s latest estimates show productivity growth of 2.4% between April to July 2025, building on a 2.7% increase in 2024/25. While challenges remain, such as industrial action, these figures, which focus on the acute sector where data quality is strongest, suggest the NHS is on track to meet its productivity commitments.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent manufacturing issues causing medicines shortages and to mitigate their impact.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are over 14,000 medicines and the majority are in good supply. While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients. Further information can be found in A guide to the systems and processes for managing medicines supply issues in England’.
The resilience of United Kingdom supply chains is a key priority, and we are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and strengthen our resilience. These actions were set out in a policy paper published in August 2025, Managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines.
As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver solutions. However, medicine shortages are a complex and global issue and everyone in the supply chain has a role to play in addressing them, and therefore continued action requires a collaborative approach.