Lord Pearson of Rannoch

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. There are no plans to reinstate the word “Peers” on the door to the gentlemen’s toilets adjacent to the Prince’s Chamber as the use of the toilets is not limited to members of the House.

The World Climate Declaration is not consistent with the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, the most authoritative assessment of climate science globally, and the Government has no plans to sign it.

Children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of the Gender Questioning guidance for schools.

It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department is looking carefully at the consultation responses before setting out next steps to take the Gender Questioning guidance forward. The department will also consider this in light of the evidence published in the Cass Review. This will include consideration of the appropriate guidance to give on the use of pronouns in school settings.

Children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of the Gender Questioning guidance for schools.

It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department is looking carefully at the consultation responses before setting out next steps to take the Gender Questioning guidance forward. The department will also consider this in light of the evidence published in the Cass Review. This will include consideration of the appropriate guidance to give on the use of pronouns in school settings.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. A specific national assessment on excluding cattle from the catchment areas of salmon spawning streams has not been undertaken because the potential impacts of cattle on salmon spawning streams are well documented.

As the COVID-19 pandemic showed, and the current outbreak of Mpox has reminded us, infectious diseases do not respect borders. That is why the Government is committed to working with our international partners to negotiate a Pandemic Accord (the Accord) that enhances global health security across the world.

The Government is satisfied that the Accord does not have implications for British sovereignty. No proposals have been introduced in negotiations that would cede sovereignty to the World Health Organization in making domestic decisions on national measures concerning public health. The Government would not accept any such proposals, in any case.

Agreeing a meaningful Accord is firmly in the global and the United Kingdom’s interest. An effective Accord should improve the world’s collective ability to prevent, detect, and respond to disease threats, and could stop some from becoming pandemics in the first place. The Government will decide whether to sign the Accord once the agreement has been finalised.

The FCDO and World Bank recognise the need to provide clearer and more timely information on World Bank climate initiatives and we are pushing them to explore ways to do that, as part of broader efforts to improve transparency.

We have reservations about the findings in the Oxfam report due to the methodology adopted. The World Bank disburses over 95 per cent of funds allocated to climate projects, and undisbursed funds are repurposed for other development needs. The World Bank's operations are also subjected to strict oversight and independent audits, in line with international standards.

The UK has provided £3.9 billion to the World Bank's International Development Association, the fund for the poorest countries, over the last four years - of which approximately 38 per cent was spent on climate-related programmes. We are also a 4 per cent shareholder in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which lends to middle-income countries, and last year committed $38 billion. The Bank has a target for 45 per cent of its spending to be on climate related programmes.

On 22 September, the Pact for the Future and its accompanying annexes, a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, was adopted by consensus in the United Nations General Assembly. In a speech to the General Assembly on 26 September, the Prime Minister emphasised the UK's support for the Pact for the Future. The Pact provides a critical opportunity for UN Member States to make real-world impact to turbocharge delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals and set a blueprint for how reinvigorated multilateralism can respond to today and tomorrow's challenges.

You will understand that the requirements of data protection legislation mean that I am unable to comment on the circumstances of specific individual prisoners.

I do want to assure you, however, that the safety of those who live and work in our prisons remains our paramount concern. The decision on where a prisoner should be located will take into account a range of factors, the purpose of which is to assign an individual to a suitably secure establishment which meets their needs effectively.

Any prisoner who has a specific concern about their time in prison can make a complaint via the internal prisoner complaints process and will be entitled to ask the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman to conduct an independent review of the matter, should it not be resolved to their satisfaction. Prisoners can also request to speak to a member of their prison’s Independent Monitoring Board.