Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, what action they are taking to secure and ensure safe spaces for females.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

The Government has always supported the protection of single-sex spaces to ensure women’s safety, privacy and dignity.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission as Britain’s independent equality watchdog has revised its Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations (the Code) following a six-week consultation. The Code includes practical guidance for service providers, associations and those delivering public functions on how they should comply with the Equality Act 2010, following the Supreme Court ruling.

The Government is considering the draft updated Code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, the Code will be laid before Parliament. Parliament will then have 40 sitting days to consider the Code.

More widely, the Government is continuing to deliver on our commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. This includes embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in five police forces under ‘Raneem’s Law’, to help improve the police response to domestic abuse; taking steps to tackle spiking including introducing a new criminal offence; widening the use of stalking protection orders; and in July announcing £53m investment over the next four years to further tackle domestic abuse.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government why they have not yet laid the advice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding the rules on safe spaces for women as defined by the Supreme Court.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is considering the draft updated Code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, the Minister will lay it before Parliament. Parliament will then have a 40 day period to consider the Code.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much they spend on iodine fortification programmes via international aid.

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

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) does not directly fund traditional iodine fortification programmes but currently supports a range of nutritionally impactful interventions, including home fortification and supplementation containing iodine. Through our support to initiatives like the Child Nutrition Fund, a platform that aims to transform how nutrition is financed and delivered, the fund intends to contribute to reaching 320 million children and women annually with essential nutrition services by 2030. FCDO is also a long-standing and significant funder of CGIAR, which drives progress on biofortified crops. With UK support, 300 million people were estimated as consuming CGIAR-supported biofortified foods by 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they have taken since the publication of National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2019 to 2023: report on 11 June, in particular in regard to the finding that females of reproductive age in the UK have less than the World Health Organization thresholds for adequate iodine concentration.

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

The latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey showed that iodine levels in urine in women of reproductive age, 16 to 49 years old, were below the World Health Organisation threshold for adequacy, indicating insufficient iodine intake. Similar findings were seen in men aged 19 to 64 years old and girls aged 11 to 18 years old.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) maintains a watching brief on emerging evidence on iodine and health, including the iodine status of women of reproductive age in the United Kingdom. The SACN considered the topic of iodine at its horizon scans in 2022 and 2024 and agreed to add this topic to its work programme, with work on iodine due to start in 2026.

Government advice remains that individuals should be able to obtain all the iodine they need from a balanced diet, as depicted in The Eatwell Guide.

Found: Springbank; Lord Jay of Ewelme; Lord Krebs; The Earl of Leicester; Lord Lennie; Lord Mancroft; Lord Rooker