Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to a public information campaign on systemic state-sponsored non-military efforts that disrupt economic and political systems in the UK; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such a campaign on national defence and deterrence.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK faces a growing, diversifying threat from malign activity by a number of states. Our security depends on a society that is informed, prepared and able to respond with confidence to different threats or risks when it matters most.
To that end, and as set out in the Strategic Defence Review, we have established a national conversation on defence and security. Central to our whole-of-society approach is the provision of clear public information and advice on all-hazards emergency preparedness, available through the Prepare website (www.gov.uk/prepare). When people know what immediate action they should take during an emergency or significant disruption to essential services, regardless of its origin, they strengthen our national resilience.
The National Security Strategy includes further details of the UK’s strategic framework for long term deterrence of disruptive activity.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether and how Osteoporosis is considered within wider preventative health policies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan is clear that the future National Health Service must be more preventative, more integrated, and deliver more care closer to home, including for people with osteoporosis.
The Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030, and we are clear that everyone at risk of fragility fractures should be able to benefit from high-quality, timely care that supports prevention, early intervention, and effective management. We are pursuing those goals across the whole pathway of fracture prevention, including improving access to diagnosis, supporting the adoption of effective treatments, and encouraging local systems to develop services that identify people at the highest risk of future fractures and intervene early.
Earlier this year, the Government announced £2.6 million of funding for 20 new DEXA bone density scanners across England. Tens of thousands of patients will benefit from faster access to bone scans as a result, helping to ensure that people with bone conditions, such as osteoporosis, get diagnosed earlier. This builds on the first wave of 13 DEXA scanners announced last year. In 2025, over 21,000 extra DEXA scans were delivered in England compared with 2024.
We continue to work closely with NHS England to improve access to fracture prevention services and to explore the best ways of supporting local systems to deliver high-quality care which meets the needs of their populations. The Government has been clear that integrated care boards are best placed to shape services for their localities and we have set expectations, through the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, that they should prioritise community-based models when commissioning new services.
Progress in this area can be monitored through activity and outcomes reported through the Fracture Liaison Service Database.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many occasions since July 2024 ministers have met representatives of the Royal Osteoporosis Society.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published on a quarterly basis on GOV.UK. These publications show that, on 16 December 2025, the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, Ashley Dalton MP, met the Royal Osteoporosis Society to discuss work and insights on Osteoporosis, bone health, and interventions such as Fracture Liaison Services. There have been several similar meetings at official level.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the financial or legislative barriers to making the display of food hygiene ratings mandatory in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is currently exploring a wide set of reforms to the existing food system, and this will include consideration of a statutory Food Hygiene Rating Scheme in England. As part of this work, the FSA will review the available legislative options and update its assessment of the associated costs and benefits of a statutory scheme. Ministers will consider proposals in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Merron on 6 July (HL Deb col 2), how many Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) do not have a fracture liaison service in each of the NHS hospitals within the ICB.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Analysis of 2025 Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) data shows that the number of FLS’ in England has increased since 2024, from 80 to 83. These 83 services are based in 23 out of the 25 integrated care board (ICB) clusters.
Analysis of the 2025 data suggests that no ICB clusters had an FLS in each of the NHS hospitals within the ICB clusters. The number of FLS’ per ICB cluster ranged from one to eight.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they do not publish data on greenhouse gas emissions embedded within the supply chain of (1) energy intensive goods, (2) car batteries, and (3) solar panels, imported into the UK.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes annual data on greenhouse gas emissions embedded within goods and services imported into the UK here (see attached) as part of the UK and England’s Carbon Footprint.
Because of the methodology used, Defra does not hold data on these emissions at an individual product level, so the department is unable to publish estimates of greenhouse gas emissions embedded specifically within the supply chains of energy intensive goods, car batteries, and solar panels, imported into the UK.
For further information, a methodology document is published alongside the UK and England’s Carbon Footprint statistics here (see attached).
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to replace revenue from fuel duties in the light of the increasing adoption of electric vehicles.
Answered by Lord Livermore
As more people choose to switch to cleaner, greener electric cars, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast fuel duty receipts will decline to around half current levels (around £12 billion) in the 2030s in real terms. Receipts are then expected to approach zero by 2050.
That’s why in the Budget in 2025 the Government announced the introduction of Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, which will come into effect in April 2028. All UK-registered electric and plug-in hybrid cars will pay eVED, but the rate of eVED paid by electric vehicle drivers will be half the fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that it will still be cheaper to own and run an EV for the majority of EV drivers, with a reduced rate for plug-in hybrid drivers.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether new jobs created over the past two years by the clean power investment programme have equalled the jobs lost in the fossil fuel industry over the same period of time.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The most recent Office for National Statistics figures show that up to 453,900 full-time equivalent jobs were in the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy and wider supply chain in 2024.
The UK Government’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan sets out that the clean energy workforce could grow to 860,000 jobs by 2030, an increase of over 400,000 from 2023.
Independent Robert Gordon University analysis indicates that, under a pathway consistent with delivering clean power, job creation in clean energy sectors is expected to exceed projected job reductions in oil and gas, with renewables supporting more jobs overall over time.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is co-ordinated planning taking place within Government in respect of addressing potential power cuts in 2026 and 2027.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The UK has a highly resilient energy network, with diverse and secure electricity supplies; Government is confident that operators can effectively balance supply and demand in a wide range of scenarios.
Nevertheless, as a responsible Government we work continually and closely with industry and across Government to maintain this resilience, planning for a range of risks and to identify opportunities to mitigate the impacts of actual or potentially disruptive incidents.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the UK's total offshore wind capacity over the past two years has been equal to, or greater than, the total offshore wind capacity in the preceding six years.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The UK’s total offshore wind capacity and electricity generation, 2018-2025, are presented in this table:
Year | Installed capacity (MW) | Electricity generated (GWh) |
2018 | 8,181 | 26,525 |
2019 | 9,888 | 31,975 |
2020 | 10,383 | 40,750 |
2021 | 11,255 | 35,597 |
2022 | 13,847 | 45,113 |
2023 | 14,732 | 49,650 |
2024 | 15,916 | 48,805 |
2025 | 16,650 | 52,019 |
Source: UK Energy Trends table 6.1, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables