Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the accessibility and cultural sensitivity of cardiovascular disease risk and prevention messages.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England regularly run health-related media campaigns targeting audiences to take preventative action. In developing the materials, we work with specialists within communities to ensure that messages are culturally appropriate and effectively tailored. We also ensure that materials are produced in accessible formats as required.
To improve access and engagement with the NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s cardiovascular disease prevention programme, we are developing the NHS Health Check Online service that people can use at home, at a time convenient to them, to understand and act on their cardiovascular disease risk.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to integrate family history data into risk assessments for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will work with experts to integrate genomic testing for pharmacogenomic profiles into the cardiovascular disease prevention programme, the NHS Health Check, enabling early identification and intervention for high-risk individuals.
Alongside this, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) later this year. The framework will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whist fostering innovation across the cardiovascular disease pathway. The Department and NHS England are engaging widely with stakeholders to co-produce the CVD MSF, ensuring that experts, people, and communities are at the heart of its development.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand eligibility for the NHS Health Check, particularly for those at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Health Check is a core component of England’s cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention programme. The programme is designed to assess the top risk factors for CVD in eligible people aged 40 to 74 years old, and to refer people to further support through behavioural interventions, clinical assessment, and treatment where appropriate.
Data shows that the older a person is, the more likely it is they will attend their NHS Health Check, with the highest uptake in the 70 to 74 age group.
The Department is considering the recommendations of the National Audit Office’s report Progress in preventing cardiovascular disease and reviewing a range of options to improve the impact of the NHS Health Check programme.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with international partners about the protection of religious minorities in northeast Syria.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement (HLWS1285), I made to the House on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase funding for cardiovascular disease research.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The Department, through the NIHR, funds research into cardiovascular disease (CVD) that is aligned with the Government’s Health Mission, embracing digital transformation, prioritising prevention over treatment, and bringing care closer to communities to tackle health inequalities and reduce the number of lives lost to the biggest killers.
For example, in 2025 the NIHR launched a new funding opportunity to invest £50 million into innovative new research in CVD, aiming to tackle preventable causes of heart disease and its complications, save lives, and reduce inequalities in this area across the United Kingdom.
In addition, our wider investments in NIHR infrastructure, strengthening specialist facilities, the workforce, and support services to enable research in the health and care system, have enabled significant CVD funded by other funders to take place.
The NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including CVD. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to set a target for reducing incidence of cardiovascular disease as part of the 10 Year Health Plan for England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to fewer lives being lost to the biggest killers, such as cardiovascular disease. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework later this year.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the additional cost required to extend the fruit and vegetable initiative for schools to nursery schools and other early years settings.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme is available to pupils in key stage 1 attending fully state‑funded primary schools. The scheme entitles schools to claim a free piece of fruit or vegetable for all children aged 4 to 6 for each school day. The government has no current plans to extend the scheme.
However, we remain committed to deliver on our pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure that every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day, including access to a healthy breakfast which includes fruit. So far, we have delivered over 5 million breakfasts and, following the success of our early adopter scheme, we are rolling out to an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. This will benefit around half a million more children.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has not been added to the list of proscribed terrorist organisations in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is the Government’s long-standing position not to comment on the detail of security and intelligence matters, including whether or not a specific organisation is being considered for proscription.
We are acting decisively to disrupt threats posed by Iran here in the UK. We have placed the Iranian state on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), meaning that anyone working for or directed by the Iranian state to conduct activities in the UK must declare that activity, or risk up to five years in prison.
The UK now has over 550 sanctions against Iranian linked individuals and entities, including the IRGC, which has been sanctioned in its entirety. Over 220 designations have been imposed since this Government came into office.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the fruit and vegetables initiative for schools to nursery schools and other early years settings.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme is available to pupils in key stage 1 attending fully state‑funded primary schools. The scheme entitles schools to claim a free piece of fruit or vegetable for all children aged 4 to 6 for each school day. The government has no current plans to extend the scheme.
However, we remain committed to deliver on our pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure that every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day, including access to a healthy breakfast which includes fruit. So far, we have delivered over 5 million breakfasts and, following the success of our early adopter scheme, we are rolling out to an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. This will benefit around half a million more children.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish proposals for the reform of provisions for delivery for special educational needs pupils in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities system and restore the trust of parents. My right hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to the Education Select Committee in October setting out the decision to have a further period of co-creation with families, teachers and experts from across the sector to design and test our proposals further and our full Schools White Paper building on this work will be published shortly.