Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy, what plans her Department has to ensure the incidence of online abuse is captured in the monitoring of achieving the aim to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We will monitor progress of the Freedom From Violence and Abuse Strategy through a performance framework, details of which are included on pages 69-70 of the Strategy.
The performance framework includes a sub-metric on the prevalence of online harms.
We will report on the development and latest trends in our measures as part of our annual progress reports.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Adult Oral Health Survey 2023, published 9 December 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Adult Oral Health Survey 2023 provides the first picture of adult oral health in England for more than a decade. It provides further evidence of the need for dental contract reform.
We are taking forward significant changes to the National Health Service dental contract. The reforms will prioritise patients with urgent dental needs and those requiring complex treatments and will come in from April 2026. More information is available at the following link:
We are committed to fundamental reform of the NHS dental contract by the end of this Parliament, with a focus on improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly.
The Government is also focussed on prevention of poor dental health through our supervised toothbrushing programme to reach up to 600,000 children in the 20% most deprived areas of England, and by expanding community water fluoridation to the North East of England. This intervention will reach an additional 1.6 million people and will reduce tooth decay and inequalities in dental health, particularly in children and vulnerable adults.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many game farms are operational in England and Wales; and how many of them are registered with the Poultry Register.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no official definition of a game farm in the UK, and the England and Wales Kept Bird Register only details keepers of bird species that might be released for shooting. The following data was extracted from the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s database:
| ENGLAND | WALES | ||
Flock Size | Premises* | Birds | Premises* | Birds |
0-49** | 1,430 | 9,632 | 107 | 854 |
50-999 | 1,795 | 765,701 | 86 | 36,960 |
1,000-9,999 | 1,879 | 5,671,620 | 77 | 259,840 |
10,000-99,999 | 665 | 18,074,681 | 54 | 1,704,480 |
100,000 | 70 | 15,628,895 | 2 | 240,750 |
TOTAL | 5,839 | 40,150,529 | 326 | 2,242,884 |
* Indicates the presence of at least one flock of pheasants, partridges or ducks reared for shooting were kept. It will also include ornamental species and keepers that buy in and rear birds.
** Flocks where no usual stock number has also been recorded.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many outbreaks of Avian Influenza occurred on game farms in 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There were no outbreaks of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) on game farms in England during 2024.
There were 17 outbreaks of HPAI in England during 2024 but none of them were on game farms.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of a) pheasants and b) partridges that were released for recreational shooting in (i) 2023, (ii) 2024 and (iii) 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The release of pheasant and red legged partridge on or within 500 metres of a European site must be authorised under licence. It is a requirement of such licences to report releases made under their authorisation. Our records show that the following numbers of birds were reported released during the relevant years.
| Pheasant | Red-legged partridge |
2023 | 221,283 reported | 180,868 reported |
2024 | 361,053 reported | 209,030 reported |
2025 | 108,231 reported so far | 46,705 reported so far |
Releases undertaken beyond 500 metres of a European site, do not need to be reported and my Department therefore does not hold the information requested.
The number of birds being released has been increasing, and it is currently estimated that between 39 and 57 million pheasants and 8.1 and 13 million partridges are released in the UK, with 85% of these in England. It is thought that releases on or within 500 metres of a European site in England, represent less than 1% of total release activity in the UK.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in light of the presence of Avian Influenza, whether she is going to permit the release of pheasants and partridges into the countryside for recreational shooting in 2026.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This will principally depend on the level of risk from Avian Influenza to commercial poultry flocks and to our internationally important bird populations at Special Protection Areas. It is not possible to say at this point in time what the level of disease risk will be during the 2026 release season and therefore what level of release will be permitted.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the number of farms in Waveney Valley constituency that will no longer be impacted by Agricultural Property Relief due to the changes to IHT announced in December 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government announced on 23 December 2025 that the allowance for 100% rate of relief will be increased from £1 million to £2.5 million when it is introduced on 6 April 2026. This means a couple will now be able to pass on up to £5 million of agricultural or business assets tax-free between them, on top of the existing allowances such as the nil-rate band.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. Compared to Budget 2025, the expected number of estates across the UK claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, affected by the reforms in 2026-27 halves from 375 to 185. Around 85% of estates claiming agricultural property relief in 2026-27, including those that also claim for business property relief, are forecast to pay no more inheritance tax on their estates under these changes.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the retirement of the Public Switched Telephone Network and the transition to VoIP landline services, particularly during power outages on public safety in rural areas with (a) limited and (b) no mobile phone coverage.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The number of major incidents on the PSTN (affecting 500 or more customers) has been increasing. In 2024, there was a 45% increase compared to the previous year. In 2024/25 there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN. VoIP landline services are more resistant to severe weather as the cables used are waterproof, and less prone to damage during a storm or other severe weather events. Over two thirds of landlines have already been migrated to VoIP.
The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks arising from the industry-led migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated, including for rural residents who are landline-dependent.
In November 2024, the Government secured additional safeguards from communication providers. These include providing free battery back-up units for landline-dependent customers to ensure emergency access for at least one hour during power outages. Many communication providers offer battery back-up unit lasting 4-7 hours. This will enable people without mobile coverage to continue to access emergency services using their landline during a power cut.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure capital investment in NHS estate and infrastructure supports improvements in climate resilience.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the importance of increasing the climate resilience of the National Health Service estate and infrastructure. NHS trusts are responsible for maintaining their estate, including adapting premises to reduce the risks associated with climate change, as set out in the NHS Standard Contract.
The Department is supporting the improvement of NHS sites by investing £30 billion over the next five years in day-to-day maintenance and repair, with £5 billion allocated specifically to address the most critical building issues. NHS trusts will be able to direct some of this funding towards improving the climate resilience of their estate where this is locally appropriate. Additionally, the Department is making sure all new hospitals are fit for the future. The Department’s New Hospital Programme requires schemes to achieve a minimum rating of BREEAM ‘Excellent’ for new builds, and ‘Very Good’ for refurbishments. All NHS investments in new buildings and upgrades to existing facilities that are subject to HM Treasury business case approval process must align with the NHS Net Zero Building Standard, which includes a focus on overheating risks.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to her Israeli counterpart on the case of Palestinian doctor Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 6 August to question 68153.