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 the planned timetable is for publishing official guidance setting out legally compliant killing methods for decapod crustaceans to industry.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Strategy sets out Government priorities until 2030. Policies will be delivered throughout this time, including policy on decapod crustaceans.
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of timelines for Local Authorities to distribute Property Flood Resilience grants; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times for those grants.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government routinely reviews flood recovery support following significant activations of the Flood Recovery Framework. Following the activation of support after Storms Babet in 2023 and Henk in 2024, a formal post-activation review identified opportunities to streamline administration, improve communication with local authorities and speed up the identification of eligible areas.
Defra routinely reviews the Property Flood Resilience Grant following activations, and has undertaken a formal evaluation to assess its effectiveness and identify improvements to delivery. These reviews help ensure that recovery support remains effective, proportionate and responsive to the needs of flood-affected communities.
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 has been made of the potential merits to introduce universal newborn screening for the condition Progressive Spinal Muscle Atrophy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the challenges faced by those living with rare diseases, as well as their families, and is committed to improving outcomes. We are guided in screening matters by the independent UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC reviewed the evidence for screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in 2023 and concluded that there were gaps in the evidence. It was of the view that these evidence gaps are best filled at large scale in live services, so the committee recommended an in-service evaluation (ISE).
For very rare conditions, it is difficult to generate robust evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of screening, because so few babies are affected.
The ISE was originally due to start in January 2027, but earlier this year the Government committed to bringing this forward to October 2026. The evidence from this ISE will inform a recommendation on whether to extend the National Health Service newborn blood spot screening programme and include routine screening for SMA.
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 his Department is taking to respond to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s conclusion that more than 1,300 deaths a month in England can be attributed to long waiting times before clinical care is provided in A&E departments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided on 15 June 2026 in response to Question 7599.
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, if he publish advice recieved by his Department on the use of private funding and financial modelling in relation to the business case for Neighbourhood Health Centres be made public.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not routinely publish business cases containing market sensitive information and data, where doing so would risk prejudicing the commercial interests of the public authority in question, and the ability to generate value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that Regional Energy Strategic Plans are integrated with the Review of Electricity Market Arrangement reforms.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs) and electricity market reforms are being developed as complementary parts of the Government’s approach to an efficient, secure and clean power system. The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements has transitioned to the Reformed National Pricing (RNP) Programme, which is developing electricity market reforms to help deliver the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP). RESPs will provide regional evidence on future energy needs to support network planning. Officials are considering how RNP interacts with RESP and are working with the National Energy System Operator, Ofgem and stakeholders to ensure alignment between strategic energy planning and market reforms.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to take steps to ensure that demand-side assets are given equal prominence to generation in the Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs).
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the important role of demand-side assets. This is reflected in the Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs), which the National Energy System Operator (NESO) is developing to support whole-system distribution-level planning across energy demand, supply, storage and flexibility. NESO will develop RESPs with local actors, network operators and wider stakeholders, helping to ensure demand-side assets are appropriately considered in RESP outputs, including Pathways and Consistent Planning Assumptions. A ‘Consumer and Commercial Demand Working Group’ will also be established for each region.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing a portion of avoided network or generation capex to be reallocated to support industrial sites and local authorities in investing in onsite low carbon technologies.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the important role that onsite low carbon technologies can play in reducing emissions, improving energy resilience and supporting industrial competitiveness.
Through programmes such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which made around £500 million available to support UK industry to decarbonise, and wider support for industrial decarbonisation, we are helping businesses invest in technologies including electrification, energy efficiency and onsite generation.
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, with reference to the third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment's identification of risks to livestock from multiple climate hazards as a priority risk area, what steps her Department is taking to monitor and publish data on farmed animal deaths and welfare impacts from extreme weather; and what plans she has to include such indicators in the fourth National Adaptation Programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has a protocol to monitor animal welfare during high-risk weather periods and ensure keepers take steps to mitigate risks. The Food Standards Agency shares data with Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency for welfare issues originating on-farm and during transport. The Government has sought advice from the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) on the impacts of climate change on farmed animal welfare and potential mitigations. Part 1 of the project is underway and focuses on poultry species, and Part 2 will cover pigs and ruminants. We are currently considering what indicators are included in the fourth Adaptation Plan.
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 trends in the level of excess deaths as a consequence of extreme heat, in the week commencing 22 June 2026.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
An assessment of mortality associated with the extreme heat episode in the week commencing 22 June 2026 is not yet available. The UK Health Security Agency expects to publish a Heat Mortality Bulletin shortly, which will provide an initial estimate of heat-associated mortality during the May and June 2026 heat episodes. Final estimates will be published in the 2026 Heat Mortality Monitoring Report in early 2027.