Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will set targets for the proportion of short journeys walked, wheeled and cycled in every a) strategic and b) local highways authority.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mayoral Strategic Authorities in receipt of Integrated Settlements will have specific targets for active travel. All other strategic and local transport authorities will be supported by Active Travel England to deliver their local active travel ambitions and to develop and deliver phased, funded active travel network plans in line with the Government’s devolution agenda.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of heatwaves on economic growth and business productivity.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK Climate Change Committee estimates climate change damages in the UK could grow to 1–5% of GDP by 2050 under a 2 degree global warming level. Climate adaptation can protect businesses and productivity, and support economic growth in new markets.
The ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey monitors the impacts of severe weather events on business, including increased temperatures or heat. The Department for Business and Trade is considering the impacts of extreme heat on economic growth and business productivity to support government to develop an ambitious fourth National Adaptation Programme in 2028.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of issuing national guidance to smaller burial authorities on recovering costs associated with the (a) removal and (b) regularisation of unauthorised gravestones and memorials.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson
Whilst the Ministry of Justice is responsible for burial law and policy, the day-to-day operational oversight of burial provision is managed locally. Accordingly, decisions on management and administration in individual cases are matters for the relevant burial authority in accordance with the appropriate legal framework and any local regulations or terms and conditions of service.
The Government’s Guide for burial ground managers (8430_Burial Ground Managers) is intended to support the provision of best practice in all burial grounds. Paragraph 3.23 provides guidance on mitigating issues arising from informal memorialisation; and paragraph 2.26 outlines the statutory powers available to local authority burial providers to recover the costs of removing unauthorised memorials.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation on the UK’s new product safety framework.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The formal consultation on the UK’s new product safety framework closed on 23 June. It received considerable interest from businesses, consumer groups and other stakeholders, including members of the public and we are now analysing the responses received. Delivering the new product safety framework is a priority for the Department. Given the breadth and complexity of the issues raised, it is important that we analyse and carefully consider the feedback from stakeholders before finalising the Government's position. Following this consideration, we will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to provide regular public reporting on progress made against the recommendations of Replacing Animals in Science, published in November 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Government published the Replacing Animals in Science strategy in November 2025, setting out a cross-government programme to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods. To support transparency and accountability, the Government will publish a delivery update later in 2026, alongside a publicly available dashboard and key performance indicators to track progress against the strategy’s commitments.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of heatwaves on workers in outdoor and high-temperature workplaces.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Great Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. There is a legal duty for employers to fully assess the risks to workers from extreme heat.
HSE provides guidance for employers to manage the risk to workers, including from extreme heat. HSE issued a press release on Friday 19 June to raise awareness of the risks to workers, to help workplaces in the current hot weather. This year, HSE will also be launching a public consultation on proposed changes to the Approved Code of Practice for the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, including those relating to workplace temperature.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a risk-based framework for Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone operations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations are not yet integrated with other airspace users, segregated airspace structures have been imposed to manage the safety risks of such operations. These operations adhere to key provisions of the Air Navigation Order 2016 to maintain aviation safety for other airspace users as well as the public.
My Department has worked closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to develop the ‘UK Specific Operational Risk Assessment’ (UK SORA), a BVLOS risk-based framework, which has been in place since April 2025.
This procedure is core to ensuring that the policies and approach are proportionate to the type of operation that a drone operator requires, thereby, protecting the public and enabling innovation.