Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

The Government will comply with the Court Order and lay before Parliament a report on its carbon budget strategy by the Court Order deadline.

In Spring 2025, we will deliver an updated Carbon Budget Delivery plan out to the end of CB6 in 2037. This will outline the policies and proposals needed to deliver carbon budgets 4-6 on a pathway to net zero. Appropriate environmental assessments will be carried out on relevant policies to deliver this plan in the usual way, as well as project-level Environmental Impact Assessments to support applications for new energy infrastructure as part of the normal planning processes under planning and environmental legislation.

The Government is committed to strengthening protections to ensure that people can continue to enjoy gambling, without the risks that can ensue from harmful gambling. We are acutely aware of the impact harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families. We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all stakeholders in order to support the industry and ensure there are robust protections in place to protect those at risk, and we have noted the Lancet Public Health Commission’s report. We will provide further updates to the House soon.

The Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey of Great Britain collects official statistics on gambling behaviour in Great Britain including participation rates of bet in play and participation rates and Problem Gambling Survey Index scores for online instant win games (online and in person), betting on sports and racing (online and in person) and fruit and slots games (online and in person).

The Gambling Commission is responsible for the implementation of a number of the regulatory reforms set out in the white paper, such as introducing new regulations to make online games safer. This has included introducing a limit on spin speeds for online slots games in 2021, with additional rules coming into force from January 2025 to reduce the speed and intensity of online products.

The Government is committed to strengthening protections to ensure that people can continue to enjoy gambling, without the risks that can ensue from harmful gambling. We are acutely aware of the impact harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families. We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all stakeholders in order to support the industry and ensure there are robust protections in place to protect those at risk, and we have noted the Lancet Public Health Commission’s report. We will provide further updates to the House soon.

The Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey of Great Britain collects official statistics on gambling behaviour in Great Britain including participation rates of bet in play and participation rates and Problem Gambling Survey Index scores for online instant win games (online and in person), betting on sports and racing (online and in person) and fruit and slots games (online and in person).

The Gambling Commission is responsible for the implementation of a number of the regulatory reforms set out in the white paper, such as introducing new regulations to make online games safer. This has included introducing a limit on spin speeds for online slots games in 2021, with additional rules coming into force from January 2025 to reduce the speed and intensity of online products.

The department supports and works with a wide range of academics to understand research relating to the impact of air quality on school users.

Between January 2022 and April 2023, the department provided over 9,000 air cleaning units to over 1,300 settings that had been identified with poor ventilation. The department has published guidance on how to use CO₂ monitors and air cleaning units, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-co-monitors-and-air-cleaning-units-in-education-and-care-settings.

The department also publishes non-statutory guidance on indoor and outdoor air quality in ‘Building Bulletin 101: Guidelines on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools’ (BB101), which can be found in the attached document and also accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings.

The responsible body, relevant local authority, academy trust or voluntary-aided body are responsible for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of pupils when in their care.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of RSHE guidance for schools. Over the autumn, the government will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders, and consider the relevant evidence, including the published Cass Review. Next steps will then be set out.

The government has not met with the Movement for an Adoption Apology and there is no meeting scheduled.

My hon. Friend, the Minister for Children and Families, shares the deepest sympathy with everyone affected by historic forced adoption. The practice was abhorrent and should never have taken place.

The department will look to learn from the approach of the devolved nations and explore what more can be done to support those impacted.

The department is also currently funding the Adoption England project, Improving Adoption Services for Adults (IASA), which is designed to maintain relationships and provide better access to support for adopted adults.

The department’s intention is to deliver better life chances for all, including by improving services for the most vulnerable children and families. The 2023 data on children looked after showed that children from black and mixed ethnic groups are more likely to become looked after compared to the general 0-17 population (making up 7% and 10% of the looked after population respectively, compared to 6% and 7% of the general child population).

The department knows that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families before they reach crisis point. The department is currently testing the impact of multi-disciplinary targeted support provided at the earliest opportunity to help families overcome challenges sooner, so that they can stay together and thrive.

The department is also committed to supporting more children from all backgrounds to remain with family through kinship care and are considering how best to support both kinship carers and the children in their care.

The Family Network Pilot is currently testing the impact of providing flexible funding for extended family networks through Family Network Support Packages (FNSP). The pilot will look at how FNSPs can unlock barriers and enable family networks to play a more active role in providing loving, stable homes for children through financial and other practical means. The pilot aims to help keep families together and children out of care, where this is in the best interests of the child. The pilot launched in four local authority areas, Brighton and Hove, Gateshead, Sunderland and Telford and Wrekin, and recently launched in a further three areas, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hartlepool and Staffordshire. The pilot will end in March 2025.

The government recognises the value that the humanities play both economically and culturally. However, universities are autonomous institutions and are therefore responsible for deciding which courses to offer.

There has been a slight decrease (1,170 or -0.3%) in the number of students studying arts and humanities courses between 2019/20 and 2021/22. For the 2024/25 financial year, the Office for Students (OfS) has maintained funding for world-leading small and specialist providers at £58 million. This funding was increased by £5 million in the 2022/23 financial year, and earlier, by £10 million in the 2021/22 financial year. Details of providers’ allocations for the 2024/25 academic year will be announced by the OfS in the summer.

Preventing an outbreak of African swine fever in the UK remains one of Defra’s key biosecurity priorities. UK safeguard measures are in place prohibiting live pigs, wild boar, or pork products from affected European Union (EU) areas from entering Great Britain. Enforcement is carried out by Border Force and Port Health Authority officers at seaports and airports.

Under the enhanced safeguard measures introduced in September, travellers are no longer allowed to bring pork products into Great Britain unless they are produced and packaged to the EU’s commercial standards and weigh no more than two kilograms.

Defra and its agencies continuously review the spread of African swine fever and are ready to introduce further biosecurity restrictions should these be deemed necessary in response to new scientific and risk data. Risk assessments can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animal-diseases-international-monitoring.

The Government supports species reintroductions where they are economically feasible and there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment. All reintroductions in England are expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conservation Translocations. Conservation translocations are the deliberate movement and release of plants, animals or fungi into the wild for conservation purposes. This includes reintroductions, which are one type of conservation translocation.

We have no current plans to reconsider the status of wild boar.

The UK Government is committed to the effective implementation of its international obligations under the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.

The submission of the UK’s final Progress Report has been delayed to allow the new Government time to consider the recommendations in decision VII/8s, endorsed at the 2021 Meeting of the Parties.

We look forward to responding in due course.

On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine tuberculosis (TB) rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be undertaken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease. By beating the disease we will end any need to cull badgers.

Existing cull processes, set up under the previous administration, will be honoured to ensure clarity for farmers involved in these culls whilst new measures can be rolled out through work on the new strategy. No new intensive or supplementary badger control licences will be issued, with all existing licences issued under these policies ending by January 2026. Any application for a licence received in respect of a TB hotspot in the Low Risk Area, would be processed by Natural England, as the delegated licensing authority, in accordance with the published policy guidance for this licence type, as introduced by the previous government in 2018.

Train and station operators are required by their operating licences to establish and comply with an Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) which must be approved by the Office of Rail and Road.  An ATP sets out, among other things, the arrangements and assistance that an operator will provide to protect the interests of disabled people using its services and to facilitate such use.

The guidance states that operators must set out their policies regarding the carriage of mobility scooters and other mobility aids for mobility-impaired people on their trains. Operators must make the reasoning behind their policies clear, particularly with regard to any policy excluding the carriage of some or all mobility scooters and mobility aids.

We would expect all customers purchasing a ticket that require assistance to complete their journey to be directed to the Passenger Assist Scheme.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been advised that a database which collects voluntary information from around 350 physicians on Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Diseases (known as SWORD) has recorded eighteen cases of silicosis where a respiratory physician has attributed the cause to working engineered stone. HSE is aware of one death.

HSE is working with industry stakeholders to establish practical guidelines to ensure workers are protected, meeting recently with manufacturers of stone products to discuss the range of possible actions for working with engineered stone. Further workshops with other stakeholders in the supply chain are proposed, aimed at determining the best focus for inspections targeting engineered stone, whilst HSE also investigates reported ill-health and concerns about inadequate risk management.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) continues to inspect industries associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) and to respond to concerns about risk management reported to HSE.

Adequate control measures for protecting workers from the risks of exposure to RCS are legally required under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH), including water suppression, equipment enclosure, extraction and personal protective equipment, such as respirator masks. COSHH also requires workers to be trained to effectively implement such controls.

HSE works proactively with key stakeholders, trade associations and other industry bodies to raise awareness of the risks of exposure to RCS and to provide information and guidance on adequate control measures. This includes developing targeted communications to ensure that those at risk of exposure to silica dust from working with stone (including engineered stone) understand and are using the controls which can prevent exposure.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the body responsible for the regulation of biocidal products, such as aluminium phosphide. Aluminium phosphide is approved under the GB Biocidal Products Regulation (assimilated Regulation (EU) No 528/2012) for use in pest control products against rodents and other vertebrates.

These products are restricted to professional users holding specific accredited qualifications in the use of such products. These products are permitted only for a very limited number of uses and with strict control measures in place.

Approval was granted following a detailed scientific assessment of the potential risks from the use of this chemical, which showed that there are no unacceptable risks to people, animals or the wider environment when products are used correctly in accordance with the restrictions and control measures placed on the products.

Biocides are subject to periodic reviews to ensure risk assessments remain up to date. Aluminium phosphide is currently undergoing this process, and if the review identifies that any changes are required, suitable regulatory action will be taken by HSE to implement these.

The active substances difenacoum, bromadiolone, brodifacoum, flocoumafen and difethialone, collectively referred to as Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs), are approved under the GB Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR) (assimilated Regulation (EU) No 528/2012) for use in pest control products against rodents.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the body responsible for the regulation of biocidal products, such as rodenticides, and undertakes rigorous scientific evaluation of biocidal products and active substances before allowing them to be placed on the market.

Risk assessments carried out by regulators, including HSE, have shown that SGARs present a higher risk to non-target species than would normally be acceptable. However, it is recognised that alternative methods of rodent control may have limitations or may not always be suitable to tackle rodent infestations. Under GB BPR products with unacceptable levels of risk may still be authorised if it can be shown that the negative impact on society of not allowing their use would outweigh the risks of using them, as is the case with SGARs.

An industry led stewardship scheme is in place in the UK for professional use of SGARs, with the key aim being to reduce the exposure of non-target wildlife to SGARs. Stewardship is overseen by a Government Oversight Group (GOG) led by HSE with representatives of other government stakeholders. The GOG receives annual reports on the residues of SGARs that are detected in barn owls (the sentinel species for rodenticide stewardship). The GOG keeps the rodenticide stewardship scheme under review, and one of the areas under consideration is extending the monitoring of SGAR residues to other species.

Weekly rental liabilities do not map directly onto the monthly assessment cycle of Universal Credit. This creates budgeting complexities for customers as they will be required to make only four payments of rent in some months but five payments in others. This problem exists in all years, not just those with 53 Mondays. The Government will consider this issue as part of its wider work on Universal Credit.