Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing legislation to promote and enforce ethical business practices across global supply chains.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK has a range of measures in place to promote ethical business practices across global supply chains. In the Trade Strategy, the Government launched a review of the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct, focused on addressing human rights abuses, labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains. The review is objective and evidence‑based, examining both existing policies and potential alternative approaches. We shall update the House when the review is complete.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department are taking to promote human rights and environmental due diligence in global supply chains.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK has a range of measures in place to promote ethical business practices across global supply chains. In the Trade Strategy, the Government launched a review of the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct, focused on addressing human rights abuses, labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains. The review is objective and evidence‑based, examining both existing policies and potential alternative approaches. We shall update the House when the review is complete.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support pregnant women living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out tangible actions and targets for delivery in this Parliament, which will act as milestones on the way to achieving our long-term vision to end homelessness and rough sleeping. We are providing over £3.6 billion in funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, which will help local areas deliver tailored solutions to tackle all forms of homelessness.
The law is clear that B&B accommodation is never suitable for pregnant women except for very short-term emergencies. The Homelessness Code of Guidance makes clear that temporary accommodation must be suitable to the household’s needs, and kept under review. Suitability is assessed by considering all aspects of the accommodation in light of the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household.
The Government is committed to ensuring that all pregnant people, including those experiencing homelessness, can access safe, personalised and equitable maternity care. That is why the Government is also working with councils and the NHS to end the practise of mothers with newborn babies being discharged into B&Bs or other unsuitable shared accommodation.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the health and wellbeing of children living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children.
The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision or disruption to their education.
This includes our commitment to eliminate the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation for families by the end of this Parliament and improve the supply of good quality temporary accommodation.
Alongside this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will provide the strongest protections in a generation, making sure vulnerable children are identified and supported. We are also introducing a new temporary accommodation notification duty, to inform schools and specified health providers when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, to allow additional or different support to be provided to these children.
We will ensure families in temporary accommodation are proactively contacted by health services, and have committed to introduce a new clinical code, to improve data and improve outcomes in temporary accommodation, and end the practice of discharging newborns into Bed and Breakfast or other unsuitable shared accommodation.
We have also set out our ambition to cut school days lost for children in temporary accommodation, backed by data so that targeted support can be provided more effectively. To achieve this, there will be a stronger role for pastoral teams to work closely with families in temporary accommodation including preventing unlawful removal from a school’s roll.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
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 improve access to speech and language therapy for people with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), particularly for people who are linguistically and ethnically diverse.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
The Government is committed to improving care for everyone with dementia, including those with primary progressive aphasia, which is why we have funded the work of the Dementia 100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help simplify best practice for busy system leaders and will help create communities and services where the best possible care and support is available to those with dementia.
A number of experts, including those with expertise in speech and language therapy and dementia care, provided independent, desktop analysis of the tool, and this invaluable feedback was integrated into the tool. The D100: Pathway Assessment Tool can be found at the following link:
NHS England has published a guide which aims to help health and social care workers provide dementia care which corresponds to the needs and wishes of people from a wide range of ethnic groups, especially minority ethnic groups. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/intercultural-dementia-care-guide/
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2026 to Question 117363 on Water: Waste Disposal, whether she will publish an overview of the initial investigation of Extended Producer Responsibility for wastewater.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s initial analysis of Extended Producer Responsibility for wastewater concluded that whilst a regime could be an effective means of raising revenue, there remained data gaps around pollutants of concern (including points of origin and pathways into the environment) that would require further investigation to develop. The Government is focused on taking immediate action to tackle the causes of pollution head on. For example, in November 2025, the Government legislated to ban the supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic in England. Furthermore, over the next five years over £10bn is being spent on storm overflows investment in England, improving over 2,500 storm overflows to reduce spills. Nearly £5bn is also being invested in upgrades at wastewater treatment works to remove phosphorus.
As recommended by the Independent Water Commission, the Government is considering reforms to the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations 1994 which would allow wastewater treatment standards to be strengthened. Reforms, coupled with shifting the focus towards ‘pre-pipe’ solutions, such as rainwater management and tackling sewer misuse, will help drive the improvements we want to see in wastewater management and consequently, in environmental protection.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help promote the inclusion of disability history in the national curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s ambition is for every child and young person to receive a rich and broad, inclusive and innovative education, and that the curriculum reflects our modern society and diverse communities, including disabled people. We will ensure disability is taught in the curriculum, so that all children and young people have a positive and informed understanding of disability.
The history curriculum provides a broad and flexible framework that allows schools to select which topics to teach across the key stages, and this can include history relating to disabled people. We are in the process of refreshing the history curriculum to support the teaching of the inherent diversity within history. We will consult on the curriculum from early summer, and we will fully implement the new full national curriculum for first teaching from September 2028.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) adding more female scientists to the National Curriculum and (b) making it mandatory for exam boards to include them in the syllabus.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s ambition is for every child and young person to receive a rich and broad, inclusive and innovative education, and that the whole curriculum reflects our modern society and diverse communities.
The science curriculum provides a broad and flexible framework that allows schools to choose how they teach topics across the key stages, and this can include the study of female scientists. We are in the process of refreshing the national curriculum, including the sciences. We will consult on the curriculum from early summer, and we will fully implement the new full national curriculum for teaching from September 2028.
Exam boards are responsible for developing qualification specifications that meet the subject content requirements set by the department and are accredited by Ofqual. While the department is responsible for decisions that relate to the scope of the subject content to be taught and assessed, exam boards are responsible for their own specifications.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to help reduce youth homelessness in Hornsey and Friern Barnet constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 113761 on 23 February 2026.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help support the museum sector.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In January, the DCMS Secretary of State announced a historic £1.5 billion funding package for culture, to save more than 1000 arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England from closure. £160 million of this funding is earmarked for local museums. Many museums face financial challenges, and we take their concerns seriously: this year alone (2025/26), we have delivered £20 million through the new Museum Renewal Fund, supporting 75 museum organisations across England to keep sites open, and allocated £25.5 million towards essential infrastructure projects via the Museum Estate and Development Fund. This investment doubles the £44 million that Arts Council England invests annually in museums through their core funding programmes, including core funding for over 200 National Portfolio museum sites.
In the coming weeks, DCMS and ACE will set out how museums can apply for new funding programmes available from next financial year. As the National Development Agency for museums, ACE also provides critical support for smaller museum sites via the Museum Development Network. Museums also benefit from further support, via the VAT Refund Scheme and Exhibitions Tax Relief. DCMS-sponsored national museums receive annual funding to support their operations and for critical infrastructure works.