Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to Answer of 11 July to Question UIN 65893 on Water Restoration Fund, whether the reinvestment of £100 million in fines and penalties levied against water companies into projects to clean up our waters will be progressed by (a) a second round of the Water Restoration Fund and (b) by other means.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Water Restoration Fund is now delivering on-the-ground improvements for water quality through 51 projects, directly benefiting the communities and the environment which have been harmed by water company rule-breaking. The programme runs for 3 years from FY 2025-26 until 2027-28.

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 reduce waiting times for urgent pelvic ultrasounds.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We inherited a broken National Health Service, and reducing elective waiting lists is a key part of getting it back on its feet and building an NHS that is fit for the future. To that end we have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029. Cutting waiting times for diagnostic tests including those for urgent pelvic issues is a crucial step in reducing the elective waiting list.

In the Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced £600 million of capital funding to support the reduction of diagnostic waiting lists, including continued investment in new and expanded Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs), new acute hospital diagnostic equipment, and investment in digital diagnostic capabilities.

Abdomen or pelvic ultrasounds are one of five imaging tests for which general practitioners (GPs) can now make direct referrals, meaning patients can get the scan they need sooner at their local hospital or other NHS facility, whichever offers this service. The General Practice Direct Access Guidance advises how GPs can make the most of GP direct access especially where specific diagnostic tests are under the threshold for referral under the urgent suspected cancer referral pathway.

Patients can also be referred for pelvic ultrasounds for a number of reasons, including suspected urological malignancies, and other gynaecological cancers. Improved performance on the Faster Diagnosis Standard means that 135,000 more people have had cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days between September 2024 and August 2025, compared the same months in the previous year.

We have also already made excellent progress turning the commitments in the Women's Health Strategy into tangible action, including tackling gynaecology waiting lists using the private sector.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of organised crime in North East Hertfordshire constituency.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The cost of organised crime is pervasive, whether this is impacting our economy or exploiting the vulnerable. This week the government has launched a crackdown on shops on our high streets, as part of Operation Machinize. These shops are fronts for serious organised crime, money laundering and illegal working, risking the future of the British High Street.

Law enforcement work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to dismantle criminal networks across the UK including in Hertfordshire, and relentlessly pursue those who use dirty money for personal gain.

Israel’s use of cluster munitions

Local authority funding (No. 2)

50th anniversary of Franco’s death

Safe and legal routes for Sudanese people to the UK

New private capital in the NHS in the Autumn Budget

Budget 2025 and living standards

Future of the BBC

Cumulative disruption proposals and the right to protest

Two-child limit

Kashmir Black Day and self-determination

Freezing of Local Housing Allowance

Found: Liberal Democrat; Chippenham) Alison Griffiths (Conservative; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) Chris Hinchliff

Found: present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Carla Denyer; Barry Gardiner; Chris Hinchliff

Found: present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Carla Denyer; Barry Gardiner; Chris Hinchliff