Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made that the support offered to the hotel sector on business rates is sufficient to protect jobs and investment, in the context of the significant rise in valuations.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.

To respond to those who are seeing large increases, the Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.

The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates will benefit over 750,000 properties.

The Government has heard concerns from hotels about the ways they are valued for business rates and has committed to reviewing this.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to ensure that the hotel sector has not been disproportionately impacted by the rise in business rates.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.

To respond to those who are seeing large increases, the Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.

The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates will benefit over 750,000 properties.

The Government has heard concerns from hotels about the ways they are valued for business rates and has committed to reviewing this.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the business rates system on the hotel sector.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.

To respond to those who are seeing large increases, the Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.

The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates will benefit over 750,000 properties.

The Government has heard concerns from hotels about the ways they are valued for business rates and has committed to reviewing this.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the removal of access to a CAR-T therapy for mantle cell lymphoma on patients; and if his Department will consider learnings from other health systems that have provided access.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel following managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund to determine whether it should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. The Government recognises that any potential withdrawal for future patients with mantle cell lymphoma will be concerning, but these decisions are rightly taken independently and based on the available evidence. Under an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend routine use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

NICE is an England-only body. Medicine availability decisions in the devolved administrations are for the relevant devolved governments.

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 ensure that access to CAR‑T therapies for mantle cell lymphoma is consistent across the UK, in the context of its continued availability in Scotland.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel following managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund to determine whether it should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. The Government recognises that any potential withdrawal for future patients with mantle cell lymphoma will be concerning, but these decisions are rightly taken independently and based on the available evidence. Under an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend routine use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

NICE is an England-only body. Medicine availability decisions in the devolved administrations are for the relevant devolved governments.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will a) review the ongoing data collection work of the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy registry and b) work with partners in the space to identify opportunities to support further development of the registry, to drive improvements in care and treatment for patients with graft-vs-host disease.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum’s 2022 report, A ten-year vision for stem cell transplantation and cellular therapies, set out a number of recommendations for improving data collection for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy (HSCT-CT) to drive improvements in care and treatment of HSCT-CT patients, including those with graft-vs-host disease. The report is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/who-we-are/performance-and-strategy/stem-cell-and-advanced-cellular-therapy-strategy/

Following on from the report recommendations, the forum has established a HSCT-CT Data Commission to create an enhanced, accessible, and sustainable data model for UK HSCT-CT data, with collaboration across the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, the UK Aligned Registry, NHS England and the devolved counterparts, patients, academia, and industry. The Department will consider any proposals made by the commission.

The Department is also exploring how to support the report’s recommendations on data through the extension of the Department’s stem cell programme funding.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Food Standards Agency is subject to an appropriate level of Parliamentary scrutiny.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) was established by the Food Standards Act 1999 as a non-ministerial Government department. The FSA is accountable to the Westminster Parliament, the Senedd, and the Northern Ireland Assembly through health ministers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland respectively.

The FSA’s annual report and accounts are laid before the Westminster Parliament, the Senedd, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The 2024/25 report is available at the following link:

https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/Westminster%20Annual%20Report%20and%20Accounts%202024-25.pdf

The FSA is accountable to Parliament directly through select committees and regularly engages with them. The Chief Executive of the FSA recently gave oral evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in October 2025 and the Industry and Regulators Committee in January 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring food businesses responsible for processing meat and meat products in line with the regulatory approach used elsewhere in the food industry by allowing them to be fully responsible for the product they produce.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) supports evidence‑based use of technology in Official Controls, but inspection requirements in abattoirs are set in assimilated European Union law Regulation, and are prescriptive, and divergence could restrict British access to the EU and other markets. The FSA has commissioned a review of current and emerging abattoir technologies and their potential regulatory use and is sharing learning internationally to inform future modernisation while maintaining food safety and animal health and welfare standards.

The FSA applies a science-based, evidence led approach to delivery of official controls. Decisions are informed by risk assessments, data analysis, and established scientific principles to ensure that controls are proportionate, targeted, and effective, and adopt risk-based decisions, for example in the setting of audit frequencies, microbiological testing requirements for food business operators or its own enforcement activity.

Under Article 1 of assimilated Regulation (EC) 852/2004, meat businesses are legally responsible for the safety and compliance of the food they produce, as in other sectors. However, Official Controls for meat are more prescriptive in legislation than for many other foods, so any move to a different delivery model would require legislative change.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the meat processing industry is subject to permanent on‑site regulatory presence and inspection of every item; what the evidentiary basis is for this practice; and how this level of oversight compares with that applied to other industries.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The official controls legislation, Regulation (EU) 2017/625, sets clear requirements to undertake ante-mortem and post-mortem official inspections and the verification of compliance with food law, animal health, and welfare rules in slaughterhouses and game handling establishments. To perform these official controls, it is necessary to have official physical presence.

This level of regulatory presence is limited to those activities identified as presenting the highest risk to the food chain. Meat processing establishments are not generally subject to such supervision unless they are also engaged in those high-risk activities.

Conformance with these requirements is critical to protect public health, animal health and welfare, assure food safety and underpin international trade in products of animal origin.

The legislation provides for certain flexibilities in the way official controls are delivered.

The legislation is drafted to reflect scientific evidence, research and data with a strong focus on public health, animal health and welfare whilst minimising unnecessary burden for businesses.

Other industries are also subject to a regulatory framework for inspections and verification which is proportionate to the risks they present.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to introduce more effective uses of technology and science evidence-based approaches to the delivery of Official Controls by the Food Standards Agency.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) supports evidence‑based use of technology in Official Controls, but inspection requirements in abattoirs are set in assimilated European Union law Regulation, and are prescriptive, and divergence could restrict British access to the EU and other markets. The FSA has commissioned a review of current and emerging abattoir technologies and their potential regulatory use and is sharing learning internationally to inform future modernisation while maintaining food safety and animal health and welfare standards.

The FSA applies a science-based, evidence led approach to delivery of official controls. Decisions are informed by risk assessments, data analysis, and established scientific principles to ensure that controls are proportionate, targeted, and effective, and adopt risk-based decisions, for example in the setting of audit frequencies, microbiological testing requirements for food business operators or its own enforcement activity.

Under Article 1 of assimilated Regulation (EC) 852/2004, meat businesses are legally responsible for the safety and compliance of the food they produce, as in other sectors. However, Official Controls for meat are more prescriptive in legislation than for many other foods, so any move to a different delivery model would require legislative change.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will direct the Food Standards Agency to publish details of the overhead costs associated with charging businesses for meat hygiene controls, specifically the costs of (a) administering the billing and discounting system and (b) correcting billing errors.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has for many years published comprehensive information on how its meat charges are made up annually. This information can be found in Cost Data Slides available on its website, at the following link:

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/charges-for-controls-in-meat-premises

The costs of administering the FSA’s charging and discounts system, including correcting billing errors, are factored into its charges as a proportion of the work carried out by the finance function. As indicated on page 44 of the Cost Data Slides relating to England and Wales, £0.18 million is budgeted for this for the forthcoming 2026/27 financial year. As indicated on page 41, a proportion of this amount relates to billing and collecting charges, which includes correcting billing errors.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to consider transplants, including stem cell and bone marrow transplants, as part of the Getting It Right First Time programme.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no current plans to consider transplants, including stem cell and bone marrow transplants, as part of the Getting It Right First Time programme. The Department is aware of challenges around the timely provision of well-matched stem cell donors, particularly for people from mixed heritage or ethnic minority backgrounds, and therefore instead intends to review the factors underlying this and the system supporting stem cell donation.

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

King's Guard's ceremonial bearskin caps

Found: . 148) Current membership Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative; North Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts

Found: the meeting Public Accounts Committee members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Rupert

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Rupert

Found: . 148) Current membership Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative; North Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Sarah