Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to stop companies from using biobeads.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Polluting our waterways is unacceptable. It is right that Southern Water has taken responsibility for the incident at Camber Sands, East Sussex, caused by a failure of a screening filter at their Eastbourne Wastewater Treatment Works.
Defra Ministers are in close contact with the Environment Agency, which is now conducting an active investigation into the incident. A decision on the enforcement action will be made in the coming weeks.
The sector must step up to deliver improvements for the benefit of customers and the environment, and we are taking decisive action to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.
Water companies should take all necessary precautions to ensure all equipment is properly constructed and maintained to prevent the unauthorised or accidental escape of bio-beads from wastewater treatment works into the environment.
The Government is looking into developing new standards for infrastructure resilience which, coupled with robust water company planning through Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans and the new statutory Pollution Incident Reduction Plans, will drive investment to improve wastewater assets and reduce pollution into our environment.
I have written to Water Companies asking them to explain their use of bio-beads in the water industry and alternatives.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the findings of the report by the National Physical Laboratory, published on 4 December 2025, on the use of facial recognition technologies by the police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has already taken action to address the findings of the National Physical Laboratory’s report on the algorithm used for retrospective facial recognition within the Police National Database.
The Home Office commissioned the report as the provider of the system, to enable police forces as the users of the system to assure themselves that they were meeting their Public Sector Equality Duty, specifically with respect to bias mitigation. The National Police Chiefs Council have led on this for policing by reviewing training and guidance. The Home Office has also commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to ensure these mitigations are consistent and robust.
Furthermore, a replacement system with a new algorithm has been procured and independently tested. This testing has been published and shows that the system can be used with no statistically significant bias. It is due to be operationally tested early next year and will be subject to further evaluation.
On 4 December 2025, we also started a public consultation that asks for views on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies. The consultation includes questions on oversight arrangements and proposes creating a new regulatory and oversight body. We envisage this body would directly address issues such as potential bias in algorithms, potentially through powers, subject to legislation, to provide assurance that law enforcement use of biometric technologies is legal, responsible, and necessary.
Given the importance of this issue, we have also asked the HMICFRS, alongside the Forensic Science Regulator, to review law enforcement’s use of facial recognition. They will assess the effectiveness of the mitigations, which the National Police Chiefs Council supports.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the application of the new individual earnings requirement applies to spouses of UK citizens who are retired, carers, or stay-at-home parents.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 20 November, we launched a public consultation on our proposed earned settlement model.
The command paper accompanying that consultation puts forward a general requirement to have earnt at least £12,570 per annum for three years in order to settle in the UK.
The consultation directly asks for views on whether certain individuals or cohorts should be exempted from that general requirement.
Full details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following the public consultation.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 likely costs of defending the arbitration being brought against the Government by Mikhail Fridman.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government maintains that it has acted consistently with domestic and international law obligations in the case of the legal challenges. In view of the ongoing proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what review processes the Government has in place to assess the suitability of its trade and investment treaty commitments, including those over thirty-five years old, such as the UK-Russia Bilateral Investment Treaty.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK’s International Investment Agreements (IIAs) aim to enhance opportunities for UK businesses to expand overseas, with commitments that seek to limit the barriers they face, make it easier to navigate local rules, and ensure investments are treated lawfully, and protected against unfair or arbitrary action. There is no specific review process within such Agreements.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs set up since July 2024 are run by private contractors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since July 2024, five new community diagnostic centres (CDCs) have started reporting activity for the very first time. None of these five will be run by the independent sector (IS) once they are fully operational. Of these five CDCs, the Thanet CDC is temporarily using magnetic resonance imaging services leased from an IS provider to ensure temporary capacity while the main facility is built. Upon completion of the permanent site, the Thanet CDC site will be National Health Service owned and use only NHS owned assets.
Since July 2024, 23 new surgical hubs have opened. None of these surgical hubs are run by IS providers.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 4 November 2025 to Question 85834 on Water Companies: Criminal Proceedings, if she will confirm the number of live proceedings which are subject to reporting restrictions by the court.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Details about all open enforcement and customer disputes cases with Ofwat are available on the Ofwat website.
Information about formal cautions and prosecutions carried out by the EA can be found here.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether proposed indefinite leave to remain eligibility changes will apply to existing visa holders.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The current public consultation on the new earned settlement model seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement.
We will then consider, if appropriate, how transitional arrangements may be designed to ease the impact of policy change, especially for individuals or groups already afforded permissions by the previous system.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there will be transitional arrangements for people due to be eligible for indefinite leave to remain from 2026 onwards.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The current public consultation on the new earned settlement model seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement.
We will then consider, if appropriate, how transitional arrangements may be designed to ease the impact of policy change, especially for individuals or groups already afforded permissions by the previous system.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Government has received from foreign military sales of F-35s.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Partner Nations within the F-35 programme who contribute to F-35 development can recoup elements of those development costs from foreign military sales of the F-35.
To date this has resulted in $94.83 million in recoupment costs for the Department.