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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward reforms to the Hunting Act 2004 beyond a ban on trail hunting; and whether she has consulted (a) police forces, (b) prosecutors and (c) animal welfare organisations on potential reforms to the Hunting Act 2004.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans in a generation to improve animal welfare and that is exactly what we will do.

This Government is committed to enacting a ban on trail hunting, that truly protects our countryside, wildlife and rural communities. On 26 March, Defra launched a consultation seeking views on how best to deliver an effective and enforceable ban in England and Wales and on any potential social, community, economic, business or environmental impacts. The consultation will be open until 18 June and all responses to it will be considered carefully in developing our proposals.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential risk of trail hunting being used to circumvent the Hunting Act 2004.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

The Government is aware of concerns on this point. On 26 March, Defra launched a Consultation on Proposals to Prohibit Trail Hunting in England and Wales inviting views on the Government’s proposed approach to implementing a ban. All responses to the consultation will be considered carefully in developing proposals for an effective ban.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) what review her Department has undertaken of the exemptions listed in Schedule 1 to the Hunting Act 2004, (b) whether she plans to amend or remove exemptions relating to the stalking and flushing of wild mammals and (c) whether she has considered reviewing the legal definitions of “research and observation” and “rescue of a wild mammal” within the Hunting Act 2004.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans in a generation to improve animal welfare and that is exactly what we will do.

This Government is committed to enacting a ban on trail hunting, that truly protects our countryside, wildlife and rural communities. On 26 March, Defra launched a consultation seeking views on how best to deliver an effective and enforceable ban in England and Wales and on any potential social, community, economic, business or environmental impacts. The consultation will be open until 18 June and all responses to it will be considered carefully in developing our proposals.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to introduce a statutory difference between drag hunting using synthetic scents and activities involving animal-based scent trails.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

On 26 March, Defra launched a Consultation on Proposals to Prohibit Trail Hunting in England and Wales seeking views on how to deliver a ban in England and Wales, including on any potential implications for drag hunting. All responses to the consultation will be considered carefully in developing detailed proposals for implementing a ban on trail hunting.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions under the Hunting Act 2004 there have been in each of the last five years and whether he has considered changes to evidential thresholds for offences under the Hunting Act 2004.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide variety of offences in the Outcomes by Offences data tool including offences under the Hunting Act 2004. Data related to the years 2021 – 2025 can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

In response to the second part of your question, this is a policy matter for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament. It is for individual Chief Constables to determine how their resources are deployed, and it is for locally elected PCCs to hold their forces to account. This includes consideration of how the police tackle the crimes that matter most to residents and businesses in rural and urban areas alike. The investigation and prosecution of all criminal offences, including consideration of whether an actual offence has been committed, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service who have comprehensive powers to take action under criminal law.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the rollout of full fibre broadband infrastructure does not result in prolonged loss of service for households; and whether she has had discussions with network providers, including Openreach, on minimising disruption and providing timely support to affected consumers.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Government works in partnership with communications providers to ensure that networks remain secure, resilient, and accessible, including during emergencies and service disruption. There are statutory obligations on communications providers to take appropriate and proportionate steps to ensure their networks and services remain available. Communication providers are required to take appropriate measures to prepare for and reduce the reduce the risks of incidents occurring, and Ofcom have published Network and Service Resilience Guidance that sets out expectations on how providers can meet statutory obligations. Communication providers are also required to report significant incidents to Ofcom, who have powers to investigate, rectify and penalise communications providers for any infringement of their duties.

Whilst networks are designed to be resilient, events such as severe weather, power cuts, and technical faults can sometimes cause disruption. In these cases, providers must guarantee access to emergency services for at least one hour during a power outage for customers who rely solely on landlines and communicate clearly with customers about any risks or changes to their service, especially during the move to full fibre from analogue lines. Full fibre tends to be more resilient than other forms of technology.

Under Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement Communication Providers are expected to keep customers up to date on disruption to services and when to expect normal service to resume.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government intends to exercise the break clause in the NHS Federated Data Platform contract with Palantir Technologies UK Ltd.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care to improve outcomes for patients.

The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than a 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation; nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer; and there has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them.

To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the NHS FDP. This information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/digitaltechnology/nhs-federated-data-platform/impact/fdp-uptake-and-benefits/

The supplier contract for the NHS FDP will be reviewed in line with standard contract management processes this year, and a decision made on its extension.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking, with the Department of Health and Social Care, to distribute clear and accessible guidance on National Insurance credits and State Pension entitlement directly through NHS maternity services.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

There is a wide range of National Insurance credits available, ensuring people can achieve the best possible State Pension outcome when they reach State Pension age. A number of National Insurance credits are linked to an associated benefit. Child Benefit is of particular relevance to new parents.

HMRC, the Government department responsible for administering Child Benefit, provide information on claiming Child Benefit in packs provided to new parents in hospitals across the UK. The National Insurance (NI) credit associated with Child Benefit is applied automatically to claimants’ NI records. Last year over 500,000 flyers were issued to new parents with a QR code that takes customers straight to the Child Benefit claim page on GOV.UK. HMRC also regularly runs communication campaigns to remind families of the non-monetary benefits of claiming Child Benefit.

Guidance on all NI credits, including Child Benefit and Maternity Allowance, as well as information on State Pension entitlement, can be found on GOV.UK. Individuals can also check their National Insurance records online on GOV.UK and request a forecast online through Check Your State Pension.