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 help reduce the waiting list for people seeking treatment to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise that patients have been let down whilst they wait for the care they need, including within neurology services. The NHS Constitution sets out that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. We will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. These initiatives aim to reduce variation and deliver care more equitably across the country.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care, updated in 2017, sets out best practice for clinicians in the identification and treatment of Parkinson’s, in line with the latest available evidence. The guidance states that if Parkinson's is suspected, people should be referred quickly to a specialist with expertise in the differential diagnosis of this condition.

We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) and National Health Service trusts to have due regard to relevant NICE guidelines. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.

Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, most people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the import of (a) beef, (b) lamb and (c) mutton through the free trade agreement between the UK and Australia on UK farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government's commitment to farmers and the vital role they play, remains steadfast. We will never forget that farmers are the beating heart of our great country. It is their hard work that puts food on our tables and stewards our beautiful countryside.

The Government's estimate of the potential economic impact of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) can be found in the published Impact Assessment (IA), and suggests that gross output could be reduced by around 3% for beef and 5% for sheepmeat. Since the FTA came into force on the 31^st May 2023, imports from Australia have not yet reached the levels estimated in the IA. Australia continues to focus on geographically closer markets and used 20% of its sheepmeat quota and 8% of its beef quota in 2023 since the FTA has been in force.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the outcomes of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16); and what steps he is taking to help achieve those outcomes.

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

The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) was the first opportunity for Parties to take stock of the progress made in implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) adopted at COP15. 27 important decisions were taken at COP16, including relating to climate change, health, and the marine environment. The decision adopted on digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources agreed the modalities for operationalising the multilateral benefit sharing mechanism for the use of DSI, and this has the potential to generate new financial resources for nature restoration globally. At the same time, the Government remains disappointed that COP16 concluded before it was possible to reach an agreement on the strategy for mobilising more international finance for nature, and we look forward to resuming discussions on this critical issue as quickly as possible.