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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of using raised laying cages for breeding pheasants and partridges on the welfare of those birds.

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

The Government remains firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and is aware of the strong public feeling on keeping gamebirds in cages. As stated in the Animal Welfare Strategy, the Government will improve its understanding of the welfare issues on how gamebirds are reared in the gamebird sector through issuing a call for evidence.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the number of homes in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency to be fitted with low-carbon heating systems under policies supporting Carbon Budget 7.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Information on heat pumps and biomass boilers installed through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is published in Table Q1.3 of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme Statistics release. By the end of March 2026, 238 heat pumps and fewer than 5 biomass boilers had been installed in North East Somerset and Hanham.

At least 16 further air source heat pumps had been installed under the Energy Company Obligation by the end of March 2026, as published in Table 3.7 of the Household Energy Efficiency Statistics release.

Heat pumps may also have been installed under other schemes, but constituency-level data are not published.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of tidal power on achieving Carbon Budget 7.

Answered by Katie White - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan recognises that while emerging renewable technologies such as tidal stream are expected to play a limited role in the 2030 energy mix, scaling up deployment of these technologies could be critical to achieving the UK’s longer-term decarbonisation goals.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with the West of England Mayoral Authority on the implementation of Carbon Budget 7.

Answered by Katie White - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department regularly engages with local government on net zero delivery, strategy and policy through the Local Net Zero Delivery Group, and with Metro Mayors through quarterly roundtables.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department last commissioned research on the ecological effects of gamebird shooting.

Answered by Mary Creagh

Defra’s Gamebird Research Programme has recently published the findings of a number of research projects relating to the ecological impacts of gamebird shooting and associated activity. Whilst some research projects are ongoing, Natural England is planning a collaborative workshop to review these findings.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of released gamebirds on populations of native invertebrates, reptiles and ground-nesting birds.

Answered by Mary Creagh

Defra’s Gamebird rapid evidence review was published in 2020 and is available here. Further research into these findings was published in 2025 and again this year, available here and here respectively. Defra has also funded research into the impacts of gamebird release on invertebrates. The PhD studies were commissioned by Natural England and the results are available here.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions were held with President Trump at the G7 Summit on support for Ukraine.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister on 22 June, and his answers to the questions raised in response.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions she has had with the Office for Budgetary Responsibility on public borrowing.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the government’s official forecaster responsible for assessing the UK economic and fiscal outlook. The OBR published its latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook in March providing an interim update on the economy and the public finances, in which public sector net borrowing is projected to fall in every year of the forecast.

The OBR publishes a log of substantive contact made between ministers, special advisers, private office and opposition MPs and the OBR on its website.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take following the consultation on tail docking and castration in lambs.

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

The Government is currently analysing the consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department maintains a list of which local transport authorities are seeking to make use of the franchising powers in the Bus Services Act 2025.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Decisions on whether to pursue bus franchising are for individual local transport authorities and local leaders to make, with the new powers streamlining the franchising process for those that choose to do so.

The Department is committed to making bus franchising quicker, easier and cheaper to deliver and provides support to authorities that wish to explore this option through its franchising support package. In particular, funding has been provided to York and North Yorkshire, Cheshire West and Chester, Hertfordshire, Cornwall and Cumbria to explore different franchising models in areas considering franchising.

The Department for Transport does not maintain a formal list of local transport authorities seeking to make use of the franchising powers in the Bus Services Act 2025.

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 reduce waiting times for elective treatment in North East Somerset and Hanham.

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

We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. As a first step towards achieving this, we have delivered against the interim target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026.

The North East Somerset and Hanham constituency includes three acute NHS trusts delivering elective treatment, namely Royal United Hospitals Bath, Bristol, and North Bristol. As of the latest published statistics in April 2026, the three trusts have at least 68% of their waits for elective treatment below 18 weeks, all better than the national average.

As set out in the Elective Reform Plan, we are investing in modernisation, reforming and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care. In this constituency, surgical hubs in the Sulis and Southmead hospitals have increased capacity for elective activity, delivering faster access to procedures for patients.