Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending permitted development rights to listed buildings for the installation of green technologies.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Nationally set permitted development rights enable the installation of renewable energy equipment on or within the curtilage of buildings.

Certain rights do not apply within the curtilage of a listed building as proposals for development in such areas can be better considered through a planning application so any potential impacts can be considered on a case-by-case basis.

We continue to keep permitted development rights under review.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the trends in the level of the proportion of standard continuing healthcare applications assessed as eligible in comparison to fast-track applications.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs), with oversight from NHS England, are responsible for operational delivery of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC).

Fast Track CHC supports individuals with a rapidly deteriorating condition who may be entering a terminal phase by putting a care package in place quickly. Eligibility is established through completing a Fast Track Pathway Tool (FTPT), with clear reasons why the individual fulfils the criteria evidenced. ICBs must accept a properly completed FTPT as sufficient to establish eligibility for CHC.

Standard CHC supports those with high ongoing needs and is assessed through a two-stage assessment process beginning with screening via a Checklist. The Checklist criteria is set deliberately low to ensure that anyone who may be eligible for Standard CHC is fully assessed for eligibility through the completion of a Decision Support Tool.

Due to the different eligibility criteria used in the assessment processes, it is not appropriate to directly compare the proportion of individuals assessed as eligible for Fast Track and Standard CHC. The latest published data on CHC eligibility is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-chc-fnc/

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to attend the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in April and May 2026.

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

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided by the Minister of State for Defence in the House of Lords, Lord Coaker, on 10 December 2025, Official Report, vol. 851, cols. 235-238. We will confirm details of representation at the conference in the usual way in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK-made weapons components are not used in violations of international humanitarian law by allied states.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Business and Trade Secretary is responsible for licensing the export of military goods. In his decisions he draws on advice from the Foreign Secretary, including with regard to compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Under the UK’s robust export licensing criteria, the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. We review all new licence applications on this basis. We also keep all our extant licences (which typically last for two years) under continual review.

Should licences be found to no longer be consistent with the criteria, the Government can amend, suspend or revoke them.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on the programme to roll out badger vaccination as part of the strategy to eradicate bovine TB; and when she plans to publish the new bovine TB strategy.

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

In March, following a successful procurement, the Government awarded a contract to establish a new badger vaccination field force. Vaccination is already being carried out by APHA field teams in several areas and through a community‑led programme in East Sussex, demonstrating that large‑scale vaccination is practical, including in areas previously subject to culling. Further work includes a new NFU‑led project now underway in Cornwall to test scalable, cost‑effective vaccination approaches.

The Government expects the outcome of the co‑designed bovine TB strategy to be presented later in the spring.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring think tanks that seek to influence public policy to disclose their sources of private funding.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Electoral law already requires transparency where think tanks make political donations, campaign during elections, or work with political parties on regulated activity, and there are further restrictions on think tanks which have charitable status.

The Government also takes seriously the risk of improper or foreign financial influence on UK democracy. Philip Rycroft’s independent review is examining the wider framework for countering these risks across the political system and will inform the Government’s next steps.

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 is planning to take to ensure that practices around River Friendly Farming are included under the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.

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

SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”).

The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants:

• CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.
• Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.
• Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.

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 merits of including incentives for river friendly farming in the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.

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

SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”).

The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants:

• CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.
• Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.
• Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.

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 had discussions with small farmers on improving the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.

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

Defra has engaged over 30 stakeholder organisations on the policy design of the SFI26 offer.

This engagement included farmer representatives such as the National Farmers Union and the Tenant Farmers Association, ensuring the views of smaller farm businesses were fully considered.

Defra has utilised the insight gathered from this engagement to develop options and proposals for the new iteration of the scheme.

Later this year Defra will open the Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in two windows: the first from June 2026 for small farms and also farms without existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements; the second from September for all farms.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to increase funding for River Friendly Farming practices under the new Sustainable Funding Incentive.

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

SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”).

The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants:

• CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.
• Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.
• Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the current Sustainable Farming Incentive break clause on farmers’ ability to effectively plan environmental improvements.

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

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) does not include a break clause.

Nature restoration and flood risk

Decoupling the price of gas from electricity

Higher education funding (No. 2)

Redundancies of skilled rail workers at Balfour Beatty

Anniversary of the Tel al-Sultan aid worker massacre

Online abuse and exploitation of Ukrainian refugees

Restructuring at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Workers Memorial Day

Escalating settler violence in the West Bank

World Social Work Day 2026

Funding for rural Britain

Conflict in Lebanon

LGBTQ+ veterans

Transition of rail workers into Great British Railways

Strike action by UCU at Scottish universities

Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law

Energy price cap

Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan

Reforming National Parks and National Landscapes

Industrial relations at Carlisle Support Services

Royal Mail delivery standards

30th anniversary of the Dunblane Primary School tragedy

Fipronil and Imidacloprid Pesticides

New United Nations Convention on the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals

UNESCO World Heritage status for chalk streams in England

Delay Repay scheme

Payment of employment tribunal awards

Found: Unionist Party, East Antrim) (added 24 Feb 2025) 30 of 38 (78.9%) Former members Attendance Dr Ellie Chowns