Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
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 potential implications for his Department's policies of the increasing percentage of funding for the World Health Organization coming from (a) specified and (b) non-State donor funding.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to ensuring investments in World Health Organization (WHO) and other multilateral health initiatives deliver strong value for money. Flexible funding supports WHO to direct resources to greatest need and Member States-agreed priorities, improving efficiency and independence whereas specified, or earmarked, funding constrains effectiveness and fragments delivery. The United Kingdom remains one of WHO’s most significant donors and the top provider of flexible funding.
WHO gets the largest proportion of its funding from Member States. WHO’s reporting shows that the share of flexible funding has increased in recent years. The Department’s contribution to WHO consists of the annual mandatory membership fee, which is fully flexible and based on gross national income. WHO funding is available to view publicly on their programme budget portal, with further information available at the following two links:
https://www.who.int/about/accountability/budget/programme-budget-digital-platform-2026-2027
https://open.who.int/2024-25/home
WHO priorities are agreed by all Member States, including the UK through the negotiation of a general programme of work and programme budgets. Then donors, including Member States and others, fund those agreed priorities. WHO’s General Programme of Work 2025 to 2028 was agreed by Member States at the World Health Assembly in 2024.
WHO engagement with the private sector is guided by WHO’s Framework for Engagement with Non-state Actors which was negotiated and agreed by WHO Member States, including the UK, in 2016. The framework seeks to ensure WHO’s engagement with non-state actors, including the private sector, are managed transparently and supports implementation of the organisation’s policies and recommendations as decided by Member States through the governing bodies. It is publicly available to view on WHO’s website, or at the following link:
https://apps.who.int/gb/bd/PDF/Framework_Engagement_non-State_Actors.pdf
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish full citations for the peer-reviewed population-level studies from the UK, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden mentioned by the MHRA’s Chief Safety Officer in the quote that appeared on GB News online, dated 27 March 2026.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) considers a wide range of safety data as part of post-authorisation safety monitoring. One source of this data is academic literature. References for the studies mentioned by the MHRA’s Chief Safety Officer in the article in question, namely for France and for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12679329/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39935358/
Whilst there have been no United Kingdom based, population wide studies performed that investigate COVID-19 vaccines and cancer incidence rates specifically, the MHRA’s Chief Safety Officer was referencing a population-based study reviewing COVID-19 vaccine uptake in individuals with haematological malignancy, as well as a population-based study reviewing COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in patients with cancer. These studies are accessible, respectively, via the following links:
https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(23)00059-X/fulltext
https://europepmc.org/article/MED/35617989
Neither of these studies identified any adverse safety signals, and both suggest vaccination is in the interest of individuals with cancer.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish any of the pre-clinical data, study reports or assessments made by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that the MHRA’s Chief Safety Officer relied upon when quoted in a GB News online article, dated 27 March 2026, that the available evidence does not support an association between COVID-19 vaccination and an increased risk of cancer.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The GB News article in question, dated 27 March 2026, does not appear to reference any specific pre-clinical data, safety reports, or assessments. As part of its statutory functions, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for continuously monitoring all medicines, including vaccines, post-authorisation to ensure their benefits continue to outweigh any risks. This continuous, proactive safety surveillance draws upon a wide range of sources of safety data, including analysis of large healthcare datasets, review of international safety data, emerging research, data provided by academia, Yellow Card reports, and ongoing review by independent scientific experts.
There are currently no plans to publish any additional pre-clinical data, study reports, or assessments, beyond what is routinely published. For suspected side effects being reported for medicines and vaccines, the MHRA publishes Yellow card data which can be accessed at the following link:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/idaps
The MHRA also published a summary of Yellow Card reporting, which can be accessed at the following link:
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the most recent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) pharmacovigilance assessment or signal evaluation report that specifically addresses potential cancer/neoplasm signals in relation to COVID-19 vaccines.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not performed a signal assessment of ‘potential cancer/neoplasm’ in relation to COVID-19 vaccines authorised for use in the United Kingdom as there have not been any signals of this nature. The MHRA keeps emerging safety information under close review and will take appropriate actions should any new safety concerns be confirmed, communicating to healthcare professionals and the public as appropriate.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has undertaken analysis of the number of jobs that will be created by the Peak Cluster project.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what is the projected cost of the Peak Cluster project.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much cement will be used to build the Peak Cluster project, including the pipeline, onshore storage facility, pipeline to the sea, in-sea storage facility and any other associated construction work.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what is the breakdown of where the funding for the peak cluster project will come from.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what consideration he has given to the importing of CO2 from international sources for the Peak Cluster project.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the estimated carbon emissions are from the full Peak Cluster project.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.