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, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2026 to Question 15320 on Folic Acid, with reference to the Food Standard Agency's information page entitled Guidance: Folic Acid, updated on 10 July 2026, where the nine pieces of evidence can be found as the links are not working.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) website moved over to the GOV.UK platform on 25 June 2026. The FSA’s information page on the fortification of flour with folic acid is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/folic-acid/folic-acid
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government has analysed companies incorporated during the pandemic against recipients of Bounce Back Loans and other Covid support schemes.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
HM Government has analysed the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) portfolio for indicators that borrowers received loans which were ineligible under Scheme rules. This included analysing whether businesses were established on or before 1st March 2020 in accordance with BBLS eligibility criteria.
HMG has not analysed companies incorporated before 1st March 2020 across other Covid Loan Schemes.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2026 to Question 15321 on Innovation and Technology: Obesity, whether the evaluation activity will be independent of Eli Lilly and Company; whether it will include control groups, randomisation or other comparative evaluation methods; and whether the results will be published.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme evaluation has been commissioned independently through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and is entirely independent of Eli Lilly and Company. The evaluation team is currently working with funded projects to understand service delivery models and planned data collection, with the final evaluation framework being developed by Autumn 2026. The findings of this independent evaluation will inform national decision-making, including future evidence requirements, and the outputs of the independent evaluation will be disseminated and made publicly available as appropriate.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Department's press release entitled Deputy Prime Minister sets out vision for the justice system, 24 February 2026, what information his Department holds on the number of cases involving assault of an emergency worker have been dealt with since the commencement of Blitz courts in London in April 2026.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We inherited a criminal courts system in crisis. There are over 80,000 criminal cases currently waiting to be heard in the Crown Court, which means that some victims – and those seeking to clear their name – are waiting years for justice. Only by pulling every lever we have – investment, efficiency and structural reform – can we turn the tide on the backlog and begin to deliver swifter justice for all.
The Deputy Prime Minister has announced several measures we are taking forward to drive efficiency, including enabling the Crown Court judiciary - through the allocation of unlimited sitting days - to undertake targeted approaches to listing to enable cases can be resolved more quickly and efficiently.
Judges based at the Old Bailey, but hearing cases from across London, are using targeted listing to help reduce further court delays that have left some emergency workers waiting years for justice after being attacked while protecting the public.
Between 6 April and 29 June 2026, 107 cases involving offences under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 were listed for hearing. Of these, 64 have been dealt with already.
It should be noted that the decision to list a case is taken by the independent judiciary. This data has been manually collated from locally held operational records and is unpublished management information. It is not subject to the same level of quality assurance as official published statistics. Figures may be subject to change as case records are updated or amended.
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 policies of the article in The Lancet by Dr Czeizel entitled Can terathanasia explain the protective effect of folic-acid supplementation on birth defects, published on 16 August 1997, particularly the comment that fetal deaths could readily account for not just part of the effect of folic acid on prevention of defect in births, but for the entire effect.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
In the United Kingdom, folic acid fortification was first considered by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA) in 2000.
In its report on Folic Acid and the Prevention of Disease, COMA considered the 1997 paper by Hook and Czeizelb, Can terathanasia explain the protective effect of folic-acid supplementation on birth defects?.
COMA noted that “It has been suggested that some agents that reduce the incidence of birth defects might do so by increasing the rate of death or abortion of affected fetuses ("terathanasia") and that the effect of folic acid on [neural tube defects] NTDs could be mediated by this means. For this reason, there has been some concern over an increased rate of spontaneous abortions among women taking folic acid supplements.”
COMA further noted that it “is most likely due, however, to an increase in fertility and multiple pregnancies among women taking supplements and to an effect of folate in allowing the survival of non-viable conceptuses to a stage where their loss is recognised as abortions. The generally accepted view is that folic acid supplements prevent NTDs simply by allowing the normal development of the fetal neural tube.”
Folic acid fortification was recommended by COMA in 2000 and by its successor the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) in 2006, after an extensive review of the evidence on folate and health. The SACN has further considered the evidence in its 2009 report to the Chief Medical Officer on folic acid and colorectal cancer risk and its 2017 update on folic acid and did not identify any further concerns on the issue.
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, with reference to the government announcement of 27 June 2026 on Pioneering projects to transform obesity care, for what reason the relevant competing interests of the quoted experts were not disclosed.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Government announcement on 27 June 2026, titled Pioneering projects to transform obesity care, backed by £85 million from government and industry, was a press notice announcing the 12 successful projects funded through the Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme. The quoted individuals were identified by their names, organisation, and roles.
Press notices are intended to communicate Government announcements and are not scientific or academic publications. The affiliations of those quoted were set out in the announcement, enabling readers to understand the capacity in which comments were provided.
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 it is his policy to support the building of the Peak Cluster project.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Peak Cluster project is being developed privately by Peak Cluster Ltd, alongside its industry partners. The project has not been identified as one of the four Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) clusters for support through the government’s CCUS Cluster Sequencing process and is not in receipt of funding from the Department. The Government recognises that CCUS can play an important role in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and lime. However, no decision has been taken on future government support for the Peak Cluster, and further decisions on future CCUS deployment will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether HM Treasury has produced, commissioned or received an estimate of the total amount lost through fraud and error across Covid-19 support schemes that exceeds the published estimate of £10.9 billion.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Neither HM Treasury nor the Public Sector Fraud Authority have produced, commissioned or received an estimate of the total amount lost through fraud and error across Covid-19 support schemes that exceeds the published estimate of £10.9bn.
The Public Sector Fraud Authority’s (PSFA) estimate of £10.9bn is HMG’s best estimate for the level of fraud and error in COVID-19 support schemes. The methodology is derived from fraud measurement loss exercises or similar statistical modelling published by departments in their Annual Reports and Accounts.
In its 2023 report ‘Tackling fraud and corruption against government’, the National Audit Office (NAO) estimates that “fraud against the taxpayer rose from £5.5 billion in total over the two years before the pandemic (2018-19 and 2019-20) to £21 billion in total over the two years since the start of the pandemic (2020-21 and 2021-22).’ Of this £21 billion, £7.3 billion specifically related to fraud and error in COVID-19 support schemes.
The NAO and PSFA consider both their respective estimates are likely to be under-estimates.
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 meetings a) Ministers and b) officials in his Department have had with i) local authorities and ii) private sector companies on the Peak Cluster project.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Details of meetings with Senior Civil Servants are recorded in our transparency database, which is published at GOV.UK.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding has been allocated within the Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme to assess the outcomes of that programme.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme includes evaluation activity to assess programme outcomes, funded from within the programme's budget. The programme's 12 funded projects will generate real-world evidence on innovative approaches to obesity care, supported by a national evaluation and Community of Practice to share learning across the NHS. The findings will help inform future obesity services and commissioning decisions.