Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Online Safety Act 2023 prevents young people from accessing content that could adversely affect those with eating disorders.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Under the Online Safety Act, social media, chat groups and other user-to-user services are required to use highly-effective age assurance to prevent children of all ages from accessing content that promotes, encourages or provides instructions for eating disorders. Providers must also consider how algorithms can impact children’s exposure to this harmful content and mitigate this risk.

All service providers must also take steps to protect children from harmful body stigma content, which is linked to significant harm arising from body or image dissatisfaction.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered mandating the use of compostable fresh produce stickers; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on arable land.

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

The Department has not considered mandating the use of compostable fresh produce stickers and does not currently have plans to assess the potential impact of such a measure on arable land. However, we remain committed to supporting sustainable packaging solutions and continue to monitor developments in this area.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people initially coded with (a) pre‑diabetes and (b) type 2 diabetes who were later found to have early or established type 1 diabetes in the most recent period for which data is available; and what steps his Department is taking with NHS England to help improve diagnostic accuracy in England.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Data is not collected centrally on the numbers or proportions of people initially coded with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes who were later found to have type 1 diabetes. The change of patient diagnosis would be reflected by a change of diagnosis code in clinical systems. However, the way that data extraction works for national audits means that it is not possible to track these types of changes.

Published data on diabetes registrations by GP practice can be found in the quarterly National Diabetes Audit (NDA) data release. This also contains data on care process and treatment target attainment as well as the number of new diagnoses by calendar year.

The latest quarterly report is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/national-diabetes-audit/core-q4-24-25/national-diabetes-audit-nda-2024-25-quarterly-report-for-england-integrated-care-board-icb-primary-care-network-pcn-and-gp-practice

The NDA supports improvements in diagnosis by assessing whether people with diabetes are receiving the recommended diagnostic checks and to identify variations and shortfalls in care delivery against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to incentivise the use of compostable fresh produce stickers through the Extended Producer Responsibility fee structure by using (a) green and (b) amber ratings under the Recyclability Assessment Methodology.

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

At present, the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) does not provide a separate incentive for compostable materials; the methodology is designed to support a circular economy by prioritising materials that can be recycled into new products. Therefore, unless compostable stickers meet recyclability criteria under RAM, they would not qualify for a green rating and associated lower fees.

PackUK keeps RAM guidance/modulation under review and updates it annually to reflect changes in infrastructure and material performance. Any future consideration of changing ratings for compostable materials within the RAM would require evidence that they can be processed through existing recycling systems without contamination risk.