Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether he plans to publish a Digital Sovereignty Strategy to reduce reliance on foreign-owned technology providers in critical public services and infrastructure, and to strengthen the UK's digital resilience, supply chain security and domestic technological capability.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government's current approach is set out through the Modern Industrial Strategy (2025) and the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan (2025), which build sovereign capability in critical technologies, including through the Sovereign AI Fund, while keeping the UK open to global markets.
This approach supports digital resilience, strengthens supply chain security and promotes capability in strategically important technologies through existing policies and programmes.
It is supported by an established framework of safeguards, including data protection legislation, UK security standards, the Cloud First policy and the Data and AI Ethics Framework.
As this remains a complex and developing policy area, engagement across government is ongoing.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure Marine Protected Areas that protect harbour porpoises are safeguarded from destructive fishing methods.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is currently assessing the impacts of fishing on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) designated to protect harbour porpoise, as part of stage 4 of its programme to manage fishing in England’s offshore MPAs. A call for evidence was completed in 2023 and a period of further engagement with stakeholders was held over recent months. The MMO is now considering a range of management options and will consult before making any final decisions.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan on civilian protection measures.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are working closely with our partners in the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan to raise the costs of atrocities, advance justice, and bolster local peacebuilding and protection efforts. We have jointly responded to risks of atrocities - such as a potential RSF assault on El Obeid - through coordinated lobbying, joint statements, and convening an Urgent Debate at the Human Rights Council. On 19-20 August, we hosted Coalition partners for two-days, where we discussed innovative civilian protection measures and met with the UN Fact-Finding Mission to coordinate our support for their mandate renewal in October.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in preparing the Heathrow Expansion Appraisal Report, what consideration her Department gave to modelling the potential monetised costs of noise pollution from expansion.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Heathrow Expansion Appraisal Report estimates monetised disbenefits of noise to be approximately -£1.6 billion (2024 prices) over a 60-year appraisal period. This reflects the estimated increased noise exposure causing health, annoyance and sleep disturbance impacts.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, why the Appraisal of Sustainability of the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement only modelled one set of indicative flight paths that seek to minimise the number of newly impacted people.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The analysis has used an indicative flight path design produced for the Airports Commission, which was considered the most relevant and reasonable by Department for Transport policy officials given information available at this time, in discussion with the CAA, NATS and Heathrow Airport Limited (as current airport operator). Work is currently underway to design modernised airspace for the whole London region in line with the CAA’s airspace change processes.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, why the Appraisal of Sustainability of the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement only modelled one set of indicative flight paths that seek to minimise the number of newly impacted people.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The analysis has used an indicative flight path design produced for the Airports Commission, which was considered the most relevant and reasonable by Department for Transport policy officials given information available at this time, in discussion with the CAA, NATS and Heathrow Airport Limited (as current airport operator). Work is currently underway to design modernised airspace for the whole London region in line with the CAA’s airspace change processes.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to produce noise assessments to reflect the best and worst case scenarios that may be created by expansion at Heathrow in terms of a) numbers of people exposed to noise b) number of people currently overflown who will experience an increase in noise and c) the number of people who will be newly exposed to aircraft noise pollution.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As part of the department’s review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) it commissioned the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to model expected impacts of aircraft noise for an expanded Heathrow. Outputs of this work are set out in an annex to the Appraisal of Sustainability published on 18 June as part of the public consultation on the draft revised ANPS, renamed the Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS). This sets out estimates of the numbers of people exposed to different levels of aircraft noise before and after expansion.
The CAA modelling focused on the estimated total number of people impacted rather than distinguishing between individuals currently overflown who may experience increased noise exposure and those who may become newly affected. Results disaggregated to this level of detail are not currently available. As part of the consultation process, the department will keep under review if any further aircraft noise modelling is necessary.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimates her Department has made of the monetised costs of aircraft noise pollution for communities under Heathrow flight paths exposed to noise above 43dB.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not routinely monetise the costs of noise from existing noise sources and has not made an estimate of such costs for communities under Heathrow flight paths exposed to noise above 43dB.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to increase the length of the night period when local communities are not exposed to aircraft noise from Heathrow.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government sets noise controls at Heathrow which include limits on the number of aircraft movements permitted between 11.30pm and 6am.
The current night flight regime runs from October 2025 to October 2028. Any changes to the regime from October 2028, including changes to the night period, will be subject to a consultation. We aim to publish a consultation on this early next year.
Separately, on 18 June the Department published a public consultation on the draft revised Airports National Policy Statement, now renamed the Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS). The draft HENPS sets out requirements on noise mitigation that any successful scheme for expansion should meet, including a scheduled night flight ban of 6.5 hours between the hours of 11pm and 7am.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether animal welfare concerns relating to the Faroe Islands' grindadráp whale and dolphin hunt will be considered during the 2026 review of the UK–Faroe Islands trade agreement.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
By convening an annual Joint Committee, the UK-Faroes FTA provides an effective channel for UK officials from the Department for Business and Trade (in collaboration with other relevant government departments), to review a range of issues with the Faroe Islands. These include animal welfare, which was indeed raised by the UK at the latest Joint Committee, held on 3 June 2026 in London. The Government does and will continue to advocate for the end of all cetacean hunting in the Faroe Islands at every appropriate opportunity.