Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether His Majesty's Passport Office has considered introducing an option for payment for passports in instalments over 10 years.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

An instalments approach would place a considerable administrative burden on HM Passport Office to seek payment when they are due and take action where payment is not made.

Where a fee is required, the full payment must accompany the application.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure early (a) screening and (b) diagnosis for chronic kidney disease.

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

Early diagnosis is crucial for people with long-term conditions like chronic kidney disease in accessing timely treatment, preventing deterioration, and improving survival rates. The NHS Health Check programme aims to detect and prevent conditions like heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease among adults aged between 40 and 74 years old, and engages over 1.4 million people a year.

The Department is already developing a digital version of the check to provide a more accessible and convenient service for people. The NHS Health Check Online service will be piloted in three local authorities from spring 2025 for six months, with the aim of being rolled out nationally from spring 2026, delivering approximately one million checks in the first four years.

The Elective Recovery Plan, published in January 2025, also set out measures to improve diagnostic capacity and access.

More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support the early detection and faster treatment of chronic kidney disease.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to include testing for chronic kidney disease as part of the NHS Health Check programme within the framework of the 10-year health plan.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. We expect the 10-Year Health Plan to be published in Spring 2025.

The NHS Health Check programme aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease among adults aged 40 to 74 years old, and engages over 1.4 million people a year. The programme assesses for high blood pressure, which is a strong risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease. Where an individual’s NHS Health Check indicates high blood pressure, it is for a general practitioner to consider the results, and then, if required, undertake further clinical investigation and treatment where appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in which patient groups will recommendations for combining GLP-1 receptor agonists with SGLT2 inhibitors be included as part of the updated NG28 guidelines.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops its guidelines independently based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and through extensive engagement with stakeholders.

The NICE’s independent committee is currently updating its clinical guideline recommendations on the use of medicines for the management of type 2 diabetes in adults. The draft recommendations will be issued for public consultation at the earliest opportunity. It is not possible to say what those recommendations will be at this time.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to SGLT2 inhibitors for patients with (a) type 2 diabetes, (b) chronic kidney disease and (c) heart failure.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based best practice guidance for the National Health Service.

The NICE has been able to recommend two SGLT2 inhibitors, empagliflozin and dapagliflozin, for treating chronic kidney disease and for treating chronic heart failure with reduced, preserved, or mildly reduced ejection fraction, subject to specified clinical criteria. The NICE has also recommended several SGLT2 inhibitors as monotherapy, or in combination with other drugs, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance, so these treatments should now be available for healthcare professionals to prescribe to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.

In September 2024, the NICE added links to the relevant technology appraisal guidance on SGLT-2s, namely empagliflozin and dapagliflozin, to the guideline Chronic kidney disease: assessment and management. This is to provide easy access to the relevant appraisal guidance at the right point in the guideline, and to help users find the information more easily.

The NICE is updating its guideline Chronic heart failure in adults: diagnosis and management, to reflect changes in clinical practice and the introduction of new drug classes, such as SGLT2 inhibitors, since the guideline was first published, ensuring that the NICE’s guideline recommendations and treatment algorithms are up to date, so that all patients can receive equitable care. The updated guidance is expected to be published in August 2025. The NICE publishes a range of resources to support services in putting its recommendations into practice.

The NICE has also published a general practice indicator on chronic kidney disease and SGLT2 inhibitors. NICE indicators measure outcomes that reflect the quality of care or processes and can be used in a number of different settings to support high quality care, including in the uptake of NICE-recommended treatments, such as SGLT2 inhibitors.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Gambling Commission has taken to ensure compliance with the Growth Duty under Section 108 of the Deregulation Act 2015; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Commission's (a) policies and (b) regulatory activities on economic growth.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Gambling Commission is required by its statutory functions to strike a balance between supporting the growth of regulated businesses and providing protection for consumers and society. The Commission’s statement of principles for licensing and regulation includes ensuring that unnecessary regulatory burdens are not placed on businesses, prioritising the least intrusive regulatory tools to achieve compliance and ensuring that any regulatory action is proportionate. It also states that the Commission will have regard to promoting economic growth, insofar as it thinks it is consistent with pursuit of the licensing objectives.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Border Security and Asylum of 13 January 2025 on Asylum Hotels, Official Report, column 13, what progress his Department has made on closing nine asylum hotels by end of March 2025.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

It remains our absolute commitment to end the use of hotels over time, as part of our reduction in overall asylum accommodation costs.  We do not provide a running commentary on hotel numbers, but by the end of March there will be fewer hotels open than when this Government took office.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to encourage transparency from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities when allocating funds for the Horse Race Betting Levy.

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

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is not involved in the allocation of funds from the Horserace Betting Levy (HBL). The HBL is administered by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) help ensure food is not contaminated with horsemeat and (b) improve the traceability of horses in Great Britain.

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

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national authority responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The FSA ensures that official controls and legislation for meat safety and traceability are met by deploying staff in every slaughterhouse. The FSA also conducts risk-based, intelligence driven surveillance to monitor food safety and authenticity. It also has a National Food Crime Unit to prevent, detect and investigate food crime.

The Government recognises the importance of improving equine traceability. Defra is engaging with industry to consider improvements to this.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Border Inspection Post at Stansted Airport on the British horseracing industry; and whether he plans to take steps to ensure horses are able to continue travelling to and from the UK by air.

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

Defra is aware that Stansted has signalled an intention to relocate its Border Inspection Post to another site and that the timing of this remains uncertain. This is a commercial decision for the airport’s owners. No application to de-designate the existing site or designate a new site has been received. The Department stands ready to help progress such applications when received.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to implement a national Digital Equine ID system to ensure the traceability of all horses.

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

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Government recognises the importance of the equine sector to the UK economy and to improving equine identification and traceability. We have no current plans to implement mandatory digital identification, but we remain in close touch with the industry to look at potential improvements.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities avoids conflicts of interest in the allocation of funds under the statutory levy.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The government’s priority is to ensure funding is being directed where it is needed most to deliver on our objective to reduce gambling-related harms. The Gambling Act 2005 is clear that DCMS and HM Treasury have powers to approve levy spending. To guarantee sufficient accountability and transparency within the new system, we will ensure robust governance arrangements are in place for the levy, including a Levy Board for central government oversight. Governance arrangements will be designed to manage conflicts of interest, while recognising that a wide spectrum of views and insights will be needed to shape our objectives and monitor the outcomes of the levy system.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department holds data on noise readings from Heathrow Airport on (a) 21 March 2025 and (b) average on other days.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department does not hold data on individual noise readings from Heathrow Airport.

We expect airports to help local communities understand their noise impacts through monitoring, provision of information and communication. Heathrow publishes a wide range of noise data on its website including real time data from its noise monitors and annual reports which detail its noise impacts.

150th anniversary of Wokingham Town Football Club

Found: Douglas McAllister (Labour; West Dunbartonshire) Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat; Mid Dunbartonshire) Jack Rankin

Found: Douglas McAllister (Labour; West Dunbartonshire) Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat; Mid Dunbartonshire) Jack Rankin

Found: REPORT STAGE Wednesday 26 March 2025 14 _NC8 Jack Rankin Sarah Bool Ben Obese-Jecty Jim Shannon Sir

Found: _NC8 Jack Rankin Sarah Bool Ben Obese-Jecty Jim Shannon Sir Desmond Swayne Mary Glindon Rupert

Found: _NC8 Jack Rankin Sarah Bool Ben Obese-Jecty Jim Shannon Sir Desmond Swayne Mary Glindon Andrew

Found: Rebecca Paul Rachael Maskell John Lamont Rebecca Smith Dame Harriett Baldwin David Mundell Jack Rankin

Found: Sullivan MP o Maureen Burke MP o Elaine Stewart MP • 2 Conservative MPs o Harriet Cross MP o Jack Rankin