Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the two-child limit policy on recent trends in the levels of child poverty.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics show trends in poverty, including child poverty. The latest statistics cover years up to and including 2023/24: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.

The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) protect the health of (i) women and (ii) the public generally from chemical pollution and (b) promote (A) research, (B) regulation and (C) public awareness in this area.

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

This Government is committed to protecting human health and the environment from the risks posed by chemicals. We do this by monitoring, assessing chemical risk and banning or highly restricting certain chemicals. The UK Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (UK REACH) requires companies to identify and manage the risks presented by the chemicals they manufacture or market in GB. Action to assess and manage the risks posed by specific chemicals is also set out annually in the UK REACH Work Programme. Under UK REACH, there is a restriction mechanism to limit or ban chemical substances if they pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.

We also restrict the most harmful chemicals through regulations that implement legally binding international conventions on chemicals and hazardous waste: Stockholm (Persistent Organic Pollutants), Basel (cross border hazardous wastes and disposal), Minamata (mercury) and Rotterdam (hazardous chemicals). These regimes have led to a reduction in chemical pollution. Monitoring demonstrates that emissions of Persistent Organic Pollutants to air, land and water have fallen between 2001 and 2021.

We work across Government and with relevant agencies, such as the UK Health Security Agency and with the Health and Safety Executive to identify gaps in our evidence and commission new research, which is published in the interests of transparency. Through the Environment Agency, Defra has published research into key chemicals of concern, such as Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS), with a view to understanding the policy options to protect human health and the environment. The UKHSA provides public health advice to Local Authorities, Government Departments and Agencies where chemicals are found in the environment including drinking water, air and soil, to protect the health of the public including women. UKHSA also undertakes research in Environmental Exposures and Chemical Threats and Hazards in partnership with universities, including research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded Health Protection Research Units (HPRU) and, and publishes the Chemical hazards compendium which provides information on chemicals to the public.

This Government is committed to protecting human health and the environment from the risks posed by chemicals. We are bound by the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires us to consider how the exercise of our functions may impact people with different protected characteristics, including sex.

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 plans to take to support the horticultural sector in the peat free transition.

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

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. Defra is committed to protecting our nature-rich habitats, including peat bogs, and is looking at next steps regarding measures to ban horticultural peat including how the Department will continue to work alongside the horticultural sector to accelerate progress on the peat free transition.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on the Women's Health Strategy in relation to (a) healthy lifestyle choices, (b) breast cancer and (c) women's health generally.

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

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we build a National Health Service fit for the future.

The Government and the NHS provide a range of services to support people, including women, to make healthy lifestyle choices. For example, through stop smoking services, sexual health services, and weight management services. The National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme is also supporting pregnant women to quit smoking.

Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment is a strategic priority for the NHS. On World Cancer Day this year, the Department announced a major world-leading artificial intelligence trial to transform cancer care, helping radiologists catch breast cancer earlier. Also, in February 2025 NHS England launched its first-ever awareness campaign to highlight the benefits of breast screening and encourage more women to participate. Further information about this campaign is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2025/02/nhs-launches-first-ever-breast-screening-campaign-to-help-detect-thousands-of-cancers-earlier/

We are continuing to improve the health of women and girls, for example by supporting those who have experienced pregnancy loss through a full rollout of baby loss certificates, through menopause support in the workplace, access to emergency hormonal contraception, and by boosting women’s participation in research and clinical trials.

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 address health inequalities in breast cancer prevention by ensuring that women in disadvantaged areas have (a) safe and (b) affordable access to (i) facilities and (ii) resources to maintain a healthy (A) lifestyle, (B) diet and (C) level of physical activity.

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

Tackling health inequalities, including in breast cancer prevention, requires a whole-Government effort. That is why there is ongoing work across the Government, from housing and education to employment and welfare, to ensure that health is built into all policies.

NHS England is working with integrated care systems, local authorities, and the directors of public health to embed regional and local solutions to reducing inequalities, ensuring that communities, including in deprived areas, have the power and resources to improve health outcomes, for instance through the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is developing an ambitious new cross-Government Food Strategy that will set the food system up for long-term success and provide wide ranging improvements. The Food Strategy will work to provide healthier, more easily accessible food to help people live longer, healthier lives.

By aligning policy efforts across health, social care, local government, and the voluntary sector, the Government is committed to driving real change, so that everyone, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to live a longer, healthier life.

The Government’s goal is to reduce the time people spend in ill health, support independence, and close the healthy life expectancy gap, ensuring that no one’s health outcomes are determined by their background or where they are born.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support the conversion of (a) vacant and (b) underused mills into (i) housing and (ii) commercial space in (A) Bury North constituency and (B) the North of England.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes and other uses and promoting an effective and efficient use of land. This includes supporting opportunities to remediate derelict land and the development of under-utilised land and buildings, especially to meet housing needs.

In relation to commercial space, a permitted development right enables change of use of Class B2 General Industrial buildings to Class B8 Storage and Distribution, subject to size limit of 500 square metres of floorspace changing use. Mills are likely to fall into the Class B2 use class.

Homes England and its local authority partners are working with mill owners across Greater Manchester to bring redundant mills back into life as housing. This includes the Eckersley Mill complex in Wigan, which is the subject of joint working between the Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Homes England to bring forward a range of uses, including 800 homes. The first phase is commercial and has been part funded by Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Brownfield Housing Fund.

Although the site is not within the Bury North constituency, Homes England also acted jointly with Bury Council to dispose of East Lancs Paper Mill site for the development of around 400 new homes.

Found: Mr Bayo Alaba (Labour; Southend East and Rochford) Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat; Guildford) Mr James Frith