Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reductions in the prices paid to British dairy farmers by suppliers; and whether she plans to review the adequacy of the regulatory framework governing the dairy supply chain.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Prices in the dairy sector are influenced by a wide range of factors, including global market trends, input costs and consumer demand.
The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, which came fully into force earlier this year, are designed to bring greater transparency and fairness to contractual relationships between farmers and milk purchasers. The regulations require clear and objective pricing terms, helping farmers to understand how the price they receive is determined and to plan their business decisions with greater confidence.
These regulations are subject to a statutory review to assess their effectiveness and ensure that the framework continues to operate as intended.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 30 July 2025, whether the proposal to provide opt-out smoking cessation interventions in all routine care within hospitals includes people who (a) have been referred through urgent suspected referral for cancer, (b) are awaiting cancer treatment and (c) are undergoing cancer treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. Within their 2025/26 allocations, integrated care boards have access to funding to support the rollout of tobacco dependency treatment services in hospital settings, including acute and mental health inpatient settings and maternity services. Where inpatients are identified as a smoker, including those in cancer-related services or undergoing cancer treatment, the expectation would be for them to receive an opt-out referral to talk to a specialist and subsequently make an informed decision about accessing treatment tailored to their needs.
Future funding decisions, including any decision to expand tobacco dependency treatment services across routine care, are subject to the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 2025 to Question 64433 on Smoking: Health Services, if he will take steps to use (a) A&E, (b) lung screening and (c) other new NHS services to automatically enrol smokers into cessation services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. Within their 2025/26 allocations, integrated care boards have access to funding to support the rollout of tobacco dependency treatment services in hospital settings, including acute and mental health inpatient settings and maternity services. Where inpatients are identified as a smoker, including those in cancer-related services or undergoing cancer treatment, the expectation would be for them to receive an opt-out referral to talk to a specialist and subsequently make an informed decision about accessing treatment tailored to their needs.
Future funding decisions, including any decision to expand tobacco dependency treatment services across routine care, are subject to the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 help expedite grant clearance under the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) understands the importance of cashflow for farmers and rural businesses. The Agency used an Online Application system to streamline data collection and is using automation to simplify due diligence checks. Agreement Holders should claim their payment by the deadline of midday on 31 March 2026 and provide all of the necessary evidence. The RPA aims to process and pay complete claims within 60 working days and continues to look at opportunities to expedite grant clearance for the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund as promptly as possible.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken for (a) Sustainable Farming Incentive and (b) productivity grant payments on (i) rural supply chains and (ii) farm investment decisions.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) understand the importance of cashflow for farmers and rural businesses in their investment decisions and any impacts on the wider supply chain. The RPA has in recent years made more payments for the schemes they administer, earlier in the payment window. The RPA has also taken steps to improve the flow of payments. With a quarterly payments structure for the Sustainable Farming Incentive, schemes continue to be administered with payment frequency in mind, and the RPA continues to look at opportunities to issue payments and expedite grant clearance as promptly as possible.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to publish a response to the Civil Justice Council's report entitled Review of Litigation Funding, published on 2 June 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the critical role third-party litigation funding plays in access to justice. That is why we are committed to ensuring it works fairly for all.
The Civil Justice Council’s review will help inform the Government’s approach to any potential reforms in this area. The Government welcomes this review and is carefully considering the detailed recommendations in the final report . We will outline next steps in due course.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of investing in early dispute resolution and mediation for the purposes of resolving disputes in the SEND system.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department believes that more special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) disputes should be resolved earlier, with families, settings and local authorities working together to develop solutions to disagreements.
We are aware that not all families are able to access high quality, earlier dispute resolution through either local authority-commission mediation or disagreement resolution services. We are considering what more we can do to strengthen earlier dispute resolution and will set out our vision for redress in a reformed SEND system shortly.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of (a) the effectiveness of agricultural funding schemes and (b) how they can support food production.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system, that works with nature and supports British farmers, fishers and food producers.
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change we are delivering on the Government’s New Deal for Farmers which includes a raft of new policies and major investment to boost profits for farmers.
We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. We are working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. Further details about the reformed SFI offer will be announced later this year.
The Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, provides grants to support industry-led R&D to develop technologies and innovative practices to drive innovation in agriculture and increase productivity, sustainability and resilience in our farming sectors.
We have also protected farmers in trade deals and provided a five-year extension to the Seasonal Worker route, giving farms certainty to grow their businesses.
We are using our own purchasing power to back British produce, with an ambition, where possible, for half of food supplied into the public sector to be produced locally or certified to high environmental standards.
We are reforming the planning system to support clean energy projects that align with our Clean Power 2030 ambitions, helping farm businesses to become more profitable and resilient.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 is taking steps to support tenant stock-rearing farmers with the costs of (a) rising feed, (b) energy and (c) national insurance costs.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s New Deal for Farmers includes a raft of new policies and major investment to boost profits for farmers. We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament.
With regard to these specific issues:
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of funding reductions to the BBC World Service on the UK's ability to counter foreign threats.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Through high quality and investigative journalism, the BBC exposes and debunks the misinformation, disinformation and harmful narratives that malign actors, hostile states and others produce internationally. The World Service remains the world's most trusted international news service. That is why this Government has given the World Service a funding uplift in 2025/26.