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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps will be taken to ensure that imports of eggs, liquid eggs and powdered eggs meet UK animal welfare standards, in the context of any phase-out of caged systems domestically.

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

The Government has carried out an assessment and, as part of the recent consultation on laying hen cage reform, sought views on that assessment. The consultation also sought additional evidence on how the proposals will affect egg production costs and current levels of imports and exports. We are now analysing the consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

This Government will always consider whether overseas goods benefit from an unfair advantage and any impact on UK producers. Where necessary, the Government will use the full range of powers at the Government’s disposal, including permanent quotas, exclusions and safeguards.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Government plans to introduce measures to prevent the import of a) eggs, b) liquid eggs and c) powdered eggs produced in systems that are banned in the UK.

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

The Government has carried out an assessment and, as part of the recent consultation on laying hen cage reform, sought views on that assessment. The consultation also sought additional evidence on how the proposals will affect egg production costs and current levels of imports and exports. We are now analysing the consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

This Government will always consider whether overseas goods benefit from an unfair advantage and any impact on UK producers. Where necessary, the Government will use the full range of powers at the Government’s disposal, including permanent quotas, exclusions and safeguards.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of the risk of increased imports of lower-welfare eggs following domestic reforms to housing systems for laying hens.

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

The Government has carried out an assessment and, as part of the recent consultation on laying hen cage reform, sought views on that assessment. The consultation also sought additional evidence on how the proposals will affect egg production costs and current levels of imports and exports. We are now analysing the consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

This Government will always consider whether overseas goods benefit from an unfair advantage and any impact on UK producers. Where necessary, the Government will use the full range of powers at the Government’s disposal, including permanent quotas, exclusions and safeguards.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government will publish the findings of its consultation on a proposed ban on keeping a) laying hens, b) pullets and c) breeder layers in cages.

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

A UK-wide consultation on laying hen cage reform was launched on 12 January 2026 and closed on 9 March 2026. The Government is now analysing consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he intends to publish the European Union Partnership Bill.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds

As confirmed in the King’s Speech, this Government intends to bring forward the European Partnership Bill, which will implement agreements with the European Union now and in the future. We are fully committed to delivering this legislation and the agreements it will implement as swiftly as possible.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department intends to engage with (a) community organisations, (b) charities and (c) people with lived experience of air pollution during the upcoming review of the Air Quality Strategy.

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

The Government recognises the importance of hearing from a wide range of stakeholders, including people directly affected by air pollution, when reviewing air quality policy.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential benefits of involving people directly affected by air pollution in the review of the Air Quality Strategy.

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

The Government recognises the importance of hearing from a wide range of stakeholders, including people directly affected by air pollution, when reviewing air quality policy.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress Government has made in implementing its strategy to phase out animal testing.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20 April 2026 to Question UIN 126489

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if the Government will publish annual progress reports on the a) development, b) funding and c) regulatory uptake of New Approach Methodologies.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)

The Government will publish a delivery update on the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, alongside key performance indicators on progress across all elements of the strategy, later in 2026. This will include information relevant to the development, funding and regulatory uptake of alternative methods. In addition, a publicly available dashboard of progress against key deliverables is being developed to support transparency. The Government will continue to monitor delivery across departments and partner organisations, ensuring that progress is tracked and reported as part of the overall governance framework for the strategy.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the economic potential of non-animal New Approach Methodologies for the UK life sciences sector.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 26 May 2026 to Question UIN 2451

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to increase public funding for New Approach Methodologies for (a) research, (b) testing and (c) safety assessment.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)

The Government is supporting the development, validation and uptake of New Approach Methodologies through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, backed by £75 million of funding to accelerate alternatives and innovation. This includes multi‑year funding secured through the Spending Review to provide stability for key programmes. UK Research and Innovation invests in a broad portfolio of research that underpins alternative methods, including for testing and safety assessment. As this research is often categorised as basic research, it is not always possible to disaggregate funding specifically for New Approach Methodologies. The Department will continue to support investment through delivery of the strategy and future funding decisions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged 16 - 24 years were not in education, employment or training in Newport West and Islwyn constituency in each of the last six years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

With over one million young people not in education, employment and training across the UK, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.

This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

The Welsh Government is responsible for publishing data on NEET levels/rates in Wales and they can be found here - Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET): 2025 | GOV.WALES. The proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 in Wales who were NEET was 17.0% in the year ending December 2025.

The department continues to work closely with the Devolved Governments in the ongoing development and delivery of the Youth Guarantee across Great Britain.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to publish its completed gap analysis of freezer capacity for the fresh freezing and storage of brain tumour tissue; and if he will publish the underlying data from that analysis.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

NHS England has completed a gap analysis of the need for freezer capacity and is looking at how to support services to provide an equitable expansion of that capacity. 

The Department and NHS England will work with professional bodies, including the Royal College of Pathologists, to review tissue retention guidance and consent processes.

The Department is looking at ways to support trusts to expand freezer capacity, and will provide an update on this in the autumn.

There are no plans to publish the full gap analysis. The data is management information which is not routinely published.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his department has made of the potential public health benefits of (a) introducing a national public awareness campaign on the health impacts of air pollution and (b) updating the thresholds used in the Daily Air Quality Index.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The Government is committed to making air quality information accessible and actionable. The Environmental Improvement Plan sets out how we are working to improve public understanding of air pollution and how people can reduce their exposure.

In 2025, the Air Quality Information System steering group published their report on how to improve air quality communications. As part of this work, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs commissioned the study Ricardo report: Evaluation of the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) to evaluate whether the DAQI services are achieving the intended objectives and to provide recommendations for improvements. The report is available at the following link:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat05/2503060821_3_Daily_Air_Quality_Index_Evaluation_FINAL_REPORT.pdf

The current DAQI is based on a consideration of the evidence of health effects following short-term exposure to elevated air pollution and is aligned with most air quality indexes used in other countries

Richard Pengelly

Toxicity testing on animals

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Wales is home to a substantial and well matured defence manufacturing industry, spanning sectors including aerospace, defence-related electronics, drones, weapons, ammunition and land systems manufacturing (e.g. armoured fighting vehicles). The Welsh Government has estimated that Wales’ combined defence and aerospace sector directly employs 16,000 people, has a turnover of £3.7 billion and contributes approximately £1.5 billion in gross valued added (GVA) to the Welsh economy.

On 17 August 2026, the BBC aired a documentary titled 'Buried with Michael Sheen'. This two-part documentary raises concerns regarding the presence of PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls), otherwise known as ‘forever chemicals’ in Wales and parts of England. The documentary covered several themes which have previously been explored in the committee’s inquiry into ‘The Economic and Environmental legacy of Wales industrial past’. The Committee will take evidence on some of the issues raised in the documentary, including contaminated land, resources to remediate sites, the impact of contaminants on the environment, human health and support for affected communities.