Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made any recent representations to Nigeria on the security situation for Christians in northern Nigeria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government regularly advocates for the protections of all vulnerable communities, including religious minorities, through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora as well as raising Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) directly with the Government of Nigeria. In his meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives on 22 January, the Minister for Africa raised the importance of FoRB and resolving intercommunal conflict and tensions. Additionally, through our Strengthening Peace and Resilience programme (SPRiNG) the UK is providing £38 million to help tackle the root causes of intercommunal conflict and reduce rural violence in northwest and north-central Nigeria, including by supporting collaboration and productive livelihoods for both farmers and pastoralists, and strengthening conflict early warning, management and response.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to ensure that (a) Newport West and Islwyn, (b) Welsh communities and (c) Britain has access to (i) affordable and (ii) covered tennis and padel facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sport England provides long term investment to the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel tennis in Britain. It receives up to £10.2 million for five years to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives that will benefit everyone.
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme is focused on investment into sports pitches and ancillary facilities, like changing rooms and clubhouses.
All future funding of sports facilities beyond 2025/26 will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Sport policy is devolved but we continue to engage closely with partners in Wales across various areas including facilities investment.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the development of new padel facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sport England provides long term investment to the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel tennis in Britain. It receives up to £10.2 million for five years to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives that will benefit everyone.
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme is focused on investment into sports pitches and ancillary facilities, like changing rooms and clubhouses.
All future funding of sports facilities beyond 2025/26 will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Sport policy is devolved but we continue to engage closely with partners in Wales across various areas including facilities investment.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme will provide funding for (a) tennis and (b) padel facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sport England provides long term investment to the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel tennis in Britain. It receives up to £10.2 million for five years to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives that will benefit everyone.
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme is focused on investment into sports pitches and ancillary facilities, like changing rooms and clubhouses.
All future funding of sports facilities beyond 2025/26 will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Sport policy is devolved but we continue to engage closely with partners in Wales across various areas including facilities investment.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to provide funding for (a) tennis and (b) padel facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sport England provides long term investment to the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel tennis in Britain. It receives up to £10.2 million for five years to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives that will benefit everyone.
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme is focused on investment into sports pitches and ancillary facilities, like changing rooms and clubhouses.
All future funding of sports facilities beyond 2025/26 will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Sport policy is devolved but we continue to engage closely with partners in Wales across various areas including facilities investment.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on when the Animal Welfare Committee will start work on its project on the welfare of decapod crustaceans in the supply chain.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A project on the “welfare of decapod crustaceans across the supply chain in the UK” is included in the Animal Welfare Committee work plan (available on the AWC website).
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislation to ban deliberate breeding of domestic cats with any non-domestic felid species.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government welcomes the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices. We are carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Table 7.3 : Experimental procedures by species of animal: regulatory use by origin of legislative requirement, Great Britain 2014 to 2023 of her Department’s Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2023, published on 11 September 2024, which UK legislative requirements were intended to be satisfied by the 12 procedures carried out on beagles.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
With reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2023, Table 7.3, the 12 procedures carried out on beagles were to satisfy legislative requirements on the testing of medicinal products for human use.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has had discussions with the European Chemicals Agency to ensure that animal tests are not duplicated in the EU when the test has already been approved to fulfil requirements for the same chemical under UK REACH.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Animal testing of chemical substances is permitted under UK REACH only as a measure of last resort; this principle is reinforced by the Environment Act 2021. The last resort principle underpins the REACH testing proposal procedure. This procedure already requires that HSE, as the UK REACH Agency, must publish all testing proposals to facilitate the submission of relevant information by third parties. Moreover, UK REACH states that test methods should be regularly reviewed with a view to reducing animal testing and it encourages the use of alternative methods. The Environment Act 2021 includes powers to amend UK REACH and consultation is a legal requirement under those powers.
In 2024 the Government consulted on an Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm). The aim of the ATRm is to consider the information needs under UK REACH to provide substance hazard data in the registration dossier for UK REACH transitional registrations (for those substances previously registered on EU REACH), including the need to generate new data. The consultation also included proposals to introduce further protections against unnecessary animal testing as part of our ongoing project to improve UK REACH. We are currently considering our approach to chemicals regulation, including UK REACH. We will provide a summary of the responses during 2025.
Both UK REACH and EU REACH recognise studies performed outside the UK or the EU. This means that there is no need to repeat a study because it was previously carried out elsewhere.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 improve (a) stakeholder engagement and (b) public participation in UK REACH processes that involve the generation of new data.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Animal testing of chemical substances is permitted under UK REACH only as a measure of last resort; this principle is reinforced by the Environment Act 2021. The last resort principle underpins the REACH testing proposal procedure. This procedure already requires that HSE, as the UK REACH Agency, must publish all testing proposals to facilitate the submission of relevant information by third parties. Moreover, UK REACH states that test methods should be regularly reviewed with a view to reducing animal testing and it encourages the use of alternative methods. The Environment Act 2021 includes powers to amend UK REACH and consultation is a legal requirement under those powers.
In 2024 the Government consulted on an Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm). The aim of the ATRm is to consider the information needs under UK REACH to provide substance hazard data in the registration dossier for UK REACH transitional registrations (for those substances previously registered on EU REACH), including the need to generate new data. The consultation also included proposals to introduce further protections against unnecessary animal testing as part of our ongoing project to improve UK REACH. We are currently considering our approach to chemicals regulation, including UK REACH. We will provide a summary of the responses during 2025.
Both UK REACH and EU REACH recognise studies performed outside the UK or the EU. This means that there is no need to repeat a study because it was previously carried out elsewhere.