Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many emergency workers have died by suicide each year since 2015.

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

Every suicide is a tragedy that has devastating and enduring impacts on families, friends and communities. The Government recognises the demanding nature of working in emergency settings, and that staff may require more complex mental wellbeing support due to the traumatic nature of their jobs. National Health Service staff are able to access mental health support through their general practice, as well as support provided by their employer through employee assistance programmes or occupational health. NHS England also offers a range of health and wellbeing resources including the Practitioner Health service that provides specialist mental health support.

The Department does not hold this data. Data relating to numbers of suicides in England and Wales are published regularly by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). ONS occasionally also publishes ad hoc analysis of suicide numbers by standard occupational classifications. Whilst this data does not allow identification of the employer, such as the NHS, it does present suicide numbers by broad occupation categories. The latest ad hoc publication is available at the following link:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/2726suicidebyoccupationinenglandandwales2023and2024provisional

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost per megalitre of water produced over an eighty-year lifespan of Teddington Direct River Abstraction.

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

The Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) project is being developed as a scheme intended to operate intermittently, during periods of drought, rather than as a continuously operating water supply source. The actual volume of water that TDRA may provide over an eighty-year period would depend on future drought frequency, severity, operational requirements and planning assumptions over that period.

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 effectiveness of indirect potable reuse schemes in improving London’s water supply resilience.

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

Water reuse (water recycling) plays a key role in helping to improve water supply resilience.

Water companies have a statutory duty to provide a secure supply of water for customers and set out how they plan to continue to supply water to their customers through statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs).

Where selected in WRMPs, indirect potable reuse (water recycling) schemes have been fully assessed to ensure they form part of the best package of options across a region to manage supplies. They are subject to ongoing assessment through the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) programme to ensure appropriate design and permit.

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 efficacy of an indirect potable reuse schemes for direct discharge to reservoirs as an environment buffer.

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

Indirect potable reuse (water recycling) uses an environmental buffer before abstracting water into drinking water treatment and supply. This environmental buffer can be a reservoir. There are few schemes in operation currently, but water recycling will play an increasingly important role in meeting future demand.

Water companies planning to utilise water recycling to supplement their raw water are required to ensure that all regulatory requirements in the drinking water quality legislation are met at all times, to ensure that the drinking water supply remains wholesome. The Drinking Water Inspectorate issued guidance for companies on this matter.

Water companies are required to assess the risk of any new raw water sources and review and update their Drinking Water Safety Plans to ensure that these risks have been assessed and mitigations, such as additional treatment, are put in place if required.

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 efficacy of an indirect potable reuse scheme which would take treated sewage from Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, process it using an advanced water recycling plant using reverse osmosis to remove PFAS, and discharge the treated water into the Queen Mary Reservoir for subsequent treatment to potable water by a water treatment works.

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

Water companies explore a wide range of options, and variants of those options, through the Water Resources Management Planning process. Many of these are not taken forward due to technical, practical, or cost considerations. Any new water recycling schemes for water supply must be included by water companies in their preferred Water Resources Management Plans and developed by the company. Schemes taken forward must secure environmental permits from the Environment Agency, including water quality permits that include conditions to manage impacts from any discharge to the environment.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate carried out a research project published last year outlining that ‘reverse osmosis (RO) and nano filtration (NF) provide a near absolute barrier for passage of PFAS compounds when operated correctly’.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the government will set out a timeline for the introduction of the Clean Water Bill.

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

The Clean Water Bill was announced as part of the second Parliamentary session in the King’s Speech on 13 May. The Bill will implement many of the reforms outlined in the Government’s ‘New Vision for Water’ White Paper, published on 20 January. The Bill will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the public expenditure required for supporting rail, road and other surface-access improvements connected with Heathrow expansion.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Any expansion at Heathrow Airport, would be privately financed, including any required surface access improvements. The draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement requires any promoter of expansion to meet the full cost of associated works to the strategic and local road network and to develop a surface access strategy setting out how transport improvements, including any rail schemes needed to support the required mode share targets, will be funded.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the cost of relocating or rebuilding the M25 and other affected roads as part of any Heathrow expansion project.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government has been clear that if Heathrow expansion proceeds it will be privately financed. Any works required to the strategic or local road networks, including the M25, would form part of the promoter’s cost estimates for its scheme. The costs of such works will depend on the final scheme design brought forward by the promoter and would be subject to scrutiny through the development consent process.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of Heathrow expansion on passenger charges, airline ticket prices and the competitiveness of regional airports.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government recognises the importance of keeping air travel affordable for passengers and airlines. Heathrow's airport charges are regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which has a statutory duty to further the interests of users of air transport services. In setting Heathrow's regulatory framework, the CAA considers the impact of airport charges on consumers and seeks to ensure that such charges are justified.

The Government also supports competition across the UK aviation sector, including at regional airports, and supports regional air connectivity through a range of measures, such as Public Service Obligations. The potential impacts of Heathrow expansion on passengers, airlines and connectivity are considered through the relevant regulatory and planning processes. Relevant analysis was published alongside the consultation on the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement, including forecasts of passenger numbers and aircraft movements.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has independently verified Heathrow Airport Limited’s projected cost of expansion.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) makes clear that potential promoters should seek to minimise costs where possible. Given the long-term nature of the expansion programme and significant costs that will likely be involved, the Government will consider the affordability of any proposed expansion scheme as part of the Development Consent Order planning process.

Responsibility for scrutinising the efficiency of expansion costs, including those proposed by Heathrow Airport Limited, sits with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as the independent economic regulator. The Department continues to work closely with the CAA as it develops the regulatory framework for expansion and considers the appropriate arrangements for cost scrutiny and oversight.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer provided on 14th July 2026, to Question 16496, on Water Abstraction: (a) what determination she made of the flow rate, measured at the Kingston gauge, that would trigger operation of the Teddington Direct River Abstraction Scheme, and (b) given that trigger event and based on historical river flow data, what assessment has she made of the average incremental cost per megalitre over the lifetime of the scheme.

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

The proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction is an intermittent drought resilience scheme triggered by river flow and reservoir storage conditions through the Lower Thames Control Diagram and does not have a single flow-rate trigger at the Kingston gauge.

Thames Water's Gate 3 submission indicates operation may be triggered when naturalised flow over Teddington Weir falls to around 3,000 Ml/d on average for 10 days during a qualifying drought event, alongside relevant reservoir storage thresholds.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to address the temporary accommodation subsidy gap.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

This Government is focused on delivering long-term solutions to reduce homelessness and reliance on temporary accommodation, including increasing the supply of affordable and social housing. We are also working to ensure that temporary accommodation represents good value for money and is sustainable for local authorities as demand continues to rise. The Department is working closely with other Government departments, including MHCLG and HM Treasury, as part of wider cross-government work on homelessness, including considering how the system can sustainably fund good-quality temporary accommodation. The Department continues to keep Housing Benefit subsidy arrangements for temporary accommodation under review as part of this work.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment was made of the relative requirements of the Lee Valley reservoirs compared with the Northern Lower Thames reservoirs in times of drought in 2022.

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

In 2022 the Environment Agency declared a drought in south east England. This resulted in lower than average flows in the River Thames, reducing the volumes that could be abstracted and stored in reservoirs in London, including the Queen Mary, Queen Mother and Wraysbury reservoirs.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of (a) the daily quantity of raw water that the Teddington Direct River Abstraction Scheme would supply to reservoirs for onward transport to water treatment works, and (b) what the percentage of the total daily raw water demand required by London’s water treatment plants would be supplied by the Teddington Direct River Abstraction Scheme.

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

The proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) supplies 67Ml/d during droughts. London’s water use is just under 2000Ml/d. Therefore, TDRA contributes just over 3% of Thames Water’s total demand in London and is needed to provide drought resilience to supply.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what level of public subsidy she is willing to provide to support expansion at Heathrow.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government has been clear that Heathrow expansion should be privately financed. It is for promoters of expansion to bring forward detailed proposals, including the costs and financing arrangements for their schemes. We will continue to assess issues of affordability and financeability as part of our wider consideration of any future proposals, while ensuring that taxpayers' interests are protected.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what are the average wait times for processing probates at the Probate Office each year since 2015.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness and open caseload in the quarterly Family Court Statistics bulletin, available at: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.

Published data on probate timeliness by application type are available from Q3 2019 to Q1 2026. HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold equivalent data for the period from Q1 2015 to Q1 2019. While an overall timeliness figure is available for Q2 2019, data disaggregated by application type is not available. Consequently, a complete annual figure for 2019 cannot be provided.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the current average wait time for processing probates at the Probate Office.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness and open caseload in the quarterly Family Court Statistics bulletin, available at: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.

Published data on probate timeliness by application type are available from Q3 2019 to Q1 2026. HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold equivalent data for the period from Q1 2015 to Q1 2019. While an overall timeliness figure is available for Q2 2019, data disaggregated by application type is not available. Consequently, a complete annual figure for 2019 cannot be provided.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (No. 2)

Russian sanctions

International Court of Justice's July 2024 Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Seven-year anniversary of the mixed-aged couples’ rule

Found: Lowe (Restore Britain; Great Yarmouth) Catherine McKinnell (Labour; Newcastle upon Tyne North) Sarah Olney

Found: Lowe (Restore Britain; Great Yarmouth) Catherine McKinnell (Labour; Newcastle upon Tyne North) Sarah Olney

Found: present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Sarah Hall; Catherine McKinnell; Sarah Olney

Found: present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Sarah Hall; Catherine McKinnell; Sarah Olney

Found: doctors assessing capacity, coercion and consent are somehow new”.55 In public bill committee, Sarah Olney

No description available