Steve Yemm

The Insolvency Service is tackling abusive phoenixism, working in close partnership with HMRC and Companies House to combat these wrongful activities. A coordinated action plan has been agreed, and an implementation plan is underway. Key measures include, closing loopholes in company registration and dissolution processes; increasing our compliance impact through targeted enforcement; and improving the quantity and quality of referrals for enforcement action in order to maximise enforcement outcomes, including director disqualifications and prosecutions.

We are delivering the £150 Warm Home Discount to eligible customers – including those with Pre Payment Meters – to support them with their bills.

Ofgem has introduced stringent rules for the involuntary installation of Pre Payment Meters, helping to ensure vulnerable households are protected. Through our review of Ofgem, we will make sure that the regulator is a proper consumer champion that stands up for the interests of billpayers across the country.

Electric vehicle owners who have access to private charging facilities can fuel their vehicles for much less than it costs to fuel a combustion engine car. Further savings can be made if owners use smart charging, so that their electric vehicle batteries are charged outside of peak demand periods.

Government is however aware of the cost discrepancies between private and public charging and is working with Ofgem and others to explore measures to bring down the costs of public charging, including in the areas detailed within the Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Action Plan 2023.

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has worked closely with Cabinet colleagues, including the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to ensure alignment between the NHS’s 10-Year Health Plan, the Life Sciences Sector Plan, and the broader Industrial Strategy. This collaboration has involved joint policy development to maximise the impact of these initiatives on both public health and economic growth. These efforts will support improved health outcomes across a range of areas, including cancer. This includes contributing to the aims of the National Cancer Plan through continued investment in research, innovation, and data infrastructure.

Defra undertakes due diligence assessments on Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes in order to understand and mitigate programmatic risks and gain assurance on capacity and capability of delivery partners. Following best practice, Defra commissioned comprehensive due diligence on the Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) prior to funding. This objectively assessed LLF against a wide range of indicators, including programme delivery, safeguarding and risk management. Particularly related to Indigenous Peoples, the due diligence considered LLF’s detailed Environmental & Social Management System, which informs risk analysis and mitigation in its landscapes, and LLF’s requirements around Indigenous Peoples’ Plans, which aim to ensure programme funding fosters full respect for the identity, dignity, human rights, economies, and cultures of Indigenous peoples. Overall, the due diligence scored the fund positively against the indicators assessed.

The Government has seen no evidence that dog meat is being sold or consumed in this country. There are strict rules for food businesses on the slaughter and production of meat for human consumption in the United Kingdom and dog or cat meat would not be permitted under these requirements. We also have specific laws on the sale of food in England which are enforced under the Novel Foods Regulation 2018. These regulations make it an offence to sell dog or cat meat in England.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as scleroderma. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community. These include helping patients get a final diagnosis faster; increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals; better coordination of care; and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We published the annual England Rare Diseases Action Plan in February 2025, where we report on the steps we have taken to advance these priorities.

Pioneering research is an underpinning theme of the Framework. The Department for Health and Social Care funds and supports research into rare diseases such as scleroderma through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including rare diseases. The usual practice of the NIHR and other research funders is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics.

The 2025 England Rare Disease Action Plan includes information on research for rare diseases through significant investments to support rare disease research. This includes the Rare Disease Research UK Platform, a £14 million investment over five years from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and NIHR, announced in 2023, which is now established and positioned well within the rare disease research landscape. In December 2024, the MRC launched the first two MRC Centres of Research Excellence, both studying gene therapies, and each worth up to £50 million over 14 years.

The National Health Service continues to prioritise improving cancer screening uptake. Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will build on the three shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, including from sickness to prevention, to diagnose cancers earlier. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, the NHS will reach patients earlier, to catch illness before it spreads, and to prevent it in the first place.

Furthermore, in March 2025, NHS England published its Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 – plan for England, setting out how the NHS will improve equitable uptake and coverage across cervical screening to meet the goal to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. Further information on the Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 – plan for England is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/cervical-cancer-elimination-by-2040-plan-for-england/

From January 2026, screening providers in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England will be able to offer human papillomavirus self-sampling kits to women if they have not attended their appointment for six months or more following routine invitation.

The NHS is also planning to publish a Breast Screening Programme Uptake Improvement Plan to help improve uptake and address inequalities. NHS England also launched the first ever national NHS Breast screening campaign to widespread media attention. It ran across television, radio, social media, and outdoor advertising during February and March 2025, targeting women of breast screening age, with a focus on those least likely to attend, including younger women, those in deprived areas, ethnic minorities, and disabled women.

The bowel cancer screening standards have recently been reviewed, with changes taking effect from 1 April 2025. This will update the achievable and acceptable thresholds for both uptake and coverage. To further increase coverage, NHS England is delivering new approaches to communicating with people about screening through the NHS App and improving the way eligible people are identified and invited for screening through the transformation of screening programme digital services.

The following table shows the number of additional elective appointments at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the period July to November 2023, and the corresponding period in 2024:

Source: NHS England

Note: These data are consistent with the publication of additional elective appointments on 16 February which includes those scope of the Value Weighted Activity metric with the key diagnostic times from diagnostic waiting times statistics. It excludes outpatient appointments without procedure and elective admissions for endoscopies to avoid double-counting of diagnostics. The scope of this data is limited to elective services consistent with consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times. It excludes emergency care, maternity and mental health services.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims, wherever possible, to issue recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded around the time of licensing, to support rapid patient access to clinically and cost-effective new medicines.

The NICE has introduced the cost-comparison process for the appraisal of lower risk treatments where a lighter-touch approach is considered appropriate. The cost-comparison process enables the NICE to make recommendations on medicines within 100 working days compared with 195 days for a standard appraisal, freeing up resources for more complex appraisals. In 2024, the NICE carried out appraisals through its cost-comparison process on average 83 days faster than its standard process.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims, wherever possible, to issue recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded around the time of licensing, to support rapid patient access to clinically and cost-effective new medicines.

The NICE has introduced the cost-comparison process for the appraisal of lower risk treatments where a lighter-touch approach is considered appropriate. The cost-comparison process enables the NICE to make recommendations on medicines within 100 working days compared with 195 days for a standard appraisal, freeing up resources for more complex appraisals. In 2024, the NICE carried out appraisals through its cost-comparison process on average 83 days faster than its standard process.

The clashes along the Cambodia-Thailand border in July were a cause for serious concern. The Government welcomed the ceasefire agreement reached on 28 July, as well as the subsequent framework established to support its implementation. Since then, we have consistently encouraged both parties to uphold the ceasefire and to foster mutual trust and understanding.

Officials from our Embassies in Thailand and Cambodia have conducted site visits to the affected areas to assess the situation first-hand. We continue to work closely with our international partners to support efforts by both countries to de-escalate tensions, strengthen dialogue and maintain lasting peace along the border.

The UK is committed to championing LGBT+ human rights around the world; this work is enabled by our global, £40 million LGBT+ rights programme which supports organisations such as 'United in Health and Agriculture Improvement - East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative', which is Africa's first indigenous activist fund that advances the human rights of LGBT+ persons. The UK proudly defends and promotes universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Through the £28.3 million Delivering Sustainable and Equitable increases in Family Planning programme (2019-2025), the UK has strengthened family planning in Kenya through contributing towards averting over 1.72 million unintended pregnancies, averting over 4,500 maternal deaths and over 400,000 unsafe abortions. UK co-funding of the Kenya Maternal and Newborn Health programme supports an emergency transport system in Kenya, using mobile technology to connect pregnant women to care when needed during pregnancy and childbirth.

Children are disproportionately at risk from the effects of climate change, and children and young people will be at the forefront of shaping a resilient, sustainable future. The UK-led Glasgow Climate Pact urges Parties and stakeholders to ensure meaningful youth participation and representation in multilateral, national and local decision-making processes. We have championed this approach at COP29, with the Minister of State for Development meeting with youth climate activists from developing countries, and UK Special Representative for Climate Rachel Kyte attending events alongside universities and the UN Youth Office to highlight the critical role of youth in climate action.

Through the Defence Industrial Strategy, this Government will be prioritising spend with UK businesses.

Over recent months I have chaired 12 roundtables with 112 UK SMEs and mid-tiers, across all nations and regions of the UK, hearing about how the Government can make it simpler for UK businesses to access more Ministry of Defence work. We are committed to reforming the Ministry of Defence procurement system to reduce waste, speed up decision making and opening access to a wider range of British businesses.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for setting pay and terms and conditions for their staff. There is no role for the department in this process.

We are supporting councils to fix the foundations by reviewing the underlying funding formula, bringing back multiyear settlements and targeting high demand areas like Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, SEND and Temporary Accommodation.

The government understand the importance of safeguarding grassroots music venues that may be at risk due to development which affects them. The agent of change policy in the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that in such circumstances the developer is expected to put suitable mitigation measures in place, and that in no circumstances should an existing business or community facility face unreasonable restrictions on its operation as a result of new development.