Written questions by Ribeiro-Addy.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of mixed-fibre textiles on textile recycling; and whether he plans to introduce eco-modulated fees to promote the use of recyclable materials.

This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. The Government has convened a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts to help develop the first ever Circular Economy Strategy for England, which we plan to publish for consultation in the coming autumn. The Circular Economy Taskforce will initially focus on six sectors that have the greatest potential to grow the economy: textiles; agri-food; built environment; chemicals and plastics; electrical and electronic equipment; and transport. The Taskforce has been extensively engaging with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders to ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved. As we develop the strategy, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and alongside The Circular Economy Taskforce we will assess what interventions may be needed across the textiles sector. The Taskforce will consider evidence across a range of interventions.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for textiles will include obligations for (a) producers and (b) importers to contribute to downstream waste management costs in countries where UK origin textiles are received.

This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. The Government has convened a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts to help develop the first ever Circular Economy Strategy for England, which we plan to publish for consultation in the coming autumn. The Circular Economy Taskforce will initially focus on six sectors that have the greatest potential to grow the economy: textiles; agri-food; built environment; chemicals and plastics; electrical and electronic equipment; and transport. The Taskforce has been extensively engaging with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders to ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved. As we develop the strategy, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and alongside The Circular Economy Taskforce we will assess what interventions may be needed across the textiles sector. The Taskforce will consider evidence across a range of interventions.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to include digital product passports within the (a) Extended Producer Responsibility framework and (b) Circular Economy Strategy.

This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. The Government has convened a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts to help develop the first ever Circular Economy Strategy for England, which we plan to publish for consultation in the coming autumn. The Circular Economy Taskforce will initially focus on six sectors that have the greatest potential to grow the economy: textiles; agri-food; built environment; chemicals and plastics; electrical and electronic equipment; and transport. The Taskforce has been extensively engaging with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders to ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved. As we develop the strategy, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and alongside The Circular Economy Taskforce we will assess what interventions may be needed across the textiles sector. The Taskforce will consider evidence across a range of interventions.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce export controls under the textile Extended Producer Responsibility framework to ensure that producers contribute to (a) recycling and (b) end-of-life infrastructure in countries receiving UK textile exports.

This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. The Government has convened a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts to help develop the first ever Circular Economy Strategy for England, which we plan to publish for consultation in the coming autumn. The Circular Economy Taskforce will initially focus on six sectors that have the greatest potential to grow the economy: textiles; agri-food; built environment; chemicals and plastics; electrical and electronic equipment; and transport. The Taskforce has been extensively engaging with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders to ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved. As we develop the strategy, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and alongside The Circular Economy Taskforce we will assess what interventions may be needed across the textiles sector. The Taskforce will consider evidence across a range of interventions.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will invite (a) Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, (b) textile traders, (c) recycling operators and (d) designers to participate in a (i) collaborative pilot and (ii) formal working group on international textile value chains.

The UK Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy domestically, and support this transition globally, to deliver growth, green jobs, and promote efficient and productive use of resources including in the textiles sector. The UK is modernising its approach to international development, moving from an aid donor to an investor. We want to partner with countries like Ghana to create economic growth and trading opportunities for both our countries. The UK and Ghana share a long-standing mutual relationship built on trust, openness and partnership, and this is something we will continue to strengthen together. While the department does not currently have any specific plans to support and co-finance textile recycling and waste infrastructure in Ghana, the UK Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) programme has mobilised over £125 million in investment across key sectors like garments, automotive, and pharmaceuticals, creating 5,000+ jobs and enabling exports of textiles across Africa and to the UK. Through the JET programme, the UK is supporting Ghana to deliver a Textiles and Garment Policy. The draft policy is currently under public consultation before submission to the Ghanaian cabinet. The policy includes prescriptions for regulatory and other policy incentives to encourage private investment into recycling plants or other investment in support of a circular economy. This aims to enhance public-private partnerships.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on the implementation of the Automatic-sorting for Circularity in Textiles UK pilot; what funding he has provided to that pilot; and what safeguards are in place to ensure that materials processed through that scheme are retained for domestic reprocessing.

The total cost of the Autosort for Circular Textiles Innovation Demonstrator was £4,128,228, with nearly £1.5 million of funding provided by industry and private investors. One of the project’s aims was to ensure that the processed material was retained through domestic reprocessing. UK Fashion and Textile served as the lead partner, with supporting the UK textile manufacturing sector as one of their key objectives.In addition, Innovate UK provided robust monitoring throughout the project to ensure it remained within its original scope, which we can confirm it did. Although the funding phase has concluded, we continue to support this project and its partners to generate economic value that can be retained within the UK. This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. The Government has convened a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts to help develop the first ever Circular Economy Strategy for England, which we plan to publish for consultation in the coming autumn. The Circular Economy Taskforce will initially focus on six sectors that have the greatest potential to grow the economy: textiles; agri-food; built environment; chemicals and plastics; electrical and electronic equipment; and transport. The Circular Economy Taskforce will assess what interventions may be needed across the textiles sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to (a) support and (b) co-finance (i) textile recycling and (ii) waste infrastructure in Ghana through (A) UK aid, (B) public–private partnerships and (C) other bilateral arrangements.

The UK Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy domestically, and support this transition globally, to deliver growth, green jobs, and promote efficient and productive use of resources including in the textiles sector. The UK is modernising its approach to international development, moving from an aid donor to an investor. We want to partner with countries like Ghana to create economic growth and trading opportunities for both our countries. The UK and Ghana share a long-standing mutual relationship built on trust, openness and partnership, and this is something we will continue to strengthen together. While the department does not currently have any specific plans to support and co-finance textile recycling and waste infrastructure in Ghana, the UK Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) programme has mobilised over £125 million in investment across key sectors like garments, automotive, and pharmaceuticals, creating 5,000+ jobs and enabling exports of textiles across Africa and to the UK. Through the JET programme, the UK is supporting Ghana to deliver a Textiles and Garment Policy. The draft policy is currently under public consultation before submission to the Ghanaian cabinet. The policy includes prescriptions for regulatory and other policy incentives to encourage private investment into recycling plants or other investment in support of a circular economy. This aims to enhance public-private partnerships.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will conduct a formal review of the regulation of veterinary prices.

The Competition and Market Authority is conducting a market investigation into the provision of veterinary services for household pets. Defra will consider any remedies they propose in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the prevalence of corporate veterinary chains on average vet costs.

The Competition and Market Authority is conducting a market investigation into the provision of veterinary services for household pets. Defra will consider any remedies they propose in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing pricing guidance to veterinary practices to increase transparency around service costs.

The Competition and Market Authority is conducting a market investigation into the provision of veterinary services for household pets. Defra will consider any remedies they propose in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of trends in the level of average vet costs in (a) London and (b) the rest of the UK.

Defra has not completed an assessment of any changes in the average costs for veterinary care. The Competition and Market Authority is conducting a market investigation into the provision of veterinary services for household pets. Defra will consider any remedies they propose in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department offers to (a) independent and (b) not-for-profit veterinary practices.

Veterinary practices are private entities and therefore not directly supported by Defra. The Competition and Market Authority is conducting a market investigation into the provision of veterinary services for household pets. Defra will consider any remedies they propose in due course.

If he will publish a breakdown of the performance of Allied Universal (G4S) against the key performance indicators at the most recent performance review on their integrated security and technology services contracts with the Government Property Agency.

The Government Property Agency (GPA) is currently investigating clarifying consistent performance metrics of all of its supply chain partners with a view to publishing on agreement.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of its use of algorithmic decision-making tools on levels of risk of (a) bias and (b) discrimination.

DWP is committed to regularly assessing AI use in the Department to ensure it meets business needs, is quality assured, and does not lead to a risk of discrimination or harm. In some areas, the Department uses automated decision-making to make benefit awards, but AI is not used as part of that process. DWP has a legal requirement to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place when carrying out automated decision-making or the use of AI, using tools such as Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and fairness assessments to highlight any potential bias or discrimination risks associated with AI and automation. The Department carries out regular checks to ensure our systems are working as intended.

Whether her Department collects data on (a) errors and (b) false positives arising from algorithmic fraud detection tools.

DWP is committed to processing data lawfully, proportionately, and ethically, with meaningful human input and safeguards in place to protect individuals. “Algorithmic fraud detection tool” is not a term we use in DWP however, the department develops, tests, and invests in advanced analytics to support the detection of fraud and error. Currently, the UC Advances model is the only machine learning model deployed at scale in live service. On the 17th July, the Department published a fairness assessment of the UC Advances model, which includes consideration of the model’s performance. The model remains an effective fraud prevention control, performing approximately three times better than a control group in identifying high-risk advances.Fairness assessment including statistical analysis of the Universal Credit advances machine learning model: 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 - GOV.UK

Whether benefit claimants are informed when their claims are assessed using algorithmic tools.

DWP’s Personal Information Charter (PIC) (Personal information charter - Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK) outlines how DWP processes personal data related to and its use of both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automated Decision Making (ADM). DWP does not use AI to replace human judgement to determine or deny a payment to a claimant.

How many benefit decisions made using (a) automated and (b) AI-assisted systems have been overturned on appeal since 2020.

No Artificial Intelligence is currently deployed to make decisions regarding benefit entitlement or value in isolation. There is automation in some benefit processes but decisions regarding entitlement and value will have a human decision maker involved.

Whether any of the algorithmic systems used by her Department are subject to independent oversight.

The Department is committed to publishing details of its use of complex algorithms in line with the cross-Government Algorithmic Transparency Reporting Standard (ATRS). We also engage with external bodies, such as the Information Commissioner's Office, the National Audit Office, and Parliament as required.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) transparency and (b) accountability in its use of AI systems in public services.

We have AI governance in place to ensure we use AI in a safe, ethical, and transparent way. DWP is committed to publishing details of its use of algorithms against the cross-Government Algorithmic Transparency Reporting Standard (ATRS). We ensure our generative AI tools can trace outputs back to the source data so that humans can understand how the output has been created. Outputs from our use of AI technology are traceable for governance purposes.

If she will make it her policy to eradicate destitution by 2035.

The Government is committed to tackling poverty, including deep poverty across the UK. The Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach to delivering lasting change, as reflected in the proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper. We have also commenced reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and announcing the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.