Written questions by Swayne.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) review and (b) update the Ministers mandate for the New Forest.

The Minister’s Mandate, first introduced in 1971, is mainly concerned with the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Crown lands of the New Forest. The Protected Landscapes Duty requires relevant authorities such as Forestry England to seek to further the statutory purposes of Protected Landscapes including the New Forest. Forestry England is also subject to a range of regulations, assurance schemes, procedures and other guidance to steer its activity in the New Forest, including the New Forest Acts 1877, 1949, 1964, and 1970, Ancient Monuments & Archaeological Areas Act 1979, Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, Environment Act 1995, and Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Forestry England continues to manage the Crown lands of the New Forest to achieve a proper balance between people, nature and a working commercial forest. For this reason, there is no plan to review the Minister’s Mandate at this time.

Food and Rural Affairs, what information the Environment Agency has received from the Oceanographic School at Southampton University on hightide levels at Lymington harbour.

The Environment Agency (EA) has used a range of information from the Channel Coastal Observatory (CCO) based at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, the majority of this information is freely available from the CCO website (https://coastalmonitoring.org/southeast/). The information received includes water levels, tide gauge, wind and wave data, as well as land and sea-bed profiles and aerial photography. The information from two historic storm events has also been received which provides details about the most powerful waves experienced in the area. Past events do not necessarily represent the upper limits of what may occur in the future. Therefore, the EA has also received further analysis from the CCO that adjusts historic events to show what storms of greater severity may be like in the future.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to replace the higher level stewardship provision to commoners in the New Forest.

We want to provide these Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders with some certainty and continuity until they can move into the new ELM offer and to provide support so they can continue delivering environmental outcomes on their land. We will provide more information on timelines for rolling out the new CSHT and the reformed SFI offer in due course. Farmers with an HLS agreement that expired in 2024 were offered a two-year extension to their agreement. This will allow farmers to continue delivering land management practices in HLS agreements without interruption to the funding they receive. Defra also announced that on the 24 February 2025, that agreement holders under the Environmental Stewardship Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) will see an increase to their payment rates in the near future.

What new arrangements HM Coastguard is planning for evacuating emergency medical cases from Hurst Castle and Hurst Spit.

HM Coastguard is not implementing new arrangements for the evacuation of emergency medical cases from Hurst Castle and Hurst Spit.  In the event of a medical emergency HM Coastguard would work with our ambulance service colleagues and the site owners to assess the situation and task appropriate assets to respond, such as lifeboats, search and rescue helicopters and Coastguard Rescue Teams in line with the response to any other island or remote location around the UK coast.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing sanctions on people associated with the detention of Alaa Abd El-Fattah in Egypt.

The Government is committed to securing Mr El-Fattah's release and we continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. The Prime Minister raised the case in a letter to President Sisi on 4 May. The National Security Adviser also raised Mr-El Fattah's case with the Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on 27 April and the Foreign Secretary raised with him on 9 April.

What estimate she has made of spending on health and disability benefits by the end of the decade.

Incapacity and disability benefits spending is forecast to increase by £15.5 billion to £90.7 billion by 2029/30. This includes a rise in spending on working-age benefits from £10.3 billion to £65.4 billion. Without the 2025 Spring Statement measures, working-age benefits spending would be £4.5 billion higher by 2029/30.

What steps she is taking to restore online access to enable disabled drivers to confirm their duty-exempt status when renewing their vehicle licence.

A DWP service which enables disabled drivers to confirm their vehicle excise duty exemption when renewing their vehicle licence was upgraded on 12th March. An error with date formats affected disabled drivers with a September Date of Birth. They had to follow an alternative process to apply for exemption through the Post Office. As soon as the problem was identified, DWP Digital took steps to resolve it. The service was restored on Tuesday 22nd April at 11:09am. All disabled drivers, including those with a September date of birth, can now complete the check for duty exemption online. DWP Digital is taking steps to ensure this does not happen again with future service updates.

What steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.

The approach taken by the previous Government to address legacy was wrong. It caused immense pain to victims and survivors, and in many respects has been found to be unlawful. In December, I laid a proposal for a draft Remedial Order in Parliament, to remedy the human rights deficiencies in the Act identified by the courts, and when parliamentary time allows, I will introduce primary legislation to implement other measures to ensure that the Government fulfils the commitments it has made.

What steps he is taking to protect Royal Navy war graves in international waters.

The term “war graves” is one which applies to the final resting places of fallen soldiers on land, and locations designated as a war grave by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. However, as a matter of customary international law, all naval warships, state vessels and associated artefacts are afforded protection through the principle of Sovereign Immunity. The UK is of the view that, unless expressly relinquished or abandoned by the Flag State, the Sovereign Immunity of the wreck of any Crown vessel remains in place, regardless of where the wreck in question is located, and those who lost their lives in service of our country should be left in situ and undisturbed. Some warships are also afforded additional protection under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

What steps he is taking to (a) mitigate the impact for consumers of the recent increase in the energy price cap and (b) ensure that retail energy costs fall in line with wholesale prices.

Energy bills are forecast to rise for the period 1 April to 30 June 2025 due to an increase in international gas prices. The Government believes the only way to protect consumers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. We continue to monitor energy prices and the price cap and are working to ensure bills are affordable for consumers in the long-term, including through our work with Ofgem to reform standing charges, and through our Warm Homes Plan which will upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

If he will implement an energy debt relief scheme available to all customers.

In December, Ofgem published an updated debt strategy which included two consultations; one of which proposed an energy debt relief scheme for consumers who accrued debt during the energy crisis. The second consulted on ways to improve debt standards, guaranteeing high standards of care and customer service for those in debt. Both of these consultations have now closed and Ofgem will carefully consider the feedback received. We stand ready to work closely with them on their findings. On 25 February, we announced that we will be working to accelerate work with Ofgem on this potential energy debt scheme, helping consumers in significant debt to bring down their level of debt down and support them to pay for their energy moving forward.

What discussions her Department has had with Apple Inc. on the continuing provision of its advanced data protection system in the UK.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.

If she will make it her policy to abolish clawback by pension providers.

The aim of integrated or so-called ‘clawback’ schemes is to provide, overall, the same level of benefits before and after a person reaches State Pension age. A higher amount of occupational pension is paid before the member begins to receives their State Pension, thereby smoothing benefit income over time. The Government has no plans to abolish the provision of integrated pensions.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the development of new agricultural technologies.

The Government recognises the importance of innovation and technologies in supporting farmers to drive productivity and profitability, boosting Britain’s food security and improving nature’s recovery. The Government is supporting the development of agricultural technologies through a range of policies. Defra has announced the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) Fund which will launch in Spring 2025, enabling farmer-led trials to bridge the gap between new technologies and their real-world application. Legislation to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 will be introduced in Parliament before the end of March. When in force, this will enable farmers to grow crops with higher yields and that are more resistant to drought, pests and diseases. Defra will collaborate closely with industry partners, such as The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture, a professional body established in 2021 that aims to drive greater uptake of professional skills, including in relation to new technologies, among farmers and growers for a more prosperous Sector. Defra will continue to look carefully at how to position future investment and support to enable the benefits of new technologies to be fully realised and integrated into farming practices.

Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned increase in employer National Insurance contributions on charities.

The Government highly values the charity sector, and its positive contribution across society.Due to the difficult economic inheritance from the previous government, we have had to take a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability.The Government has considered the implication of this policy change on the charity sector, and the impacts have been published in the usual way by HMRC as part of the Autumn Budget process.A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), which gives a clear explanation of the policy objective and an assessment of the impacts, was published alongside the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill on 13 November 2024. This Note includes the impacts of the policy on the Exchequer; the economic impacts of the policy; and the impacts on individuals, businesses, civil society organisations and equality impacts.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of temporarily closing the capital grants scheme for new applications on farmers.

We have allocated the largest ever budget for sustainable food production through the farming budget. In the first week of December, we paid £343 million into the rural economy, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers. After unprecedented demand, parts of the...

What steps she is taking to enable private schools to register for VAT.

Since the announcement on 29 July, HMRC has extensive taken action to support private schools and has allocated additional resource to process VAT registration applications.HMRC has published bespoke guidance for schools, as well hosting live webinars to ...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the UN implements the recommendations of the Final Report of the Independent Review of Mechanisms and Procedures to En

The government is confident that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is taking action to ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality and is strengthening its procedures. £1 million of the £21 mill...

What discussions she has had with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education on a Level 7 apprenticeship qualification for teachers of sensory impairment; and when the apprenticeship is expected

The department recognises the significant impact this profession has on the lives of children and families, and is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including children with a ...

Whether he plans to take further steps to encourage NHS Hospital Trusts to adopt the GIRFT pathway for Cauda Equina Syndrome.

We are aware of the challenges faced by those living with rare diseases such as Cauda Equina Syndrome and remain committed to making improvements across the healthcare system through implementation of the UK Rare Diseases Framework. The Getting It Right F...