Every parliamentary written question tabled by Ellie Chowns this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 21–40 of 392 · this parliament
Whether the Government plans to publish data on (a) the number and outcomes of procurement challenges and (b) the costs incurred by both contracting authorities and suppliers in such cases.
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the risk of the possibility of arms supplied from the UK to the USA being used to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in Iran.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 2 April in response to Question 122968.
What assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in North Herefordshire compared with national averages.
Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of ‘respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of ‘respiratory conditions’ for North Herefordshire and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025)2025/26 (April 2025 to February 2026)North Herefordshire735700England612,876676,170Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Herefordshire can be found at the following link:https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/par/E92000001/ati/502/are/E06000019/iid/90933/age/314/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1
How many UK exports of highly hazardous substances listed in Parts II and III of GB Prior Informed Consent Regulation are exported using the waiver from explicit consent from the importing country; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of exports permissible under changes to Article 14 Chemicals (Health and Safety)(Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026.
Information about waivers used in the past five years under the Great Britain (GB) Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulations is in the table provided below: Year Exports notifiedWaivers used for export202596212 (1.2% of exports notified)202485324 (2.8% of exports notified)202391421 (2.3% of exports notified)202291922 (2.4% of exports notified)2021101725 (2.5% of exports notified) Prior to 2021, and so during the time when the United Kingdom was a member of the European Union, waivers were issued by the European Commission. The current waiver provision in the GB PIC Regulations applies hazard criteria to the use of the waiver for those chemicals that are listed under the Rotterdam Convention (i.e., those chemicals listed in Part 3 of the GB PIC list). This goes beyond what the Convention requires and potentially creates a barrier to the export of a chemical that falls within these criteria when the importing country fails to respond to repeated requests for consent to import. In order to facilitate regulatory decision-making, harmonise conditions, and create greater clarity for businesses, the draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 includes an amendment to Article 14(7) in the GB PIC Regulations. This will ensure the same waiver conditions apply to all chemicals that require explicit/prior informed consent to import.
If the Health and Safety Executive will publish a regularly updated list of GB exports of highly hazardous substances listed in Annex II and III of GB PIC that are permitted using the waiver for explicit consent, including (a) the importing country, (b) the UK company, (c) the substance exported and tonnage band and (d) the reasons for which the export met the waiver conditions.
There is no statutory requirement to publish information on waivers used under the Great Britain (GB) Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulations. However, each year, companies have to report the name of the chemical in the GB PIC list that they have exported or imported during the previous calendar year, the quantity of the chemical, and the name of the importing or exporting country. The Health and Safety Executive, as the Designated National Authority, publishes that information on its website: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pic/annual-reporting.htm.
What steps she is taking to help parents whose children cannot attend mainstream school where there are no local alternative providers.
We want more children with special educational needs and disabilities to achieve and thrive in their local mainstream school which is why we are investing in making mainstream schools more accessible.We also recognise the need for more specialist places which is why we’re supporting councils with £3.7 billion in high needs capital between 2025 and 2030. This will fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, accessibility adaptations, and special school places for those that need them.
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales to combine their flood risk assessment maps.
The Environment Agency’s (EA) flood mapping enables delivery of flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) in line with Government policy. EA flood risk is modelled differently from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) because it better supports how flood risk is managed locally and nationally. Border communities may benefit from reviewing flood risk across both nations, and customers can align both nations flood risk mapping should they choose. The EA and NRW do work closely on FCRM cross boundary planning matters.
Pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2025 to question 86273, which variables determine whether the automated system is able to identify two sets of monthly earnings in one Universal Credit assessment period.
In most cases, claimants who receive two sets of monthly earnings in one Universal Credit assessment period are identified automatically and their award is corrected. This reflects established policy intent and is implemented through system coding based on data received from HM Revenue and Customs. However, a small number of cases are not picked up by the automated process because of the complexity of the claimant’s individual circumstances. This usually arises in situations where earnings do not follow a consistent or standard pattern, making them harder for automated systems to assess accurately. This can include irregular pay patterns or variations in how employers report earnings through Real Time Information (RTI). In these cases, earnings may not follow a standard pattern that the system can correct automatically, and manual intervention is required to ensure the claimant receives the correct Universal Credit entitlement.
Whether funding to tackle water pollution caused by highways will be included in the budget of Road Investment Strategy 3.
The third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) includes funding to enable National Highway to continue delivering on its 2030 Water Quality Plan, and to mitigate pollution from a total of 190 – 250 drainage assets (outfalls and soakaways) that pose the greatest pollution risk.
What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department’s Worker priority change of circumstance service in supporting health services, such as the Ledbury Health Partnership GP surgery, to address staffing requirements.
Awaiting answer.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a introducing an expedited process for frontline healthcare organisations requiring Certificates of Sponsorship to support visa renewals.
Working alongside the DHSC-funded Regional Partnerships, UKVI have already established a process for expediting the processing of applications for the social care sector.This supports visa renewals and those care workers who have been impacted by their employer's licence being revoked. This involves a letter of support from the relevant Director for Adult Social Services (DASS) being issued to a specific UKVI mailbox which receives preferential consideration over other priority services.
What steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK-made weapons components are not used in violations of international humanitarian law by allied states.
The Business and Trade Secretary is responsible for licensing the export of military goods. In his decisions he draws on advice from the Foreign Secretary, including with regard to compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL).Under the UK’s robust export licensing criteria, the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. We review all new licence applications on this basis. We also keep all our extant licences (which typically last for two years) under continual review.Should licences be found to no longer be consistent with the criteria, the Government can amend, suspend or revoke them.
Whether any components manufactured in the UK have been supplied for use in the Tomahawk missiles used in US military operations against Iran since 28 February 2026.
The UK works closely with the US on many defence priorities, and our supply chains are of course both complex and intertwined. As part of longstanding convention, we do not comment on military operational details.
What assessment has been made of the risk of UK-made weapons components being used to inflict civilian casualties in Iran.
We are appalled by all reports of civilian deaths – in both Iran and the region. Innocent civilians should never be caught in the crossfire. The Business and Trade Secretary is responsible for licensing the export of military goods. In his decisions he draws on advice from the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary. All licences are assessed in line with the robust Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and are kept under careful and continual review as standard.
What assessment has been made of whether UK-made components used in the Tomahawk missile systems may have been involved in the strike on the Shajareh Tayyerbeh girls’s school in Minab on 28 February 2026.
We are appalled by all reports of civilian deaths – in both Iran and the region. Innocent civilians should never be caught in the crossfire. The UK works closely with the US on many defence priorities, and our supply chains are of course both complex and intertwined. As part of longstanding convention, we do not comment on military operational details. The Business and Trade Secretary is responsible for licensing the export of military goods. In his decisions he draws on advice from the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary. All licences are assessed in line with the robust Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and are kept under careful and continual review as standard.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the current Sustainable Farming Incentive break clause on farmers’ ability to effectively plan environmental improvements.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) does not include a break clause.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with small farmers on improving the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Defra has engaged over 30 stakeholder organisations on the policy design of the SFI26 offer. This engagement included farmer representatives such as the National Farmers Union and the Tenant Farmers Association, ensuring the views of smaller farm businesses were fully considered. Defra has utilised the insight gathered from this engagement to develop options and proposals for the new iteration of the scheme. Later this year Defra will open the Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in two windows: the first from June 2026 for small farms and also farms without existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements; the second from September for all farms.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is planning to take to ensure that practices around River Friendly Farming are included under the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.
SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”). The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants: CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including incentives for river friendly farming in the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.
SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”). The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants: CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to increase funding for River Friendly Farming practices under the new Sustainable Funding Incentive.
SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”). The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants: CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.