Written questions by Shannon.

What steps he is taking to increase (a) awareness and (b) understanding of primary biliary cholangitis among (i) general practitioners and (ii) other healthcare professionals.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, including non-genetic rare diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, to help patients get a final diagnosis faster, increase awareness of rare diseases amongst healthcare professionals, better coordinate care, and improve access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. All four nations of the United Kingdom have published action plans setting out how these priorities will be delivered. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish our fourth annual England action plan in 2025, which will report on progress. Actions include research to improve our understanding of the diagnostic journey and the development of innovative digital resources, making information on rare conditions easily available to healthcare professionals, including general practitioners. Continued development of educational resources through the NHS England Rare Disease Education Hub is helping to increase health care professionals’ awareness of rare conditions.

What steps his Department is taking to improve the diagnosis of primary biliary cholangitis (a) overall and (b) in women.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, including non-genetic rare diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, to help patients get a final diagnosis faster, increase awareness of rare diseases amongst healthcare professionals, better coordinate care, and improve access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. All four nations of the United Kingdom have published action plans setting out how these priorities will be delivered. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish our fourth annual England action plan in 2025, which will report on progress. Actions include research to improve our understanding of the diagnostic journey and the development of innovative digital resources, making information on rare conditions easily available to healthcare professionals, including general practitioners. Continued development of educational resources through the NHS England Rare Disease Education Hub is helping to increase health care professionals’ awareness of rare conditions.

What plans his Department has to improve patient care for (a) primary biliary cholangitis and (b) other non-genetic rare diseases.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, including non-genetic rare diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, to help patients get a final diagnosis faster, increase awareness of rare diseases amongst healthcare professionals, better coordinate care, and improve access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. All four nations of the United Kingdom have published action plans setting out how these priorities will be delivered. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish our fourth annual England action plan in 2025, which will report on progress. Actions include research to improve our understanding of the diagnostic journey and the development of innovative digital resources, making information on rare conditions easily available to healthcare professionals, including general practitioners. Continued development of educational resources through the NHS England Rare Disease Education Hub is helping to increase health care professionals’ awareness of rare conditions.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the number of school children that are in absolute poverty.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.This government is committed to tackling child poverty as part of our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in low-income families. This not only harms children’s lives now, but it also damages their future prospects and holds back our society and economy.The Ministerial taskforce on child poverty, which met for the first time on 14 August, will drive forward action across government to reduce child poverty by developing and publishing a long-term strategy later this year. Further details on the taskforce can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy.The Child Poverty Taskforce recognises families' ability to afford essentials as a fundamental aspect of child poverty. Addressing absolute poverty is a core focus of the work being developed through the child poverty strategy.Additionally, we are taking steps to reduce the cost of living, including extending the Household Support Fund, taking action on the high cost of branded school uniforms, and our commitment to rolling out free school breakfast clubs for primary school age children from April this year.

What steps her Department is taking to encourage people with physical illnesses to work from home.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. As part of the Get Britain Working plans the Government is launching Keep Britain Working, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. We want people to avoid poverty, and for this to happen we must ensure that disabled people and people with health conditions have the opportunity to work and save for as long as they wish and are able to. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. Through the Employment Rights Bill we are taking steps to improve the Right to Request Flexible Working so that an application is only refused if it is not reasonably feasible. Flexible working can include home working. Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, and the Disability Confident scheme. We also have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.

What steps she is taking to tackle anti-semitism in schools.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The government has committed £7 million of funding to tackle antisemitism in education in the wake of the unacceptable rise of antisemitism across the country. £500,000 of this has already been awarded to the University Jewish Chaplaincy to continue providing welfare support for Jewish students on our university campuses.A £4.35 million Tackling Antisemitism in Education procurement closed for tender applications on 16 January 2025, these are due to be evaluated. This procurement seeks to equip staff from across England’s educational settings with training and resources to build confidence to identify and deal with incidents of antisemitism.​The remaining funding will go towards a future Tackling Antisemitism in Education innovation fund to help tackle and build resilience to antisemitism and hate, focusing on how to identify and appropriately tackle mis- and disinformation. Further details on the innovation fund will be provided in due course.The department’s Educate Against Hate website provides schools, teachers and pupils with a vast range of accessible resources that are reviewed and updated to build resilience and awareness to extremism. Educate Against Hate has a dedicated page to antisemitism which features online resources and educational material, including provided by the Community Security Trust.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of aid sent to Ukraine to help track down Russian war criminals.

The UK has provided £10.7 million in aid supporting Ukraine's domestic work to document, investigate, and prosecute war crimes. This includes launching the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group in May 2022 in partnership with the EU and US, to ensure our donor support to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine is coordinated and targeted at areas where Ukraine most needs to develop its accountability efforts. Support from the UK has equipped Ukrainian prosecutors and law enforcement officials with vital open-source information gathering skills, allowing them to effectively collect evidence and build comprehensive legal cases against alleged war criminals.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the number of dairy farmers in the last ten years.

Information relating to the question on the number of UK dairy producers can be found publicly available here: (Livestock populations in the UK, Latest UK milk prices and composition of milk, Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June, Results by size of Farm in the UK) From 2021 to 2023, data on the milk production-to-supply ratio showed a stable trend, consistently remaining at 105%. This indicates the UK produces a milk surplus, exceeding domestic consumption needs. The production-to-supply ratio is generally understood as a broad measure of national self-sufficiency, indicating the ability of UK agriculture to meet consumer demand. We lack detailed farm type and labour data for the UK, however, hold this for England. While not all dairy herds are on these holdings, the majority are. Over the last decade (2014 – 2023), the number of dairy farm holdings in England decreased by 24%, while the number of agricultural workers on holdings classified as dairy farm type decreased by 15%. Although production of milk in the UK has increased in the last decade, the number of UK producers and employment on English dairy farms has fallen. Defra Officials Statistics: Agriculture in the UK 2023 Chapter 14: The food chain Defra Officials Statistics: Numbers of holdings and agricultural activity by farm type at 1 June each year in England

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the safety of LED headlights on cars (a) generally and (b) on country roads.

All types of road vehicle headlamps are designed, tested, and approved to internationally recognised standards to help prevent undue glare and ensure safety on a broad range of roads and environments. However, noting increased public concern about headlamp glare, Government has commissioned independent research to better understand the root causes and develop potential countermeasures. This work is underway and due to deliver in summer 2025; it will include real-world assessment of glare on a broad range of road types and scenarios including country roads.

What funding he is providing for infrastructure projects in the marine protected area.

The protection of Maritime ecosystems is devolved to the four UK nations. There are 178 Marine Protected Areas in English waters alone, covering 51% of inshore and 37% of offshore waters, and there are similar numbers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of sexual harassment laws.

Everyone has the right to both feel safe and be safe going about their day-to-day lives. That is why tackling sexual harassment is an important part of this Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade.There is a range of legislation that addresses sexual harassment. This includes offences in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, Public Order Act 1986 and more recently, the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment Act 2023, which we are progressing for implementation.We are strengthening protections against workplace sexual harassment through the Employment Rights Bill. It will require employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees and introduce an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties.As with all legislation, the Government will continue to keep sexual harassment legislation under review.

What the cost to the public purse is of hospital repairs over the last 12 months.

The total cost of hospital repairs in England is collected by NHS England’s Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) for each financial year.The latest ERIC data, for the 2023/24 financial year, showed that capital investment reported by National Health Service trusts for changing and improving existing buildings totalled £1,718,500,000, whilst capital investment for maintaining existing buildings totalled £738,600,000. The published version of this dataset is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2023-24.Capital investment for repairing NHS hospitals occurs throughout the financial year based on engagement with individual NHS organisations. In this context, cost data for months that fall during the 2024/2025 financial year is not finalised as the financial year is not yet complete, making this the most recent 12 months of data available.

What steps he is taking to help tackle addiction issues in under 18s.

The most effective and sustainable approach to tackling addiction in children and young people is by giving them the best start in life and by keeping them safe, well, and happy. Our mission-based approach will ensure that every child has the best start in life and that we create the healthiest generation of children ever.Statutory guidance on relationships, sex, and health education requires all primary and secondary schools to ensure that pupils know the key facts and risks associated with alcohol and drug use, smoking, vaping, and gambling, as well as how to manage influences and pressure, and to keep themselves healthy and safe.The Department has worked with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association to develop the lesson plans on alcohol and drugs, and has commissioned an update of the resources to be published later this year. Further information is available at the following link:https://pshe-association.org.uk/drugeducationThe Government also has an alcohol and drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce alcohol and drug use and its harms by providing awareness to young people, parents and concerned others. Further information on Talk to FRANK is available at the following link:https://www.talktofrank.com/In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery, which includes funding for services for children and young people with, or at risk of developing, alcohol and/or drug problems. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced very shortly.The Government is providing £70 million of additional funding for local authority-led Stop Smoking Services in England in 2024/25, which includes adults and under 18 year olds, building on existing funding made available via the Public Health Grant. The Government will also provide a further £70 million of funding for Stop Smoking Services in 2025/26.While vaping can be an effective way for adult smokers to quit smoking, children should never vape. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will break the cycle of addiction and protect children from future harm by banning the advertising and sponsorship of vaping and nicotine products, and will provide powers to regulate their flavours and packaging, and will change how and where they are displayed in shops. The bill will bring about definitive and positive change to stop future generations from becoming hooked on nicotine. It will create the first smoke-free generation, and will ensure that children turning 16 years old this year or younger can never legally be sold tobacco.The Government is committed to reducing gambling-related harm through regulatory reform to strengthen protections. We continue to work with Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the National Health Service, and other delivery partners to consider how best to achieve this. Since 2019, treatment and support for under 18 year old’s experiencing gambling-related harm has been available through the NHS National Gambling Clinic.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent trends in the rate of inflation on (a) consumers and (b) businesses.

Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation has normalised after an inflationary shock resulted in it peaking at 11.1% in October 2022. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility say that they expect inflation to remain close to the 2% target throughout the forecast period. The Government fully supports the independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England in maintaining price stability sustainably in the medium term. Inflation creates uncertainty for consumers and businesses. Which is why we are putting the public finances on a sustainable path and investing in the future. That is the most important thing to support working people and create a stable environment for growth.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the condition of water supplied by Thames Water.

Drinking Water quality in England is regulated through the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations. The Drinking Water Inspectorate is the enforcing regulator. The Regulations require a programme of random samples to be taken from consumers’ taps, and the results are reported to the Inspectorate. Any breaches are investigated by the company and assessed by the Inspectorate and enforcement action taken as appropriate. Thames is required to notify the Inspectorate of any unusual event which could be a risk to consumers - each event is investigated by the Inspectorate, and enforcement action taken as required. The Inspectorate assessed 61 events reported by Thames Water in 2024. Thames Water adopts a water safety planning approach to drinking water, in line with the WHO recommendations. This ensures risks are identified and mitigated before there is any impact on consumers. In 2024, the Inspectorate completed technical audits at seven sites and conducted a further desktop audit of bespoke network assets. There are currently 26 improvement notices issued by the Inspectorate to improve water quality across Thames’ asset base.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the uptake in cyber security jobs over the last five years.

The Government has published the ‘Cyber security skills in the UK labour market’ report annually since 2018. These reports show an increasing demand for cyber security jobs, but also a skills shortage that increases the difficulty of filling these jobs.The 2024 report, published in September, showed a reduction in the annual shortfall of individuals in the cyber security workforce from 11,200 in 2022 to 3,500 in 2023. Despite this reduction 44% of businesses still report a basic skills gap. The Government will continue to work with industry and academic networks to champion efforts to reduce these skills gaps. This work includes supporting the UK Cyber Security Council, the professional body for the cyber workforce, the CyberFirst inspiration programme and the Cyber Local regional funding initiative.The CyberFirst girls competition is in Northern Ireland.

What progress he has made on GP online booking services.

We want to ensure general practice (GP) online booking services are available to those who need them. That’s why we have committed to implementing a modern appointment booking system, designed to eliminate the 8:00am rush for appointments. All practices in England are required to offer online and video consultation tools, secure electronic communication methods, and online facilities to provide and update personal information.Subject to consultation with the British Medical Association, the Government proposes requiring GPs to be accessible to patients via electronic communications throughout core hours, as well as over the phone, helping more people book an appointment or speak to a GP, and supporting the Government’s aim to shift care from analogue to digital.99.4% of the primary care estate are now live with digital telephony and 90% have been enrolled to use online registration systems.

How many organs were donated for transplant in 2024.

The following table shows the number of organs donated, the number of donors, and the number and percentage of organs donated that were transplanted, from the UK Transplant Registry, between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024, as of 10 January 2025:United Kingdom solid organ donor typeNumber of donorsOrgans donatedOrgans transplantedLiving donors938938938 (100%)Deceased donors1,3854,5133,787 (84%)Note: there are many reasons why organs cannot be transplanted, including the organ being clinically unsuitable.Figures are subject to change due to the delayed notification of living organ donor transplants and the current proximity to the end of 2024.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the time taken to diagnose (a) mouth and (b) throat cancer.

No specific assessment has been made on the adequacy of mouth and throat cancer diagnosis waiting times.However, it is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer as early and quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and ultimately to improve outcomes.The Department is committing to improving waiting times for cancer treatment, starting by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment.

What steps he is taking to increase awareness of the warning signs of lobular breast cancer.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase the knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, including symptoms of lobular breast cancer, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an early point.NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including lobular breast cancer. Further information can be found on the NHS.UK website.