Written questions by Sullivan.

What steps he has taken to support local high streets.

This government is putting high streets at the heart of economic renewal through our Small and Medium Sized Business Plan and MHCLG's £5 billion Pride in Place programme which will support areas in both of my Honourable Friends' constituencies.At Budget, we confirmed permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure and a £4.3 billion package to protect ratepayer bill increases because of property revaluation.We also announced £15 million per year to support stronger enforcement on illegal high street activity, alongside other measures covering, retail crime and pro-growth regulatory changes for the retail and hospitality sectors.

⁠ what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of consumer protection for customers using third party airline aggregators.

Third party airline aggregators operating in the UK are subject to consumer rights legislation.The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCCA) Act 2024 requires traders, including airline aggregators, to display prices inclusive of all taxes and unavoidable charges before payment is made. Prices must be accurate and not misleading. Failure to do this may be taken as an unfair trading practice and constitute an offence.Airline aggregators must also comply with provisions in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which prohibits the use of unfair contract terms.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to (a) amend legislation and (b) increase local authority enforcement powers relating to fly-tipping.

This Government has committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available for fly-tipping which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing of vehicles and prosecution through the courts which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment. We will provide an update on this commitment in due course. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers through the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We have also announced a review of local authority powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

What steps he is taking to help ensure that magistrates’ courts hand down proportionate sentences for environmental crime.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts. Parliament has provided the courts with a broad range of sentencing powers to deal effectively and appropriately with offenders, including discharges, fines, community sentences, suspended sentences, and custodial sentences.When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the full circumstances of the case to ensure that sentencing is proportionate to the offence committed, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors. The courts also have a statutory duty to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, unless in the interests of justice not to do so.The Sentencing Council has issued definitive guidelines covering environmental offences, both for offenders that are individuals and organisations, which can be found online: https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the level of compliance with international protections for journalists in the conflict in Gaza; and what steps he is taking to support international (a) press freedom and (b) humanitarian law.

The UK strongly condemns all violence directed against journalists and media workers. Civilian reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law. We are therefore appalled by the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of media workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In a recent joint statement with 28 other countries, we called on the Israeli authorities and all other parties to make every effort to ensure that media workers in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem can conduct their work freely and safely. The statement also called for all attacks against media workers to be investigated and for those responsible to be prosecuted in compliance with national and international law.The UK has contributed £3 million to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Global Media Defence Fund, benefitting over 9,000 journalists, including time-sensitive emergency support to journalists and media experiencing sudden major crises in Ukraine, Sudan and Haiti. Earlier this year the UK provided funds to UNESCO's Special Fund for Gaza, supporting locally based journalists with vital equipment.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) improve water quality in the river Thames and (b) protect local wildlife from (i) plastic pollution and (ii) sewage discharges.

The Water (Special Measures) Act will enable the Environment Agency (EA) to build on its transformation in the way it regulates the water industry, enabling it to take faster, firmer action against poor performance. It will speed up civil penalties for less serious offences, so that it can focus prosecutions on the most serious offending. It will require water companies to publish information regarding the frequency and duration of discharges from all emergency overflows within an hour of a discharge occurring. The EA has expanded the number of staff dedicated to regulating the water industry, including regulatory officers, data analysts, and enforcement specialists, whilst developing new digital systems and significantly increasing the number of water company inspections. The EA works with water companies to develop investigations into microplastics, having been recognised as a significant standalone issue. The water industry is also funding further investigations. This will shape understanding regarding how the levels of microplastics entering the environment through wastewater treatment processes can be reduced.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the performance of the DVLA’s Drivers Medical Group in processing medical licence renewals; and what steps he is taking to improve service delivery for drivers with medical conditions.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to process all applications as quickly as possible. However, driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) must be investigated can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued. In 2024/25 the average time to make a licensing decision in medical cases was 44 working days, a significant reduction from 54 working days in the previous financial year. Drivers with diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, visual impairments, sleep conditions or heart conditions can renew their driving licence online. The DVLA continues to make improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions and is introducing a new strategic system to process cases. This will provide better services for customers and allow straightforward applications to be processed more quickly. Most applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online at: (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla)

What recent discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on improving rail connectivity in Wales.

We are working with Welsh government on a range of shared priorities, which includes rail connectivity.We are investing an historic £445 million into Welsh rail to right years’ of underfunding by previous governments and unleash Wales’ economic potential.This will mean new stations, enable more and faster trains on the key lines across North and South Wales, connecting people with the new, well-paid jobs we’re creating across Wales.

What steps she is taking to prevent age discrimination in recruitment.

The Government recognises the need to recruit on merit, irrespective of a persons' age. Age diversity within the workforce brings numerous benefits to businesses, in addition to broader advantages such as fresh perspectives and knowledge-sharing.The 2010 Equality Act provides strong protection against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment, rendering it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees or job applicants based on age.The Government also acknowledges the key role employers play in helping older individuals to remain in or re-enter the workforce, and the importance of embracing policies conductive to this support. My Department engages with employers to ensure their recruitment practises attract and support the retention of older people. This includes making businesses aware of good practice and encouraging employers to sign the Age-Friendly employer pledge.As announced in the recent Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice. This new service will transform our ability to support people into work, help those on low pay to increase their earnings, and create a more flexible workforce for a fast changing, higher skilled jobs market. This transformation is expected to contribute to economic growth by addressing local skills gaps and providing tailored support to meet the needs of local labour markets.

What assessment he has made of the merits of bringing forward legislative proposals on regulating sports therapists.

The Government has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to sports therapists. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) operates a voluntary registers programme, which provides a proportionate means of assurance for unregulated professions, that sits between employer controls and statutory regulation by setting standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for unregulated health and social care occupations. There are currently two voluntary registers for organisations relating to sports therapy accredited by the PSA.

What steps he is taking to help ensure patients with vitiligo have access to effective treatments in the context of NICE's decision not to recommend Ruxolitinib for NHS use.

The Government wants National Health Service patients to be able to benefit from access to clinically and cost-effective new treatments, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the NHS on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on whether ruxolitinib should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of its costs and benefits.The NICE was unfortunately unable to recommend ruxolitinib as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources in its final draft guidance published on 18 July. The NICE received four appeals against its draft recommendation which were heard by an independent panel on 11 October 2024. The appeal panel remitted the evaluation of ruxolitinib to the appraisal committee with the instruction to take all reasonable steps to address the issues raised in the upheld appeal points. The committee will consider the upheld appeal points at a future meeting scheduled for 14 May 2025.It is right that the NICE makes its decisions at arm’s length of the Government and in line with its carefully developed methods and processes. As such, it would not be appropriate for me to intervene in the NICE’s decision-making.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the backlog of visa applications.

Visa processing times are published on the UKVI website at Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). UKVI are currently processing applications on the overwhelming majority of its visa routes within their published customer service standards.