Written questions by Pritchard.

If he will have discussions with his European Union counterpart on the potential merits of establishing a six months visa waiver scheme for citizens visiting EU Member States in the Schengen area to replace the 90 day rule.

Both the UK and the EU allow for visa-free short-term travel in line with their respective arrangements for third country nationals. The UK allows EU citizens short-term visa-free travel for up to six months. Meanwhile, the Schengen Borders Code allows for certain third country nationals to travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; this is standard for third countries travelling to the EU. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.

If he will introduce age-related universal testing for prostate cancer.

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended in the United Kingdom, due to the inaccuracy of the current best test, the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test.A UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) review, looking at whether to offer screening for prostate cancer, is currently underway. This evidence review will cover the modelling of the clinical and cost effectiveness of several approaches to prostate cancer screening. This will include different potential ways of screening the whole population as well as targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher-than-average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.Once the modelling and evidence review are complete, it will be considered by the UK NSC. Provided that no further revisions are required, the UK NSC plans to look at the findings towards the end of 2025. Further details of the UK NSC’s evidence review process are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process

If he will meet with the US Energy Secretary to discuss (a) importing US-produced (i) Liquefied Natural Gas and (ii) oil and (b) imports from volatile regions.

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero looks forward to meeting the new US Energy Secretary to discuss our shared values and interests across a full range of energy issues.

Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the (a) Home Office and (b) Football Association on the potential merits of introducing lifetime club bans for people convicted of threats of violence against (i) referees, (ii) players and (iii) family members of referees and players.

Violence has no place in football. As private businesses, football clubs have a right to ban individual supporters from attending matches or accessing club facilities; a power rooted in their responsibility to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for all fans. These bans are a decision to be taken at club-level.Convictions may also result in football banning orders (FBOs) which are a court decision to prevent violence or disorder at, or in connection with, regulated football matches. An individual with a banning order is prevented from attending all regulated matches in the UK and can be required to surrender their passport to police before overseas matches and tournaments.FBOs can be imposed following a conviction for a football-related offence as set out in Schedule 1 of the Football Spectators Act 1989 (which includes offences involving the use or threat of violence), or on application from the police or CPS.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support (a) peace and (b) stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UK is committed to supporting peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).The UK condemns M23 and Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) advances in Eastern DRC as an unacceptable breach of DRC's sovereignty and calls for the immediate withdrawal of all RDF from Congolese territory.The UK has provided £62 million in humanitarian assistance this financial year, delivering vital services such as clean water, malnutrition treatment, and support for survivors of sexual violence. We will continue to engage with regional leaders to support African-led peace efforts by urging all sides to engage in good faith in finding a political solution.The Foreign Secretary has spoken to Rwandan President Kagame, South African Foreign Minister Lamola and DRC President Tshisekedi. Lord Collins has spoken to the Rwandan, DRC and Angolan Foreign Ministers.The UK calls on all parties to immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access, and return to inclusive diplomatic talks, particularly through the Luanda process. Engagement in good faith in African-led processes will be key. There can be no military solution. We are actively considering next steps, alongside international partners, including the possibility of a review of all UK support to Rwanda.

Media and Sport, if she will discuss with Ofcom potential steps to reduce the sexualisation of children in television (a) advertisements and (b) programmes.

Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code includes rules intended to protect the welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen who take part or are otherwise involved in programmes. Revisions to the Code are a matter for Ofcom as the independent regulator.The Advertising Standards Authority co-regulates broadcast advertising under contract with Ofcom and its sister organisation, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, sets the advertising codes. The codes require that advertisements must not portray or represent children in a sexual way and care must be taken when scheduling advertisements in or around children's programmes or programmes likely to be seen by significant numbers of children.

Media and Sport, if she will discuss with the British Board of Film Classification the classification of (a) films and (b) video games; and if she will take steps to reduce the sexualisation of children through those media.

The classification system has addressed these issues under successive governments, but decisions regarding the classification of films are made by the BBFC and the Games Rating Authority, not the BBFC, is responsible for the classification of video games. The BBFC’s decisions are made independently of the government, which is important to ensure impartiality. The BBFC’s age ratings serve to protect the public and empower people to make informed viewing choices, whilst also recognising and respecting adult freedom of choice within the law.The standards underpinning the BBFC’s ratings are set out in their published Classification Guidelines, and are based on consultations every 4-5 years with experts and thousands of members of the public.If the BBFC finds that a film raises issues or concerns that cannot be addressed through their classification system, they may require compulsory cuts or other changes as a condition of classification.

What steps his Department is taking to help support research into (a) the treatment of and (b) a cure for motor neurone disease.

The Department delivers research into motor neurone disease (MND) via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds a range of research into MND, including investing £8 million into EXPERTS-ALS, which is an early phase clinical research trial for MND, screening for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND.The NIHR is also funding the Lighthouse II phase three clinical trial, testing the drug Triumeq in patients with MND.The MND Translational Accelerator, supported by £6 million of Government funding, is connecting the UK Dementia Research Institute, the UK MND Research Institute, and the UK Dementias Platform to speed up the development of treatments for MND and frontotemporal dementia.

Communities and Local Government, if she will reinstate the Rural Services Delivery Grant in the next local government financial settlement for Shropshire.

The government is absolutely committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities. However, the Rural Services Delivery Grant did not properly account for need and a large number of predominantly rural councils receive nothing from it – that’s clearly not right and a sign we need to allocate funding more effectively.The 25-26 Settlement will deliver on our commitment by ensuring that places with a significant rural population will on average receive around a 5% increase in their Core Spending Power next year, which is a real terms increase.The government is keen to hear from councils about how best to consider the impact of rurality on the costs of service delivery, and demand, as part of our longer term consultations on local authority funding reform.

Communities and Local Government, if she will reinstate the four percent funding floor for Core Spending Power growth for Shropshire.

The current fiscal environment means the government cannot continue the poor value for money 4% Funding Guarantee. The government assesses that it does not use every pound of taxpayers' money most efficiently and that is it targeted on a transparent basis.However, we will guarantee that no local authority sees a reduction in their Core Spending Power in 2025-26, after taking into account the increase in council tax levels, by applying a funding floor.This will provide the protections required for authorities to sustain their services between years, whilst recognising that we must begin the process of redirecting as much funding as possible towards the services and places that need it most.The government is making good on the promise to reform the local government funding system, and is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27. We are inviting views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation (18 December – 12 February).

If she will bring forward legislative proposals to make it a criminal offence to create fake online media accounts for public bodies and organisations where the communication of official and public information is necessary for civic order and resilience.

Under the Online Safety Act, all services in scope must tackle illegal content and activity which enables fraud, including activity through fake and anonymous accounts. The illegal harms duties will come into force in Spring 2025.More broadly, government departments and agencies continually seek to identify malicious websites that intend to impersonate public sector bodies and enable fraudulent activity. Those creating such websites may be liable for prosecution for fraud or computer misuse offences.Domain registrars, Internet infrastructure (IIPs) and service providers (ISPs) operate robust voluntary arrangements for filtering, blocking and takedown of malicious websites, which is supported by the operational work of our agencies and law enforcement. NCSC also works in collaboration with industry partners to present ISPs with real-time threat data that enables them to instantly block access to known fraudulent or malicious websites. This has a major impact in protecting citizens from cyber- and cyber-facilitated crimes.The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK is the safest place to live and work online. It is essential that the UK has the right legislative framework to allow us to tackle the harms posed to our citizens, businesses, and government services online.

Innovation and Technology, if he will publish an annual list of (a) social media companies and (b) search services sanctioned for failing to prevent pre-teen access to pornography including details of those sanctions.

Under the Online Safety Act, publishers of pornography online and user-to-user services that allow sharing of pornographic content have a duty to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing this.The Act requires Ofcom to produce and publish a report on in-scope services’ use of age assurance solutions, within eighteen months of these duties coming into force.Ofcom has set out in its guidance on enforcement. This guidance includes the information Ofcom will generally publish when opening an investigation, including the identity of the subject and scope of the investigation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase biosecurity against alien species located on imported (a) cut flowers and (b) ornamental plants.

The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) introduced a new risk-based approach to border controls. Goods have been categorised into the risk groups ‘High, medium and low’ and controls have been appropriately weighted against the risk. Certain EU medium-risk cut flowers have been subject to pre-notification since 1st January 2022. EU medium-risk cut flowers have required a Phytosanitary Certificate (PC) since 31 January 2024, but there are now inspections for EU medium-risk goods at the border since 30 April 2024. EU plants for planting, including those used for ornamental purposes, are already classified as high-risk goods, and subject to a pre-notification, a PC and inspections at Border Control Post or Control Points. In relation to risks from invasive non-native species (INNS) more generally, in Great Britain horizon scanning is carried out by UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology every 5 years using expert judgement to identify species likely to arrive, become established and have an impact in the near future. To reduce and prevent the introduction and establishment of INNS we have prioritised horticulture as one of the top 5 pathways of introduction. We have developed a Horticulture Pathway Action Plan (PAP), available here: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/biosecurity/pathway-action-plans/horticulture-pap-for-great-britain/ which aims to address the most likely routes by which INNS can get into the country. There are clearly continued issues with its execution in the field and the new Government will work with stakeholders and business to improve them.

How many minors were murdered by family members in 2022-23; and what steps she plans to take to help prevent such deaths.

In 2022/23, there were 201 notifications where a child had died and abuse or neglect was known or suspected or where a looked after child had died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected. These statistics show the number of incidents notified in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period and are based on one notification per incident, which can relate to more than one child in some instances.Protecting children at risk of abuse and stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services are at the heart of the government’s landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December. Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve. This includes ensuring that every child is safe inside and outside of their home and has access to the right help at the right time.This government’s vision to ensure children are kept safe is reflected in the legislative changes we are making in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This includes:Improving information sharing across and within agencies through the use of a Single Unique Identifier for children.Strengthening protecting children from harm through integrated multi-agency child protection teams.Placing a new duty on safeguarding partners to ensure education is sufficiently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.Ensuring parents have consent from local authorities to home educate children where there are child protection concerns.The department continues to deliver whole-system reform to help families to overcome challenges, stay together and thrive, where appropriate, and to keep children safe and in stable loving homes, including when they cannot stay with their family. This includes through the roll out of the Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Networks Pilot, which includes multi-agency child protection reforms. The ‘Local Government Finance Settlement’ policy statement also set out an additional £250 million through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant which will enable investment in prevention activity, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026.Tackling domestic violence and abuse is a priority for this government, and we are committed to using every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of such abhorrent behaviours. Cross-government delivery of the Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions is driving policy and practice improvements for child victims of domestic violence and abuse. The department is also working with other departments and the wider sector, including local authorities and schools, to ensure that children are recognised as victims in their own right in line with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and that the best use is made of available resources in the provision of universal, targeted and specialist support for child victims.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring schools to have mandatory allergy and anaphylaxis policies.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’, makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The guidance is clear that policy should include how it will be implemented, what should happen in an emergency situation and the role individual healthcare plans play in supporting pupils. The policy should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.Regarding equipment, in 2017 the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance to accompany a legislative change to allow schools to purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. This guidance is kept under review and gives clear advice to schools on the recognition and management of an allergic reaction and anaphylaxis, and outlines when and how an AAI should be administered for pupils in schools.

If she will require schools to have adrenaline auto-injectors on site to treat anaphylaxis.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’, makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The guidance is clear that policy should include how it will be implemented, what should happen in an emergency situation and the role individual healthcare plans play in supporting pupils. The policy should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.Regarding equipment, in 2017 the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance to accompany a legislative change to allow schools to purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. This guidance is kept under review and gives clear advice to schools on the recognition and management of an allergic reaction and anaphylaxis, and outlines when and how an AAI should be administered for pupils in schools.

Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to provide support to (a) Hereford and (b) Lichfield Cathedral.

Since August 2022, Lichfield Cathedral has received £161,242 through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, and Hereford Cathedral has received £27,639.The National Lottery Heritage Fund has also supported both of these Cathedrals. Lichfield Cathedral has received £1,707,762 since 1996.Hereford Cathedral has received £6,135,300 since 2003.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with the new government of Syria on including women in senior roles in the (a) government, (b) judiciary, (c) peace and reconciliation dialogue, (d) inter-faith dialogue and (e) Syrian business and industry associations.

In the UK's engagement with international partners and Syrian contacts, we have stressed the importance of inclusivity and respect for human rights, including for women and minorities.Senior FCDO officials recently travelled to Damascus, where they discussed the importance of an inclusive transitional political process, protecting the rights of all Syrians. The UK joined talks in Aqaba on 14 December, hosted by Jordan, with Arab, US, UN and EU partners, during which we collectively underlined the importance of respect for human rights, including for women.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will have discussions with the new government of Syria on protecting the human rights of (a) Muslim minorities and (b) Christian minorities.

The FCDO has consistently underlined the importance of protecting all civilians, including religious and ethnic minorities, publicly and in our engagement with regional and international partners. The UK joined talks in Aqaba on 14 December, hosted by Jordan, with Arab, US, UN and EU partners during which we collectively expressed commitment to supporting a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition process based on the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and leading to an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government. We also underlined the importance of respect for human rights, including for minorities.During a meeting with the new interim Syrian authorities earlier this week in Damascus, senior FCDO officials underlined the importance of an inclusive transitional political process which protects the rights of all Syrians.We will continue to advocate for the right of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Syria and for an inclusive political transition.

Representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church Commissioners are taking to support the work, cultural and spiritual contribution of cathedral choirs.

The Church Commissioners provide funding to pay for the dean and two canons as part of cathedral staff and have a Cathedral Sustainability Fund to which all cathedrals can apply. The role and funding of cathedral choirs is a matter for the dean and chapter of each cathedral, however during the pandemic the Church Commissioners made £1million available, match funded by the Cathedral Music Trust, to retain the skills of musicians throughout. As many will have experienced during the special events like the Coronation and over Christmas, cathedral music and the choral tradition in our churches is a unique part of the English cultural life.A conference was held at Leicester Cathedral on November 14th 2024 organised by the Association of English Cathedrals and Cathedral Music Trust, which discussed many of the issues facing music in our cathedrals and explored ways forward. The Bishop of St Albans and the Bishop of Southwark have also raised the impact on cathedral choir schools of recent NI and VAT policy announcements, with Ministers in the House of Lords.In Lichfield Diocese, the cathedral supports many good initiatives, and the choir is thriving. More information can be found about their activities here: https://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/worship-music/music-share