Written questions by Morton.

What steps he is taking to ensure the UK’s health security against (a) malaria, (b) tuberculosis and (c) HIV/AIDS.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) holds data on all malaria cases diagnosed in the United Kingdom by the Malaria Reference Laboratory (MRL) and Public Health Scotland. The MRL’s extensive service to users in the UK includes: malaria diagnosis; epidemiological data; prophylaxis advice to health professionals; and technical advice on methodology and laboratory procedures. Almost all malaria cases diagnosed in the UK are associated with recent travel to an endemic area, and the UKHSA is working with the African Diaspora Malaria Initiative to reduce the burden of malaria in particularly affected groups. Where cases are identified as having no recent travel history, a full investigation is undertaken by the UKHSA. A standard approach to managing these cases is under development.Information regarding malaria cases diagnosed in the UK is published on GOV.UK website, with annual reports and statistics on malaria imported to the UK available, respectively, at the following two links:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/malaria-in-the-uk-annual-reporthttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/imported-malaria-in-the-uk-statisticsThe UKHSA and NHS England’s joint tuberculosis (TB) action plan for England details actions to achieve a 90% reduction in people with TB by 2035, aligned with World Health Organization elimination targets. The plan is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-tb-action-plan-for-england/tuberculosis-tb-action-plan-for-england-2021-to-2026#priority-2-prevent-tb.The UK pre-entry TB screening programme operates in 102 countries, to reduce the importation of TB by screening applicants for long term visas from high TB incidence countries. People are screened in line with the UK Tuberculosis Technical Instructions, which are available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cd18ae5e5274a34ee7f0275/UK_tuberculosis_technical_instructions_version_7.pdfActive TB can be prevented by identifying, testing, and treating people with TB infection. People who are close contacts of individuals with infectious TB are also tested for infection, so they can be treated before the disease develops.The NHS England national latent TB testing programme for migrants from high incidence countries operates in 27 of the 42 integrated care board areas in England.In March 2025, NHS England and The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital published a Getting it Right First Time review of TB services, which included a series of recommendations to reduce unwarranted variation in clinical practice and improve care, especially to underserved populations. The report is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/girft-review-of-tuberculosis-national-report.pdfThe UKHSA, in collaboration with key stakeholders, is leading work to develop a new national action plan for 2026 to 2031, including a call for evidence.The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030. The Department, the UKHSA, NHS England, and partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan for England, which we aim to publish this year.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help support Gavi between 2026 and 2030.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% by 2027, we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money and assessing how the UK can have the greatest impact with our health investments. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he will take to ensure UK (a) health and (b) health security is not adversely impacted by changes to (i) Official Development Assistance and (ii) the global health budget.

Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments. We plan to publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report & Accounts this summer.We continue to work across Government to strengthen global health security and to protect the health of our people in the UK. The UK's role in helping secure agreement to a Pandemic Accord at the World Health Organization last month is a good example of that collective effort.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the UK’s financial commitment to Gavi for the 2026-2030 period has changed since 1 April 2025.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income to 0.3 per cent by 2027 we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to levels of Official Development Assistance on the number of women and girls using modern methods of family planning in recipient countries.

The UK's commitment to defending and promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), including family planning, uses multiple levers: working to influence policy, through health and development diplomacy, as well as using our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, to advance SRHR for all.We plan to publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report & Accounts this summer. Decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 onwards will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments. The UK is committed to empowering women and girls around the world through our international work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of protecting funding for global health multilaterals, in the context of changes to levels of Official Development Assistance funding.

The UK is one of the largest donors to global health multilaterals delivering significant impact. Our £1.65bn funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Allice (2021-2025) is supporting the vaccination of 300 million children and our £1bn funding to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2023 - 2025) is expected to save 1.276 million lives and avert 28.25 million new infections. UK support to the World Health Organization, will enable WHO to prioritise activities that will help save over 40 million lives, improve the health of over 6 billion people, and protect an additional 7 billion people from health emergencies. This investment, alongside other international partners' support, will enable the WHO to prioritise activities that will help save over 40 million lives, improve the health of over 6 billion people, and protect an additional 7 billion people from health emergencies. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent by 2027 we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.13 of the Spring Statement 2025, published in March 2025, what his planned timetable is to introduce plans to modernise aid; and how he will engage with (a) parliamentarians and (b) civil society on those plans.

We are in the process of modernising how the UK approaches international development. Modern partnerships are about using all the levers at the UK's disposal - drawing upon UK diplomacy, trade and investment, and defence, as well as partnering with UK institutions, be that in the science and tech sector, the City of London, our universities, and beyond. As the Government makes decisions about the move to 0.3% of gross national income through the Spending Review, we will set out further plans on this.The Minister for Development met with Bond [the UK network for organisations working in international development] earlier this month to discuss a number of issues, and is committed to engaging regularly with civil society organisations. The Ministerial team regularly engages with local civil society organisations on overseas visits. Parliamentarians will be included as part of any approach to further consultation. The Minister will be setting more of this out when she appears at the International Development Committee on 13 May.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology on the role of the UK science and technology sector in global efforts to eliminate (a) malaria and (b) other tropical diseases.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology work closely on issues related to science and technology. Government collaboration with the UK's science and technology sector has been critical in developing new drugs, vaccines, and other tools to eliminate malaria and other tropical diseases.The FCDO collaborates with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) to tackle malaria through the development of products, supported by MMV's three and IVCC's five UK-based science partners. In developing products to eliminate other tropical diseases, the FCDO partners with Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), in collaboration with twelve additional partners across twenty-six projects. Our longstanding partnership with the Medical Research Council distributes grants for research on malaria and other tropical diseases. Undertaking applied research to address vectors for malaria, RAFT is an FCDO-funded programme led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to use the International Finance Facility for Immunisation to support Gavi’s funding needs.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi and the largest contributor to the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). The UK has committed £1.65 billion to Gavi's current strategic period covering 2021-2025, with £590 million of that funding via IFFIm. The UK has ongoing legally binding pledges to IFFIm. Announcements on additional investments will be made following the completion of the spending review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.13 of the Spring Statement 2025, published in March 2025, what (a) plans he has to share progress on working with (i) the financial sector and (ii) international partners to mobilise private capital for international development and (b) benchmarks are in place to assess progress.

To strengthen links with the financial sector, the Minister of State for International Development and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury will convene an industry led Emerging Markets and Developing Economies taskforce following an industry report "The UK as a climate finance hub" to increase UK private investment for climate and development. British International Investment - the UK's Development Finance Institution (DFI) - is working with institutional investors to develop solutions through a new Mobilisation Facility [announced in September 2024]. We are also working with international partners, including the G7, G20, and through our shareholdings in the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), to reform the global financial system to unlock more finance, including through their private sector arms. We will also be reporting on our financial commitments to the Partnerships for Global Infrastructure and Investment initiative at the G7 Summit in June. To assess progress, we are working closely with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and MDBs/DFIs to report on private capital mobilisation, and through our business plan and programme annual reviews we monitor a number of outcome indicators - they can be found on Development Tracker.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is considering amending existing (a) commitments and (b) financial pledges when determining budgets for (i) this financial year and (ii) 2026-27.

To enable us to deliver the transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance (ODA) effectively, in 2025/26 we are prioritising meeting legally binding commitments and delivering work already underway, as well as planned humanitarian spend. We have also established an exemptions process to allow for critical new development work to continue. Full detail is set out in the Minister for Development's 27 March letter to the International Development Committee.Decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 onwards are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that nutrition is considered in all of his Department’s spending programmes.

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) continues to consider how to integrate nutrition objectives across international development policies and spending programmes. This includes application of the The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Nutrition Policy Marker and the provision of advice and assistance to colleagues across FCDO's network to strengthen our capability to integrate nutrition in our Official Development Assistance programmes. Progress is assessed by independent experts and is published in FCDO's annual Nutrition Accountability Report. FCDO will publish the next iteration of the report around June 2025.At the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris in March 2025 the Minister for International Development launched the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration. Partners have welcomed the Compact as a new initiative to drive change, and a positive signal of the UK's continued leadership on development.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) replenishments and (b) pledges to (i) the Global Fund and (ii) GAVI on the UK's international reputation.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. The UK is working to ensure a successful replenishment of Gavi and the Global Fund through our diplomatic and development network. The UK has been clear about the reasons for the difficult decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent by 2027. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the International Finance Facility for Immunisation frontloading model is effectively utilised for the fast delivery of vaccines.

The UK is the largest donor to Gavi and the largest contributor to the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). IFFIm enables Gavi to rapidly introduce and scale-up new, breakthrough and existing vaccines and surge financing during unexpected health crises. The model also allows Gavi to manage financing more effectively across their 5-year strategic periods. The UK continues to monitor IFFIm's efficiency through our Annual Reviews that are published on Dev Tracker.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with other signatories to the Dayton Peace Agreement to help ensure that it remains fit for purpose.

The UK remains committed to the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) and its instruments for maintaining peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). We work through the Peace Implementation Council to bolster domestic institutions to respond to threats to the DPA. The UK supports the High Representative's role, and should the situation require it, the use of executive powers to protect BiH's constitutional framework, stability and institutions. The Foreign Secretary, the Special Envoy and I continue to engage closely with leaders in BiH and the region, urging them to influence positively and refrain from actions which would undermine BiH's constitution. I reiterated these messages to BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković and the High Representative of BiH when we met on 12 April, as did the Foreign Secretary when he spoke to BiH President Denis Bećirović on 29 April.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 42592 on Councillors: Planning, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the role of councillors' (a) openness, (b) accountability and (c) scrutiny in the planning process.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes a regulation-making power to issue statutory guidance on a national scheme of delegation.The government intend to formally consult on proposals relating to the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside the Bill’s passage.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing long-term funding for de-mining (a) organisations and (b) programmes between 2026 and 2029.

Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used from 2025-2029 are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on local democratic oversight of replacing individual local authority schemes with a national scheme for when planning committees should delegate decisions to planning officers.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes a regulation-making power to issue statutory guidance on a national scheme of delegation.The government intend to formally consult on proposals relating to the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside the Bill’s passage.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, what her planned timetable is for publishing national guidance on when local planning committees should delegate decisions to planning officers.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes a regulation-making power to issue statutory guidance on a national scheme of delegation.The government intend to formally consult on proposals relating to the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside the Bill’s passage.

If she will make an assessment of the accuracy of her Department’s impact assessment on the decision to remove the winter fuel payment.

In line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty, an Equality Analysis was produced and considered as part of the ministerial decision-making process. This was published on 13 September and is available online: Equality Impact Assessments produced for targeting Winter Fuel Payment - GOV.UK. The Department will continue to monitor outcomes for pensioners.