Written questions by Gelderd.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to (a) consult on and (b) develop a Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy.

The UK has built its position as a leader in blue finance through policy engagement and our Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes. Through our portfolio of marine ODA programmes, Defra and FCDO work with a range of partners, including the UN, Multi-lateral Development Banks, not-for-profit partnerships and the private sector, to pilot and implement blue finance solutions that support sustainable blue economies. The UK is committed to delivering a Sustainable Ocean Plan by 2027 as part of its active membership of the leader level High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Placing nature, economic growth, and food security at its core, the Sustainable Ocean Plan will provide clear guidance for public and private sector decision-makers on how the UK can achieve 100% sustainable management of our seas and oceans.

What information his Department holds on the number of women born in the 1950s who have died since 21 March 2024.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and National Records Scotland (NRS) publish annual data on deaths by sex and age group on their websites.

What steps he is taking to provide support for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to improve early intervention for children with emerging mental health difficulties.

Through our Plan for Change, we’re determined to give children and young people the best start in life. The Government is expanding access to mental health support teams in all schools and colleges to reach all pupils by 2029, ensuring that every pupil has access to early support services. More widely, we are investing £26 million in new crisis centres, rolling out young futures hubs, and hiring 8,500 more mental health staff.

What steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in South East Cornwall constituency.

Through our Plan for Change, we’re determined to give children and young people the best start in life, including in the South East Cornwall constituency. The Government is expanding access to mental health support teams in all schools and colleges to reach all pupils by 2029, ensuring that every pupil has access to early support services. More widely, we are investing £26 million in new crisis centres, rolling out young futures hubs, and hiring 8,500 more mental health staff to reduce waiting times.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure Royal Mail complies with its legal obligations on the delivery of post.

The Universal Service Obligation requires Royal Mail to deliver letters six days a week and parcels five days a week to every address in the UK at a uniform price.Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, is responsible for monitoring Royal Mail’s performance and ensuring that Royal Mail complies with its legal obligations. It sets Royal Mail enforceable targets to deliver a certain proportion of items on time each year. Ofcom takes compliance with its regulatory targets seriously and this involves conducting thorough investigations where failures have been identified.In October, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21 million for failing to meet its quality-of-service targets and has told Royal Mail it must urgently publish and deliver a credible plan that delivers major and continuous improvement.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to distribute the fishing quota in a way that incentivises (a) lower impact and (b) selective fishing.

As set out in response to PQ 83899, there are a number of mechanisms in place to incentivise lower impact and selective fishing. In terms of quota distribution, in England we have been running a trial since 2024 called the Quota Application Mechanism (QAM), which allocates quota based on environmental, social and economic criteria. The mechanism uses a gear ranking system developed by scientists to support the allocation of quota to those that have the least impact on the seabed and the highest selectivity. Details on the QAM application process for 2026, including the application form and gear ranking system, can be found online here. As set out in Annex D of the UK Quota Management Rules we also allocate quota specifically to certain groups. In England we target western mackerel for the South West handline fishery.

What steps his Department is taking to help support (a) the Echo Centre in Liskeard and (b) other community-based neuro-rehabilitation services.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) is currently funding a community neuro-rehabilitation group meeting in the Echo centre in Liskeard. This has supported 48 people since January 2025, via a thirteen-week course, in a supportive group environment, to develop the skills, strength, and confidence to manage their condition independently and reduce their need for wider health and care services. A community neurorehabilitation and stroke therapy team is funded by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB and provided by the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to provide assessments, treatment, and management for people with stroke and complex neurological conditions. This includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and supporting people with complex hospital discharges. Further work is underway to understand the impact of the group course held at the Echo centre, the need for wider services, and how the people receiving, or waiting for, neurorehabilitation are using the health and care services. This will be used to inform the longer term commissioning of health and care services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and ensure they best meet the needs of residents. Additionally, in line with the 10-Year Health Plan, the National Health Service in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is investing in services to prevent, where possible, conditions which require neurorehabilitation, such as strokes, and to reduce and delay the symptoms of conditions such as acquired brain injuries. In August, NHS England updated its service specification for adult specialised neurology services. It states that neurology patients should have timely access to the full range of inpatient and outpatient specialised neurorehabilitation services. Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. In October, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also published new guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including acquired brain injury. The guideline covers rehabilitation in all settings for children, young people, and adults with a chronic neurological disorder, neurological impairment, or disabling neurological symptoms due to acquired brain injury.

What steps he is taking to help support the (a) health and (b) wellbeing of the NHS workforce.

The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is a top priority. Local employers across the NHS have arrangements in place for supporting staff including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and a focus on healthy working environments. At a national level, NHS England has made available additional emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health. To further support this ambition, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many at-sea boarding inspections of (a) UK and (b) EU flagged fishing vessels took place outside of six nautical miles in each year between 2015 and 2025.

As fisheries control and enforcement is a devolved matter, each Devolved Administration is responsible for conducting inspections on vessels in their respective waters. Although the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) does not routinely publish specifics on inspections, the MMO annual reports which are published on gov.uk provide certain figures, for example during 2023/24 financial year, 37% of inspections at sea were conducted on non-UK vessels and 63% conducted within the UK domestic fleet. Information on the number of inspections carried out by Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish authorities in waters they are responsible for can be requested from the relevant devolved Government.

What steps he is taking to improve facilities for healthcare workers.

The NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework highlights the importance of getting the basics right such as providing access to good quality rest areas, food, and drink options. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals and support to work healthily and flexibly. The New Hospital Programme will mandate that staff welfare spaces must occupy at least 6% to 7% of the total net internal area footprint for schemes that are fully compliant with the new standardised designs. This 6% to 7% minimum allocation will continue to be protected and maintained through the full life cycle of the building.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to increase the pension rights of retired firefighters who retired before 2000 on the retained duty system through their modified pension scheme.

The Department has no plans to extend pension rights under the modified scheme to retained firefighters who retired before 2000.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to international student policy on the finances of universities.

​​The government has been clear that we welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK. International students positively impact our higher education (HE) sector, economy, and society as a whole and enrich our university campuses, forge lifelong friendships with our domestic students and become global ambassadors for the UK.​The Immigration White Paper, published in May, sets out a balanced approach - helping the government achieve our manifesto commitment on reducing net migration while maintaining the UK’s global competitiveness.​The Office for Students (OfS) has identified reliance on international student fee income as a risk to HE providers’ sustainability. It has been clear that providers will need to change their business models to protect their financial health as a response to this risk and others. HE providers are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances.​This government has taken action to support the financial sustainability of universities after seven years of frozen tuition fee caps. The maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year was increased by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535. To provide long-term certainty over future funding for the sector, so that it can focus on reform, we will increase tuition fee caps in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28 and then legislate to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.

Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to take steps to help (a) maintain and (b) increase research capacity in universities in the context of (i) academic staff time, (ii) funding and (iii) other matters.

Research and development is fundamental to kickstarting economic growth and delivering the Government’s missions. That’s why this government is investing a record £86 billion over the SR period in research and development, supporting universities, creating jobs, skills and economic growth right across the country. In the Post-16 Skills White Paper, we committed to improving grant funding cost recovery and reducing administrative burdens on academic staff, unlocking more time and resources for research. As independent institutions, universities are responsible for decisions on staff time allocated to research.

What steps she is taking to help support higher education providers that have financial challenges in the next academic year.

​​The government has been clear that we welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK. International students positively impact our higher education (HE) sector, economy, and society as a whole and enrich our university campuses, forge lifelong friendships with our domestic students and become global ambassadors for the UK.​The Immigration White Paper, published in May, sets out a balanced approach - helping the government achieve our manifesto commitment on reducing net migration while maintaining the UK’s global competitiveness.​The Office for Students (OfS) has identified reliance on international student fee income as a risk to HE providers’ sustainability. It has been clear that providers will need to change their business models to protect their financial health as a response to this risk and others. HE providers are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances.​This government has taken action to support the financial sustainability of universities after seven years of frozen tuition fee caps. The maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year was increased by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535. To provide long-term certainty over future funding for the sector, so that it can focus on reform, we will increase tuition fee caps in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28 and then legislate to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.

What steps his Department is taking to support the adoption of new technologies for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is supporting NHS England to actively adopt new technologies for cancer diagnosis, with focus on artificial intelligence (AI), liquid biopsies, and advanced genomic testing to speed up diagnosis and improve patient outcomes. As part of the plan, we have also committed to the expansion of the National Institution of Clinical Excellence’s technology appraisal process to cover devices, diagnostics, and digital products.We have invested £146 million in a partnership with pharmaceutical companies and universities to harness science and innovation to detect and treat cancer sooner through trials for new technologies, including those using AI, two of which are developing technology for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.Additionally, initiatives using digital technology to improve the identification of cancer symptoms in primary care include a new £2 million National Health Service programme, funding 300 general practices (GPs) to identify pancreatic cancer early by screening high-risk patients over 60 years old with new diabetes diagnoses and unexplained weight loss for urgent testing. More than 300 GPs across England will begin using the initiative, with the roll out having already begun, and the rest to be up and running by the end of the year.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of inflation on the Small Business Rate Relief threshold; and whether she plans to bring forward proposals to uprate the threshold in line with inflation.

Business rates raised a reported £26.4bn billion in 2024/25 and make up a quarter of Local Authority core spending power. They support critical local services, including child and adult social care. Over a third of properties (more than 700,000) with rateable values (RVs) under £12,000 pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR). An additional c.60,000 properties, with RVs between £12,000 and £15,000, benefit from reduced bills as SBRR tapers. At the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Government decided to freeze the small business multiplier (paid by properties with RVs under £51,000) for 2025/26. Together with SBRR, this has protected over a million ratepayers from a 1.6 per cent inflationary bill Increase. In the Transforming Business Rates: Interim Report, published on 11 September, the Government committed to exploring enhancing SBRR to support business growth and investment.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of tropical forest protection on the stability of UK food supply chains.

Tropical forests provide a range of ecosystem services which affect agricultural production. Their protection and restoration can therefore play a vital role in supporting global food supply stability. The Government is taking robust action to boost UK food security, turn the tide of nature’s decline, and prepare for the impacts of climate change and nature loss. This includes investing in nature protection and restoration both domestically and internationally, and delivering £11.6 billion in International Climate Finance by the end of 25/26 as part of our Plan for Change. The Government is also considering its approach to addressing global deforestation linked to UK supply chains and will set out its approach in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has (a) direct and (b) real time access to systems that monitor EU-registered fishing vessels that are fishing in English waters.

Fishing activity in English waters is monitored by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). MMO receives positional data and electronic logbook (elog) catch data for all foreign fishing vessels of 12 metres or more in length. Data from these vessels is received with the same frequency as for UK vessels. Live positional data is required to be transmitted at least once every two hours and electronic logbook data is required to be submitted at least once per day whilst at sea. Once transmitted, data is automatically forwarded to the UK by the relevant fisheries authority and is received by MMO in close to real-time.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many investigations were commenced by her Department of English-registered fishing vessels over ten metres in length for fishing outside six nautical miles of UK waters in each year since 2020; and how many and what proportion of those investigations resulted in (a) charges being brought and (b) successful prosecutions.

Marine Management Organisation (MMO) does not publish investigations, only prosecutions. The table below lists all cases where charges were brought resulting in successful MMO prosecutions in court of UK 10m and over vessels which resulted from inspections at sea outside of 6 nautical miles from baselines (there were no unsuccessful prosecutions). UK Vessels20200202112022020230202412025 to date2

Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse was of fisheries patrol operations in English waters in each year since 2020.

Fisheries patrol operations in English waters are undertaken by the Marine Management Organisation utilising two leased patrol vessels. The cost of these vessels is detailed in MMO's annual reports as follows: Year2020/212021/222022/232023/242024/252025/26*Vessel Costs6,735,8296,836,4016,501,9146,282,6406,489,6083,487,538 * is the half year to 30 September 2025.