Written questions by Blackman.

What plans his Department has to improve survival rates for bowel cancer.

We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, so more patients survive, including those with bowel cancer. As the first step to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment, the NHS is delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.Our reforms to cancer care will see more than 100,000 people, including those with bowel cancer, getting diagnosed faster, and thousands more starting treatment within two months. We have already hit our target of delivering two million extra operations, scans, and appointments seven months early.The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with lower gastrointestinal cancers cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the work of the Lung Health Check programme at the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

NHS England is aware of the interesting data originating from Hull, which demonstrates that an appreciable number of people can be identified as having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through a targeted approach to those that have been through lung cancer screening. This work is informing policy considerations.

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease's 2025 annual report on Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

NHS England is aware of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease that sits among other welcome approaches to improving care and outcomes for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). NHS England clinical policy for people with COPD is largely formed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and professional society recommendations such as from the British Thoracic Society and Primary Care Respiratory Society. Broader initiatives and evidence may be considered where appropriate.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the US Executive Order entitled Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources, published on 24 April 2025, whether he is taking steps to advance a global moratorium on deep-sea mining as a member of the International Seabed Authority.

The Government notes the US Executive Order on 'Unleashing America's Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources'. The UK is a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and is committed to the continued work of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to finalise the draft exploitation Regulations. The UK supports a moratorium on the granting of exploitation licences for deep sea mining by the ISA until there is sufficient scientific evidence to assess the potential impact of deep-sea mining on marine life, and until the ISA adopts robust, enforceable regulations. This is a matter for all member States to consider carefully, and the UK will continue to engage actively at the ISA Council and Assembly in July.

What the allocated budget is for the smokefree pregnancy incentive scheme for the year 2025-26.

The National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme has a budget of £5.8 million for the financial year 2025/26, with future settlements being considered as part of the Spending Review process.

If he will take steps to ensure the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on biological sex in Government department workplaces.

We welcome the ruling and the clarity it brings for women, and service providers. We will review and update policy wherever necessary to ensure it complies with the latest legal requirements.

What steps he is taking to support the move toward patient self-referral for community audiology services as a default pathway in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) England.

The current community audiology service in Harrow East requires a referral from a healthcare professional to access the service. The North West London Integrated Care Board is examining how this service could be developed, in the light of recent guidance around increasing self-referral to services such as audiology, in a manner that meets the needs of the population and which fits sustainably within the funding available for this service.

How many (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent people will no longer be eligible to Personal Independence Payment following the proposed reforms.

The number will not be known until those affected have gone through their first award review after the reforms take effect, starting in November 2026. Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's proposed reforms to health and disability benefits on people who are (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of freezing the Local Housing Allowance on other areas of public expenditure.

The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex, they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. We do however work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness are considered. This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, the fact that rates were increased in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years. We continue to work across Government on the development of the Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategy. Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context. For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. On other areas of public expenditure, we have announced the government will invest £2bn in social and affordable housing in 2026-27, to deliver up to 18,000 new homes. This will immediately allow housing associations and local councils to bring bids forward for new affordable housing developments in every part of the country.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance rates on levels of homelessness.

The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex, they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. We do however work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness are considered. This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, the fact that rates were increased in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years. We continue to work across Government on the development of the Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategy. Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context. For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. On other areas of public expenditure, we have announced the government will invest £2bn in social and affordable housing in 2026-27, to deliver up to 18,000 new homes. This will immediately allow housing associations and local councils to bring bids forward for new affordable housing developments in every part of the country.

How many human embryos were discarded in each of the last ten years for which information is available; and what uses discarded embryos are put to.

The following table, provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), shows the number of human embryos discarded in each of the last ten years for which information is available:YearEmbryos discarded2022160,2852021172,6652020137,2962019173,1302018177,7652017175,6162016174,3272015175,4782014176,6612013170,654Source: HFEA.Notes:the data is as recorded by the HFEA on 16 October 2024, so these figures reflect the data on this day and are likely to change over time;data for 2019 to 2022 is preliminary and quality assurance processes with clinics have not yet completed. There is no further information collected by the HFEA after an embryo is discarded.

What information his Department holds on the success rate of IVF is in each of the last ten years for which information is available.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual reports on their website which include success rates of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The following table shows the success rate of IVF in each of the last ten years for which information is available:Year of treatmentBirth rate per embryo transferred202223%202123%202024%201924%201823%201723%201622%201521%201420%201319%Source: HFEA annual report on fertility treatment and the HFEA dashboard.Notes:live births for 2019 to 2022 are preliminary and quality assurance processes with clinics have not yet completed; anddata excludes embryos that have been previously frozen.

What information his Department holds on the health outcomes for children born by IVF.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that its expert Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee monitors new studies relating to health outcomes in children conceived by IVF. They last discussed this topic in February 2025, and the associated paper and minutes can be found on the HFEA website, at the following link:https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/our-authority-committees-and-panels/scientific-and-clinical-advances-advisory-committee-scaac/HFEA Register data is used in research studies which look at the effects of IVF on the health of children born, with further information about these studies, including details of current and previous projects, available on the HFEA website at the following link:https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/data-research/

How many people claiming the standard level of the Personal Independence Payment who did not score four points in any of the 10 descriptors are (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent.

In January 2025 (latest available data), there were 8,200 claimants of Personal Independence Payment in England and Wales receiving the Standard Daily Living component who did not score at least four points in any of the 10 descriptors and had autism as their primary condition. There were 21,600 such claimants whose primary condition was a neurodivergent condition, including the 8,200 with autism. We have defined Neurodivergent claimants as those with the following primary conditions:- Autism- Dyslexia- Dyspraxia- ADHD / ADD- Tourette’s Syndrome There may be other claimants with neurodivergent conditions as a primary or secondary condition, but these are not identifiable from the readily available data. Behavioural responses on the part of claimants and assessors to the reforms planned to take effect from November 2026 will affect the outcomes of award reviews undertaken after that date.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the destruction of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.

The UK Government supports the Interim Government's agenda to restore law and order, ensure accountability and promote national reconciliation. While we have not had discussions with the Interim Government of Bangladesh regarding the destruction of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum specifically, we have encouraged all sides to work together to end the cycle of retributive violence. In February, Human Rights Ambassador Eleanor Sanders visited Bangladesh and met with the Interim Government and discussed a wide range of human rights concerns.  We continue to work with the Interim Government as it charts a peaceful transition to an inclusive and democratic future.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Bangladeshi counterpart on the potential impact of (a) corruption and (b) money laundering on the economy of that country.

The UK is committed to assisting investigative, prosecuting and judicial authorities in combating international crime. Whilst we cannot comment on any individual asset recovery cases, we have robust illicit finance legislation and instruments which can be used to support asset recovery requests.  The UK is providing support to the Interim Government of Bangladesh through the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency and the International Centre for Asset Recovery. We will continue to support these recoveries to the extent that we can.

If she will make it her policy to publish a target for the autism employment gap.

We recognise the current disability employment gap. As set out in the King’s Speech last July, the government is committed to making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people and introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers.Addressing disability pay gaps will play a key role in boosting opportunity and household income for disabled people, as we deliver our programme for national renewal set out in the Plan for Change.Disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting will provide transparency and vital data to help businesses identify and close pay gaps within their workforces. We also know that the current disability employment gap stands at 28 percentage points as of December 2024 and that for autistic people in particular the gap may be even more substantial.We are committed to supporting all neurodivergent people in their employment journeys and reducing the employment gap, and on 29 January this year, we launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. Recommendations are due in the late summer.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take legislative steps to introduce an immediate moratorium on import permits for hunting trophies of cheetahs.

The government committed to a ban on the import of hunting trophies of endangered animals in its manifesto and will deliver on this. Defra is currently engaging with a range of stakeholders in order to decide on the most effective approach.

What steps he is taking to ensure that community-based ear wax removal services are made available to patients in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) England.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local populations. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal. When ICBs exercise their functions, including commissioning healthcare services such as ear wax removal, they have a duty to reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access health services, and to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services.Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so general practitioners (GPs) will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.