Written questions by Shannon.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of making Apolipoprotein M available through the NHS on the prevention of macular degeneration.

The Department has not made an assessment. There are no approved medicinal products in the United Kingdom with apolipoprotein M, and there is no specifically approved product for macular degeneration that is known to act mainly by increasing apolipoprotein M.If a company were to develop such a medicine, they would need to apply for a licence to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The medicine would be assessed for safety, quality, and efficacy before it could be granted a marketing authorisation in order to be appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for routine National Health Service use.

What leadership skills training is provided by the military to corporate leaders seeking assistance with upskilling their leadership teams.

The Ministry of Defence does not provide leadership training specifically for corporate leaders. There are some opportunities for industry partners to attend courses which include Leadership themes.

Whether she has any plans to upgrade cannabis to a class A controlled substance.

The Government has no current plans to review the classification of cannabis.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of seizures of cocaine at (a) ports and (b) airports on the supply of the drug.

In 2023/24, 28.3 tonnes of powder cocaine was seized by police and Border Force in England and Wales. This was an increase from 18.6 tonnes the previous year and the largest recorded quantity of cocaine seized since the time series began in 1973.However, serious criminals are constantly developing their approaches to traffic cocaine into the UK in response to our efforts at the border. This includes changing their trafficking routes and evolving their methodologies to evade detection, for example, diversifying importation methods through at-sea-drop-offs.We therefore recognise that we must continue to adapt our strategy and work more closely with law enforcement partners upstream to stop cocaine trafficking at source and all across the supply chain, targeting the gangs responsible, and bringing them to justice. Officials will continue to assess the impact of global drug trafficking on the UK and implement new approaches to respond to this threat.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on people imprisoned under blasphemy laws for exercising religious beliefs in that country.

This Government remains deeply concerned by the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, particularly where they are used to target individuals for peacefully exercising their religion or belief. We regularly raise this issue at senior levels, urging Pakistani authorities to uphold due process, ensure fair trials, and protect those at risk. In March and June 2025, I raised concerns about freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) with Pakistani ministers. Working with the UK Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, David Smith MP, we are committed to championing the right to FoRB for all around the world - promoting tolerance and mutual respect through our engagement in multilateral organisations, our bilateral work, and our programme funding.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the number of first-time buyers in each of the last five years.

The Department does not hold official data on the total number of first-time buyers over the past five years and is therefore unable to provide an official estimate.However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on the number of first-time buyer mortgage sales by Local Authority across the UK, which can be found on gov.uk here. This data set does not include cash sales.In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provides UK-wide totals for the same data, available here.

With reference to the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, when she plans to publish the (a) eligibility criteria and (b) application process for (i) employers and (ii) sectors for occupations listed on the proposed Temporary Shortage List; and if she will set out the criteria for inclusion on the proposed Temporary Shortage List.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to UIN 63590 on 8 July.

What steps she plans to take to ensure a wide roll out the Family Hubs programme.

On 11 June 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out plans for spending and public sector reforms through the Spending Review 2025. This announcement confirmed departmental budgets for 2026/27 onwards and committed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, working with parents to help give children the best start in life.On 7 July 2025, the government published the policy paper ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life.This outlines the government’s commitment to delivering a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services.

If he will make an estimate of the number of people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes a liver disease profile that compares local areas within England. Data on the number of people in the population, or the prevalence of people, with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is not collected.The liver disease profile provides NAFLD hospital admission and mortality rates. However, these rates underestimate the level of NAFLD in the population as the great majority of people with NAFLD never experience any symptoms from the condition. Only a minority may progress to more serious forms of the disease that require hospital admission. It is unclear what proportion of people experience this serious disease, and therefore we cannot make a reasonable estimate of the number of people with NAFLD.

What steps she plans to take to roll out integrated family hubs.

On 11 June 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out plans for spending and public sector reforms through the Spending Review 2025. This announcement confirmed departmental budgets for 2026/27 onwards and committed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, working with parents to help give children the best start in life.On 7 July 2025, the government published the policy paper ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life.This outlines the government’s commitment to delivering a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services.

What steps she is taking to tackle child poverty.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. These commitments come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help reduce tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan; and what steps he is taking to promote respect for freedom of religion or belief in efforts to secure a peaceful resolution.

The UK welcomes the conclusion of negotiations on a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and urges both sides to sign the agreement as soon as possible in the interest of lasting peace and stability in the region. We remain ready to support further progress wherever it may be helpful. The recent meeting between the leaders in Tirana marked a positive step forward, and we continue to encourage peaceful dialogue to address the remaining challenges. I reiterated this message during my engagements with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in April, as well as with Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Yalchin Rafiyev, on 30 April. The Foreign Secretary also conveyed this message during his phone call with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister on 17 June.The UK Government remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting and protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief globally.

How many endometriosis specialist practitioners there are in the NHS.

The Department does not hold information on the number of endometriosis specialists working in the National Health Service.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of local authorities' Local Flood Risk Management Strategies.

We are committed to supporting communities and ensuring flood risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future.  Local flood risk management is a devolved matter, but we will work to improve resilience and preparation across central government and local authorities to better protect communities across the UK. Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. That is why we set up a Flood Resilience Taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season.  This marks a new approach to preparing for flooding and working between national, regional and local Government, including the devolved administrations, and flood risk partners.

What steps her Department will take to improve digital infrastructure in rural schools.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outline the information for England only.The Department for Education are joint funding with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology fibre upgrades to 833 schools in England, due to be completed this year, to ensure that rural schools in England are not left disconnected.The department has also published digital and technology standards to help schools make informed decisions about technology, leading to safer and more cost-efficient practices. These standards cover critical areas such as connectivity, cyber security, and filtering and monitoring. We launched a consultation on narrowing the digital divide in schools and colleges, which included proposals on the future of these standards, and we will publish our response to this consultation in due course.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK.

Achieving our commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade requires close cooperation and coordination across Government, public services, the private sector, and the charity sector. Through the Safer Streets Mission Board and VAWG Ministerial Group, we are driving collective action across Government to achieve this. We will set out further detail in a new, transformative VAWG Strategy, which we aim to publish in September.While crime prevention, policing, and justice policy are reserved matters in England and Wales, we are also working closely with partners in Scotland and Northern Ireland in achieving our shared ambition in tackling VAWG.

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the disability pay gap.

Equalities Ministers have been engaging with Ministerial colleagues as we develop the policy on disability pay gap reporting, including on the proposals in our recent consultation, and will continue to do so.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of food security.

The second United Kingdom Food Security Report (UKFSR) was published in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistical data relating to food security in the UK, fulfilling the duty in the Agriculture Act 2020 to present a report on food security to Parliament at least once every three years.

What steps his Department is taking to improve awareness of symptoms of (a) lung and (b) pancreatic cancer.

The Department is committed to improving symptom awareness of lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, and NHS England is also taking steps to improve awareness.NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website.The Department has also committed support to the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, which is a group of charities focusing on cancers with poor survival rates. This partnership focuses on raising awareness of less survivable cancers, including lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, so more people understand their symptoms and go to see their general practitioner if they have concerns. As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, including lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.

How many homes have qualified for new boilers through Government energy schemes.

Between January 2013 and April 2025, 889,589 boilers and 13 biomass boilers were installed under the Energy Company Obligation. Between May 2022 and May 2025, 407 vouchers for biomass boilers were granted under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. No boilers were installed through the Home Upgrade Grant, Local Authority Delivery scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund or Great British Insulation Scheme. Only biomass boilers are eligible for support under the Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. The schemes started delivery in April 2025 and therefore installation figures are not yet available.