Written questions by Shannon.

What data her Department holds on the amount of cannabis seized in the UK over the last 12 months.

The Home Office latest published data on cannabis seizures made by the police and Border Force for England and Wales covers the period April 2023-March 2024 and it can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-2024The latest published statistics show that police forces and Border Force seized 85.01 tonnes of herbal cannabis, 4.16 tonnes of resin cannabis and 0.48 million cannabis plants in England and Wales in the year ending March 2024.Border Force also release quarterly transparency data which include cannabis seizures. The latest available data are below:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-force-transparency-data-q4-2024

What assessment she has made of trends in the level of the uptake of law degrees in the last five years.

There has been a 6.3% increase in the number of entrants into UK higher education providers studying law across all levels and modes of study between 2019/20 and 2023/24.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on reports of social media and internet bans in that country.

The Government has raised recent events with the Turkish Government and the Foreign Secretary spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on 29 March to express the UK's concern. As a staunch supporter of media freedom around the world, the UK expects Turkey to uphold its international commitments and the rule of law, including protecting the fundamental rights to free speech and media freedom.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his Nigerian counterpart on the decision by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development in Kano State, Nigeria, not to return children to the care of Professor Solomon and Mrs Mercy Tarfa on 19 March 2025.

The Government is aware of a Kano State court ruling instructing the Ministry of Women's Affairs and Social Development to return children removed from Du Merci orphanage to the custody of Professor Soloman Tarfa and Mrs Mercy Tarfa. We have previously raised the case with the Nigerian authorities and stressed the need to prioritise the welfare of the children involved. Enforcing the court ruling is a matter for the Nigerian authorities.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his Nigerian counterpart on the decision by (a) Bauchi, (b) Kano, (c) Katsina and (d) Kebbi States to close (i) public and (ii) private (A) primary and (B) secondary schools for Ramadan.

Improving access to education in Nigeria is a key priority for the UK and we are working with the Nigerian Government to ensure that all Nigerians have access to a quality education. Through the Partnership for Learning for All Nigerian Education (PLANE) programme, we have commissioned research to document the number of school days lost through ad hoc closures, insecurity, religious holidays and climate-related factors in states in Northern Nigeria. We will share the key finding of this research with the Nigerian Government.

What steps his Department is taking to improve levels of (a) early and (b) accurate diagnosis for dementia; and if he will take steps to help increase the use of (i) blood tests and (ii) AI-driven assessments as diagnostic tools.

We are committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%, which in England, at the end of February 2025, was 65.4%. To support the implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data on the diagnostic pathway and enable targeted support where needed.The Department delivers dementia research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds a range of research into dementia, for example investing nearly £11 million to develop new digital approaches for the early detection and diagnosis of dementia.To aid dementia diagnosis and provision of support in care homes, NHS England funded an evidence-based improvement project to fund two trusts in each region (14 sites), to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate protocol. Learning is currently being shared and promoted with regional and local partners following an impact assessment of the pilots.The Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme has invested £13 million into three biomarker innovation competitions, which include an AI tool designed to improve the accuracy of blood tests for dementia. Alongside Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the People’s Postcode Lottery, the NIHR is funding the Blood Biomarker Challenge, which seeks to produce the clinical and economic data that could make the case for the use of a blood test in the National Health Service to support improved diagnosis of dementia in the future, if validated for clinical use.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that new treatments for (a) Alzheimer’s disease and (b) other dementias are made available to people in the UK.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service in England on whether new medicines should be routinely funded, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NICE evaluates all new medicines, including medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and aims to publish guidance for the NHS as close as possible to licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund recommended treatments, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.The NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have piloted enhanced information sharing arrangements for the new disease modifying dementia treatments, which have enabled the organisations to fully align their processes and will enable faster decision making for future treatments that may come to market.To prepare for the new generation of dementia treatments in development, NHS England is working to ensure the diagnostic and treatment capacity, clinical pathway redesign and investment are in place to support the adoption of any new licensed and NICE-recommended treatments as soon as possible.Health is a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines are a matter for the respective devolved administrations.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the policies of China on Falun Gong practitioners.

The environment for freedom of religion or belief in China is restrictive, which includes the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. This Government stands firm on human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief. We raise our concerns at the highest levels: the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor and Energy Secretary all raised human rights recently with their counterparts (President Xi, Foreign Minister Wang, Vice Premier He and Vice Premier Ding respectively).This Government champions freedom of religion or belief for all abroad. We work to uphold the right to freedom of religion or belief through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora.

What steps his Department is taking to help tackle regional differences in (a) timely and (b) accurate diagnostic rates for dementia.

We are committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) to the national ambition of 66.7%, which in England, at the end of February 2025, was 65.4%. To support the implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data on the diagnostic pathway and enable targeted support where needed.To reduce variation in diagnosis rates, OHID’s Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.To aid dementia diagnosis and the provision of support in care homes, NHS England funded an evidence-based improvement project to fund two Trusts in each region, which is 14 sites, to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate (DiADeM) protocol. Learning is currently being shared and promoted with regional and local partners following an impact assessment of the pilots. The Department delivers dementia research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds a range of research into dementia, for example investing nearly £11 million to develop new digital approaches for the early detection and diagnosis of dementia. The NIHR is also partnering with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Alzheimer’s Society to support a £5.5 million investment in four Dementia Network Plus research grants. One of the Networks, EQUADEM, seeks to address inequalities in dementia diagnosis and care.

What discussions he had with his Northern Ireland counterpart on lowering the smear age for women.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had no conversations with his Northern Irish counterpart on lowering the age of cervical screening. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises the administrations of all four nations on aspects of screening, including age thresholds. However, the implementation of any UK NSC screening recommendation is a devolved matter.

What steps she is taking to improve transport links between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Whilst transport is devolved, the Department for Transport is committed to enhancing links between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Department is providing funding for Transport Scotland’s feasibility study to explore options to bypass the villages of Springholm and Crocketford on the A75 and is supporting the Windsor Framework to streamline transport and customs processes. The Government is also supporting key aviation routes, including the Public Service Obligation between City of Derry Airport and London Heathrow Airport.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of bird flu.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 17 December 2024 to question UIN 19297. An updated outbreak assessment for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Great Britain and Europe was published by the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 18 March 2025, and an updated veterinary risk assessment for notifiable avian influenza incursion into poultry in Northern Ireland was published by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in December 2024.

What discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on regional inequalities for nursing placements in universities.

No discussions have taken place with the Northern Ireland Executive on the regional variation of nursing placements. Both health and education are devolved matters, with each home nation setting its own education and training policies for students residing in their respective countries.Although devolution can lead to a degree of variation in clinical placements across the four nations, it allows each to focus on their own unique set of challenges and put in place policies that best assure the financial viability and sustainability of their independent National Health Service system.

What steps he is taking to discourage the use of sunbeds.

The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 prohibits the use of sunbeds for those under 18 years old. For those over 18 years old, advice has been issued by both the National Health Service and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to increase awareness of the public health risks of excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The UKHSA’s advice is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sunbeds-safety-advice/sunbeds-safety-adviceThe NHS’ advice is available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/seasonal-health/sunscreen-and-sun-safety/

How many people are on the waiting list for cancer screening across the UK.

There are no waiting lists for the three cancer screening programmes, bowel, breast or cervical, in England. Lung cancer screening, which is being rolled out nationally, does not have waiting lists either.Cancer screening is a devolved matter, and we do not hold information regarding waiting lists for Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

How many men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer in the last 12 months.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 21 March 2025 to Question 37562.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of university fees on students.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The government has published an equality impact assessment of changes to fees on students with protected characteristics and students from disadvantaged groups for the 2025/26 academic year. This can be accessed at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/263/impacts/2025/41.The department needs to put our world-leading higher education (HE) sector on a secure footing, in order to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students have confidence that they will receive the world-class HE experiences they deserve.This is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, this government took the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation based on the Retail Prices Index excluding mortgage interest payments inflation index. Eligible students will continue to be able to apply for up-front fee loans to meet the full cost of their tuition in 2025/26.This government will set out its plan for HE reform this summer.

What assessment he has made of trends in the level of uptake of the flu vaccine in Winter 2024-25.

For England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes monthly provisional data for general practice (GP) patients, school-aged children and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs), with weekly data for GP patients also available from October to January. The data is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2024-to-2025-seasonFinal end of season data is published in the annual reports in late spring. Monthly and annual data is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figuresFlu vaccine uptake in 2024 to 2025 (based on the latest provisional monthly data) and the same timepoint in the previous season, is shown in the table below:Cohort65 years and overClinical riskPregnant2-year- olds3-year- oldsPrimary school-agedSecondary school ageHCWs2024/2574.9%40.0%35.0%41.7%43.5%54.6%46.4%37.9%2023/2477.8%41.4%32.1%44.1%44.6%55.2%43.0%42.8%Caution should be used in comparing uptake between seasons. The advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is that it is preferable to vaccinate adults closer to when the flu virus is likely to circulate. Accordingly, vaccination for adults in clinical risk groups, those aged 65 years old and over, and frontline HCWs started from 3 October 2024, rather than 1 September as in previous seasons.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase access to grassroots sports in local communities.

The Government recognises the vital role that grassroots sports provide for people across the UK, including the physical and mental health benefits of participating in sport and how grassroots clubs can foster a sense of community cohesion and pride in place. The Home Nation’s sports councils are responsible for the majority of investment in grassroots sport across the UK. However, DCMS is committed to improving the provision of high-quality grassroots sports facilities across the whole of the UK to enable as many people as possible to get active. On 21 March, we announced an additional £100 million to be invested through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. £3 million of this additional funding is to be invested in Northern Ireland through the Irish Football Association. This funding is designed to benefit the areas most in need, with 50% of investment going to the 30% most deprived areas in the UK. There will also be a strong focus on increasing provision for under represented groups, such as women and girls, ethnic minorities groups and disabled players. At least 40% of funded projects will also have a multi-sport offer, ensuring more can participate and get active across a variety of sports.

What progress his Department has made on trade talks with India.

The Business and Trade Secretary travelled to New Delhi to meet his counter Piyush Goyal in February 2025 where they relaunched negotiations.We are continuing to work closely with the Government of India to progress negotiations towards a deal that drives economic growth for every region and nation.