Written questions by Heylings.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current protocols to account for (a) fishing catches and (b) fishing vessel activities.

Seafood sold in the UK is subject to traceability requirements to ensure fish and fisheries products can be tracked from the final point of sale back to its point of origin and included in catch figures. These traceability requirements include rules on recording catches, sales, purchases and labelling of fish that is landed in the UK and placed on the market. Seafood traceability and fishing vessel activity information is further strengthened by vessel monitoring systems which are now required on all English fishing vessels and all fishing vessels of any nationality over 12 metres in length fishing in English waters. These devices track a vessel’s location, speed and heading in real time, providing evidence about vessel activity and where seafood is being caught, providing enforcement agencies a view of fishing.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that fishing quotas are distributed in ways that incentivise (a) lower impact and (b) selective fishing.

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, which allocates quota based on environmental, social and economic criteria. As part of this, with the support of scientists, we have developed a gear ranking system to incentivise selective fishing.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen enforcement capacity in UK territorial waters.

As fisheries control and enforcement is a devolved matter, each Devolved Administration is responsible for enforcement capacity in their waters. Defra is committed to maintaining a robust and adaptive enforcement system to protect English waters from illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and works closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities, and other organisations to make sure the appropriate arrangements to enforce fisheries regulations are in place to protect our waters. Additionally, Defra and the MMO work actively with the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) to utilise available maritime surveillance and enforcement resources for fisheries enforcement in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and other relevant departments and agencies including from the Devolved Administrations. Although there is no direct metric for assessing compliance of fishing vessels with the vessel monitoring systems mentioned, overall performance is monitored through annual reports required under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. These reports, published online, at the GOV.UK and individual IFCA websites such as Eastern IFCA, highlight each body's contributions, successes and challenges in a wide variety of areas including enforcement.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to align fisheries management policies with the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency.

The UK Government already has robust fisheries management measures in place and has previously welcomed the broad principles underpinning the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency. We continue to engage with the organisations who have produced the charter with a focus on tackling Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.

Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to publish full vessel ownership, license, quota, subsidy, and sanctions information for all types of fishing vessels in a publicly accessible format.

Although fisheries control is a devolved matter, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) publish UK wide lists of licensed fishing vessels, details of fishing vessel licences and detailed quota allocations which are set out by the MMO in their annual apportionment and allocation spreadsheets. Funding provided by Defra to the fishing industry is publicly available through the Government Grants Information System.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the devolved Administrations on protocols for mandatory Remote Electronic Monitoring for vessels fishing in UK territorial waters.

Defra has regular discussions with the devolved administrations on the design of Remote Electronic Monitoring protocols. We will continue to work with our colleagues around the UK to discuss our policies where it is right to do so.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the percentage of UK fixed quota allocation units that are held by non-UK entities.

The Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) Register is an online resource listing UK fishing vessel licences, the associated FQA units, and their respective owners. You can access the register at: www.fqaregister.service.gov.uk. The UK’s fishing quota is currently distributed based on FQA units and linked to UK vessel licences. These units can only be assigned to vessels that are both registered and licensed in the UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she plans to introduce mandatory Remote Electronic Monitoring for (a) over 24m pelagics vessles, (b) over 10m demersal seine vessels and (c) over 10m demersal trawls.

Defra is working to implement Remote Electronic Monitoring in five priority fisheries. They are:- Pelagic trawls, over 24m, all English waters- Demersal seines, over 10m, English waters of the Southern North Sea and English Channel- Demersal trawls using mesh sizes up to 120mm, over 10m, English waters of the North Sea- Fixed and drift nets (gill and trammel), over 10m, English waters of the Celtic Sea and English Channel- Demersal trawls including beam trawls, over 10m, English waters of the Celtic Sea and English Channel We are working first with volunteers to design and test systems and will then move to mandatory implementation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to tackle (a) bycatch and (b) illegal discarding by vessels in the last year.

We continue our effort to minimise and, where possible, eliminate the bycatch of sensitive species. Working in partnership with industry and eNGOs we have a range of activities in place including: continuation of the long-standing Bycatch Monitoring Programme (BMP) which reports annually on bycatch rates analysed by gear type; the Cetacean Stranding Investigation Programme (CSIP) that closely monitors UK-wide cetacean strandings and conducts post-mortems on stranded marine mammals; the Clean Catch programme which recently launched a bycatch monitoring and mitigation trial; a comprehensive evidence review analysing bycatch across sensitive marine species (cetaceans, seabirds, seals, elasmobranchs); and developing a seabird bycatch mitigation action plan for England. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) monitors discards and catches from all commercially licensed vessels in England. MMO collects this data alongside undertaking regular inspections of vessels. The Landing Obligation, introduced under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, has not met its goals; illegal discarding still happens, and discard patterns in the English fleet haven’t changed. To improve discards management and move away from the landing obligation in England, Defra and the MMO are conducting a paper trial of ‘catch accounting’. This is a new approach that accounts for the total removal of stock compared to the current system which only logs landings.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding the Marine Management Organisation has received in each of the last five years; what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the funding on the enforcement of fishing regulations; and what assessment she has made of the value for money of this funding for taxpayers.

As set out in the Annual Report and Accounts of the Marine Management Organisation, total expenditure was £36.1 million in FY20/21, £42 million in FY21/22, £42.7 million in FY22/23, and £54 million in FY23/24. Defra works closely with the Marine Management Organisation and other organisations to make sure the appropriate arrangements to enforce fisheries regulations are in place to protect our waters. This funding enables the organisation to operate an enforcement regime of fishing regulations amongst their other duties and is provided in line with the principles of managing public money, including the Accounting Officer’s duty to ensure spending decisions represent good value for money through the accountability and assurance processes Defra has in place.

What steps his Department is taking with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that the UK’s workforce has the skills required to meet its targets for heat pump installations.

Government recently published the Clean Energy Jobs Plan which sets out cross-Government actions to deliver more skilled workers. Today’s heat pump workforce is large enough to meet current demand and training rates are on track to meet future demand. The Government is delivering several policies to support the heat pump workforce and is working with industry to ensure training equips installers with the skills needed to provide high quality installs. The £10 million Heat Training Grant supports existing heating professionals in England to upskill and the Low Carbon Heating Technician apprenticeship is helping to bring new entrants into the sector.

What steps he is taking to improve consumer confidence in low carbon home upgrades in the context of delivery issues in previous iterations of the ECO scheme.

Government is committed to protecting homeowners across the UK who receive energy efficiency upgrades. We are introducing a new system of consumer protections, with clear centralised oversight to ensure proper installer accountability as part of the Warm Homes Plan. Immediate actions taken include improved oversight of installations and installers, with a more robust suspension and reinstatement process, and enhanced contractor checks and restrictions to prevent installers from evading accountability if they operate through multiple certification bodies. Additionally, Government has increased oversight of TrustMark’s operations, and introduced site visits from retrofit co-ordinators to give an additional layer of on-site assurance.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a single accreditation scheme to protect households in upgrading to (a) more energy efficient and (b) low carbon technologies.

This government’s priority is ensuring that all consumers are protected when undertaking home retrofit work, as well as improving the overall consumer journey regardless of housing tenure or how installation work is funded. Currently any installations under government energy efficiency schemes must be carried out by TrustMark registered and PAS 2030 or MCS certified businesses, in accordance with PAS 2035. As the only government endorsed quality scheme, TrustMark oversees compliance with the overarching PAS 2035 process.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) independent and (b) impartial statutory advice for consumers undertaking (i) retrofit and (ii) low carbon technology installations.

The Government recognises that access to trusted and impartial information is an important enabler to consumers, when making choices about how to retrofit their homes. This is why the Government is working to enhance our digital consumer advice offer, creating a single access point for all consumers (homeowners, landlords and tenants) at varying points in their retrofit journey. It will bring information on energy efficiency and clean heating solutions like heat pumps and solar, sources of funding and links to trusted installers together for the first time. The digital service is also backed up with a national phoneline for those needing additional support in accessing advice on how to upgrade their homes.We will set out additional steps towards improving the overall consumer journey in the Warm Homes Plan, which will be published soon.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing a comprehensive redress scheme for consumers (a) installing and (b) retrofitting low carbon technologies.

This government’s main priority is protecting consumers and the homes they live in, and we will continue to fight for reform of a system which is clearly not fit for purpose. The reform will involve rapidly changing the landscape of regulation, spanning from how installers working in people’s homes are certified and monitored, to where homeowners turn to for rapid action and enforcement if things go wrong. This work is already underway, but we will set out plans for root and branch reform as part of the Warm Homes Plan, which will be published soon.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Advanced Learner Loan scheme on tackling skills shortages in the low-carbon heating sector.

Skills England is working closely with The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which has set up the Office for Clean Energy Jobs to meet the governments Clean Energy Superpower mission. The government published its clean energy jobs plan on 19 October in which heating installer was identified as a priority role. Under the construction skills package the government is committing £625 million in England over 4 years to deliver up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers, supporting a range of clean energy occupations including heating installers.

If his Department will take steps to ensure that the Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy between the UK and the United States does not adversely impact nuclear (a) security and (b) safety.

The Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy between the UK and United States will support the government's effort to improve our energy security, drive economic growth, and underpin our efforts to deliver of Net Zero. The paramount importance placed on nuclear safety and security by government remains unchanged. All the nuclear projects announced as part of the Alliance will be subject to the scrutiny of an independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, and will need to meet the robust standards safety and security standards demanded by government and the public.

What the (a) status and (b) timeline for completion of the (i) Greensands, South Cambridgeshire and (ii) Lime Academy, Fenland new special school is.

The department is working at pace through these decisions to try and give all local authorities updates as soon as possible. We continue to be committed to ensuring that all children with special educational needs and disabilities receive the support they need to achieve and thrive.

What recent steps he has taken to help improve access to NHS dentistry in South Cambridgeshire constituency.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For South Cambridgeshire constituency, this is Cambridgeshire & Peterborough ICB.We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025. Cambridgeshire & Peterborough ICB is expected to deliver 14,195 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.ICBs are recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. As of 22 September 2025, in England there were 97 dentists in post with a further eight dentists who have been recruited but are yet to start in post under this scheme. A further 224 posts are currently being advertised.We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August 2025. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential risk associated with self-swab rape kits being marketed to the public.

The Ministry of Justice is aware of self-swab kits being marketed to the public as a means of collecting DNA following sexual violence. These kits are in no way associated with any government department or criminal justice agency, or the Government’s wider VAWG mission. We recommend that victims of sexual violence attend a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), where trained clinicians can provide holistic care and forensic evidence can be collected in accordance with established standards. We are also aware of concerns raised about the promotion of self-swab kits, including those outlined in position statements by the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine and Rape Crisis England & Wales. Support is available for victims of rape through SARCs and the 24-7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line. We are committed to tackling sexual violence and achieving the best outcome for all victims, in line with our goal to halve VAWG within a decade.