Written questions by Paul.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2024 to Question 18824 on UK Border Force: Seasonal Workers, what steps her Department has taken to mitigate the potential loss of capacity provided by the Border Force seasonal workforce.

Border Force’s seasonal workforce staff were recruited on fixed-term contracts to assist at the UK Border, covering shifts when operationally required, such as during peak periods of travel, and subject to their availability. These contracts utilised an authorised exception for short-term recruitment into the Civil Service.Following an ongoing review of the recruitment process by the Civil Service Commission, Border Force has ceased to use these contracts and now recruits through a regular Civil Service recruitment process. All seasonal workforce staff on existing fixed-term contracts have been invited to apply through this recruitment process.Our operational priority remains the protection of our border security, and this change will not affect the capacity of Border Force to deliver on that priority.

Whether his Department plans to take steps to encourage further negotiation between (a) NICE, (b) Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited and (c) AstraZeneca on the supply of Enhertu.

Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are made on the basis of recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), following an evaluation of a treatment’s costs and benefits. These are very difficult decisions to make, and it is important that they are made independently, and on the basis of the available evidence.The NICE published guidance in July 2024 on the use of Enhertu for the treatment of HER-2 low metastatic and unresectable breast cancer, and was unfortunately unable to recommend it for routine NHS funding. I understand that the NICE and NHS England have sought to apply as much flexibility as they can in their considerations of Enhertu for HER2-low breast cancer, and have made it clear to the companies that their pricing of the drug remains the only obstacle to access.Earlier this year, ministers met with the manufacturers of Enhertu, AstraZeneca, and Daiichi Sankyo, to encourage them to re-engage in commercial discussions with NHS England. Despite the NICE and NHS England offering unprecedented flexibilities, the companies were unable to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price. The NICE’s guidance will therefore remain unchanged. Although the deadline for a rapid review has now passed, the NICE has reassured me that the door remains open for the companies to enter into a new NICE appraisal, if they are willing to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price.

With reference to the HMPPS Offender Equalities Annual Report 2023-2024, published on 28 November 2024, how many of the 50 transgender prisoners who reported their legal gender as female were convicted of a sexual offence.

Of the 245 transgender prisoners who reported their legal gender as male (i.e. those who now identify as women, non-binary or gender-fluid) on 31 March 2024, 151 were convicted of a sexual offence. This includes both contact and non-contact sexual offences. Offence data was not available for 1 individual.Of the 50 transgender prisoners who reported their legal gender as female on 31 March 2024, the number convicted of a sexual offence is five or fewer. We do not provide exact data for such small sample sizes as it risks identification of individuals. This approach is in line with our standards on data disclosure.

With reference to the HMPPS Offender Equalities Annual Report 2023-2024, published on 28 November 2024, how many of the 245 transgender prisoners who reported their legal gender as male were convicted of a sexual offence.

Of the 245 transgender prisoners who reported their legal gender as male (i.e. those who now identify as women, non-binary or gender-fluid) on 31 March 2024, 151 were convicted of a sexual offence. This includes both contact and non-contact sexual offences. Offence data was not available for 1 individual.Of the 50 transgender prisoners who reported their legal gender as female on 31 March 2024, the number convicted of a sexual offence is five or fewer. We do not provide exact data for such small sample sizes as it risks identification of individuals. This approach is in line with our standards on data disclosure.

Whether Border Force plans to continue using its seasonal workforce beyond 31 January 2025.

Border Force will continue to secure the border through effective planning and deployment of its resources, which after 31 January 2025 will not include utilisation of the seasonal workforce.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will publish guidance on (a) how many dogs may be walked by one professional dog walker at one time and (b) other issues relating to professional dog walking.

Professional dog walkers must comply with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and other relevant legislation. The Canine and Feline Sector Group has published best practice guidance to assist dog walkers which can be found here: https://www.cfsg.org.uk/. Some local authorities have introduced licensing schemes for professional dog walkers and often apply CFSG’s guidance or produce their own. The guidance published to support the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) 2018 Regulations places limitations on dog walking undertaken as part of the dog breeding or dog boarding activities. The guidance limits the number of dogs walked in these circumstances to six. The guidance also requires licensees secure the owner’s consent to their dog being walked in a group, and to ensure that dogs are familiarised with each other beforehand. The Government has no current plans to issue additional guidance.

If he will introduce regulations to ensure that a pharmacist is always present in an open pharmacy to facilitate the sale of pharmacy medicines,

Pharmacy regulations already require that a registered pharmacy business can only operate and be open to the public, to sell or supply prescription only medicines or pharmacy medicines, when a responsible pharmacist, the pharmacist legally responsible for the safe and effective running of an individual pharmacy, is signed in. The regulations stipulate that the responsible pharmacist may be absent from the pharmacy for a maximum of two hours during the pharmacy business hours, for example to have a meeting with a general practice, attend training, or to have a lunch or a rest break. The sale of general sales list medicines, such as some aspirin and paracetamol products, may continue in the absence of the responsible pharmacist.Case law and professional guidance dictates that the final sale or supply of prescription only medicines and pharmacy medicines requires a pharmacist to be on the registered premise, and either directly aware of the transactions or interruptible, so as to be able to intervene in a sale or supply.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendation in the report by The Law Commission entitled Hate Crime Laws: Final Report, published on 6 December 2021, HC 942, that hate crime law be reformed to offer greater protections for disabled persons.

As set out in our manifesto, we have committed to changing hate crime legislation to bring parity of protection for disabled people under the aggravated offences. This mirrors one of the recommendations made by the Law Commission in 2021.

What short-term steps his Department is taking to help support hospices to maintain levels of service; and whether his Department is taking long-term steps to reform funding for hospices.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between integrated care board (ICB) areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.We do understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including hospices, due to a range of concurrent cost pressures. I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan. More information about how to input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of proposals to be considered by the Iraqi Parliament to amend the Personal Status Law to reduce the age of consent for girls in that country to 9 years old.

The UK is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq's Personal Status Law and its implications for women and children's rights, which we note have not yet been passed through the House of Representatives. As we continue to privately engage with a range of Iraqi interlocutors to discuss this, we are emphasising the importance of any amendments' compatibility with Iraq's international obligations.

Media and Sport, if she will take steps to provide financial support for grassroots music venues, in the context of the removal of business rate relief for retail, leisure and hospitality venues.

The government response to the Culture, Media and Sport select committee report on grassroots music venues, sets out the steps the government is taking, working closely with industry, to support a sustainable grassroots music sector. In particular, we are calling on the music industry to introduce a voluntary levy on arena and stadium tickets to support grassroots music venues, artists and promoters.The government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties from 2026-27, such as grassroots music venues. This reform, on which a Discussion Paper was published at Autumn Budget 2024, will provide certainty for businesses regarding their bills. It is incorrect to state that business rate relief has been removed. In fact, to provide further support, the government has extended RHL relief at 40% for 2025-26.In addition, at the 2024 Autumn Budget, this government has extended support for the Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Music investment programme for 2025-26, ensuring sustained support for musicians, venues, and industry professionals.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to trial new accessible voting devices to help blind and partially sighted people vote independently.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 10319 on 29 October 2024.

What steps he plans to take to ensure all women across England with ovarian cancer get access to the best possible treatment.

NHS England runs the Help Us Help You campaigns to raise public awareness, 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. Previous phases of the campaigns have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer. The Department continues to work with NHS England to identify which tumour types future campaigns should focus on.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 ovarian cancer. This information can be found at various sources, including the NHS website.To ensure women have access to the best treatment for ovarian cancer, NHS England commissioned an audit on ovarian cancer. The aim of the audit is to provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary to increase consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.The Department also invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has funded six research projects into screening for ovarian cancer since 2018, with a combined total funding value of £3.8 million, including looking at the impact and effectiveness of different kinds of testing and screening, and the effectiveness of treatment options.

Whether he plans to launch a campaign to raise public awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

NHS England runs the Help Us Help You campaigns to raise public awareness, 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. Previous phases of the campaigns have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer. The Department continues to work with NHS England to identify which tumour types future campaigns should focus on.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 ovarian cancer. This information can be found at various sources, including the NHS website.To ensure women have access to the best treatment for ovarian cancer, NHS England commissioned an audit on ovarian cancer. The aim of the audit is to provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary to increase consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.The Department also invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has funded six research projects into screening for ovarian cancer since 2018, with a combined total funding value of £3.8 million, including looking at the impact and effectiveness of different kinds of testing and screening, and the effectiveness of treatment options.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to prevent children being exposed to pornography in Reigate constituency.

The Government is committed to keeping children safe online. Our priority is the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act so that children benefit from its wide-reaching protections.The Act requires that all in scope services that allow pornography use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing it, including services that host user-generated content, and services which publish pornography. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers available against companies who fail to fulfil their duties.

What assessment she has made of the scale of commercial sexual exploitation in Reigate.

The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all of the levers available to us to deliver this.The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators.We have several ways to estimate the scale of sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation make up a significant proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support). The most recent statistics show that in 2023, sexual exploitation accounted for 10% (1,679) of all referrals, a 2% increase from the previous year, with 9% (1,470) of referrals relating to women. The Home Office does not hold data specific to Reigate. However, from January to June 2024, 9 potential victims of modern slavery referred to the NRM who reported (either part or wholly) sexual exploitation disclosed that their exploitation occurred in Surrey.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an estimate of the proportion of Community Infrastructure Levy spent on each category of infrastructure listed in subsection 2 of s216 of the Planning Act 2008 for (a) Reigate & Banstead, (b) Surrey and (c) England in each year since 2020.

Local planning authorities are required to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement annually. These should include information on the items of infrastructure on which the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) has been spent, and the amount of CIL spent on these items.You can find the Infrastructure Funding Statements for Reigate and Banstead here. Surrey County Council have published details of their developer contributions here. There is no statutory requirement for a consolidated Infrastructure Funding Statement for England to be published, and one has not been published to date.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 October 2024 to Question 5795 on M25: Noise, how much Next Generation Concrete Surfacing is expected to reduce noise levels by.

Trials conducted on the M1 suggest that Next Generation Concrete Surfacing (NGCS) could yield a reduction of between 3.4 and 3.7 dB(A) in the noise generated between the vehicle tyre and the concrete road surface.

What steps she is taking to ensure HMRC is adequately resourced for changes in the level of VAT registrations by schools from 1 January 2025.

HMRC is putting in place extra measures to support schools and ensure they can register for VAT on time. This includes new bespoke guidance, hosting webinars, updating VAT registration systems and training additional staff to manage increased demand for registrations. HMRC are confident these actions will enable them to deliver the measure for the 1 January 2025 start date set out in the draft legislation published on 29 July. The final version of the legislation will be confirmed at Budget.

What estimate she has made of the potential impact of independent schools recovering VAT through the Capital Goods Scheme on the benefit to the public purse of charging VAT on school fees.

Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government will confirm its approach to these reforms at the Budget on 30 October, and set out its assessment of relevant expected impacts in a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN).