Written questions by Morton.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme meets the needs of industry.

The UK Government has assessed the potential merits of ensuring the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme meets industry needs through a range of measures. The scheme was developed with input from an industry-led advisory steering group which continues to guide its development and implementation. The four UK Governments have committed to the appointment of a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO). PackUK engaged with packaging material specialists to inform fee development, while exemption thresholds were introduced to protect smaller businesses from disproportionate impacts. To ensure cost efficiency, PackUK is responsible for delivering value for money for producers and managing costs effectively. Additionally, the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) was developed collaboratively with stakeholders from across the value chain to support fair and transparent fee modulation. Clear communication channels have also been established to enable businesses to raise concerns and provide feedback. The ongoing collaboration between industry and PackUK demonstrates the continued effort to engage with and meet the needs of businesses, ensuring that the EPR scheme remains both effective and commercially viable.

Communities and Local Government, how much decision making authority local councillors will have over large-scale planning applications.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill does not change the consultation rules on local planning applications.Representations can be made by interested parties and these are considered by the relevant decision maker – whether that be a local planning officer or planning committee.The government intends to consult on the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside passage of the Bill.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Government's net zero policies on food supply from British producers.

This Government is committed to delivering net zero by 2050 while ensuring that the transition to more climate friendly practices goes hand in hand with food security and farm profitability. Alongside the recently announced Food Strategy, we will deliver a credible plan to decarbonise food and farming. As part of this, we will work with farmers to assess opportunities to drive economic growth and support British farming whilst protecting the environment. This includes accelerating the uptake of innovative technologies to increase productivity and efficiency in the agriculture sector that will support food production as well as reduce emissions.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his (a) EU and (b) US counterparts on the use of (i) proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club and other (ii) assets (A) frozen and (B) seized via sanctions.

We are determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine as soon as possible. The Government is working closely with the European Commission and Portugal on this issue. Separately, we continue our work at pace with allies to consider all lawful routes to ensure Russia pays for the damage it is causing Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary is having regular discussions with key partners on this issue, including at the Weimar+ Group on Monday 31 March.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will safeguard the call-in powers of local councillors.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill does not change the consultation rules on local planning applications.Representations can be made by interested parties and these are considered by the relevant decision maker – whether that be a local planning officer or planning committee.The government intends to consult on the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside passage of the Bill.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 36412 on Climate Change: Finance, when he plans to publish this data for the 2024-25 financial year.

International Climate Finance spend for financial year 2024-25 will be available after the publication of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Annual Report and Accounts later this year.

Communities and Local Government, what measures does the Planning and Infrastructure Bill contain to empower local councillors, outside formal committee settings, to effectively influence planning decisions and represent their constituents' interests.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill does not change the consultation rules on local planning applications.Representations can be made by interested parties and these are considered by the relevant decision maker – whether that be a local planning officer or planning committee.The government intends to consult on the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside passage of the Bill.

What funding she has allocated to frontline policing to mitigate changes to employer National Insurance contributions.

The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared to the 2024-25 and represents a 6.4% cash increase and 3.9% real terms increase in funding.This includes an additional £230.3 million of funding for territorial police forces to cover the costs of the increases to National Insurance Contributions.

When she plans to publish the Immigration White Paper.

Our upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system, end reliance on overseas labour and boost economic growth. The paper will be published in due course, and announced in Parliament in the normal way.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish the criteria to determine the prioritisation of Official Development Assistance funding in 2025-26; and what steps is he taking to ensure such spending optimises value for money.

We are committed to modernising our approach to development to help provide the best value for money for UK taxpayers and deliver mutual benefits at home and overseas. We will work with our partners in new ways to maximise our impact.To enable us to deliver the transition to spending 0.3 per cent of gross national income on Official Development Assistance effectively, in 2025/26 we are prioritising meeting legally binding commitments and delivering work already underway, as well as planned humanitarian spend. This will help deliver the flexibility the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office requires to set a transitional set of final allocations following the Spending Review. We have also established an exemptions process to allow for critical new development work to continue.Full detail is set out in Baroness Chapman's 27 March letter to the International Development Committee [https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/47275/documents/245059/default/].

Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned changes to the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme on listed places of worship.

DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impacts of various options to scale the scheme. The changes announced were necessary given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and considering competing financial demands in other parts of the heritage and cultural sector.Will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of fully funding apprenticeships for under-22s in SMEs on apprenticeship starts to date.

Since April 2024, the government pays 100% of apprentice training costs, up to the funding band maximum, for non-levy paying employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 21, and apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care.Apprenticeship statistics, including starts by young people, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.

Pursuant to the Answer 18 March 2025 to Question 36660 on USA: Trade Agreements, if he will set out his the expected timeline for an economic deal.

On Tuesday 18 March, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and the Special Envoy to the UK Mark Burnett in Washington DC. The meeting followed last month’s agreement between the Prime Minister and President Trump that teams would start working together on an Economic Prosperity Deal, building on our shared strengths and commitment to economic security. Ministers and officials will be continuing discussions moving forward.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has for participation by (a) Ministers and (b) officials at the European Political Community Summit in Albania on 16 May 2025.

The UK values the European Political Community (EPC) as a format that brings together leaders from across Europe for frank discussions about shared challenges such as European security and irregular migration. The UK has played a central role in the EPC since its inception, particularly through hosting at Blenheim Palace in July 2024. We welcome Albania's hosting of the EPC on 16 May. Attendance at the EPC is at leader-level only and cannot be delegated. We will set out the Prime Minister's travel plans in the usual way.

With reference to the press release entitled Joint statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Charlevoix, published on 14 March 2025, whether the Government has plans to increase its loan to Ukraine from the profits of sanctioned assets.

The Government has provided £2.26bn as part of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine (ERA) scheme. This will be repaid using profits from immobilised Russian sovereign assets in the EU. The G7 has agreed that the ERA can support $50bn in funding to Ukraine – the entirety of which has been pledged. The UK’s total military, humanitarian and economic support pledged since the start of the conflict now amounts to around £12.8bn.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his European counterparts to help tackle (a) intolerance and (b) other discrimination against Christians in Europe.

There is no space for religious intolerance in pluralistic, modern societies. We are championing the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and promoting tolerance and mutual respect through our engagement in multilateral fora, our bilateral work, and our programme funding. We will continue to recognise the impact of the issue of Christian persecution globally, alongside the persecution of other individuals on the basis of their religion or belief. The Special Envoy for FoRB met with European and US counterparts in the margins of the 58th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in March. We actively participate in the Article 18 Alliance - bringing together 38 Member States, 26 of whom are European, to discuss actions our nations can take so that together we can promote respect for FoRB worldwide. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office officials attended the Article 18 Alliance and International Contact Group meetings in Geneva in March.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding his Department is providing to Ukraine to help tackle antimicrobial resistance.

We have provided £477 million in humanitarian support to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, which includes support for healthcare services. Our support includes funding for the Ukrainian Red Cross, who have funded NHS doctors and nurses to share best practice with their Ukrainian counterparts, including how to prevent the spread of infections and antimicrobial resistance. Through the World Health Organisation, we are also strengthening Ukraine's health system to provide better care and rehabilitation services to meet the needs of those injured because of the war. In February, the Defence Secretary announced that we would double our funding to £40 million for Project Renovator, which draws on the UK's leading defence medical expertise to expand Ukraine's military rehabilitation and medical services.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to apply further sanctions to assets associated with (a) the (i) owners and (ii) affiliated entities of Chelsea Football Club and (b) other Russian (A) people and (B) entities.

The UK has been clear that we need to keep the economic pressure on Russia to hinder its ability to wage war. The UK has sanctioned over 2,200 individuals and entities under the Russia sanctions regime, over 2,000 of which were sanctioned since Putin's full-scale invasion. We will not comment or speculate on future designations as to do so could reduce their impact. We are determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine as soon as possible and we are doing everything we can to bring that about quickly.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Minister for International Development’s letter of 14 March 2025 to the International Development Select Committee, how many (a) business cases, (b) contracts and (c) agreements for aid programmes were put on hold following the instruction issued to aid programmes.

As an immediate step to prepare for the reduction to the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) issued an instruction on 7 March to all ODA programme teams in FCDO not to approve new business cases, contracts or agreements, or announce new funding until initial allocations for FCDO ODA in the financial year 2025/26 are set. Payments under existing agreements has continued. In the Minister for Development's letter of Thursday 27 March to the International Development Committee, she confirmed FCDO's approach to setting initial ODA allocations for the financial year 2025/26, including the broad criteria against which new business cases, contracts and agreements will be considered through an exemption process. Given the ongoing exemption process, it is not possible to set out a total number of new business cases, contracts and agreements that FCDO ODA programme teams may have progressed but did not do so as a result of this approach. Guidance has been provided to teams to enable the ongoing development of business cases in high priority areas.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to Overseas Development Assistance on WASH funding worldwide.

The UK recognises the fundamental role that clean water, sanitation and good hygiene play in terms of improving people's health and wellbeing, in helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change, and in empowering women and girls. Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through following the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the spending review.