Within the Food Strategy the Government announced its policy position towards sustainable food labelling.

Through the Food Data Transparency Programme (FDTP), we will develop consistent and defined metrics to objectively measure the health, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare impacts of food.

We will work with stakeholders to create a common framework of metrics which the food and drink industry must follow when making voluntary information available to consumers regarding their food's emission and sustainability claims.

This mandatory methodology will be for participating companies to consistently follow, providing a common standard where eco-information is voluntarily used should they choose to include such information on their products.

In April 2020, the local housing allowance rate in Epsom and Ewell increased to the 30th percentile of local market rents. The Government further boosted LHA rates by £1 billion.

My right hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner on this issue. He will be aware, though, that it cannot be looked at in isolation and that we must look at the additional support available such as discretionary housing payments through the local authority—they are worth up to £1.5 billion overall across all local authorities—as well as the cost of living support package of £37 billion-plus and the household support fund, which again is administered by local authorities.

The report has been published on gov.uk and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/global-resource-initiative-taskforce.

Daily data on COVID-19 testing includes the numbers of new confirmed positive, negative or void test results for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and lateral flow device (LFD) tests. For PCR tests, data is recorded by the date the sample was collected from the individual and results are reported via the laboratory or facility processing the test. For LFD tests, data is also recorded by the date the sample was taken. However, LFD tests do not require laboratory processing and results are self-reported via GOV.UK or 119. Organisations may also report LFD test results directly via the Point of Care Testing portal.

The Department holds data on virus tests reported in England over a rolling seven-day average. For the latest seven-day period ending 21 June 2022, the average number of tests reported daily was 199,350.3.

The 'thank you' payments are only available to those sponsoring guests via the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. Further information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions.

There is no single application route for funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation. Application routes are specific to the relevant research funding call and may vary. The most common approach is the submission of an application to an open research call with all remits, funding criteria and application advertised publicly. Once submitted, these applications are subject to independent peer review.

The Government made payments to councils on 30 March covering the full allocation for the council tax rebate and discretionary fund. Many councils have already started paying the rebate to households.

The Chancellor announced at Spring Statement 2022 that the VAT relief for the installation of energy saving materials (ESMs) will be expanded in Great Britain.

From 1 April 2022, complex eligibility conditions to access the relief have been removed and wind and water turbines have been reinstated as qualifying materials. Qualifying installations will also now benefit from a VAT zero-rate until April 2027. Overall, this represents an additional £280 million of support for investment in ESMs over the next 5 years.

However, the VAT relief for ESMs was not extended to double glazing. While double glazing does have energy saving properties, it is already a popular means to improve the energy efficiency of one’s home. The English Housing Survey suggests that more than 85 per cent of properties in England are already fully double glazed: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445440/EHS_Energy_efficiency_of_English_housing_2013.pdf.

As such, providing tax relief as an additional incentive to install double glazing in one’s home would represent poor value for money.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee's (JNCC) seventh Quinquennial Review report was submitted to ministers on 19 April. It provides ministers with independent scientific advice on proposed changes to Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. We will consider the recommendations carefully before publishing JNCC's advice later this year. We will consider the report alongside the responses from the Nature Green Paper consultation before any decisions are made.

The Government has committed to invest £375 million in neurodegenerative disease research over the next five years. The Government will provide this funding through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The NIHR and UKRI rely on researchers submitting high-quality applications to access funding, therefore details of specific allocations for paediatric research are not currently available. All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Government is currently undertaking significant work in this area to improve the evidence base and address current evidence gaps which will help to inform our policy priorities. For example, specific impacts of environmental labelling on consumers' purchasing behaviour are less well known, so Defra has commissioned consumer insights work to strengthen this evidence area. This will aid better understanding towards the efficacy of eco-labelling on consumer buying preferences and assist in identifying whether environmental labelling leads to more sustainable supply chains, in alignment with reducing the UK's emissions targets.

We want to empower consumers with more effective information to help them make healthier, greener, and more sustainable choices in their diet and are reviewing how food information can be improved - such as through improved labelling - so consumers can make more informed decisions while maintaining freedom of choice.

Elsewhere, we are working with the Environment Agency on its SEEBEYOND project which is looking at the standardisation of metrics in the food and drink sector.

This Government is committed to halting the decline in species abundance by 2030, through a world-leading legally binding target under the Environment Act. We will shortly be publishing a Green Paper to look at how we can drive the delivery of that target, including through our sites and protections for species, such as the hedgehog. Other actions under the Environment Act are likely to support species like hedgehogs, such as biodiversity net gain for development including nationally significant infrastructure projects. Local Nature Recovery Strategies will also help identify and drive local actions to protect and recover species at a scale that will be beneficial to species such as the hedgehog. Our new environmental land management schemes will pay for sustainable farming practices, creating and preserving habitat such as such as woodland, heathland and species-rich grassland, as well as making landscape-scale environmental changes, all of which could benefit species such as hedgehog.

Plastic waste is a commodity which is traded on a legitimate global market. The export of plastic waste is subject to strict controls set out in UK legislation. Businesses involved in the export of waste are required to take all necessary steps to ensure that the waste they ship is managed in an environmentally sound manner throughout its shipment and during its recycling. Individuals and businesses found to be exporting waste in contravention of the requirements of the legislation can face a two-year jail term and an unlimited fine.

The Government does, however, want to deal with more of our waste at home and that is why we have committed to banning the export of plastic waste to countries which are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Environment Act contains a power that will enable us to deliver on this commitment and we plan to consult by the end of this year on options to deliver the ban.

This Government is firmly committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt, in line with our manifesto. There are strong protections for the Green Belt in place. Through national planning policy, local authorities may not alter the boundaries of Green Belt land unless in exceptional circumstances, which must take place through the local plan process. A local authority should consider releasing land from Green Belt only if it can fully evidence that it has explored all other reasonable options for meeting its development needs. This includes using suitable brownfield land for development.

A new hospital scheme for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust forms part of the Government’s commitment to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with all schemes in the programme on the timetable for delivery over the decade. We continue to discuss the development of the plans with Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. All schemes within the new hospital programme will follow the usual business case process, including being reviewed and agreed with HM Treasury.

Ministers and officials engage regularly with stakeholders to understand the opportunities and challenges to increasing trade and investment with the region, including at a Mercosur-focused roundtable discussion with businesses chaired by my Hon. Friend the Minister for International Trade last July, and on a visit to Uruguay in September. In November, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade discussed collaboration on trade and health with Argentina's Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero. On Tuesday, the Secretary of State spoke with her Brazilian counterpart Roberto Fendt to discuss opportunities to improve our trade. The Secretary of State and I look forward to further engagement around the next UK-Brazil JETCO later this year.