I declare my professional interest as a veterinary surgeon. While welcoming the Government’s consultation to reform the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, I am concerned that DEFRA’s communications conflated this with the CMA inquiry, leading to media narratives focusing solely on pricing issues and causing distress within the sector. Will the Government reassure stakeholders that they will work closely with them to get this legislation right? Can they guarantee parliamentary time for it?

As my constituency neighbour, the Health Secretary will be aware that Chigwell parish has no GP surgery of its own, requiring many of my constituents to travel to his constituency to access primary care. Given the Government’s top-down housing targets, what assurances can the Health Secretary provide that any new developments in Epping Forest will be accompanied by the delivery of adequate primary care infrastructure, rather than placing further pressure on already overstretched services? Will the Government support the long-standing call, championed by me, local Conservative councillors and Chigwell parish council, for the provision of a GP surgery within Chigwell parish?

The Government must enact policies that benefit farming communities. They have a chance to do that now with another critical issue that impacts our farming, food security, animal welfare and biosecurity. A recommendation was made this month by the council of the School of the Biological Sciences to close the University of Cambridge’s vet school. I declare my strong personal and professional interest as a graduate of that school and as a fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. We do not produce enough vets in the UK. We face threats to our food security and our biosecurity, both of which vets are pivotal to. The health and welfare of animals depends on vets, as indeed does public health. Will the Government act now to press the University of Cambridge to block this closure proposal and save Cambridge’s vet school, for the benefit of animals and people here in the UK and across the world?

As my constituency neighbour knows, constituents rely on Princess Alexandra hospital and Whipps Cross in Leytonstone. Before the election, he promised to rebuild Princess Alexandra, supported Whipps Won’t Wait, yet under Labour both must wait. With Whipps Cross facing an estimated £170 million backlog, does the Health Secretary agree that rising maintenance costs must be considered when prioritising the new hospital programme?

Food security is national security, and we are in a farming emergency due to this Labour government’s policies. These include the heartless family farm tax and closure of support schemes. The excessive solar development plans risk losing prime food-producing land. When will the Government stop this assault on green belt areas and start putting solar farms in the right places like brownfield sites?

Will the Government rethink their approach and adopt sensible measures to put water companies on a more stable and secure financial footing to protect water, the environment and the British taxpayer?

Many of the young people I meet in schools across Epping Forest are clear that they agree with the local school policy of restricting mobile phones when they are at school. Sadly, however, the Government have repeatedly refused to heed Conservative calls to protect our children with a national ban on phones in schools—even voting against it. Bodies such as UNESCO and the OECD are crystal clear about the negative impacts of phones on young people’s education, so when will the Government listen to the evidence and to our school leaders, and support a ban on smartphones in schools for the sake of our young people’s education and mental health?

The National Audit Office report says that the Government really need to step up their border checks. As the Government have admitted in answers to me, 72,872 kg of illegal meat imports were seized between January and April this year, close to the 92,000 kg seized in the whole of 2024. With foot and mouth disease and African swine fever on our doorstep in Europe, I shudder to think how much potentially infected meat is slipping in undetected. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Will the Government act urgently to strengthen our biosecurity and our border checks before it is too late?

With avian influenza still a significant threat, bluetongue prevalent in recent years, African swine fever close to our borders, and foot and mouth outbreaks occurring in Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia, we face serious biosecurity threats. Disease surveillance, vaccination, and control are crucial through the Animal and Plant Health Agency. When will this Government complete the work started by Conservatives in 2020 to redevelop APHA headquarters at Weybridge with a £1.2 billion commitment? Labour’s announcement of £208 million is a start but when will they commit further funding?

The Conservative Government protected over 600,000 properties from flooding, introduced the £100 million frequently flooded allowance and committed to a £5.2 billion investment in flood protection. However, we know that the mental health impacts of flooding remain long after the waters subside. Rural communities face unique challenges, including outbreaks of diseases such as avian influenza and foot and mouth—a clear and worrying threat, given the recent cases in Germany and Hungary. Unfortunately, this Labour Government are exacerbating such stresses with their family farm tax and by scrapping the farming resilience fund, which supports mental health. Can the Minister confirm, for the sake of mental health, what support will be offered to rural communities in place of the scrapped fund?

Merry Christmas to all here and beyond. Farmers are devastated by the Government's family farm tax, affecting those earning less than minimum wage, with cuts up to 76%. The agricultural policy actively disincentives food production despite our country producing only 55% of its needs. This is a threat to national security. What plans do you have to change your policy and support farmers in producing food?

Food security is national security, and underpinning it are farmers and farmland. Labour's ill-judged and heartless family farm tax will put all of that in jeopardy: family farms lost; tenant farmers unable to continue farming; communities hollowed out; rural mental health damaged; and precious food-producing land lost to developers or investors. No farms, no food. No farmers, no food. Will the Government please now admit that they have got this catastrophically wrong? Will they do the right thing by reversing this farm tax to protect our country's food security?

Will the Minister support APHA by affirming that the Government will fully commit to the redevelopment of its HQ in Weybridge?

Will the Minister assure the House that the Government will strain every sinew to secure permanent access to veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland, and will they continue the Cabinet Office's veterinary medicines working group?

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure long-term access to veterinary medicine supplies in Northern Ireland? The Windsor framework secured by the previous Government extended that grace period to veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland until the end of December 2025, including vaccines and anaesthetics. It is vital for biosecurity and both animal and public health that access continues.