The UK continues to fund international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and UN agencies to deliver programmes which target the most vulnerable Sudanese citizens, and ensure that those in need of humanitarian assistance are not left unsupported as a result of expulsion decisions. We meet regularly with the Sudan INGO Steering Committee to discuss issues including humanitarian access, and support them in advocating for access when requested to do so. In addition, DFID is funding £30m of programmes over 3 years in Eastern Sudan to help improve vulnerable communities’ food security and nutrition, provide sustainable water supplies and improve sanitation. DFID also provides core funding to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which supports host and refugee communities across Sudan to improve livelihoods.

The UK remains supportive of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) efforts to strengthen its revenue generation. A transparent and effective tax system is an important part of this. It is also important that the tax system is implemented in a way that does not negatively impact the vital role which NGO’s play in responding to the needs of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is an importtant part of this.

DFID officials have raised concerns with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) about this, particularly the need for clarity on the implications of the tax system for NGOs, and how this could affect issues such as operations in Gaza and banking signatory authorities. The UK, along with other donors, UN OCHA and the NGO community, will continue to be in close contact with PA to clarify their approach.

I am replying as the Minister with responsibility for food waste.

The Government welcomes the redistribution of good quality surplus food to charities that can make sure it goes to people rather than going to waste.

Based on our experience, a simple law or requirement obliging supermarkets to donate food would not fix the barriers to redistribution. We need to look at the bigger picture. Less than 10% of food wasted in the supply chain is from supermarkets, so we need the whole chain to work together.

Facilitated and supported by government, all major retailers now have arrangements in place to redistribute surplus food. Action taken by retailers to redistribute surplus food includes:

• Morrisons have announced that, from January 2016, any unsold safe food will go to redistribution organisations
• Tesco are making use of an app which links supermarkets with redistribution organisations
• Asda are working with FareShare to redistribute food

Signatories to the voluntary Courtauld Commitment with industry have reported a 74% increase between 2012 and end 2014, and we expect it to increase further.

We want to achieve more. Last year, the Secretary of State held a meeting with industry and redistribution organisations to take stock of progress on food redistribution. Outcomes from this include the recent publication of a Redistribution Framework to help facilitate closer working between potential donors and recipients of food surpluses. Research has been commissioned by WRAP to identify where and why waste and surpluses occur in the supply chain to inform further action to increase waste prevention and redistribution.

Following the success of earlier agreements, WRAP launched The Courtauld Commitment 2025 in March. This is an ambitious new agreement that takes a whole food supply chain approach, and will build on the progress we have already made to prevent waste, including through the redistribution of surplus food.

Endometriosis can be asymptomatic; however, some studies have shown that the length of time from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of endometriosis can be up to eight years in the United Kingdom.

Due to the fact that endometriosis can be asymptomatic it is not possible to estimate the precise prevalence of the condition. The number of people who are affected by endometriosis but have not been diagnosed with the condition is therefore unknown.

However, estimates of the prevalence of the condition range from 2% to 10% of women of reproductive age, to 50% of infertile women. Endometriosis UK estimates that around 1.5 million to 2 million women in the UK have the condition.

The number of people who have been diagnosed with endometriosis is not collected centrally. However the table below shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of endometriosis, for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15. However, the data only includes the diagnosis of endometriosis where there was a hospital admission. There may be further cases of the condition that were diagnosed and treated in another healthcare setting. These data should not be described as counts of people as the same person may have been admitted to hospital on more than one occasion within any given time period.

Count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of endometriosis, 2010-11 to 2014-15

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

The Department’s Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Grant for Endometriosis UK was awarded in the 2014/15 funding round. The project title to which the grant was allocated to was ‘Endometriosis Patient Support Groups aligned to Specialised Endometriosis Centres’. The funding granted per the award letter (2015-16 and 2016-17 funding was indicative at the time of the grant) was:

2014-15 £63,686

2015-16 £59,718

2016-17 £65,403

We are working with the Cabinet Office and other government departments on helping employers in different sectors prepare for the apprenticeship levy. Only charities and voluntary organisations with a pay bill greater than £3million will pay the apprenticeship levy. These organisations and all other employers will be able to get back the funds they pay in levy if they take on apprentices. Apprenticeships can benefit all sectors, including charities, and we will work with these organisations to grow the number of apprenticeships they offer.

As the Minister for the Cabinet Office the Rt Hon Matthew Hancock made clear on 27 April, we are committed to protecting taxpayers' money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation of this clause into grant agreements, pending a review of the representations made.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will continue to follow the guidance set by Cabinet Office in all respects of the anti-lobbying clause.

The current guidance to departments is provided on the Government’s website at the following location:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/498271/Implementation_Guidance_for_Departments_on_Anti-Lobbying_Clause.pdf.

As set out earlier this month, we are continuing to work on this issue with charities, universities and others. The principle is clear: taxpayers’ money should not be wasted on Government lobbying Government.

When I used to work for a charity, I was often called by the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government to give expert advice, on one occasion to a very anxious Minister just before a sitting of the Home Affairs Committee. Under the new anti-advocacy clause, will charity specialists continue to be able to help the Government, or will the new rule apply only when it suits the Government, rather than when it suits the public?

Of course charities will be able to contribute to debate. They will be able to advise and researchers will be able to bring forward their world-beating ideas, but as for the idea, supported by the Labour party, that taxpayers’ money should be used for paid lobbyists, we are going to put a stop to that.

What assessment he has made of the potential effect of an anti-lobbying clause in Government grant agreements on the ability of charities to scrutinise Government policy.

As we have said, we are reviewing representations and we will take a decision on the form of the clause. We are pausing on implementation, but we are committed to ensuring that taxpayers’ money is used for the good causes for which it is intended and not wasted on Government lobbying Government.

Will the Minister not admit that this policy is a mess? The Government have been forced into a U-turn by research scientists, so the clause will not apply to them. Will he undertake urgently to review the operation of the entire clause and, at the very least, commit to an ongoing review so that we can be sure that the freedom of speech of charities and other organisations is not undermined?

I am an enormous supporter of the work of charities, but I find it extraordinary that the hon. Gentleman seems to be a supporter of lobbyists using money only when it comes from taxpayers. I think that taxpayers’ money should be put to better use.

Six years after the Government promised to crack down on lobbyists, the big corporate lobbyists are free to lobby, in secret and anonymously, but the worthy charities are having their lives made a misery by new bureaucracy. Why do the Government consistently dabble in the shallows, worrying the minnows, while the big, fat salmon swim by unhindered?

I could not have put it better myself.