theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with the hon. Member for Surrey Heath to discuss the future SEND school provision in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Georgia Gould: The government is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, and ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs. Work to deliver special free schools is ongoing.

Funding for free school projects is provided at different stages of project development, in line with key delivery milestones. The department provides capital funding for the acquisition of sites, land and construction. For centrally delivered free school projects, a contractor is appointed from the department’s framework and construction costs are paid directly by the department.

The department also supports local authorities to provide suitable school places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through annual high needs capital funding, including through the £740 million confirmed for 2025/26. Of this funding, Surrey has been allocated £16.1 million.

The department continues to engage closely with Surrey County Council about the provision of SEND places in Surrey Heath and Surrey as a whole.

I would be happy to meet the hon. Member for Surrey Heath to discuss the challenges in delivering high quality SEND support for children in Surrey.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools are taking part in the Early Language Support for Every Child programme in South Holland and the Deepings constituency. \p Georgia Gould: The Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinder programme, co-led by the department and NHS England, is a test and learn programme trialling new approaches to support earlier identification, intervention and targeted support for children with speech, language and communication needs, helping them thrive in mainstream settings and ensuring every child has the best possible start in life.

Nationally, therapy support teams have reached over 20,000 children and over 3,000 staff members have been upskilled to deliver interventions since the programme began.

The programme is being delivered through nine regional ELSEC pathfinder sites, each comprising a mix of early years and primary school settings. In the East Midlands, Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland are the designated pathfinder local areas and therefore there are no schools within South Holland and The Deepings involved in ELSEC.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the levels of educational support available to autistic children in mainstream schools. \p Georgia Gould: The Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group brought together experts to provide advice and recommendations to the department on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings.

To support schools, the department is also strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings and has commissioned evidence reviews, including one on autism, from Newcastle University and University College London. The What Works in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) research programme is researching tools that schools can use to identify the needs of neurodivergent children.

The Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme provides health and education specialist support to upskill mainstream primary schools to better meet the needs of neurodivergent children, including pupils with autism. The programme is being evaluated, and the learning is informing future policy development around how schools support neurodivergent children.
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Mrs Elsie Blundell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that education, health and care plans for SEND children are issued by local authorities within five weeks. \p Georgia Gould: The department wants to ensure that education, health and care (EHC) assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, high quality plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.

The overall time it takes from a local authority receiving a request for an EHC needs assessment and the final plan being issued, if one is required, must not take longer than 20 weeks unless specific exceptions apply.

The department continues to monitor, challenge and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we ensure that the cause of these problems is identified with the local authority and that an effective recovery plan is implemented. Where needed, the department deploys specialist special educational needs and disabilities advisors to help identify the barriers to carrying out the EHC plan process in a timely way and to address these through practical plans for recovery, alongside addressing other areas of weakness in provision.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to assist local authorities in reducing wait times for children with complex disabilities to access specialist respite services. \p Georgia Gould: Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to assess the needs of disabled children. Where the assessment identifies that a child is eligible for support, the local authority must provide suitable services.

In addition to this, between 2022 and 2025, the government funded the Short Breaks Innovation Programme, where local authorities were invited to bid for a share of £30 million to fund innovative approaches to short breaks delivery, and to the commissioning of such interventions. Some successful local authorities within the programme focused on reducing wait times. A lesson learned report from the programme is due to be published in autumn 2025.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2025 to Question 63763 on Technical Excellence Colleges: Apprentices, if she will provide funding for Level 7 apprenticeships undertaken by people over 22 at Technical Excellence Colleges. \p Josh MacAlister: I refer the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57098.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on reducing funding for Level 7 apprenticeships. \p Josh MacAlister: This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity.

From January 2026, the government will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22. This will enable apprenticeship opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people, whose rate of apprenticeship starts has fallen by almost 40% over the last decade.

This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including analysis by Skills England of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with relevant stakeholders, including other government departments such as the Department of Health and Social Care.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve adult literacy. \p Josh MacAlister: The government recognises the importance of adult literacy skills. That is why the department supports participation in English through our ‘essential skills’ entitlements funded through the adult skills fund (ASF). This provides the opportunity for fully funded study up to and including level 2 for eligible adults aged 19+ who do not have essential literacy skills.

Furthermore, the department supports adults aged 19+ in England who speak English as a second or additional language to access English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision, funded through the ASF, subject to the eligibility requirements laid out in the ASF and local rules on the provision of adult education.

As part of the ASF, Tailored Learning funding can also be used to support learners to improve their essential skills if they are not ready to study for a qualification or would benefit from learning in a more informal way.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking within the Best Start Family Hub programme to ensure that the new centres enhance local opportunities to access good quality play. \p Josh MacAlister: From April 2026, Best Start Family Hubs will continue to provide universal and targeted services for families from pregnancy through age five and beyond. These include peer support sessions, stay-and-play activities, parent champions, and community outreach, all of which help build strong relationships, promote early bonding, and support development from birth.

Community-based activities such as stay-and-play sessions and parenting groups are a vital part of this offer, helping to reduce isolation, build parental confidence and promote early learning through play and shared experiences.
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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report entitled Moved During Exams, published by the charity Become; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure greater stability and improve educational outcomes for children in care. \p Josh MacAlister: Statutory care planning guidance is clear that everything should be done to minimise school changes and ensure transitions are well-planned and supported. Where a change is unavoidable, the child’s Personal Education Plan should set out arrangements to reduce disruption, particularly during exams and other key periods in their education.

The government is introducing measures to rebalance the placement market, improve regulation and commissioning of placements, and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying. This includes addressing the barriers that prevent homes for looked-after children being established where they are needed.

Through the department’s Plan for Change, we’re investing £2 billion to give more children a safe, loving home, including expanding the children’s home estate, delivering more foster care placements and helping keep families together by providing targeted support before problems escalate.

These measures will mean more placements are available, allowing children to be placed closer to home and school when in their best interests.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress she has made in establishing defence technical excellence colleges. \p Josh MacAlister: The department is introducing Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) to specialise in training skilled workforces which industry needs in growth-driving priority sectors. The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy confirmed that we will establish Defence Technical Excellence Colleges, provide funding for courses for defence related skills, and invest in cutting edge university facilities to increase places for defence skills provision. Delivering this package will be a joint endeavour between government and industry. The department has been working with the Ministry of Defence on this and further detail will be set out in the forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what his Department's approach is to placements within industry. \p Josh MacAlister: The department is developing a comprehensive strategy for post‐16 education and skills, to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce, and drive economic growth through our Industrial Strategy.

T Levels are a key element of our skills strategy and all T Levels contain a mandatory industry placement of at least 45 days with an employer, focused on developing practical and technical skills for that area. Providers are responsible for arranging these placements. To support employers, funding is available in 2025/26 to help cover essential costs.

The government has announced a £625 million skills package for the construction sector. This will include measures designed to raise awareness, boost access and improve the quality of training available, ensuring that more young people are equipped with the skills the construction sector urgently needs. As part of this package, the government has committed £100 million alongside a £32 million contribution from the Construction Industry Training Board to fund up to 40,000 Industry Placements each year for all level 2 and level 3 construction learners.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has provided funding to the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester. \p Josh MacAlister: The department has not provided funding to the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a delay in settlement for British National (Overseas) child visa holders caused by a change from a 5+1 to a 10+1 route on access to (a) scholarships, (b) tuition support and (c) student finance. \p Josh MacAlister: Subject to meeting the normal eligibility requirements, Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status holders will be able to qualify for student finance, including tuition fee loans and maintenance loans, and home fee status once they have acquired settled status in the UK. This is in line with most other persons on routes to settlement.

The Home Office has made clear that they will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and further details of the proposed scheme will be provided at that time.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the repayment threshold of student loans on plan five in line with those on plan two. \p Josh MacAlister: Where government reforms lead to the introduction of a new student loan plan type, the terms of the new loan, such as repayment threshold, interest rates and length of the loan are considered as a whole. They are then set in legislation to apply to that specific loan type, such as for Plan 5 which was introduced in 2023.

Comparing only one element, such as the threshold, of a historic plan to a new plan does not provide a balanced assessment. Though the Plan 5 repayment threshold is lower than for Plan 2, the Plan 5 interest rate is lower (RPI+0%) when compared with Plan 2 Plan (RPI+3% during study and varies with earnings post-study).

In 2022, the department conducted a government consultation to assess the impact of policy reforms on higher education funding and finance, including changes to repayment thresholds from Plan 2 to Plan 5. Details on the consultation are available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62223cfb8fa8f549071fc82c/Higher_education_policy_statement_reform_consultation_-_Equality_analysis.pdf.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. \p Josh MacAlister: The department has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. Influencers can be effective in reaching audiences that the government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.
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Calum Miller:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many UK higher education institutions have approached the her Department for guidance following requests from the Chinese Embassy to alter language referring to Taiwan, in each year since 2020. \p Josh MacAlister: The department engages regularly with representatives from the higher education sector on a range of international issues, working to support universities to maximise the opportunities of international collaboration whilst managing related risks. However, it would not be appropriate to comment on the specifics of any discussions with individual universities on sensitive diplomatic or national security matters.

If we are made aware of concerns from universities regarding undue foreign pressure, we can and would take appropriate action to support universities, alongside other partners, to maintain their independence and autonomy. In England, providers have a regulatory requirement to ensure that their decisions are taken, without direction, coercion or covert influence. The Office for Students’ freedom of speech advice, published in June 2025, shows how providers should protect academic freedom from foreign interference, and the department has announced further work to improve international due diligence and awareness of foreign interference risks.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will hold discussions with (a) universities and (b) students' unions on introducing (i) safety frameworks, (ii) standardised risk assessments, (iii) training and (iv) a duty to report incidents in relation to student-led outdoor activities. \p Josh MacAlister: I refer the hon. Member for North Cornwall to the answer of 5 June 2025 to Question 54501.
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Sir Andrew Mitchell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Best Start Family Hubs are planned for the West Midlands. \p Josh MacAlister: Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and to thrive are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.

The department will spend close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education to begin the hard work needed to deliver these changes.

We will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities, can access it. These hubs will be open to all families but will be located in disadvantaged communities where support is most needed.

Local authorities will identify family hub sites and the numbers of hubs and services delivered will vary depending on local needs.

The department will be providing guidance to local authorities in time to support service delivery from April 2026.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with industry bodies on strengthening (a) apprenticeships and (b) training routes in the hospitality sector to support small and medium-sized businesses in Yeovil constituency. \p Josh MacAlister: The government offers a range of training options, including apprenticeships and BTECs, to support employers of all sizes in the hospitality sector to benefit from and develop the skilled workforces they need.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) give small and medium businesses a stronger role in identifying local skills issues and working collaboratively with skills providers and other local stakeholders to resolve them. From October, Business West and Somerset Chamber of Commerce will begin the process of developing a new 3-year LSIP for Somerset, which includes the Yeovil constituency.

The department and Skills England engage regularly with the hospitality sector, including industry bodies such as UK Hospitality, regarding training for the sector and the government’s plans for skills.

To support apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been, or are, in local authority care, when they undertake apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers.

The government also continues to pay £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16 to 18, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has a budget for retraining programmes for adult workers transitioning from oil and gas to renewable energy. \p Josh MacAlister: Green skills are essential to driving economic growth and achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050. Clean energy and advanced manufacturing have been identified as priority sectors in the Industrial Strategy.

To support this, the government will invest an additional £1.2 billion annually in skills by 2028/29, expanding opportunities across high-growth industries. As part of this, over £100 million will be directed toward engineering skills development through education, apprenticeships, and the establishment of Technical Excellence Colleges in key sectors like advanced manufacturing.

The government will provide approximately £1.4 billion in funding for the adult skills fund in the 2025/26 academic year. This includes funding the Free Courses for Jobs offer, which gives eligible adults the chance to access a high value level 3 qualification for free, helping support them to gain higher wages or a better job in key sectors, for example in heat pump installation.

The government will also support adult learners through our technical education offer, including through a range of apprenticeships and Skills Bootcamps.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) websites and (b) organisations on the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023. \p Kanishka Narayan: Ofcom has conducted an extensive programme of work aimed at facilitating understanding and compliance with the Online Safety Act. This includes a Regulation Checker to help services and organisations identify whether they are in scope of the relevant duties. Where they are, Ofcom provides guides and toolkits on complying with the new rules. Ofcom’s guide for services webpage can be used as a hub for relevant resources. When it comes to compliance, Ofcom will focus on services where the risk and impact of harm is the highest, only taking action where appropriate.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Online Safety Act 2023 on (a) Wikipedia and (b) news reporting sites. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Online Safety Act covers services where users post content or interact online, requiring sites like Wikipedia to address illegal material and protect children where necessary. Ofcom must ensure that the duties are proportionate and appropriate for the different kinds and sizes of services.

The Act includes exemptions for specific types of user comment sections, which will take many news publishers sites out of scope. Safeguards are also built in to protect news publisher content on the largest (Category 1) platforms and Ofcom will be required to review how the Act affects journalistic and news publisher material on such services.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Online Safety Act 2023, what assessment he has made on the adequacy of the security of personal data shared with third parties. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Online Safety Act has cross-cutting duties to ensure that users’ rights to privacy are protected. All providers are required to give particular regard to the importance of protecting users’ privacy rights when implementing measures to comply with their new safety duties, including age assurance technologies. Where Ofcom has concerns that a provider has not complied with its obligations under data protection law, it may refer the matter to the ICO.
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on enforcing the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023 in relation to small-scale online suicide forums (a) through the Small but Risky Taskforce and (b) by other means. \p Kanishka Narayan: Ofcom is the independent regulator of the Online Safety Act and is responsible for its enforcement. Within the first month of the Act’s illegal content duties coming into effect, Ofcom launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime, including into the provider of a pro-suicide forum, demonstrating small but risky sites as a high priority for enforcement. As demonstrated by their dedicated small but risky taskforce and recent enforcement actions, Ofcom will identify, manage and enforce against such services where there is a failure to comply with their duties.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on establishing the new Sovereign AI Unit. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has established the Sovereign AI Unit, backed by up to £500million, to back promising UK-based AI companies operating in critical domains. The Unit will provide targeted support to enable high-potential start-ups and scale ups to become national AI champions, with investment via the British Business Bank, and other government tools such as procurement, regulatory pathways and access to data, talent, and compute.

It is early days for the Unit ahead of its funding coming online from next April but already it has invested £8 million in the OpenBind consortium to accelerate drug discovery, and allocated compute via the UK’s AI Research Resource to high-quality research projects.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on developing a route for international reliance for (a) medicines and (b) medical devices. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency launched an International Recognition Procedure for medicines in January 2024. The MHRA, with the support of the Office for Life Sciences and Department of Health and Social Care, is continuing the development of an international reliance framework for medical devices. The MHRA published on 22 July the government response to the consultation on Medical Devices Regulations, which address international reliance for medical devices. The MHRA intends to implement three international reliance routes for medical devices and intends to consult further on the international reliance routes for CE-marked medical devices.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what oversight mechanisms are in place to ensure that government monitoring of public social media content does not infringe upon freedom of expression and privacy rights. \p Kanishka Narayan: Government firmly believes that people must be able to debate and discuss issues freely. The rights of citizens freedom of expression and access to journalism are essential to any functioning democracy.

For example, the Department for Science Innovation & Technology’s National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) analyses social media to identify and assess potential information threats to UK public safety and national security. The NSOIT’s commitment to protecting freedom of expression is embedded in its compliance policies and practices which are available on GOV.UK.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a levy on international student fees on UK university-led Research and Development capacity. \p Kanishka Narayan: In the Immigration White Paper, the government committed to exploring a levy on international student fees. At this stage, no decisions have been taken on the size or implementation of any proposed levy by DfE. As such, DSIT has not made any formal assessment on the impact of university led R&D. If implemented, the levy would ensure that revenue from international students is more widely shared, and their contributions felt throughout our communities. We are committed to engaging the sector on the design of any potential levy and want to understand specific concerns providers have as early as possible.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold a consultation on the introduction of a digital ID system; and if she will publish the results. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Government is committed to making the state more efficient and easier to interact with through harnessing technology. We want to learn from countries who have digitised government services for the benefit of their citizens.

We are looking at whether a new digital ID could help tackle illegal immigration, transform public services, and bring benefits to people’s everyday lives. No firm decision, estimate or assessment has yet been made.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of digital identity services for (a) individual freedom and (b) personal privacy. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Government is committed to making the state more efficient and easier to interact with through harnessing technology. We want to learn from countries who have digitised government services for the benefit of their citizens.

We are looking at whether a new digital ID could help tackle illegal immigration, transform public services, and bring benefits to people’s everyday lives. No firm decision, estimate or assessment has yet been made.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the number of additional (a) civil servants and (b) contractors required to administer a digital ID system. \p Kanishka Narayan: The Government is committed to making the state more efficient and easier to interact with through harnessing technology. We want to learn from countries who have digitised government services for the benefit of their citizens.

We are looking at whether a new digital ID could help tackle illegal immigration, transform public services, and bring benefits to people’s everyday lives. No firm decision, estimate or assessment has yet been made.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_177

Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of staff shortages in His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service on delays to criminal trials in Wiltshire. \p Sarah Sackman: Staffing allocations are in line with current workload across the courts in Wiltshire, although recruitment can be an issue, particularly in Swindon where the competition in the job market is high. That said, administrative staff at both the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts in Wiltshire are at or near compliment. A shortfall in legal advisers in the magistrates’ courts in Wiltshire has had an impact on trial timeliness. To mitigate the impact of reduced sittings, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has implemented a detailed plan to address the position, and a rolling programme to recruit trainee legal advisers to support magistrates’ court capacity is part of this. There is currently legal adviser capacity to sit 54 crime courts per week and this is expected to rise in line with the planning, stabilising at 65 courts per week in 12-months time. In addition, the measures implemented to address the situation will see a dedicated trial blitz in late 2025 and which is supported by inter-agency collaboration.
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_178
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_178

Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with HM Courts and Tribunals Service on addressing the backlog of criminal cases in Wiltshire. \p Sarah Sackman: The outstanding caseload in the criminal courts remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System.  Ministers meet regularly with the judiciary and HMCTS to discuss shared priorities, including the criminal courts caseload.

For this financial year (25/26), this Government is funding a record allocation of Crown Court sitting days to deliver swifter justice for victims – 110,000 sitting days this year, 4,000 higher than the last Government funded. We also funded 108,500 sitting days in the Crown Court in the last financial year - the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16).  We continue to build capacity in magistrates’ courts, with 14,636 magistrates in post as of April 2025 across England and Wales. This year alone, we are uplifting our programme to bring in 2,000 new and diverse magistrates over the next 12 months and will continue to recruit at high levels in future years – ensuring our benches reflect the communities they serve. We also continue to recruit high levels of legal advisers, securing resilience for years to come.

However, the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days can achieve.

This is why the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform that will improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swifter justice for victims. The first part of the Review now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response in the autumn.
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_179
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_179

Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of court capacity in Wiltshire to meet expected caseloads in the next five years. \p Sarah Sackman: This Government inherited record and rising courts backlog. In the criminal courts jurisdiction, we have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days across England and Wales this financial year to deliver swifter justice for victims, 4,000 more than in 24/25 under the previous Government. However, current national system performance and projected demand in coming years suggest the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days can achieve. This is why the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform that will improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swifter justice for victims. The first part of the Review now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response in the autumn.

In Wiltshire, current Crown Court performance compares favourably with other centres. Between June 2024 and June 2025, new case receipts declined by 3%; and the outstanding caseload reduced by 18%, indicating that we do have the capacity to meet current demand in the Crown court.

In the magistrates’ courts, our open caseloads rose steadily last year, demonstrating that the challenge we face is across the criminal courts structure, not solely in the Crown Court. We continue to recruit high levels of magistrates and legal advisers to secure resilience in the magistrates’ court for years to come.
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_180
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_180

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of unfair dismissals there were in the workplace in 2024. \p Sarah Sackman: The Ministry of Justice holds data on the number of complaints of unfair dismissal cases brought to the Employment Tribunal (ET), and their outcomes. The published data can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

The ET moved to a new case management system in 2021, and the transfer of cases from the old system is still ongoing. As a result, the data from 2021 onwards that is currently reported is not fully representative of the cases received and disposed of by the ET.

Of the complaints brought to the ET involving unfair dismissal, a small proportion are successful at hearing. The majority of ET complaints involving unfair dismissal are settled, withdrawn, dismissed or decided in favour of the respondent (usually the employer) at hearing. In addition, not all unfair dismissal cases are brought to the Employment Tribunal, with some cases being resolved through Acas. The latest data on the number of early conciliation notifications that are received by Acas for unfair dismissal are published annually, and can be found at: https://www.acas.org.uk/about-us/annual-report.
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_181
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_181

James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support HM Prison and Probation Service. \p Jake Richards: HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. It is responsible for carrying out sentences given by the courts, both in prisons and in the community. Its core objectives are to protect the public and rehabilitate people to reduce the risk of reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS work hand in glove to ensure that policy and operational delivery work together to deliver punishment that cuts crime, swifter justice for victims and ensure that the UK is a beacon for justice and the rule of law.

Policies and frameworks to achieve these outcomes are developed by Ministry of Justice policy and HMPPS operations in tandem. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HMPPS are committed to this close working relationship. For example, the Joint Strategic Policy Unit is a mixed MoJ / HMPPS team which reports jointly to HMPPS senior officials, as well as MoJ policy directors and ministers. This ensures that HMPPS and the MoJ are entirely joined up in responding to challenges in the prisons and probation system, as well as on longer-term strategic planning.

The MoJ is also supporting HMPPS with increased investment in both prisons and probation. Probation funding will increase by up to £700 million by the final year of the spending review. That is a 45% increase in annual budgets, which will support additional recruitment and investment in services that rehabilitate offenders and cut crime. A further £4.7 billion prison building investment has been confirmed, backing the largest expansion since the Victorians.
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_182
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_182

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 72208 on Unmanned Air Systems: Military Aid, on what dates were the 13 Military Aid to Civil Authority requests from 2022 to 2 September 2025 fulfilled by 2 C-UAS Wing; in what locations; and for which organisations. \p Al Carns: I can provide some of the detail requested, however as the requests related to nationally significant events and other discreet tasks, I am withholding some information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Date Location Organisation supported

24 July - 10 August 2022 Birmingham Birmingham Police

9 - 14 September 2022 Edinburgh Police Scotland

13 - 20 September 2022 London Thames Valley Police

3 - 8 May 2023 RAF Northolt Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police

8 - 14 May 2023 Liverpool Liverpool Police

15 - 17 June 2023 London Metropolitan Police

20 - 23 June 2023 London Metropolitan Police

3 - 6 June 2024 Portsmouth Hampshire Police

15 - 29 July 2024 Blenheim Palace Thames Valley Police
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_183
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_183

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with the former UK Ambassador to the US on the purchase of defence equipment from the US. \p Luke Pollard: The UK Ambassador to the United States, met routinely with senior Defence officials to discuss a range of issues across the UK-US relationship, including opportunities for closer collaboration on technology partnership, AUKUS and other ways to deepen the UK-US bilateral relationship.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_184

Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library his Department's response to the freedom of information request, reference FOI2025/17106. \p Luke Pollard: I can confirm I am content to place a copy of my response in the library of the House.
wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_185
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-16)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-16 conversation_185

Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support veterans' services in Eastleigh constituency. \p Louise Sandher-Jones: This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country, no matter which community they are based in. In Eastleigh and across the country, the Government is ensuring a wide range of support is available for veterans. At the 2021 census, 3,518 people in Eastleigh reported that they had previously served in the UK Armed Forces, representing 4.6% of the population aged 16 and over.

The Ministry of Defence runs the Veterans Welfare Service, which provides advice and support to veterans and their families. For support with employment, the Career Transition Partnership is the initial point of provision for those leaving military Service and Op ASCEND is the employment pathway for veterans.

In England Op RESTORE and Op COURAGE provide physical and mental health specialist services. Housing support is available across the United Kingdom via Op FORTITUDE, a single referral pathway connecting veterans with support.

In May this year, we also announced VALOUR, a new commitment, backed by £50 million, to establish the first-ever UK-wide approach to veteran support, which will ensure easier access to essential care and support for veterans across the country. A new regional approach, based on a network of VALOUR support centres and regional field officers, will help to ensure that services are designed to meet the needs of their local communities.