Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of service reliability on annual passenger footfall at Narborough Station since 2019.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Unreliable rail services disrupt passengers’ journeys and undermine passenger confidence. This is why we are taking steps to improve train service performance across the country to better deliver for passengers. Passenger numbers across all CrossCountry routes are similar to those that were seen in 2019. Office of Rail and Road figures show growth in demand at Narborough station, with an estimated 240,000 entries and exits in the 2023-24 financial year. This is an increase of 32,000 on the year before.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) reliability and (b) punctuality of CrossCountry services operating between Birmingham, Leicester and Stansted Airport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
CrossCountry train services were not reliable enough in 2024 and the operator was subject to a Remedial Plan from August 2024 to March 2025. Since January 2025, CrossCountry train service performance has generally improved, although issues remain on Sundays. The Rail Minister has met CrossCountry Directors who are well aware that there is more for them to do. A new senior management team at CrossCountry is taking steps to address underlying issues within the business. We expect to see improvements for passengers, and will continue to hold the operator to account for delivery of the contractual performance benchmarks.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has received proposals on improving the (a) reliability, (b) capacity and (c) frequency of services serving Narborough station from CrossCountry.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We expect operators to plan services balancing the need to meet expected passenger demand, improve train service performance, be affordable and provide value for money for taxpayers. Office of Rail and Road station statistics show that service reliability at Narborough has generally improved in the eight weeks to 13 September 2025. Officials monitor CrossCountry performance closely and will continue to hold them to account for delivery of the contractual performance benchmarks.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with CrossCountry on increasing capacity on (a) peak services between Leicester and Narborough and (b) the 17:18 weekday service from Leicester to Birmingham.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In December 2024, CrossCountry removed First Class accommodation from the trains used on the Birmingham to Stansted Airport route, increasing the number of seats available to all ticket holders. All operators are expected to plan capacity on individual services to best match the expected level of demand, whilst making efficient use of the train fleet and train crew resources available to them. Officials are working with CrossCountry to develop a business case to further expand their Inter-City train fleet.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of technical support offered by technology companies to people who report cyber crime incidents affecting their products.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (2022) places a legal obligation on the manufacturers of internet-connected devices to offer a vulnerability reporting process. This means anyone - including users, security researchers and cyber crime victims - must have a clear, secure way to report vulnerabilities to device manufacturers. The Act also places a legal obligation on device manufacturers to support their products with software and security updates for a defined period.
Technical support for cyber crime victims is not regulated under the Act. Victims should report cyber crimes to the police via the Action Fraud website or phone line.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to require parish councils to submit annual governance reports to their principal authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 require parish councils and other smaller authorities to produce an Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR). Parish councils are accountable to their local electorate rather than their principal authority. The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 require councils to make their unaudited AGAR available for public inspection. Councils are also required to publish their AGAR (including the external auditor's report and certificate) online and/or on noticeboards by the end of September following the end of the financial year to which the statement relates.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether forthcoming legislative proposals on the use of non-disclosure agreements would apply retrospectively.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Victims are always able to report crimes to the police under the common law, even if their Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) suggests otherwise and irrespective of when the NDA was entered into. However, since 1 October 2025, section 17 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 allows individuals who are victims of crime, or reasonably believe they are, to share information with specified parties for certain purposes related to the criminal conduct, even if their NDA appears to preclude them from doing so. Additionally, clause 24 of the Employment Rights Bill will void any provision in an agreement between a worker and their employer to the extent that it seeks to prevent a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment and discrimination, unless conditions for an “excepted agreement” to be set in regulations are met. This measure is not yet in force and is subject to the Bill gaining Royal Assent.
Neither of these initiatives would apply retrospectively. They would not apply to NDAs entered into before the date on which the relevant legislation comes into force. This is in line with the rule of law principle that policy changes generally apply prospectively, to provide certainty for individuals and businesses about the rules governing their conduct.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential implications for its policies of the Committee on Standards in Public Life's report entitled Local Government Ethical Standards, published on 30 January 2019; and whether he plans to implement the recommendations on sanctions in that report.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In December 2024 the government launched a consultation seeking views on wide ranging reforms to the local government standards regime in England. The government response will be issued in due course. After its release, we will continue to work actively with local government on developing the detailed policies for implementation.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to bring forward proposals for the suspension of councillors for up to six months in cases of proven (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) serious misconduct.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In December 2024 the government launched a consultation seeking views on wide ranging reforms to the local government standards regime in England. The government response will be issued in due course. After its release, we will continue to work actively with local government on developing the detailed policies for implementation.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to mandate standards committees with lay member involvement in principal authorities to ensure impartiality in misconduct cases.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In December 2024 the government launched a consultation seeking views on wide ranging reforms to the local government standards regime in England. The government response will be issued in due course. After its release, we will continue to work actively with local government on developing the detailed policies for implementation.