Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of measures to deter antisocial behaviour among young people in rural areas, such as North East Hampshire.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
Under the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting neighbourhood officers back into communities, both urban and rural, and restoring public confidence by bringing back community-led, visible policing. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary will receive £5,187,776 as part of the funding settlement for 2025-26.
In addition, the Home Office is providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour. As part of the Hotspot Action Fund, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary will be in receipt of £1,454,452.
Following on from the Safer Streets Summer Initiative, the Home Secretary has announced a “Winter of Action” in which police forces across England and Wales will again partner with local businesses, councils and other agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour and other local issues that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce ambulance wait times for Category 2 calls to the national target of 18 minutes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance performance has not met the high standards patients should expect.
In October, NHS England published the Medium Term Planning Framework which sets out ambitious targets to improve core urgent and emergency care performance to constitutional standards, including by shortening average Category 2 response times to 18 minutes. This is being supported by practical actions, including reducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances and ambulance handover delays.
The measures being taken are already improving ambulance response times, including in North East Hampshire. The latest National Health Service performance figures for the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which serves North East Hampshire, show that in October, Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster than the same period last year.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce ambulance response times in North East Hampshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance performance has not met the high standards patients should expect.
In October, NHS England published the Medium Term Planning Framework which sets out ambitious targets to improve core urgent and emergency care performance to constitutional standards, including by shortening average Category 2 response times to 18 minutes. This is being supported by practical actions, including reducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances and ambulance handover delays.
The measures being taken are already improving ambulance response times, including in North East Hampshire. The latest National Health Service performance figures for the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which serves North East Hampshire, show that in October, Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster than the same period last year.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Electronic Travel Authorisation on European business representatives attending trade events and conferences in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
ETAs have been introduced to strengthen the security of our border. They also make travel easier by further digitising our immigration and borders system, ensuring millions of visitors, including business travellers, enjoy a seamless experience. The department does not hold data on numbers of visitors attending trade events and conferences.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessments her Department has made of the potential impact that access to youth services and after-school clubs has on levels of vandalism and antisocial behaviour among under-18s in North East Hampshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Tackling anti-social behaviour and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government.
DCMS-funded statistical analysis shows that a year after a drop in local authority expenditure on youth services, areas see increased incidences of some types of antisocial behaviour.
We are co-producing a National Youth Strategy which will set out a new long-term vision for young people, and an action plan for delivering this. We aim to publish the Strategy later this year.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with (a) NHS England and (b) integrated care boards to ensure that NHS dental provision is effectively delivered under the Armed Forces Covenant Duty; and whether he has considered increasing levels of (i) guidance and (ii) oversight in this area to help prevent disadvantage for service families following relocation.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that Armed Forces families may move more frequently than the civilian population in support of our service personnel. Data on dental access does not suggest that Armed Forces families are being disadvantaged when compared to the civilian population. We are taking steps to improve access to dentistry and members of the armed forces community will also benefit from the improved access these changes bring about, in the same way as the civilian population.
NHS England is working proactively with the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces Families Federations to provide guidance to integrated care boards in relation to local dental access for families relocating to the area and guidance for families. Signposting for Armed Forces Personnel on dentistry access for their families has been improved through the ‘Discover My Benefits website’, and A “Myth Busting” paper has been prepared by the Armed Forces Families Federation. This includes a link to the Single Point of Contact for NHS England dedicated to Armed Forces access issues.
Free NHS dental care is available to people receiving War Pension Scheme payments, or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments, and the treatment is for your accepted disability. We are also supporting more than 1,500 children in British military families overseas through our supervised toothbrushing programme.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the names of (a) banks and (b) other organisations that fail to (i) prevent fraud and (ii) reimburse victims of fraud.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We work closely with the financial sector to disrupt fraud at its source and prevent financial exploitation. We welcome the actions of the financial services industry in helping to prevent authorised push payment (APP) fraud. Data has also shown that banks are increasingly compensating victims following the introduction of mandatory reimbursement through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (APP scams reimbursement dashboard for Q2 2025 | Payment Systems Regulator).
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) oversees banks’ compliance with regards to mandatory reimbursement, and they will publish their third APP scams performance report, covering 2024, in December. The reports show the sending fraud rates and reimbursement rates of the 14 biggest banks in the UK, putting a spotlight on firms that are the highest receivers of fraud. Previous reports for 2023 and 2022 can be found here: APP fraud performance data | Payment Systems Regulator.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of creating a national online crime agency.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office is considering how best to tackle online crime as part of the upcoming Fraud Strategy, due for publication early next year.
This will include options for enhanced collaboration between industry and law enforcement to address online threats effectively.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times to those seeking psychological therapy to support their employment efforts.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that some people are not receiving the mental health care they need. We are determined to change that. We have already taken significant steps to improve National Health Service mental health services, including hiring almost 7,000 extra mental health workers since July 2024, and thanks to an increase in NHS Talking Therapies, more adults with anxiety and depression are getting back into work.
We are continuing to roll out employment advisors in our talking therapies services to support people with common mental health conditions to seek and retain employment. These advisors help people who are in work but are struggling or facing difficulties in the workplace, for instance being off work sick or looking for work, so we can provide the right support at the right time.
We continue to meet the waiting time standard in place for NHS Talking Therapies services. The latest data from June 2025 shows 89.1% of people completing treatment waited less than six weeks for their first appointment against a target of 75%. And 98.6% of people completing treatment waited less than 18 weeks, against a target of 95%.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2025 to Question 77864 on Non-native Species: Weed Control, if she will make it her policy to offer funding to homeowners for the (a) treatment and (b) removal of Japanese knotweed, in the context of (i) obligations under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and (ii) the environmental impact of this species.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Japanese knotweed is listed on Schedule 9, and subject to Section 14, of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it an offence to plant or otherwise cause this species to grow in the wild. There is no explicit obligation upon landowners to manage this species on their property. However, they must prevent it spreading off their property.
Defra is not currently considering offering funding for homeowners for the treatment and removal of Japanese knotweed. Guidance remains available for homeowners who do wish to manage Japanese knotweed on their property: How to stop Japanese knotweed from spreading - GOV.UK.