Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on trespassing incidents in waterways in quarries.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra holds no data on trespassing in waterways in quarries, but the Mining Remediation Authority may hold some information on this matter.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the numbers of people who have been released under investigation for more than a year during the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions on release and safeguarding are operational matters for individual and operationally independent police forces, taken in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, its Codes of Practice, and national professional guidance. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services regularly inspects police forces, including on how they protect vulnerable people.
The Home Office hold statistics on the numbers of individuals Released Under Investigation by duration in the Police Custody and Pre-Charge Bail release, which covers the years 2022/23 to 2024/25:
Prior to this, for 2020/21 and 2021/22 the Released Under Investigation statistics were published as Experimental Statistics.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, statistics on Released Under Investigation have been designated as ‘Official Statistics in Development’, to acknowledge that further development is ongoing to improve data quality.
Additionally, as different numbers of police forces have been able to provide Released Under Investigation data in each year, any trends on the number of people who were on Released Under Investigation for longer than a year should be interpreted with caution.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces on assessing the risk of self-harm of people released under investigation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions on release and safeguarding are operational matters for individual and operationally independent police forces, taken in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, its Codes of Practice, and national professional guidance. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services regularly inspects police forces, including on how they protect vulnerable people.
The Home Office hold statistics on the numbers of individuals Released Under Investigation by duration in the Police Custody and Pre-Charge Bail release, which covers the years 2022/23 to 2024/25:
Prior to this, for 2020/21 and 2021/22 the Released Under Investigation statistics were published as Experimental Statistics.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, statistics on Released Under Investigation have been designated as ‘Official Statistics in Development’, to acknowledge that further development is ongoing to improve data quality.
Additionally, as different numbers of police forces have been able to provide Released Under Investigation data in each year, any trends on the number of people who were on Released Under Investigation for longer than a year should be interpreted with caution.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the BBC about the potential effect of staff reductions on local and regional news coverage.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The BBC is a vital national institution and an engine of the nations and regions. In that context, this news is concerning for the BBC workforce who are facing significant uncertainty, and for the sector as a whole. The BBC is delivering significant savings, which requires difficult decisions to be made independent of the Government. The BBC have stated that there will be more information on their plans later this year. Looking ahead, the Charter Review aims to deliver a BBC that is sustainably funded in a way that sets the BBC on a path to thrive until well into the latter half of this century.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of Transport Focus’s document entitled Your Bus Journey 2025, published on 25 March 2026.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to improving local bus services for passengers and the Department for Transport welcomes the valuable insight provided by Transport Focus's 'Your Bus Journey' report, published on 25 March 2026. We were encouraged to see overall bus passenger satisfaction rising to 85%, and the report’s findings will continue to help inform the Department’s work to drive better bus services across the country.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with mobile network operators on the rollout of standalone 5G.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Since her appointment in September 2025, the Minister for Digital Economy, the Minister responsible for digital infrastructure, has met with the Chief Executive Officers of all the mobile network operators to discuss a range of issues, including digital infrastructure rollout, the market, and challenges the sector is facing.
All network operators have committed significant investment in line with Government's ambition for standalone 5G to be available in all populated areas by 2030. Government continues to work closely with operators to identify and address barriers to deployment where appropriate to do so, to support investment and improve mobile coverage and connectivity nationwide.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many additional childcare places have been created due to funding from her Department's National Wraparound Childcare Programme in (a) Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Following the launch of the national wraparound childcare programme in September 2024, over 105,000 places were made available by November 2025, supporting more families to access the childcare they need. The department does not hold delivery data broken down to constituency level.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK’s preparedness to respond to a nuclear safety incident arising from damage to a nuclear power plant by hostile actors.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK has an established nuclear safety regime, which it keeps under regular review to ensure it is responsive to emerging threats.
The independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), requires civil nuclear facilities to be designed and operated with layers of defence-in-depth, to provide protection and mitigation if a control fails. This multi-layered approach encompasses physical, cyber, personnel security, and safety fail-safes. Additionally, high consequence nuclear sites are protected by a dedicated, onsite armed police force.
Site safety and security arrangements are regularly tested, exercised, and reviewed to maintain their effectiveness in the unlikely event of an incident. This provides confidence that the UK’s civil nuclear power plants are designed to uphold nuclear safety and effectively counteract threats, including those posed by hostile actors.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 is taking steps to encourage councils to reduce their ownership of (a) unused and (b) underused office space.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are independent bodies responsible for managing their own estates. Decisions regarding council offices are therefore for local authorities to make rather than MHCLG.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide a list of the locations that Asylum Move-On Liaison Officers are based in England.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have placed Asylum Move‑On Liaison Officers (AMLOs) in 59 local authorities across the UK, working alongside Migrant Help to support individuals who will be leaving asylum accommodation.
In England, we have AMLO presence in the following regions:
– London
– West Midlands
– East Midlands
– North West
– Yorkshire and the Humber
– South East
– South West
AMLO deployment is kept under regular review to ensure support is directed appropriately.