Andrew Cooper

Strengthening the criminal justice system response to domestic abuse and increasing victim confidence are crucial to achieving this Government’s ambitious commitment to halve violence against women and girls this decade.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) takes prosecuting domestic abuse very seriously and maintains a steady charge rate of over 75% and a conviction rate of approximately 76%.

Next month, in partnership with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the CPS will publish a national joint justice plan to transform how cases of domestic abuse are prosecuted and handled. The plan recognises that better communication between the CPS and NPCC improves case outcomes for victims. Additionally, through its Victim Transformation Programme the CPS is improving the service it provides to victims of crime.

The Ministry of Justice provides funding to Police and Crime Commissioners who commission community-based support services for domestic abuse victims and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Act) aims to improve support for victims of domestic abuse by placing a duty on local commissioners in England to collaborate when commissioning services for victims of domestic abuse. The duty will require commissioners to assess the needs of victims of domestic abuse in their area and produce a joint local commissioning strategy. The Act will also improve awareness of and compliance with the Victims’ Code, which supports victims of crime to understand what they can expect from the criminal justice system and sets out the minimum level of service that victims should receive.

The Home Office will also ensure that there are specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force and police officers receive stronger training on racism and violence against women and girls.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th October 2024 is attached.

The Procurement Act 2023 introduces new powers to exclude and debar suppliers from public sector contracts if they pose a national security risk. To implement these powers, the Cabinet Office has established the new National Security Unit for Procurement, responsible for investigating suppliers on national security grounds, both within the government supply chain and for the wider public sector.

We have also taken action to remove surveillance equipment supplied by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of China from sensitive government sites. A timeline for removal was published on 29 April 2024. The Cabinet Office is monitoring progress against this timeline and departments are on track to replace all such equipment by April 2025.

Although multi-level schemes are not illegal, it is a criminal offence to persuade someone to make a payment to a scheme by promising benefits from getting other people to join the same scheme (Fair Trading Act 1973 section 120(3)).

Also, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) prohibit unfair and misleading marketing tactics towards consumers. This includes “establishing, operating or promoting a pyramid promotional scheme where a consumer gives consideration for the opportunity to receive compensation that is derived primarily from the introduction of other consumers into a scheme rather than from the sale or consumption of products.”

To strengthen the enforcement of these and other consumer rights, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 increases the powers available for enforcement bodies.

Although multi-level schemes are not illegal, it is a criminal offence to persuade someone to make a payment to a scheme by promising benefits from getting other people to join the same scheme (Fair Trading Act 1973 section 120(3)).

Also, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) prohibit unfair and misleading marketing tactics towards consumers. This includes “establishing, operating or promoting a pyramid promotional scheme where a consumer gives consideration for the opportunity to receive compensation that is derived primarily from the introduction of other consumers into a scheme rather than from the sale or consumption of products.”

To strengthen the enforcement of these and other consumer rights, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 increases the powers available for enforcement bodies.

Business debt in the UK is spread across each of the regions, with the biggest proportions found in London, the South East and South West. Please find a detailed breakdown of the changes in the regional spread of business debt in each of the last five years, using figures from UK Finance:

Table: The share of the value of SME loan facilities (with each year-on-year difference)

Source: UK Finance (Aggregated SME Database, average of small and medium businesses value of loan facilities). Quarterly figures may not be directly comparable between years due to a re-segmentation of businesses and improvements in reporting from 2023 Q2 onwards. This includes some regional re-classification.

The latest figures (for April to June 2024) from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that around 1,030,000 people (3.1% of total employment) were employed on a zero-hours contract in the UK.

ONS do not publish constituency level data on zero-hours contracts, however Cheshire is part of the North West (England) region in the ONS regional breakdowns. Over the same period, there were approximately 100,000 people (2.7% of total employment) employed on a zero-hours contract in the North West, and approximately 890,000 people employed on a zero-hours contract in England as a whole (3.2% of total employment).

Estimated numbers of companies with the SIC code 49410 that entered insolvency in the UK in each of the last five calendar years (including 2024 to date) are presented in the table below.

The latest statistics for the number of households in fuel poverty (using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency fuel poverty metric) in parliamentary constituencies in England, can be found in the published sub-regional fuel poverty statistics, in Table 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-regional-fuel-poverty-2023-2021-data

The latest official Fuel Poverty Statistics for England were published in February 2024 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics#2023-statistics

Annex D of the report and table 20 of the Trends tables include statistics from 2010 to 2024 using an affordability measure of the number of households required to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on domestic energy. Affordability measure estimates are not held at sub-national level.

The latest statistics on fuel poverty in England cover 2023 and can be found in the published Official Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics. Table 23 and Table 30 provide estimates of the number of households in fuel poverty by age of the oldest person in the household, and by employment status of the household reference person, respectively. Statistics for 2024 will be published in early 2025.

Although the previous government did not update its digital inclusion strategy for ten years, digital inclusion is a priority for the new government, so that everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to participate in a modern digital society, whatever their circumstances. Work is ongoing to develop our approach to tackling digital exclusion, and we will be working closely with the third sector and local authorities, many of whom have already implemented highly successful programmes, to ensure interventions are collaborative, targeted and effective.

According to the independent website ThinkBroadband.com, 0.3% of premises in the Mid Cheshire constituency, 0.7% in Cheshire and 0.6% in England overall do not have access to broadband speeds in excess of the legal Universal Service Obligation (USO) of 10Mbps.

Ofcom publishes mobile coverage data for premises through its Connected Nations Reports and does not distinguish between households and other premises.

Ofcom’s most recent coverage reporting reports that 127,447 (0.5%) premises across England do not have indoor 4G mobile coverage from any mobile network operator (MNO). This falls to 10,382 (0.04%) premises for 4G outdoor coverage.

Ofcom data does not enable us to make an assessment of the number of premises in Cheshire that do not have coverage from any MNO.

This Government is committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential and recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving their life chances and wellbeing.

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. This is funded from the local government settlement

Additionally, as a government we are keen to ensure that there is appropriate youth provision to stop young people being drawn into crime and facing other poor outcomes. This is why we are creating the Young Futures programme, which will see the establishment of Prevention Partnerships in every local authority and the rollout of youth hubs across England and Wales. These Partnerships, supported by a network of hubs, will bring local services together and deliver support for young people to help them live safe and healthy lives.

This will build on the DCMS funding to invest £500 million in youth services to ensure every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.

In Sport England's ten-year strategy, Uniting the Movement, they have ensured that each of their programmes directly help disabled people, and those with a long-term health condition, with initiatives like the 'We are Undefeatable' campaign and partnerships with disability sport organisations.

The Culture Secretary recently attended the launch of ParalympicGB’s Equal Play Campaign where she expressed her determination to put sport at the heart of the school curriculum. This includes opening up opportunities for all young people, including those with disabilities, to be able to access sport and physical activity at school.

To fund the next generation of Olympic and Paralympic talent, Sport England is investing £120 million to increase participation in sport and boost diversity at a grassroots level to give more and better opportunities to all young people to explore and develop their potential.

The department provides annual capital funding to support the education sector, which includes funding to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate and to create school places. The department’s capital budget also supports providers other than schools, and there is no separate capital budget for schools specifically. It is not possible to break all funding down by constituency or local authority.

The total Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) outturn in each financial year since 2014/15 is available in the table below. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-annual-reports.

Table 1: Total CDEL outturn in each financial year since 2014-15

The department supports schools by providing capital funding to responsible bodies, including local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided bodies to invest in improving the condition of their estates. In addition, we deliver rebuilding programmes to replace school buildings in the worst condition.

In the last ten years, under the Priority School Building Programme and the School Rebuilding Programme, the department has handed over, or committed to, ten rebuilding projects in Cheshire West and Chester and one in Cheshire East, the local authorities covering Mid-Cheshire constituency, as part of over 1000 projects across England. Individual schools in the programmes are published on GOV.UK.

It is up to the local authorities to allocate their annual school condition funding across their maintained schools, based on local knowledge of need, prioritising keeping schools safe and operational. The total allocated to Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East and their maintained schools from 2015, including School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital, as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund, is available in the table below:

Table 2: Total capital funding allocated to Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East and their maintained schools from 2015 (including School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital, as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund).

*includes additional one-off allocations.

Large academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies with schools in the area will also have been allocated a school condition allocation, but allocations typically span constituency and local authority boundaries. Smaller and stand alone academy trusts and sixth form colleges have been able to bid for funding to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). Capital allocations and successful CIF projects are published on GOV.UK.

The annual condition funding for school buildings allocated by year across England, as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund, is available in the table below:

Table 3: The annual condition funding for school buildings allocated by year across England (as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund).

*includes additional one-off allocations.

Furthermore, the department provides the Basic Need capital grant to support local authorities meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient mainstream school places for children in their area. Basic Need allocations for all years from 2011/12 to 2025/26 for: i) England; ii) Cheshire West and Chester Council; and iii) Cheshire East Council are published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.

The department has also invested over £3 billion into school places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision since 2018 when this funding began. Of that funding, Cheshire East has received £33,482,797 and Cheshire West and Chester has received £13,633,503. As funding is allocated to local authorities, there is no constituency level data for high needs capital. Special Provision Capital Fund allocations for 2018 to 2021 are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-provision-capital-funding-for-pupils-with-ehc-plans. High Needs Provision Capital Allocation allocations for 2021 2025 are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-provision-capital-allocations.

​​​​​​High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but the government must do more to ensure it has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers and retain our excellent school staff.

The first crucial steps towards achieving this are to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and to reset the relationship with the teaching profession. As part of this, it is important that teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why this government is fully funding, as recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body, the 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. Additionally, from 1 September 2024 schools are no longer required to use performance related pay (PRP) as the basis for appraisals and decisions related to pay progression.

This government is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what we have calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.

​Alongside teacher pay, the department is making £200 million available for bursaries and scholarships annually, with shortage subject trainees eligible in 2023/2024 for the highest bursaries of £28,000 and £30,000 for scholarships. The department will shortly be announcing the trainee incentives for the 2025/26 academic year.

To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers can also receive a targeted retention incentive if working in disadvantaged schools. 6 schools in Mid Cheshire are eligible for payments to teachers of up to £6,000 after-tax.

​​The department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, including its ‘improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service and the ‘education staff wellbeing charter’. Additionally, effective use of technology can automate tasks and help manage workload for teachers. For example, high quality AI tools have the potential to reduce the amount of time that teachers spend marking, whilst supporting effective feedback and tailored teaching which drive pupil progress.

​In August 2024, the department announced a £1 million fund to support innovators to develop proof of concept AI tools to support teachers with marking and providing feedback. Oak National Academy has also recently launched a sector-leading AI lesson planning assistant which enables teachers who choose to use it to create personalised and tailored lesson plans and resources in minutes.

​​The department is committed to supporting schools to implement flexible working practices including taking planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time remotely, to improve recruitment and retention of teachers. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts. Schools in Mid Cheshire can access support on flexible working here: https://www.flexibleworkingineducation.co.uk/.

​The department has established teaching school hubs across the country, which provide approved high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. Cheshire Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester.

The requested information is not held centrally.

The department collects data on children missing education (compulsory school aged children not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education) from local authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest figures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education.

The data are collected at aggregate level, so it is not possible to identify children missing education (CME) by both year group and special educational need (SEN) status. In autumn 2023/24 8% of all CME had an additional requirement of SEN support, while 6% of CME had an education, health and care plan. This compares with 13% and 4% respectively for the overall school population (in January 2023). CME data are not available at constituency level.

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate for local authority registers of children not in school. This will include a duty on parents to provide the necessary information for these registers if their child is eligible, which would improve the accuracy of data and ensure that fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school.

The requested information is not held centrally.

The department collects data on children missing education (compulsory school aged children not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education) from local authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest figures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education.

The data are collected at aggregate level, so it is not possible to identify children missing education (CME) by both year group and special educational need (SEN) status. In autumn 2023/24 8% of all CME had an additional requirement of SEN support, while 6% of CME had an education, health and care plan. This compares with 13% and 4% respectively for the overall school population (in January 2023). CME data are not available at constituency level.

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate for local authority registers of children not in school. This will include a duty on parents to provide the necessary information for these registers if their child is eligible, which would improve the accuracy of data and ensure that fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school.

Data for 16 to 24 year olds not in education employment or training (NEET) is not available by constituency nor by special educational needs. National figures for overall proportions of 16 to 24 year olds NEET in England are sourced from the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

No direct assessment of beavers’ impact on the species abundance target has been conducted but we continue to improve our evidence base underpinning the targets more broadly.

However, evidence demonstrates that beavers can boost biodiversity and create and restore wetland habitats. A 2020 evidence review of the interaction between beavers and the natural and human environments found that beaver reintroductions can bring many benefits by helping to restore lost natural ecosystem function. Therefore, beaver reintroductions could contribute to broad ambitions to restore biodiversity, through the restoration of more naturally functioning habitat mosaics, benefitting many species.

Beaver populations in England are currently small, so any positive impact on biodiversity and species abundance will be spatially limited.

The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for assessing environmental permit applications for new waste incinerators to operate in England and has a duty to assess any application it receives against the requirements of the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) 2016. If it meets those requirements, the EA must issue a permit.

Under EPR 2016, operators of incinerators must use the best available techniques to minimise emissions and meet strict emission limits. The EA will only grant a permit if it is satisfied that these requirements will be met, and that the proposal would not give rise to any significant pollution of the environment or harm to human health.

When the EA receives a permit application for a new incinerator, it carries out a comprehensive impact assessment of emissions from the plant, and it also consults the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for their views on the application.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Yes, Defra will continue to work with Natural England to develop our approach to beaver reintroductions and management in England. Beaver management should follow the 5-step management approach published on Gov.uk. Licenced projects are responsible for managing animals they have released and are also expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conservation Translocations in England. Landowners and managers who may be affected by beaver activity can find further guidance on beaver management, including when a licence might be needed, on Gov.uk.

The Government has interpreted that the MP is referring to the ‘Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging’ scheme as part of our packaging reforms. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, which reform the UKs producer responsibility system for packaging, are due to be brought before parliament in autumn this year, with the aim of these regulations coming into force by 1 January 2025.

HS2 Ltd currently holds 51 residential properties on the Managed Portfolio in the Mid Cheshire constituency, of which 31 are let and 20 are vacant. 9 of these properties have been vacant for 6 months or more. The majority of vacant properties in Mid Cheshire are currently being actively marketed or prepared for letting, though only where such expenditure provides value for money to the taxpayer.

Under the current system, each train operating company offers a range of fares, some of which are regulated by Government. Train operating companies have flexibility in how they set the prices of unregulated fares; however, in practice, many closely follow the change in regulated fares.

This Government acknowledges that the current fares system is overcomplicated and can be confusing to passengers. We have therefore committed to reviewing it with a view to simplifying it.

Given the short time since the general election, I regret I am not yet able to comment on next steps regarding specific station applications through the Access for All programme. However, please be assured that we are committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognise the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child.

The Child Poverty Taskforce has started work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. The Strategy will be published in the Spring and will be UK-wide.

In September, the Taskforce heard from local leaders about the challenges faced in their communities, and how they can best work with Mayors, local authorities and other bodies to develop innovative solutions to tackle child poverty. This marked the first of a series of thematic sessions with key organisations, charities and experts on specific topics that will help to shape the Strategy.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside the Government’s commitments to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, setting every child up at the start of the day ready to learn, expanding childcare to deliver work choices for parents and life chances for children, provide stronger protection for families who rent privately as well as deliver our plan to make work pay.

Improving employment support and employment outcomes for people of all ages, including older jobseekers will play an important part in the government’s growth mission. We will reform jobcentres, so they match people to the right job and combine employment, skills and career focused support to help individuals build their careers. A new national jobs and careers service will also help get more people into work and we will set out further detail in the upcoming Labour Market White Paper.

77 50PLUS Champions are working in all Districts across England, Wales and Scotland, to support older workers, including helping customers to reskill or change career.

Statistics for the total number of people in employment living in relative and absolute poverty are not available at a constituency level.

Statistics on the total number of people in employment living in relative and absolute poverty both before and after housing costs at regional level are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).

The Government recognises the challenges unpaid carers are facing and is determined to provide them with the help and support they need and deserve. It is looking closely at how the benefit system currently does this.

The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the level of the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit will be considered as a part of this review.

The Department is assessing how it can provide statistics on domestic abuse now the application fee exemption statistics are no longer published. The Department's Chief Statistician will oversee the development of these statistics to make sure they meet the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The Department takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) offers an accessible, safe, and secure service for all parents. All CMS caseworkers receive training on how to identify the different types of abuse, including financial abuse and how they can appropriately support and signpost victims and survivors.

The CMS reviews its domestic abuse training regularly to ensure caseworkers are equipped to support parents in vulnerable situations and the Department will continue to meet stakeholders regularly to maintain an open dialogue on how to improve the service.

There are several secure ways to receive maintenance directly without having to divulge sensitive personal details, including for victims of domestic abuse and other vulnerable parents. The CMS can help arrange for payments to be made to bank accounts that cannot be traced to a physical location which helps to protect the parent’s location. The CMS does not put parents directly in touch with each other, nor does it share their current location via correspondence.

A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster and explore how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act receiving royal assent in July 2023.

The consultation has been extended to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place.