Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the UK Antarctic Strategy to 2035, what discussions she has had with Antarctic Parties on the protection of UK sovereign interests in the British Antarctic Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All the issues raised by the Hon Member, including the protection of biosecurity, the prohibition of non-native species, and the impact of tourism, are important for the UK Government and are reflected in the objectives of our UK Antarctic Strategy published on 1 December 2025. We discuss and monitor these issues regularly alongside the international partners who share our interests in Antarctica, and we have invested heavily in the modern scientific research capabilities that help us to keep these issues under review.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress work on a draft bill on Antarctic Activities and Environmental Protection Law on British sovereign interests in the Antarctic.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All Antarctic Treaty Parties have a responsibility to ensure their activities in Antarctica are undertaken in accordance with the Antarctic Treaty and its Environmental Protocol.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the UK Overseas Territories biodiversity strategy, published on 12 January 2026, if she will set out the minimum biosecurity standards for ports and airports serving the British Antarctic Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All the issues raised by the Hon Member, including the protection of biosecurity, the prohibition of non-native species, and the impact of tourism, are important for the UK Government and are reflected in the objectives of our UK Antarctic Strategy published on 1 December 2025. We discuss and monitor these issues regularly alongside the international partners who share our interests in Antarctica, and we have invested heavily in the modern scientific research capabilities that help us to keep these issues under review.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the UK Antarctic Strategy to 2035, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the rapid growth and diversification of tourism on the British Antarctic Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All the issues raised by the Hon Member, including the protection of biosecurity, the prohibition of non-native species, and the impact of tourism, are important for the UK Government and are reflected in the objectives of our UK Antarctic Strategy published on 1 December 2025. We discuss and monitor these issues regularly alongside the international partners who share our interests in Antarctica, and we have invested heavily in the modern scientific research capabilities that help us to keep these issues under review.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the resilience of British Antarctic Territory infrastructure and logistics, including the sole dependency on HMS Protector.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All the issues raised by the Hon Member, including the protection of biosecurity, the prohibition of non-native species, and the impact of tourism, are important for the UK Government and are reflected in the objectives of our UK Antarctic Strategy published on 1 December 2025. We discuss and monitor these issues regularly alongside the international partners who share our interests in Antarctica, and we have invested heavily in the modern scientific research capabilities that help us to keep these issues under review.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the UK Antarctic Strategy to 2035, what assessment her Department has made of biosecurity risks in the British Antarctic Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All the issues raised by the Hon Member, including the protection of biosecurity, the prohibition of non-native species, and the impact of tourism, are important for the UK Government and are reflected in the objectives of our UK Antarctic Strategy published on 1 December 2025. We discuss and monitor these issues regularly alongside the international partners who share our interests in Antarctica, and we have invested heavily in the modern scientific research capabilities that help us to keep these issues under review.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken with relevant authorities to help tackle crime in town centres across greater London.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The central aim of our police reforms is to protect and revitalise neighbourhood policing. We are lifting national responsibilities off local forces, so they focus on tackling local issues, like fighting town centre crime.
Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is already making a difference. For too long, people have not seen police patrolling their streets. We will have 3,000 more neighbourhood officers by March this year. The Metropolitan Police Service’s projected growth over 2025 to 2026 will be 420 police officers (FTE) and 50 Police Community Support Officers (FTE). We are giving them the powers they need, including making it a specific offence to assault retail workers and ending the treatment of theft under the value of £200 as a summary-only offence.
We are equipping the police to fight the organised crime gangs that are often responsible for driving shop theft across the country. Our £5m investment into OPAL (a specialist policing unit) will supercharge intelligence-led policing to identify offenders, disrupt the tactics used to target shops, and bring more criminals to justice.
We have also delivered on our manifesto pledge: every police force in England and Wales now has a dedicated lead officer for anti-social behaviour, who will work with communities to develop an action plan to tackle ASB. We are also strengthening the powers to tackle ASB. Our new Respect Orders will give local agencies stronger enforcement capability to tackle the most relentless ASB offenders.
Through our Summer Initiative police forces and local authorities increased patrols in town centres, tackling retail crime and anti-social behaviour as part of the Government’s Plan for Change to make our streets safer. Our Winter of Action, which ran from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2026, built on this, with an additional focus on repeat offenders and protecting women and girls at night. The full list of locations the Metropolitan Police Service focused on as part of the Winter of Action can be found here: Winter of Action: location list - GOV.UK
Building from the Winter of Action, we are working with forces and local partners to identify and tackle the most prolific retail offenders - where a few individuals can drive a large proportion of the local crime problem.
Together with the police, we are sending a message: crime and anti-social behaviour will be punished.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken with local authorities to improve road infrastructure in (a) Havering and (b) the M25 junction 29 Romford area.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As transport in London is devolved, it is up to Havering to work with the Mayor of London and Transport for London to make decisions on investment in local roads. The Government is committed to supporting local highway authorities to maintain their local roads effectively, and to this end Havering is eligible to receive over £13.9 million of highways maintenance funding between 2026/27 and 2029/2030. The Government has also provided the Greater London Authority with £53.5 million of funding for the Gallows Corner scheme, which is being delivered by TfL and expected to be completed by Spring 2026.
The operation and maintenance of Junction 29 of the M25 is the responsibility of National Highways, which regularly monitors the performance of the junction and surrounding strategic road network.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of defence funding on RAF Northolt’s ability to support military operations.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
RAF Northolt is a core military establishment, delivering a breadth of important day-to-day outputs for Defence. There are no defence funding trends which might impact RAF Northolt’s ability to support military operations.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to improve cybersecurity protections for critical national infrastructure.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence takes cyber security very seriously, particularly with regard to critical national infrastructure. We do not comment publicly on the detail of our protections for security reasons.