Andrew Snowden

The Procedure Committee takes the lead in the monitoring of Government responses to written parliamentary questions, including the timeliness of responses to named day questions. The Committee is currently analysing departments’ performance in responding to written parliamentary questions during the current session and will publish its report containing the relevant data in due course.

The Education Team ran a pilot during May half-term 2025 which offered schools the opportunity to visit Parliament. Some schools took up this opportunity but not at the same level as during term time. The interest mainly came from schools with different school holiday dates such as the Devolved Nations.

Offering educational tours during holiday periods on a permanent basis would incur additional budget to ensure that the tours can be staffed. There would be a potential impact on visitor experience commercial tours, which have priority in the recess periods.

The Visitor Experience team currently run one day of Inside UK Parliament tours per week in recess (c.500 tickets per week), available to all UK residents free of charge. These slots are usually fully booked. The remaining days are prioritised for commercial days.

The Commission will receive an update at its June meeting on the availability of Democratic Access and Education related tours during the parliamentary recess and school holiday periods so that it can consider whether any changes are required.

The EHRC has revised its Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations following the consultation and submitted it to the Minister for Women and Equalities.

The Code will provide guidance to duty bearers, including single-sex service providers, which would cover charities and volunteer-led organisations, on how to comply with their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

The Government is considering the updated draft Code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, the Code will be laid before Parliament for a 40 day period.

The tabling of questions is driven by demand from Members and it is therefore difficult to predict peak periods of activity. The Chamber and Participation Team keeps under review appropriate staffing levels for the procedural offices, taking account of Member demand and the fact that the House Administration is undertaking a Savings and Improvement Programme.

There are currently no plans to review staffing levels for the Table Office. The Chamber and Participation Team keeps under review appropriate staffing levels for the procedural offices, taking account of Member demand but mindful of the fact that the House Administration is undertaking a Savings and Improvement Programme.

The Women’s Business Council was established to advise the government on maximising women’s contribution to economic growth. The Council’s members are senior business people and entrepreneurs who are leaders on gender equality in the workplace.

This Government is committed to strong regional membership - which can drive opportunities for growth right across the country. Current members are based in the north west, south west and the south east and we will continue to look for inspirational leaders from across the UK as the Council’s work progresses.

All factual matters material to a criminal sentence must be admitted by the offender or proven in a court to the criminal standard using admissible evidence. By definition, the recording of a previous incident as “non-crime” is unlikely to meet that standard.

The Code for Crown Prosecutors sets out the general principles a prosecutor must apply when making a decision as to whether there is sufficient evidence, and whether it is in the public interest, to authorise criminal charges against a suspect. The Crown Prosecution Service has published guidance on bail, the focus of which is on ensuring that the Court is provided with the relevant information to enable it to come to a proper decision as to whether or not to grant bail, with or without conditions. This will be fact specific to the circumstances of the alleged offence and the defendant. The administrative police recording of an earlier incident or allegation, which has previously been determined not to have been a crime, is unlikely to have any relevance to the question of bail.

All factual matters material to a criminal sentence must be admitted by the offender or proven in a court to the criminal standard using admissible evidence. By definition, the recording of a previous incident as “non-crime” is unlikely to meet that standard.

The Code for Crown Prosecutors sets out the general principles a prosecutor must apply when making a decision as to whether there is sufficient evidence, and whether it is in the public interest, to authorise criminal charges against a suspect. The Crown Prosecution Service has published guidance on bail, the focus of which is on ensuring that the Court is provided with the relevant information to enable it to come to a proper decision as to whether or not to grant bail, with or without conditions. This will be fact specific to the circumstances of the alleged offence and the defendant. The administrative police recording of an earlier incident or allegation, which has previously been determined not to have been a crime, is unlikely to have any relevance to the question of bail.

In the year to December 2024 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the charging of a total of 11,777 suspects in hate crime flagged cases with 87.4% of legal decisions resulting in a suspect being charged.

The below table provides a breakdown of the monthly charge volumes and rate for 2024.

Over the same period the CPS has prosecuted 14,657 defendants of which 12,614 were convicted, giving a conviction rate of 86.1% for the 2024 calendar year.

The below table provides a breakdown of the monthly completed prosecutions and convictions for 2024.

The volume of prosecution outcomes for a period differs from the volume of pre charge decisions for the same period. Where the pre charge decision is to bring charges many cases will only reach a conclusion in a later period. This will vary according to the outcome type: for example, the legal process is longer where a case is contested or sent to the Crown Court and tried by jury.

Further information can be found in quarterly data published on the CPS website: CPS quarterly data summaries | The Crown Prosecution Service.

Enforcement of drug driving legislation and how available resources are deployed is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to determine in conjunction with local crime and policing plans, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes cases that are referred to it by the police.

The Government has announced more than half a billion pounds of additional central government funding for policing next year to support the Government’s Safer Streets Mission.

Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988, introduced in 2015, aligned enforcement of drug driving with that of drink driving by introducing a strict liability offence to avoid the need to prove impairment. CPS management information shows that in the financial year 2023/2024, 25,559 offences were charged under this section which proceeded to a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts.

This Government is determined to ensure procurement policy benefits British industry and opens doors for small businesses, start-ups, and charities.

We recently implemented measures under the Procurement Act 2023 to enable local authorities to reserve lower-value contracts for SMEs or local suppliers and to establish a "tell us once" central digital platform so SMEs only have to upload their core data once to use across all future bids.

Under new measures announced on 26 March 2026, the Government is also introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to streamline procurement workflows to save bidders hours of time and cut back unnecessary duplication. Our recent National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) also instructs contracting authorities to maximise spend with small businesses, and requires central government departments to set stretching three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs and publish their progress annually. These targets will collectively drive over £7.4 billion of procurement to SMEs by 2028.

Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 025: 'Protecting the UK’s national security through public procurement' was published on 19 June 2026.

The PPN can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ppn-025-protecting-the-uks-national-security-through-public-procurement

This Labour Government is committed to delivering the biggest wave of insourcing of public services in a generation, ending outsourcing by default.

Contracting authorities will develop their insourcing strategies from 2027/28. We expect this to form part of an organisation's existing strategy setting process.

This government believes that insourcing of public services can maximise value for money for the taxpayer and deliver the highest quality public services possible.

Contracting authorities will be responsible for ensuring that the delivery model they adopt represents value for money and is affordable within existing budgets in the usual way.

In conducting a Public Interest Test, contracting authorities will need to consider the impact of their approach on economic growth and relevant markets. At present, no such assessment has been made at constituency level.

This Labour Government is committed to delivering the biggest wave of insourcing of public services in a generation, ending outsourcing by default.

On 17 June, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and I introduced a new Public Interest Test. From April 2027, departments will assess whether a service can be better delivered in-house before any outsourcing decision is made. This will apply to service contracts of £1 million and above with some limited exceptions for specific types of contracts. Departments will also publish insourcing strategies setting out their medium term plans to deliver services in-house.

The Cabinet Office has not made an assessment of the number of government contracts held by businesses in Lancashire that may be subject to a Public Interest Test.

To ensure transparency of decision-making, results of the Public Interest Test will be published centrally.

The Government is working tirelessly to improve the cyber resilience of our most critical services and systems, including the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure. The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill will update the existing Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 to tackle the evolving cyber threats we face. It will protect more essential and digital services from cyber attacks, enable cyber regulators to be more effective, and provide the Government with the flexibility to respond to new threats in the cyber landscape. The Bill has completed its passage through the House of Commons and will move to Second Reading in the House of Lords when parliamentary time allows.

The Test, Learn and Grow Regional Capability Fund is intended to build capability on test and learn and public sector innovation across the country. It will first be available to existing TLG partners, eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities and two local authorities (where there is no MSA).

The running of the Digital ID Advisory Group will be supported by the Cabinet Office’s existing Digital ID Task Force. The Group is not a decision-making body and minutes will not be published.

The running of the Digital ID Advisory Group will be supported by the Cabinet Office’s existing Digital ID Task Force. The Group is not a decision-making body and minutes will not be published.

The running of the Digital ID Advisory Group will be supported by the Cabinet Office’s existing Digital ID Task Force. The Group is not a decision-making body and minutes will not be published.

The Government publishes data on responses to correspondence from Members of Parliament and Peers against the 20 working day target annually, available here. This data is broken down by department.

Ministerial travel is carefully considered to ensure both efficiency and the interests of the taxpayer are prioritised.

It is a matter for individual departments to determine their respective guidance, operational arrangements, terms and conditions, and flexible working frameworks to manage staff attendance and participation at Pride events. Guidance from the Cabinet Office Staff Network policy on activity undertaken as a member of a Staff Network states that these activities should generally happen in an individual's own time.

This Government celebrates pride month in June and proudly stands with the LGBTQ+ community year round, as we seek to build a fairer country where all can live freely, safely and with dignity.

The Cabinet Office does not hold information on spending on Pride by government departments on participation in 2026.

External expenditure information held by the Cabinet Office relating to the financial year 2024/2025 has been published under EDI Expenditure Guidance rules and is available on GOV.UK.

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

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 2nd June is attached.

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

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 2nd June is attached.

No. The government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter, and we respect the rights of Jews and Muslims to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs.

The National Procurement Policy Statement underscores the government’s commitment to increasing procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards, supporting local suppliers and upholding ethical sourcing practices, including sourcing products raised to high UK welfare standards.

No. I refer the Hon Member to the exchange of letters between the Prime Minister and the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, published on gov.uk

The Prime Minister has made clear public service is a privilege and is committed to restoring trust in government by ensuring ministers are held to the highest standards.

On taking office, the Prime Minister published a new, strengthened, Ministerial Code which sets out the standards expected of all government ministers. It includes a full articulation of the Seven Principles of Public Life, bringing the importance of public service to the front and fore of the Code.

This commitment was further demonstrated in October last year when the Prime Minister updated the Ministerial Code. This update implemented reforms in relation to ministerial severance payments and changes to the operation of the Business Appointment Rules.

Last October the Government also established the Ethics and Integrity Commission. This authoritative body and its new mandate will drive up ethical standards across the public sector and take a leading role in helping put ethics and integrity at the heart of every public sector organisation.

I refer the Hon Member to the Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments which sets out the process for making DMAs, available on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/direct-ministerial-appointments