Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential security risks posed to military sites by (a) what3words and (b) other digital mapping platforms.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Defence is committed to maintaining the highest standards of security and will continue to adapt and respond to all threats to safeguard our national defence capabilities.
While we are unable to comment on specific security arrangements including the security risks posed by what3words and other digital mapping platforms, I can assure the hon. Member that we take the security of our sites extremely seriously and we are continually reviewing and updating our security measures.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the scope of Operation Beaconport is.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Operation BEACONPORT is the name assigned by operational partners to the National Police Operation, overseen by the NCA, as recommended by Baroness Casey in her report that followed her Independent Audit of Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (GBCSEA), published in June this year.
The operation will address the elements identified by Baroness Casey in recommendations 2 and 8, by bringing together all the relevant policing partners under one operation, to ensure a swift and specialist law enforcement response to GBCSEA.
Further details on Operation BEACONPORT will be provided by operational partners shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that buildings previously deemed compliant by local fire services are not subject to excessive remedial costs due to reinterpretations of insulation or other materials under the new Higher-Risk Building regime.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The higher-risk building regime fundamentally reforms the way higher-risk buildings are designed, built and managed. They change the building control process, and place new duties on accountable persons when these buildings are managed, to make sure that safety and performance of these buildings is considered right at the start of the design process and all the way through the building’s lifecycle.
The changes will reassure residents, mitigating negative mental health impacts arising from fears around safety or financial insecurities; reduce the risk of fire and structural incidents occurring; reduce the likelihood of systemic risks arising and the cost associated with putting them right; and provide confidence to the insurance and mortgage market.
It is worth noting that the regime has only introduced new procedural requirements for dutyholders to robustly demonstrate how their projects will meet compliance. The functional requirements under the building regulations with which dutyholders need to comply remain the same as under the previous regime.
We do recognise that these new procedural requirements in the regime may result in some additional costs for leaseholders. Our expectation is that these requirements will help dutyholders to get things right from the outset, which should reduce additional time at later stages and the need to correct non-compliant or defective work, saving time and money in the longer term.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September to Question 73498 on Housing: heating, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average efficiency rating of radiator systems being installed in new-build properties.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The energy performance of radiator systems in new-build homes is governed by the Building Regulations, which are the responsibility of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. Associated statutory guidance is provided in the Approved Documents which accompany the Building Regulations. We draw on evidence from industry and the public to inform Approved Document guidance and ensure new homes are high-quality and energy efficient. While the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation did not include specific questions on sizing radiators, the existing Approved Document L Volume 1 provides guidance on this.
This guidance was last updated in 2021 following two consultations which provided housebuilders and end-users with the opportunity to provide feedback, and an impact assessment was published at the time of implementation. Separately, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero recently ran a consultation on raising product standards for space heating. This set out proposals which would drive improvements in the efficiency of new heating appliances and closed in March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what date she expects all police forces in England and Wales to have full operational access to the TOEX Capabilities Environment.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is providing the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme with £8.8 million this year to increase law enforcements capability to respond to organised exploitation, including by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.
In August 2025, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls announced an additional £426,000 this year, which will enable all forces in England and Wales to access the cutting-edge digital tools that TOEX have developed to support police in detecting and investigating organised exploitation. This includes child sexual exploitation, alongside other organised exploitation crimes including modern slavery, organised immigration crimes, and criminal exploitation.
The additional funding will allow for the expedited roll out of the of the Capabilities Environment, to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to the full array of TOEX’s AI-enabled and time-saving tools
The TOEX programme has already contacted all forces in England and Wales to provide information on how they can access the TOEX tools. In addition to the 15 police forces which are already utilising TOEX tools, since the Minister’s announcement in August, a further 10 forces are currently onboarding. TOEX will continue to engage with additional forces.
TOEX is also a critical component in supporting the delivery of Baroness Casey’s recommendation to establish a new national police operation for group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (Operation Beaconport).
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria her Department used to allocate the funding for the national expansion of the TOEX Capabilities Environment.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is providing the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme with £8.8 million this year to increase law enforcements capability to respond to organised exploitation, including by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise.
In August 2025, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls announced an additional £426,000 this year, which will enable all forces in England and Wales to access the cutting-edge digital tools that TOEX have developed to support police in detecting and investigating organised exploitation. This includes child sexual exploitation, alongside other organised exploitation crimes including modern slavery, organised immigration crimes, and criminal exploitation.
The additional funding will allow for the expedited roll out of the of the Capabilities Environment, to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to the full array of TOEX’s AI-enabled and time-saving tools
The TOEX programme has already contacted all forces in England and Wales to provide information on how they can access the TOEX tools. In addition to the 15 police forces which are already utilising TOEX tools, since the Minister’s announcement in August, a further 10 forces are currently onboarding. TOEX will continue to engage with additional forces.
TOEX is also a critical component in supporting the delivery of Baroness Casey’s recommendation to establish a new national police operation for group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (Operation Beaconport).
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will prohibit the entry of Greta Thunberg to the UK on the basis of her support for Palestine Action.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
It is longstanding Home Office policy not to comment on individual cases.
Where a foreign national is seeking to enter or stay in the UK, in order to qualify they will be assessed by UK Visas & Immigration (or Border Force when presenting at the border) against a range of provisions in the current Immigration Rules relating to criminality and other adverse conduct and character prior to their entry to, and any previous time spent in, the UK. Failure to satisfy these criteria may mean their application for a visa, entry clearance, permission to enter or permission to stay will be refused, depending on the severity of past offences or other factors in their history.
Details of these criteria can be found in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, available on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-9-grounds-for-refusal.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring local authorities to install (a) audible and (b) tactile signals on all pedestrian crossings on busy roads for blind and visually impaired people.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 permit the use of audible and tactile signals at traffic signal junctions and crossings, but the Department has no plans to make them mandatory.
The Department’s good practice advice in Chapter 6 of the Traffic Signs Manual makes clear that tactile signals should be provided at crossing facilities as a default. They can be used at times and in places where audible signals are not suitable, for example where an audible signal is switched off overnight or where the site layout would result in an unclear signal to road users. Chapter 6 is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual.
The provision of audible and tactile signals and consideration of how they should operate are matters for local authorities, bearing in mind their duties to provide safe movement under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and to provide accessible services under the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to to Question 73498 on Housing: heating, whether the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation received representations from housebuilders and end-users on the (a) performance and (b) sizing of radiator systems in new homes.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The energy performance of radiator systems in new-build homes is governed by the Building Regulations, which are the responsibility of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. Associated statutory guidance is provided in the Approved Documents which accompany the Building Regulations. We draw on evidence from industry and the public to inform Approved Document guidance and ensure new homes are high-quality and energy efficient. While the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation did not include specific questions on sizing radiators, the existing Approved Document L Volume 1 provides guidance on this.
This guidance was last updated in 2021 following two consultations which provided housebuilders and end-users with the opportunity to provide feedback, and an impact assessment was published at the time of implementation. Separately, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero recently ran a consultation on raising product standards for space heating. This set out proposals which would drive improvements in the efficiency of new heating appliances and closed in March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of whether building safety regulations are being applied proportionately to low-rise, low-occupancy buildings that have historically met all safety standards and fire service inspections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In the initial stages, a building control application is usually required for new buildings. This is reviewed by building control bodies to ensure compliance with building regulations.
During the build process, progress on site may be checked and monitored, using a number of methods, including on site visits, where the inspector may ask the builders on site to open up parts of the build in order to check compliance, and give advice if needed.
At the end of the build process, if a building complies with relevant regulations, a completion certificate will be issued.
Building control bodies conduct checks to assure building work or material changes of use are compliant with the building regulations. However, ultimately, it is the responsibility of the person carrying out the work (and, where appointed, the principal designer and principal contractor) to ensure building work complies with these requirements.