Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to tackle knife crime in the North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have set a clear and ambitious target: to halve knife crime in a decade. We are already seeing results. Since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 10% and knife homicides are down 27%, at their lowest level in a decade. In Avon and Somerset, knife-enabled crime offences have fallen by 20% since the June 2024 baseline. Our recently published Halving Knife Crime Plan sets out a fully resourced package of measures, bringing together action across Government and wider society to stop people turning to knife crime, and to ensure that perpetrators are caught and brought to justice. Violence prevention is crucial to achieving our ambition of halving knife crime and making our streets safer. The 26/27 Police Funding Settlement included an allocation of over £66m for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, of which Avon and Somerset have been awarded over £1.8m. This funding will support the work of their Violence Reduction Unit which brings together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area and will also enable the continuation of their promising Young Futures Panel pilots, which are identifying young people at risk of being drawn into crime and intervening earlier with positive, diversionary support. We are also driving efforts to halve knife crime by focusing on tackling the worst affected areas via a Knife Crime Concentrations Fund, directing investment where it will reduce knife crime most effectively, including within Avon and Somerset. This approach is supporting police forces and other relevant partners involved in local crime prevention, to work together in partnership to deploy targeted and responsive interventions to those factors that local analysis identifies as driving knife crime in specific locations in Avon & Somerset. Home Office officials are working closely with partners in Avon & Somerset to confirm the locations in scope and deliver targeted responses within them. |
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps were taken to protect the newly establishing trees in the Western Forest during May’s heatwave.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Western Forest has used a range of measures to mitigate unseasonal weather. This includes early-season planting, using mulch mats, and planting resilient cell-grown saplings that are matched to local conditions. Defra and the National Forest Company are supporting Western Forest with these decisions.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial monitoring arrangements Integrated Care Boards are required to maintain for private ambulance contractors delivering NHS-funded services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for their delegated functions, including services contracted to private providers such as non-emergency patient transport schemes (NEPTS). The delegation framework for commissioning in the National Health Service transfers the responsibility and financial accountability for managing contracts from NHS England to local ICBs. NHS England remains accountable for the discharge of these functions and will always seek to support an ICB to address issues of financial compliance and ensure resilience of patient transport services.
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the adequacy of the resilience of NEPTS, however NHS England works with ICBs to ensure continued resilience of NEPTS.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the resilience of outsourced non-emergency patient transport services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for their delegated functions, including services contracted to private providers such as non-emergency patient transport schemes (NEPTS). The delegation framework for commissioning in the National Health Service transfers the responsibility and financial accountability for managing contracts from NHS England to local ICBs. NHS England remains accountable for the discharge of these functions and will always seek to support an ICB to address issues of financial compliance and ensure resilience of patient transport services.
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the adequacy of the resilience of NEPTS, however NHS England works with ICBs to ensure continued resilience of NEPTS.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) his department (b) ICBs are routinely informed when major NHS contractors face significant tax enforcement action.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
HM Revenue and Customs is subject to a statutory duty of taxpayer confidentiality, which generally prevents it from disclosing information to other Government bodies except where there is a lawful basis to do so.
Accordingly, while information may be shared in specific circumstances when permitted by law, there is no routine notification mechanism to the Department or integrated care boards.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to improve the safety of young people online in North East Somerset and Hanham.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Protecting children from harm online is a priority for the Secretary of State. That is why the Secretary of State launched the consultation ‘Growing up in an Online World’ on how to go further to protect children and has committed to respond by the Summer. This builds on action to designate encouraging self-harm as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, close loopholes and bring AI chatbots into scope of the Act, criminalise AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material; and criminalise people who write guides on how to exploit legitimate AI tools to generate child sexual abuse.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is the policy of HM Revenue and Customs to inform NHS commissioners of concerns regarding unpaid VAT liabilities prior to filing a winding-up petition.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is not HMRC’s policy to inform NHS Commissioners of unpaid liabilities. HMRC is unable to discuss debts held by third parties with NHS Commissioners due to taxpayer confidentiality rules. This includes companies that have been contracted to deliver NHS services.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of workforce training capacity to support the transition to electric vehicles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring the UK has the right skills to remain at the forefront of the manufacturing and maintenance of electric vehicles (EVs).
The number of EV qualified technicians has risen rapidly. According to data from the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), in 2025 there were over 71,000 qualified EV technicians. This means 26% of all technicians in the country are qualified to work on EVs, which make up about 13% of all licensed vehicles in the UK.
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles has endorsed the IMI’s TechSafe scheme, which provides a register and professional standard for EV technicians. The scheme helps to ensure technicians have the skills they need to safely repair an EV.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce fly tipping in North East Somerset and Hanham.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action.
To support councils to make better use of their power to seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, we have published best practice guidance and case studies on the website of the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group. Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping.
In addition, we have recently secured powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.
We have also obtained powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for the courts to award up to 9 penalty points on driving licences for those found guilty of fly-tipping. This would make it harder for offenders to continue dumping illegally if they are disqualified from driving and send a clear warning that fly-tipping is not tolerated.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce waiting times at the RUH (Bath) A&E department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures facing emergency departments, including at the Royal United Hospital Bath, and is taking sustained action to reduce accident and emergency waiting times and improve patient flow across urgent and emergency care. Through the NHS Medium‑Term Planning Framework and the Model Emergency Department, NHS England has set out a clear trajectory for improving performance, with a focus on reducing long waits, improving safety, and delivering better patient experience.
At the Royal United Hospital Bath, NHS England is working with the trust and the wider local system to support delivery of these improvements. This includes action to improve patient flow, increase the use of Same Day Emergency Care to avoid unnecessary admissions, strengthen discharge and community capacity, and deliver capital investment to improve emergency department flow. The trust is also receiving support from national improvement programmes, including Getting It Right First Time, alongside action to strengthen overnight staffing and real‑time performance oversight.