Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the legal basis is for allowing UK forces to interdict sanctioned shadow fleet vessels transiting UK territorial waters; and whether that legal basis has been confirmed in writing by the Attorney General.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
UK forces operate in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and domestic law.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he a) intends to require Cornwall, Devon, Torbay and Plymouth separately or together, to be part of a combined directly elected mayoral authority to access the full range of devolved powers b) has set a deadline for implementing this policy and c) has made an estimate of the costs of this additional layer of government.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We want to see all of England access devolved powers as soon as possible by establishing Strategic Authorities that can make the key decisions to drive economic growth and celebrate local identities. We are continuing to engage in conversations with local authorities in Cornwall, Devon, Torbay and Plymouth, to take the next step in unlocking the powers and functions available through the Devolution Framework for these areas, at a pace and configuration to be agreed with local leaders.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the costs of implementing the re-organisation of local government in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay for each local authority and what funding will his department make available to meet them.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the local government reorganisation process, councils were required to set out assessments of implementation and transition costs within their proposals. It is expected that councils will be able to meet these costs over time from existing budgets, including from the flexible use of capital receipts that can support authorities in taking forward transformation and invest-to-save projects.
Alongside this, the Government has announced up to £63 million in capacity funding to support councils going through local government reorganisation. At least £900,000 will be provided for each new unitary council to help with transition and set‑up costs.
The consultation for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay closed on the 26 March. The Secretary of State will now assess the proposals against the criteria, the consultation responses, and all other relevant information before deciding which, if any, proposal to implement.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the number of individual correspondence his department received from a) members of the public, b) voluntary groups and c) business representative organisations in favour of the re-organisation of local government in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay prior to the recent consultation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government anticipates an announcement before the summer recess on which, if any, proposal for unitary local government will be implemented in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay. A summary of the consultation will be published at the time of the announcement. A range of views were expressed to the Department as proposals were developed, and local residents and groups have now been able to have their say through the consultation.
The Government provided £7.6million last year for councils in England with two-tier local government to develop proposals for unitary local government. This helped councils meet the cost of proposal development, including consultation and engagement with their local communities. All five proposals for local government in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay were consulted on via the recent statutory consultation.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish the results of the consultation on local government reorganisation in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay which ended on 26th March 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government anticipates an announcement before the summer recess on which, if any, proposal for unitary local government will be implemented in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay. A summary of the consultation will be published at the time of the announcement. A range of views were expressed to the Department as proposals were developed, and local residents and groups have now been able to have their say through the consultation.
The Government provided £7.6million last year for councils in England with two-tier local government to develop proposals for unitary local government. This helped councils meet the cost of proposal development, including consultation and engagement with their local communities. All five proposals for local government in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay were consulted on via the recent statutory consultation.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the costs of conducting the consultation on local government re-organisation in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government anticipates an announcement before the summer recess on which, if any, proposal for unitary local government will be implemented in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay. A summary of the consultation will be published at the time of the announcement. A range of views were expressed to the Department as proposals were developed, and local residents and groups have now been able to have their say through the consultation.
The Government provided £7.6million last year for councils in England with two-tier local government to develop proposals for unitary local government. This helped councils meet the cost of proposal development, including consultation and engagement with their local communities. All five proposals for local government in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay were consulted on via the recent statutory consultation.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what evidential threshold must be met before a sanctioned shadow fleet vessel may be boarded in UK territorial waters.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We keep maritime activity in UK territorial waters under constant review. We will not provide a running commentary or get into details of our decision-making process as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against sanctioned ships, only benefitting our adversaries.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many sanctioned shadow fleet vessels have transited UK waters since 25 March 2026.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave on 20 April 2026, to Question 125435.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of Plan 2 student loan borrowers have repaid in real terms more than (a) 100 per cent, (b) 120 per cent and (c) 150 per cent of the amount originally borrowed; and how many of those borrowers have (i) an outstanding balance and (ii) fully repaid their loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data that allows us to provide the proportion of the amount originally borrowed that has been repaid in real terms.
The projected percentage of Plan 2 student borrowers in 2022 who are expected to fully repay their loan in real terms is available at:
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the value of interest repayments on Plan 2 student loans net of (a) the Government’s cost of financing student loan outlay, (b) expected write-offs and (c) administrative costs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Repayments made against accrued interest are not separated from repayments made against the borrowed portion of the loan.
The department publishes an estimate of the subsidy portion of student loan outlay in the form of the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge. The RAB charge for Plan 2 outlay in England in 2024/25 was 32%.
The RAB charge is calculated as the present value of student loan outlay less expected future repayments, discounted by inflation plus the financial instrument discount rate. Expectations of interest, write offs and the government’s borrowing costs are factored into the fair value of student loans on issuance. In valuing the loan book at financial year end, estimated operational costs of servicing student loans are accounted for, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. Higher interest relative to inflation reduces the forecasted cost of the loan system due to increased future repayments.