Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of sanctions on imports of aviation fuel on Myanmar.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office regularly reviews the effectiveness and impact of UK sanctions and remains committed to continuing to impose and enforce sanctions, alongside our partners, to constrain the Myanmar military's ability to inflict harm against civilians. It is vital for the UK that any sanctions imposed against the Myanmar military and its affiliates, have the desired effect of denying the regime credibility and constraining their access to finance, arms and equipment. Since the coup in 2021, the UK has announced sanctions on 25 individuals and 39 entities under the Myanmar (Sanctions) Regulations, most recently in October 2024, where we announced sanctions against companies involved in the procurement of aviation fuel to the Myanmar Armed Forces.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of multilateral arms embargos on Myanmar.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is clear that countries should not sell arms to the Myanmar military as this will exacerbate the violence. We raise our opposition regularly in international fora. In March 2025, the UK co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council Resolution, calling for all states to cease the illicit transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Myanmar. UK sanctions include a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar. These sanctions prohibit the provision of military related services, including technical assistance, to or for the benefit of the Myanmar Armed Forces.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the National House Building Council on the effectiveness of its warranty schemes when faults have been identified in new build properties.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Deputy Prime Minister has not discussed the effectiveness of its warranty schemes when faults have been identified in new build properties with the National House-Building Council (NHBC).
However the department regularly carries out engagement with industry and regulators to better understand the effectiveness of new build warranty schemes, which includes those provided by NHBC.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Great British Railways to ensure equality of access to the rail network for (a) nationalised and (b) open access operators.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government does not believe the current access is working in the best interests of passengers and taxpayers. Our consultation set out proposals for fundamental reform of the access and charging framework under Great British railways, a single directing mind, able to take decisions on access in the public interest and make the best use of expensive national infrastructure.
The Government has been very clear that where it adds value and opens up new markets, with better outcomes for passengers, and where the levels of abstraction and service reliability impacts are acceptable, there will remain a place for open access on the Great British Railways managed railway. Great British Railways will be held to account by the ORR through a robust and independent appeals function which will ensure access decisions are fair and non-discriminatory with the ability to direct appropriate remedies.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she has made an assessment of the potential merits of an increased power supply on the East Coast Mainline north of Berwick.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In order to support the planned introduction of the route’s recast timetable in December 2025, Network Rail have conducted detailed route-wide power modelling. Network Rail will continue to undertake similar activity to help inform future plans for East Coast Main Line investment, including sections of the route north of Berwick.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the merits of involving the (a) voluntary and (b) charitable sector to support people in need of employment support as part of her Department's proposed welfare reforms. support.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding
As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, organisations in the private, voluntary and charitable sectors, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details in due course after we have completed our consultation process. We expect voluntary and charitable organisations to play a significant role in delivering employment support.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with local authorities on updating the adult social care funding formula in the local government finance settlement for the 2026-27 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
MHCLG’s consultation on the principles and objectives of reform to the local government finance system, which was published alongside the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement on the 18 December 2024, included material on the approach to distributing adult social care funding.
My officials have met with local authority representative bodies to discuss the options in the consultation. The Department is considering their feedback alongside the responses received from the consultation. We look forward to continuing working with the sector on what our priorities should be for distributing adult social care funding.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to include representatives of the (a) voluntary and (b) charitable sector in the consultation on the proposed welfare reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We strongly value the input of disabled people and people with health conditions, in addition to representative organisations that support them, and that is why we have brought forward this Green Paper and the consultation.
The consultation welcomes the views of voluntary organisations, and we hope many will respond before the consultation closes on the 30 June 2025. Our programme of accessible public events will further facilitate input, including in-person and online, and will help us hear from disabled people and representative organisations directly.
We are also exploring other ways to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders in our reforms. In addition to the consultation, we will establish ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups of people together for specific policy development areas and our wider review of the PIP assessment will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience.
As we develop proposals further, we will consider how to best to involve voluntary and community organisations in the planning and implementation of reforms, including in our employment support package.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to include funding for home-to-school transport in the local government finance settlement in the 2026-27 financial year.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Funding for home-to-school transport is allocated to local authorities via un-ringfenced funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement. In total, the Local Government Finance Settlement for financial year 2025-26 makes available £69 billion to local authorities.
We invited views from the local government sector through the “local authority funding reform objectives and principles consultation”, which was open from 18 December to 12 February. It sought views on the approach to local authority funding reform to be implemented via the Local Government Finance Settlement from 2026-27.
We will be consulting on more detailed proposals following the Spending Review in June.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of cybercrime from North Korea on the UK.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK is one of the most digital, connected and online countries in the world. This increases our exposure to a range of cyber threats including from states, ransomware gangs, and cyber criminals. Cyber crime causes immense damage to people and businesses across the world and is a top priority for the Government.
The UK is concerned around the threat DPRK poses through cyber activity, not only to cybersecurity, but to economic security and national security. The UK works closely with our allies to deter all malign actors from conducting malicious cyber activity. This includes through targeted sanctions, public attributions and working closely with partners to encourage capacity building and cyber deterrence.
We have been clear that we will not tolerate malicious cyber activity. The DPRK has repeatedly acted in violation of internationally agreed cyber norms. The NCSC continues to work with partners to understand and address the risk to the UK.