Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to respond to Question 78005 on Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash, tabled on 10 October 2025 by the hon. Member for Widnes and Halewood.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
A response has been issued here.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, was China officially designated as a threat to national security by the UK Government when (a) the alleged offences of Christopher Berry and Chris Cash for spying for China took place and (b) when the CPS made a decision to prosecute.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The policy of the previous Government during the periods in question was set out in the Integrated Review (March 2021) and the Integrated Review Refresh (March 2023). The previous Government described China as an “epoch defining and systemic challenge”.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many businesses were (a) fined and (b) prosecuted for employing illegal immigrants each year since 2015.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
In 2015, 2206 civil penalties were issued for illegal working. Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Transparency Data and can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68a3015732d2c63f8693437d/immigration-enforcement-data-apr-jun-2025.ods on tab CP02.
The data reflects the total number of penalties issued, rather than the number of businesses affected, as fines have been imposed on both sole traders and limited companies.
The below table provides the number of convictions for employing illegal workers since 2015. Prosecution is targeted at the most persistent offenders.
Year | Individuals convicted for employing illegal workers |
2015 | 4 |
2016 | 8 |
2017 | 4 |
2024 | 1 |
Total | 17 |
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2025 to Question 61488 on Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Radiology, what the requirement for radiographers is at Warrington and Halton University Hospitals Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about staffing levels are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their workforce planning and recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place with the right skills mix, to deliver safe and effective care. The Department does not hold data on the planned radiographer workforce at the Warrington and Halton University Hospitals Trust.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultant posts are vacant in the each of the acute hospital trusts in the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of consultant vacancies at hospitals in the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board. NHS England publishes regular high-level statistics on vacancies across National Health Service trusts, which are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-survey
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many radiographers will be trained in each year until 2030.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Later this year, we will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and will ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many radiographers have been in post at Warrington and Halton University Hospitals Trust in each year since 2015.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) diagnostic radiographers employed by the Warrington and Halton University Hospitals Trust in each year since 2015:
Date | FTE diagnostic radiographers |
March 2015 | 85 |
March 2016 | 82 |
March 2017 | 83 |
March 2018 | 77 |
March 2019 | 80 |
March 2020 | 83 |
March 2021 | 92 |
March 2022 | 88 |
March 2023 | 78 |
March 2024 | 82 |
March 2025 | 92 |
Source: NHS Workforce Statistics, NHS England, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics/february-2025
The trust has not employed therapeutic radiographers for the dates shown.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 58934 on Armed Forces: Vacancies, what the ranks of the unfilled posts are; and how long they have been unfilled.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK has one of the highest post fill rates in NATO. As of 1 April 2025, the UK’s post allocation was 1,053, of which 82 were unfilled. While 8% of our posts were gapped in April 2025, this was predominantly for a period of less than 10 months. The majority of gaps were at OF-3, OF-4, and OR-6 level, which corresponds to the most in demand ranks of the personnel we provide. The full data for this period is as follows:
Ranks (and corresponding Army rank) | Number of gaps per rank |
OF-2 (Captain) | 8 |
OF-3 (Major) | 15 |
OF-4 (Lieutenant Col) | 15 |
OF-5 (Colonel) | 1 |
OR-2 (Private) | 1 |
OR-3 (Lance Corporal) | 2 |
OR-4 (Corporal) | 10 |
OR-6 (Sergeant) | 17 |
OR-7 (Staff Sergeant) | 8 |
OR-8 (Warrant Officer Class 2) | 2 |
OR-9 (Warrant Officer Class 1) | 1 |
Gapped period |
|
0-10 months | 35 |
11-20 months | 10 |
20-30 months | 4 |
31-40 months | 5 |
41-50 months | 8 |
50-60 months | 3 |
60+ months | 15 |
| 80 |
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP vacancies there were in GP practices' in the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB as of 1 June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data requested is not held centrally. The Government is committed to increasing the general practice workforce. By cutting red tape and investing more into the National Health Service, we have recruited over 1,700 general practitioners into general practice to deliver more appointments since October.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who have previously reached a another safe country before arriving in the UK have had their applications (a) approved and (b) rejected in each year since 2015.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Available data on third country refusals, where the claimant is believed to have reached a safe third country prior to claiming in the UK, is published in table Asy_D02 of the asylum detailed datasets. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to the year ending March 2025.