Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report by the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice APPG entitled Action on Alcohol Harm – Priorities for Policymakers, published on 10 July 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has noted the publication of the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice APPG report and with the Department for Health and Social Care will consider its findings. We are aware of the role alcohol can play in criminal behaviour and are working across Government to address alcohol related crime when it happens and to prevent it from happening in the first place.
To support better outcomes for people experiencing harmful and dependent drinking, the government will shortly publish the first ever UK clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment. In 2025/26, in addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department of Health and Social Care is providing a total of £310 million in targeted grants to improve drug and alcohol treatment services and recovery support, including housing, employment and inpatient detoxification. In ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’ commits to continued expansion of Individual Placement and Support schemes for people with alcohol addiction to find good work.
The government is also progressing plans to introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of specialist residential drug and alcohol treatment in (a) England and (b) the North East.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, including residential treatment, and commissioning services to meet these needs. The Department set an ambition that 2% of the drug and alcohol treatment population should be accessing residential treatment. We remain committed to this ambition and continue to work with the sector to achieve this.
Earlier this year, the Department launched the self-assessment toolkit to help local areas to improve the residential drug and alcohol treatment that they commission, which is available at the following link:
The Department facilitates a residential treatment provider forum and engages in annual planning for local authorities and partners, including target-setting for residential episodes. The Department also maintains regular engagement with the English Substance Use Commissioners Group and holds joint meetings with the Ministry of Justice to explore improved pathways from the criminal justice system into residential treatment.
In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Government is providing the North East with £29,432,782 in further targeted grants to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. This additional funding has provided opportunity for local authorities in the North East to enhance access to out of area facilities and bolster community models of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery support, including quasi residential rehabilitation and dayhab models.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice APPG entitled Action on Alcohol Harm – Priorities for Policymakers, published on 10 July 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has noted the publication of the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice APPG report, ‘Action on alcohol harm: prioritise for policymakers’.
The Government is committed to taking action to prevent the harms caused by alcohol and illicit drugs, and work is underway to progress several of the priorities highlighted.
To support better outcomes for people experiencing harmful and dependent drinking, we will shortly publish the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment. Furthermore, in 2025/26, in addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department is providing a total of £310 million in targeted grants to improve drug and alcohol treatment services and recovery support, including housing, employment and inpatient detoxification. Our 10-Year Health Plan commits to continued expansion of Individual Placement and Support schemes for people with alcohol addiction to find good work.
The Government is also progressing plan to introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the release of the investment reserve fund of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Discussions continue with a view to reaching agreement on an outcome that can be implemented later this year which will benefit scheme members.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of potential implications for his policies on productivity of the report by the IPPR entitled Taking stock: Counting the economic costs of alcohol harm, published on 8 October 2025.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I welcome the IPPR's report and its contribution to understanding the economic and social impact of alcohol harm. Employers have a legal duty to protect employees' health, safety, and welfare.
'Keep Britain Working' is bringing together the expertise of leading UK businesses to help prevent ill health at work wherever possible, and to support those affected stay in work. In the '10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future', we have committed to some crucial steps to help people make healthier choices about alcohol, making it a legal requirement for alcohol labels to display health warnings and consistent nutritional information.
This Government will continue to monitor alcohol-related harm and its economic impact.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Crime and Policing Bill on the right to protest.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The right to peaceful protest is an important part of our democratic society. Measures in the Crime and Policing Bill strengthen the police's ability to manage disruptive and dangerous protests and prevent criminality.
They will help prevent intimidation near places of worship, and protect communities affected by repeated disruption, without imposing a blanket restriction on protests.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) sponsored and (b) non-sponsored workers had been granted permission to work on offshore wind projects in UK waters under the Immigration (Offshore Worker Notification and Exemption from Control (Amendment)) Regulations 2023 by 27 October 2025.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will set out the statutory limits on seafarers’ hours of work and rest when employed on Workboats over 200 gross tonnage in UK territorial waters.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Hours of Work) Regulations 2018 apply to all sea-going commercially operated vessels, including workboats over 200 gross tonnage operating in UK territorial waters. These set the minimum hours of rest as
(a) 10 hours in any 24-hour period; and
(b) 77 hours in any 7-day period.
The 10 hours of rest in (a) may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which is to be at least six hours in length.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many flag state inspections of commercial workboats for compliance with the Maritime Labour Convention have been carried out by organisations certified by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in each year since 2016.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
These inspections are delegated to the Certifying Authorities, and as such the Maritime and Coastguard Agency do not hold that data directly.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department made of the potential barriers that prevent disabled people from accessing lifesaving medical equipment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population, and responsibility for providing medical equipment to disabled people typically falls to the National Health Service and local authorities.
We expect ICBs to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In 2022, NICE published relevant guidance in relation to children, which is available at the following link:
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty, including under the Care Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Responsibility for managing the market for these services, including commissioning and oversight of delivery, rests with local authorities.
More broadly, the Government wants disabled people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs. Our 10-Year Health Plan for England sets out to tackle health inequalities, and specifically identifies disabled people as a priority group for neighbourhood health teams, which will offer more holistic on-going support.