Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if she will specify which Minister in each government department holds responsibility for oversight of the operations of Mountain Rescue services; and if the Government will consider designating a single minister and department with lead responsibility and full accountability for this function.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Mountain Rescue covers a broad range of capabilities provided by civilian, military, and voluntary responders. As such, a number of Ministers and departments are responsible for determining policy relevant to their areas of expertise and sponsoring these various services:
Any 999 call requesting Mountain Rescue is passed from British Telecom to the Police, who then reroute the call to the relevant Mountain Rescue agency to assist the caller. The Home Office is the sponsoring department for the police, including Police 999 call handlers. The Minister of State for Policing and Crime is Sarah Jones MP.
Any aircraft from HM Coastguard would be sponsored by the Department of Transport, via the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation is Keir Mather MP.
Military Mountain Rescue teams are able to deploy without additional ministerial permissions, but the Ministry of Defence would be consulted for novel or continuous activity. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for the Armed Forces is Louise Sandher-Jones MP.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport leads on volunteering policy across government. The Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth is Stephanie Peacock MP.
Lead Government Departments are assigned to risks, rather than by capability or sector. The Government has no plans to designate a single minister or government department with sole responsibility for Mountain Rescue services.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister has responsibility for supporting Mountain Rescue.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mountain Rescue covers a broad range of capabilities provided by civilian, military, and voluntary responders. As such, individual departments sponsoring these various services are responsible for policy in those areas.
These departments include Home Office, DfT, and MOD, alongside relevant departments in devolved governments.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of newspaper and media subscriptions paid for by his Department for (a) the Director of Communications, (b) the Press Secretary and (c) other staff based at 10 Downing Street by (i) publication title, (ii) cost and (iii) date the subscription commenced since July 2024.
Answered by Chris Ward
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 21 May 2026, Official Report, PQ 2387.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2026 to Question 2387, if he will publish a list of all newspaper work subscriptions held by (a) the Director of Communications, (b) the Press Secretary and (c) other staff at 10 Downing Street since July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 21 May 2026, Official Report, PQ 2387.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the (a) Director of Communications, (b) Press Secretary and (c) other staff at 10 Downing Street had a work subscription to the Independent newspaper since July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The Government has access to a range of media outlets.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any (a) Director of Communications, (b) Press Secretary and (c) other staff at 10 Downing Street has had a work subscription to the Independent newspaper since July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the backlog of cases at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is independent of Government and reports directly to Parliament. The PHSO has confirmed that their unallocated queue of complaints at the end of March 2026 was 3,428.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on future trade agreements.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
Following the UK-EU Summit, we have started negotiations on a food and drink agreement, linking our Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) and we have concluded exploratory talks on an electricity agreement. While the Government is focused on delivering these negotiations, future summits will provide us with opportunities to strengthen our relationship further.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates the (a) Cabinet and (b) Cabinet committees have discussed the UK's negotiating position on fishing rights as part of preparations for the EU-UK summit on 19 May 2025; and whether any objections were raised to proposals for a multi-year fishing agreement with the EU.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
As under previous governments, it is a long-established precedent that information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet and its committees are not shared publicly.