Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 91633 on Police and Crime Commissioners: Cornwall and Devon, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) accountability of Policing and Crime Boards.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Policing and Crime Boards will have the necessary powers and levers to maintain strong local oversight of policing. They will exercise the same core governance functions and duties as Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and will be supported by an appointed Policing and Crime Lead who will provide day-to-day oversight of the force. We have been clear that is not a return to the invisible, committee-based governance under previous police authorities.
Policing and Crime Boards will bring together the elected council leaders in the force area, maintaining democratic accountability for policing as well as the benefit of being better able to join up governance of policing with other local services. We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association on the design and implementation of these arrangements, including ensuring that there will be robust scrutiny arrangements for Policing and Crime Boards.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent on the refit and repair of HMS Bulwark during the last five years.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Refit and repair costs incurred for HMS Bulwark over the last five years totals £72.1 million.
HMS Bulwark was not due to go to sea ahead of its out-of-service date. It’s disposal shows that we are delivering for defence by divesting ourselves of old capabilities to make way for the future.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding her Department has allocated to improving the resilience of passenger rail services on the North Devon branch line in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail has spent £2.9 million between 2017/18 and 2024/25 on scour protection works on bridges and retaining walls along the North Devon line. In addition, an average of £18,000 per year has been spent over the past ten years carrying out maintenance works to structure inverts, scour protection and removing tree debris trapped against bridges following a flood.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the resilience of passenger rail lines against flooding.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager of Britain’s railways, has the main responsibility for maintaining the integrity and safety of the rail network to ensure passenger and freight services can operate reliably. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2029, Network Rail will invest £2.6 billion in activities and technology that will help it better cope with extreme weather and climate change, including flooding. Earlier this year, Network Rail published its Greener Railway Strategy 2025-2050 which includes objectives for climate change adaptation, and each of the five Network Rail regions have produced an updated Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation (WRCCA) Plan for the 2024-29 period.
Network Rail is continuing with research and development on weather resilience and climate change adaptation to gain a better understanding of the vulnerabilities of the rail network to help support engineering and operational decisions. For example, in partnership with the Met Office, its Weather-Related Task Force (WRTF) will focus on providing tools, processes, and support to help routes run a better service during adverse and extreme weather.
Recognising that flooding can impact more than infrastructure, the 14 DfT Train Operating Companies (TOCs) will submit their first WRCCA strategies early next year. These will provide a risk assessment as to how flooding, and other weather and climate hazards, can impact stations, staff, customers and services, and an initial adaptation plan for addressing those risks. The Department has facilitated collaboration between Network Rail and the TOCs during the writing of these strategies to ensure a more holistic approach to managing climate-related risks.
Finally, in December 2025, the Department will publish its cross-modal Transport Adaptation Strategy which focuses on using robust evidence and a systems-based approach to mainstream adaptation in business as usual, including managing flooding on the rail network.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the resources available to local authorities to pursue enforcement measures against rogue landlords.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department is providing £18.2 million to local housing authorities for this financial year to help them prepare to undertake their new enforcement responsibilities under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) nurses and (b) other healthcare professionals currently exposed to hazardous medicinal products; and if he will publish an estimate of how many and what proportion of healthcare workers would be affected by the introduction of a definition of hazardous medicinal products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of nurses and other healthcare professionals exposed to hazardous medicinal products. The Department has not made an estimate of how many and what proportion of healthcare workers would be affected by the introduction of a definition of hazardous medicinal products.
Any incidents involving staff exposure to hazardous medical products are reported and handled through local National Health Service body reporting procedures. Risk assessments should be undertaken routinely and mitigations put in place to minimise any environmental exposure to health care professionals, and others, relating to hazardous medicinal products.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Department has to ensure continuity of funding for Early Support Hubs beyond March 2026; and how will they be integrated into the introduction of Young Futures Hubs from next year.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The early support hubs were originally funded by the Shared Outcomes Fund, which provided £8 million of top-up funding to expand open-access, community services and to build the evidence base for early intervention services for children and young people's mental health. The project was initially funded in 2024/25 for one year and we were able to extend the programme for an additional year to 2025/26.
In addition to expanding access to support, early support hubs have played a key role building an evidence base to support the introduction of young futures hubs next year. The evaluation findings are directly informing our young futures hubs programme. Young futures hubs will bring services together to support young people with emerging needs, including early mental health advice and wellbeing interventions. As we launch the first 50 young futures hubs, we will work with local areas and partners to build on learning from the early support hubs pilot.
Our aim is to set up 50 hubs where they will have the most impact over the next four years. The design and implementation of the programme in future years will be informed by our work with early adopters. We will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that postal workers and trade unions are consulted on reforms to the Universal Service Obligation.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On 10 July this year, Ofcom announced its decision on its review of the universal service obligation. This involved a consultation to which the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and Unite CMA responded.
The government is aware that Royal Mail's management and the new owners are in discussion with the CWU and encourages both parties to continue their constructive engagement to agree the best approach to reform that supports workers, and delivers for customers and secures the long-term financial sustainability of the universal postal service.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
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 abolishing the office of Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall on savings to her Department.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government will work with local government and policing to design new Policing and Crime Boards in areas where it is not possible to transfer police governance functions to a mayor at the end of the current term of PCCs in 2028.
The Government estimates that around £100m will be saved in this Parliament by moving to these new arrangements. This includes no longer running separate policing elections and by abolishing Police and Crime Panels. Once delivered, these changes are expected to achieve savings to the Home Office of around £20m a year, enough to fund around 320 extra police constables. Home Office officials will engage with the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall and her office on the implications for Devon and Cornwall.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many procurement contracts exceeding £5 million have been issued by his Department in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 1 January 2021, 118 contracts with a value of £5 million or more have been awarded by the Department.