Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to encourage the use of (a) quieter (i) fireworks and (ii) drone shows and (b) other low-impact alternatives at public events.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government have launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season which encourages the use of low noise fireworks. The campaign also features new guidance for those running community fireworks events which recommends the use of low-noise fireworks to reduce the impact on communities, as well as social media materials that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks. The campaign materials are being shared widely to increase their impact.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of high-decibel fireworks on animal welfare; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a maximum noise limit for fireworks sold to the public.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No specific assessment has been made of the potential impact of high-decibel fireworks on animal welfare or the merits of reducing the permissible noise limits of fireworks used for public and private functions.
However, the Government is continuing to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities, including animal welfare stakeholders, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans he has to increase the powers of (a) local authorities and (b) the police to (i) enforce firework regulations and (ii) respond to public complaints.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of current legislation governing the sale and use of fireworks in England and Wales including the purchase from registered sellers during specific dates.
Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally or misused. Local authorities and the police also have powers to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the misuse of fireworks. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers, based on their circumstances.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of banning unlicensed traders from selling fireworks to the public during specific festive periods.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of current legislation governing the sale and use of fireworks in England and Wales including the purchase from registered sellers during specific dates.
Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally or misused. Local authorities and the police also have powers to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the misuse of fireworks. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers, based on their circumstances.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of current legislation governing the (a) sale and (b) use of fireworks in England and Wales.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of current legislation governing the sale and use of fireworks in England and Wales including the purchase from registered sellers during specific dates.
Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally or misused. Local authorities and the police also have powers to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the misuse of fireworks. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers, based on their circumstances.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish the business cases developed for Neighbourhood Health Centres and the names of organisations or companies involved in their preparation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 October 2025 to Question 75637.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what safeguards he plans to introduce to prevent potential financial and operational failures associated with previous Private Finance Initiative schemes in relation to Neighbourhood Health Centres.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 October 2025 to Question 75637.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to use Public Private Partnerships in the development of Neighbourhood Health Centres under the NHS 10-Year Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government announced in the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy and in the 10-Year Health Plan that we will explore the feasibility of using new public private partnerships (PPPs) to deliver certain types of primary and community health infrastructure, including Neighbourhood Health Centres.
A decision whether to use PPPs in these circumstances will be taken by Autumn Budget 2025, based on co-development of a model and business case between the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority and the Department.
The Department conducted a successful preliminary market engagement exercise over summer 2025, and this is feeding into the business case, which is still in development. Companies and organisations involved in the preparation of the business case cannot be shared due to this being commercially sensitive.
Any new PPP models will be subject to further market-testing and will build on lessons learned from past government experience, models currently in use elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and the March 2025 National Audit Office report, Lessons Learned: private finance for infrastructure. Any new model will include tighter monitoring of financial information during procurement and operational phase of the project.
Guidance on publication of business cases, written by HM Treasury is available on GOV.UK. A decision as to whether this business case requires publication once completed will be taken in due course and in line with the published guidance.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service to support the expansion of its operations in areas with high levels of vehicle crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Vehicle Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) is a national policing unit funded by industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers, to provide dedicated specialist intelligence and enforcement. NAVICS undertakes enforcement action at ports which are intelligence-led operations to tackle vehicle crime.
Whilst the Government does not fund NaVCIS, we provided £250,000 last year to other law enforcement partners to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including additional staff and specialist equipment.
This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime. We are working with the automotive industry and police, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on the issue, to ensure the strongest response possible. The former Policing Minister recently met the previous NPCC vehicle crime lead, ACC Jenny Sims, as well as other law enforcement representatives and representatives from industry, to discuss how we work together to tackle these damaging crimes.
Via the recently established National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, we are focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of and from vehicles. This includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.
In the Crime and Policing Bill we have banned electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, importing and supplying them.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide to children’s hospices after the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every child receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant.
In 2024/25 and 2025/26, this funding was administered via ICBs in line with National Health Service devolution. We cannot yet confirm what the funding for 2026/27 will be, or how it will be administered.