Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to provide additional support to police officers to tackle drug-related crime .in North West Norfolk constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation. County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.
Between July 2024 and June 2025, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 2,300 deal lines closed, 6,200 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,100 deal line holders), 3,200 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 600 knives seized.
While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces, which is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate a national law enforcement response. We also have a dedicated fund to help local police forces, including Norfolk Constabulary, tackle the scourge of county lines.
As part of the Programme, the NCLCC regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in, including Norfolk Constabulary. The most recent of these took place 23-29 June 2025 and resulted in 241 lines closed, as well as 1,965 arrests, 1,179 individuals safeguarded and 501 weapons seized.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect gene editing provisions in ongoing trade negotiations with the European Union.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the UK-EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The scope and detail of those areas are now part of ongoing negotiations. Throughout this process, we have been clear on the importance of maintaining the UK’s ability to regulate precision breeding in a way that supports innovation, gives farmers access to new tools, and upholds high standards of safety.
We continue to engage closely with stakeholders and devolved administrations to ensure that our approach reflects the best available scientific advice and maintains the UK’s position as a world leader in Agri-tech.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of current powers available to police officers to address anti-social behaviour in North West Norfolk constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government. The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, including Norfolk Constabulary, with a range of tools and powers that they can use to respond to anti-social behaviour. These powers are kept under review to ensure they remain effective. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are making our streets and neighbourhoods safer by strengthening the powers available to the police and other agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour. This includes introducing new Respect Orders to give local agencies stronger enforcement capability to tackle the most persistent adult anti-social behaviour offenders, and powers for the police to seize nuisance off-road bikes, and other vehicles which are being used in an anti-social manner, without having to first give a warning to the offender. |
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of police staffing levels in Norfolk.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this.
All members of the police workforce play a vital role in delivering an effective police service to communities across England and Wales. As at 31 March 2025, Norfolk Constabulary had a total paid workforce of 3,193 full-time equivalent (FTE). This includes, a total of 1,911 (FTE) police officers, 1,281 (FTE) police staff and designated officers and 101 (FTE) special constables.
It is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions, to make operational decisions based on their local knowledge and experience. This includes how best to allocate the resources at their disposal to provide an effective service to local communities.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support police forces in tackling shoplifting in North West Norfolk constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level. We will not stand for this.
We are ensuring the right powers are in place. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing in a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
Additionally, we are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team – in partnership with the retail sector - to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.
Tackling retail crime requires a partnership approach between policing representatives and business. The previous Minister for Crime and Policing launched the ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy’, which was jointly developed by the police and industry and aims to provide a collaborative and evidence-based approach to preventing retail crime, including organised shop theft.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department has allocated to local policing in North West Norfolk in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Norfolk Police will receive up to £239.2 million in 2025-26, an increase of up to £16.5 million when compared to 2024-25.
In addition to the funding announced at the settlement, the Home Office provided £1.3 million to Norfolk Police to help with the cost of the 2025-26 police pay award.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87415 on Solar Power, how much solar power generating capacity from installations smaller than 150kW capacity are (a) operational, (b) under construction and (c) awaiting a planning decision.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not hold this information.
The monthly deployment statistics I cited in my previous answer use different capacity thresholds but indicate that, as of September 2025, 7.72GW of capacity was available from installations smaller than 50kW.
We do not have data about the number of projects below 150kW under construction or awaiting planning decisions. Most installations smaller than 150kW will be on rooftops. These installations can generally be constructed quickly. Typically, they do not require an application for planning permission as they fall under permitted development rights.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures are being taken to ensure that the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act supports research and field trials involving the genetic editing of sugar beet to improve resistance to Virus Yellows disease.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The secondary legislation needed to implement The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for plants in England commenced on 13 November 2025. This marks a major milestone, enabling research trials to take place and providing a route to market for precision bred products.
Through Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme (FIP), we are funding innovative research projects and earlier this year, the Department announced a £12.5 million competition focused specifically on precision breeding. Previous projects funded under FIP includes a research project by Tropic, British Sugar and the John Innes Centre to develop sugar beets through precision breeding that are resistant against Virus Yellows.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2025 to Question 61218 on Government Departments: Reviews, how many lines of activity in her Department were considered as part of the zero based review.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
At the Spending Review 2025, the government conducted the first zero-based review (ZBR) of department budgets in 18 years, with every line of spending scrutinised to ensure value for money.
Through the ZBR, the department carried out a line-by-line review of its current budgets. The review involved differing levels of granularity depending on the type and size of expenditure under review.
To ensure consistency in approach, cross-government guidance set expectations for the level of granularity each review should consider, recommending that departments review all spending within individual programme expenditure, at a minimum reflecting any lines of spending in excess of £1 million per annum.
Savings identified through this process will support delivery of the government's commitment for all departments to deliver at least 5% savings and efficiencies by 2028/29.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of regulatory costs on the pub sector.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to easing regulatory burdens for businesses like pubs in the UK, creating the space they need to grow, innovate and thrive. We work closely with the Hospitality Sector Council to improve the productivity and resilience of hospitality businesses by co-creating solutions to the issues impacting business performance.
This is why we launched the licensing taskforce last April, a joint effort between Government and Industry with aims to reduce the administrative burdens the UK licensing regime places on our highstreets. The Government invited views to help shape these reforms and the Call for evidence ran for 4 weeks and ended on the 6 November. This attracted a significant number of responses and work is now underway to analyse these.
Additionally, to help ease cost pressures on pubs, from April 2026, eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000 will benefit from permanently lower business rates multipliers and alcohol duty has been reduced on qualifying draught products which is approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs.