Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of setting up a licensing regime for the sale of crossbows.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024.

The call for evidence paper tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. The responses have been reviewed and we will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.

It is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on sales and delivery including from abroad. Measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill will make it an offence for a delivery business, delivering a crossbow or parts of a crossbow to a residential premises on behalf of a seller outside of the United Kingdom, to hand the package containing the crossbow to someone other than the purchaser and to confirm, through checking an identity document as prescribed and provided by the purchaser, that they are aged 18 or over.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to stop the illegal importation of crossbows.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024.

The call for evidence paper tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. The responses have been reviewed and we will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.

It is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on sales and delivery including from abroad. Measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill will make it an offence for a delivery business, delivering a crossbow or parts of a crossbow to a residential premises on behalf of a seller outside of the United Kingdom, to hand the package containing the crossbow to someone other than the purchaser and to confirm, through checking an identity document as prescribed and provided by the purchaser, that they are aged 18 or over.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of approved driving instructors in Lincolnshire in each of the last five years.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Information on the number of approved driving instructors by postcode, including for Lincolnshire is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/driving-instructor-and-motorcycle-instructor-register-data.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the (a) nationalities and (b) age group range of the illegal migrants arrested following raids carried out by Immigration Enforcement between October 2024 and September 2025.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as the quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics while developing new statistics for future release.

We do not routinely publish the information you have requested, and we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers in her Department have met British Refugee Council since July 2024.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

All ministerial meetings are declared through the transparency returns.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve children's palliative care services in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services, including children’s palliative care services, are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs, including the Lincolnshire ICB, in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification for children and young people. The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part charitable hospices play as well. This is why 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. St Andrew’s Hospice, which serves children in Lincolnshire, is receiving £370,356 from this funding.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. St Andrew’s Hospice is receiving £372,000 from this funding.

I am pleased to confirm the continuation of approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, for the next three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive, to be distributed again via ICBs. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of men treated for prostate cancer in (a) South Holland and the Deeping constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in 2024.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department holds information on the number of patients treated for prostate cancer broken down into trusts rather than constituencies. However, using data from the three main trusts in South Holland and the Deeping constituency and Lincolnshire, it is possible to provide the number of patients treated for prostate cancer in 2024 at these trusts.

The three trusts that the data comes from are the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, and the United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The number of patients treated for prostate cancer at each trust was 1,170, 532, and 1,333 respectively.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what quantity of illegal meat was seized from (a) shops and (b) restaurants in England in each of the last five years.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not hold United Kingdom-wide local authority seizure data centrally. This data is held by individual local authorities.

Where a non-compliant product, for example illegal meat, is identified in-land, the FSA works closely with local authority partners. These partners are responsible for this aspect of enforcement and for the removal of non-compliant products from potential sale in the UK market. This work is supported by the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit, in conjunction with wider FSA teams.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has a robust set of policies in place to ensure there are well-defined and tested incident management processes in place, and to ensure continuity of essential functions in the event of system or service failure. In line with these policies, these arrangements are regularly tested to maintain organisational resilience and ensure readiness to manage significant disruptions effectively.

Defra undergoes Cyber Assessment Framework assessments annually and uses the results of these assessments and lessons learned from exercises/testing to help minimise the likelihood, impact, or time and cost of recovery of critical services.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will publish the Government Cyber Action Plan this Winter, which will set out a clear approach for the Government and the Wider Public Sector to manage cyber security and resilience incidents.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to reverse the decline of the swift population in England.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The decline in swifts is likely due to the lack of insect food for chicks, poor weather, and lack of nesting spaces. However, to better understand and develop solutions to address the causes of decline, we have funded projects through Natural England's Species Recovery Programme.

Additionally, The National Planning Policy Framework explicitly promotes features which support priority and/or threatened species such as swifts. As part of our work to develop a set of national policies for decision making, we intend to consult on changes which require swift bricks to be incorporated into new buildings unless there are compelling reasons which preclude their use, or which would make them ineffective.

As an interim step ahead of the consultation we have published updated Planning Practice Guidance setting out how swift bricks are expected to be used in new development, and signposting to further guidance including the British Industry Standard, Part 2 of the National Model Design Code, the Future Homes Hub Homes for Nature Guidance, and the RSPB’s Guide to Nestboxes.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what quantity of illegal meat was seized at ports in England in each of the last five years.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Since 1^st April 2020 the following number of illegal meat imports were seized by Border Force across England:

More recent data is not held in an accessible format and cannot be obtained without incurring a disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners erroneously released since July 2024 have since been recaptured.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.

While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we’re clamping down on those releases in error that do occur – including through improved staff training and establishing a new specialist unit. A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.

We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again

Totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK, and provide data up to March 2025.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether members of the armed forces will be required to have digital ID cards.

Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

There will be no requirement to enrol in digital ID. Employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks by the end of this Parliament. All UK citizens and legal residents aged 16 and over will be able to obtain one, and over time, use it to seamlessly access a range of public and private sector services.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the nationalities were of the non-British nationals released from prison under the Standard Determinate Sentences 40 releases that took place between September 2024 and December 2024.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe. On 10 September 2024, the Government therefore took the unavoidable step to move the release point for certain standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40% (‘SDS40’).

We have published SDS40 release data alongside the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency.

Please find statistics on overall prison population nationality here: Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2024 - GOV.UK.

Please find statistics on SDS40 release nationality here: Standard Determinate Sentence 40 (SDS40) : September 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the number of fire service call outs in response to fires involving solar panels in England for each of the last five years.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

MHCLG collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England through the Incident Recording System (IRS), which includes the cause of fire and source of ignition. These statistics are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-statistics.

However, the IRS does not record whether an incident involved solar panels. As a result, the Department does not hold data on the number of fire service call outs specifically involving solar panels for the last five years.

Additional information is available here: Number of fires in England with “solar panel” or “photovoltaic panel” mentioned in the additional information free text - GOV.UK. This dataset is based on free-text searches for “solar panel” and “photovoltaic panel” in IRS records, by calendar year. As these results are not systematically categorised, accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Mentions of solar panels may not be closely linked to the fire, as the phrase “solar panel” may have been included in the free-text as part of a wider context, and some FRSs provide no free-text data. The dataset was last analysed and published in 2023, covering the calendar year to December 2022.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support children in schools who have suffered acquired brain injuries.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

​​Children who have had a brain injury can be affected in different ways. Some brain injuries will result in a special educational need (SEN) or a medical need, whilst others may affect a child in other ways.

​In whatever way a brain injury manifests, it is essential that the pupil’s individual needs are identified and supported appropriately. Support should be tailored to their own learning barriers, irrespective of their diagnosis. This is underpinned by the range of statutory duties on schools to support children with SEN, disabilities or medical conditions. Depending on the impact that an acquired brain injury has on the child accessing education, they may be entitled to support under any or all of these duties. For example:

• ​A mainstream school must use its ‘best endeavours’ to provide the right support for all its pupils with SEN.

• ​Schools must make arrangements to support their pupils with medical conditions.

• ​Schools must make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures and policies and not discriminate against their disabled pupils.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to help tackle (a) violence and (b) verbal abuse towards public transport workers in (i) Lincolnshire and (ii) other rural areas.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Department for Transport works with the transport industry to ensure that public transport is a safe environment for staff and passengers. Ensuring that staff feel safe at work is a priority.

Following the horrific attack on the 18:25 LNER Doncaster to London service at Huntingdon on the 1st November, my Department are working with British Transport Police (BTP) and the rail industry to understand if any immediate interventions are required. The heroic efforts of rail staff meant that further harm was avoided and undoubtedly saved lives.

Prior to the incident, this government introduced the Bus Services (no.2) Act which mandates training for staff working in the bus industry, including drivers and those who deal directly with the travelling public, on how to recognise and respond to incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour on public transport. This training will require a person to take steps to prevent crime or anti-social behaviour only where it is safe to do so. This will apply to all bus operators including those operating in Lincolnshire and servicing rural areas.

BTP are responsible for policing the railway, and they deploy their officers across the network, including in Lincolnshire and rural areas, based on intelligence led briefings with daily taskings to provide reassurance to the public. They work closely with rail operators that serve those areas to conduct joint operations and have regular engagement with staff and safeguarding and security managers. In Lincoln, BTP maintains a local presence supported by officers from Nottingham to provide 24-hour response cover.

BTP’s approach to rail staff assaults is intelligence led, focusing resources on areas and individuals identified through crime data and repeat offending patterns. Where repeat offenders are identified, BTP actively manages them through targeted patrol plans and, where appropriate, applications for Criminal Behaviour Orders to prevent further offences.

BTP also work closely with Train Operating Companies to improve incident reporting, ensuring that all forms of abuse or threatening behaviour are recorded, strengthening intelligence and enabling more effective operational planning. In addition to this, BTP promotes the use of body worn video and engage directly with staff and safeguarding managers to encourage reporting and supporting prosecutions.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has established business continuity and IT service continuity arrangements to sustain critical services during severe disruption, including a major internet outage. For security reasons, the department does not publish operational details of its resilience arrangements.

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what purposes Parliamentary officials have used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Nick Smith

Artificial intelligence represents a range of opportunities to support the work of Parliamentary officials. Every official has access to Microsoft’s Copilot Chat tool, as do all Parliamentary account holders. No records are kept of how that tool is used. Officials are encouraged to use the tool to support their work, with frequent uses being for taking minutes of meetings, summarising information and analysing data within a secure data environment. A pilot of M365 Copilot, the more advanced version of Microsoft’s AI offering, has just concluded. The lessons from that pilot are now being identified and analysed.

Automatic speech recognition is used to support the transcription of proceedings by Hansard, and testing of the use of AI capabilities is taking place in that context. Specific trials have taken place to test whether AI could be used to support the work of the Table Office in processing written questions and a range of teams in retrieving information efficiently in response to queries. These are not yet in “live” use. Active work continues to identify opportunities to safely use AI by PDS and staff across the Houses.

Mr Speaker has established the Speaker’s Group on AI in Parliaments, chaired by Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means, Nusrat Ghani MP. The Steering Group has been established to consider issues relating to AI and parliamentary scrutiny, AI and parliamentary services, and AI and parliamentary public engagement. Work is also underway to refresh guidance and advice for officials on the use of AI, which is expected to be made available early in the new year.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken with local councils to tackle the illegal use of fireworks in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

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.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to house asylum seekers in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The priority is to ensure that the procurement of secure, safe and sustainable dispersed accommodation is carried out in a fair and equitable manner so that the Home Office continues to meet its statutory obligations while also carefully considering the impact on local areas.

The Home Office operates a Full Dispersal model which works to ensure that asylum accommodation is equitably and fairly spread out across the country. Dispersed accommodation offers accommodation that delivers better value for money for the taxpayer and helps the Home Office work towards the fair and equitable spread of accommodation. The Home Office continues to work with local government to allocate asylum seekers based on a range of evidence, including the availability of housing, pressure on services and community cohesion.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) single sex and (b) gender neutral bathroom facilities his Department provides in its premises.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

This information can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in her Department since 2017.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer of 25 June 2025 to question 59393.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in her Department since 2017.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS staff are permitted to attend Civil Service Network events in line with the Civil Service Network Policy. However, DCMS does not currently host any Civil Service wide networks and therefore did not organise any such events.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of grants for farmers to support (a) sustainable and (b) regenerative agricultural practices in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production across the country, including Lincolnshire, over this Parliament. All our Environmental Land Management schemes will continue, and we will continue to evolve and improve them in an orderly way.

We have committed nearly £250 million in funding up to 2030 to improve productivity, trial new technologies and drive innovation in the agricultural sector.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps has he taken to help tackle council tax fraud.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Council tax is administered by local authorities. It is therefore for them to manage and address any potential cases of fraud in the council tax system. Councils have powers to impose penalties on households which knowingly provide false information as well as a range of powers to recover and enforce unpaid council tax. Our plain English guide to council tax highlights councils’ powers to address fraud. The government will continue to keep these powers under review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full time equivalent civil servants in her Department are working on recouping profits from private providers with contracts to house asylum seekers.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Excess profits of £45.9m have been returned to the Department in relation to the contract’s profit share provisions.

The Home Office is supported by a Commercial Department within which is a dedicated Asylum Support Commercial Contract Management Team. This team prioritise and work on all aspects of commercial contract management, including recouping profits share amounts owed to the Home Office. On financial matters, this team work with other Home Office specialists.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money from private providers with contracts to house asylum seekers is owed to her Department in excess profits since 2021.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Excess profits of £45.9m have been returned to the Department in relation to the contract’s profit share provisions.

The Home Office is supported by a Commercial Department within which is a dedicated Asylum Support Commercial Contract Management Team. This team prioritise and work on all aspects of commercial contract management, including recouping profits share amounts owed to the Home Office. On financial matters, this team work with other Home Office specialists.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in his Department since 2017.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to support the delivery of additional youth services in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential. We are co-producing a new National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this. The National Youth Strategy will be published later this year.

This financial year, we are investing over £145 million in youth programmes to provide stability to the sector and ensure young people can continue to access opportunities.

English language and translation policy in the NHS