Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 23 December 2025 to Question 99769, what support his Department is providing to non-energy intensive industries.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has recently announced the decision to directly regulate energy brokers and other Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs). Once implemented, our plans will help ensure that consumers, in particular businesses, can trust that brokers are acting in their best interests. The Government has also published a consultation with proposals to strengthen the powers of the Energy Ombudsman to ensure consumers receive fairer and faster redress. Taken together these measures aim to improve competition and market access, and ensure that non-domestic customers are able to access free dispute resolution support.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce knife crime in rural areas.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are already making clear progress against our ambition to halve knife crime. In our first year, police-recorded knife crime offences fell by 5%, the first reduction in four years.
Knife homicides have also fallen by almost 20% over the last year, and we have seen a 10% reduction in hospital admissions for stabbings.
Whilst most knife crime occurs in urban centres, our national target to halve knife crime and whole society approach will reach every area. Our approach to tackling knife crime is centred around targeted interventions and enforcement, tough new legislation to remove dangerous weapons from our streets and working across government to tackle the root causes of knife crime where they are needed most.
We have banned zombie knives and ninja swords and are holding online sellers criminally responsible removing almost 60,000 knives from streets in England and Wales. We are taking a range of action in the Crime and Policing Bill to strengthen legislation on knives.
New crime mapping tools are already allowing us to identify highly specific knife crime hotspots and focus police and community safety resources where they are needed most. Further investment in cutting-edge capabilities, such as knife detection technology, improved data platforms, and live facial recognition will further enhance our ability to target knife crime.
Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will deliver 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3,000 by March 2026. It will also ensure that every community, including rural communities, has named and contactable officers they can turn to.
This Government is clear that when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith that justice will be delivered, and criminals will be punished – no matter where you live. Rural communities can be assured that visible, neighbourhood policing is returning to our communities.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns on hypertension; and whether he plans to introduce additional measures to encourage regular blood pressure monitoring amongst adults.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2024, the Department launched a campaign to raise awareness of high blood pressure, or hypertension, and to encourage those eligible to get checked for free at their local pharmacy. The campaign ran for three weeks with advertising on television, video-on-demand, social media, and on poster sites near to pharmacies, in addition to public relations and partnerships support.
Visits to the National Health Service pharmacy look-up tool increased by over 967%, and there were 117,546 visits to the tool over the campaign period, compared to 12,154 in the three weeks prior to the campaign launch. In March 2024, 50,046 more people got life-saving blood pressure checks than in the same period the previous year, a 42% uplift. In April 2024, there were 76,627 more checks, equivalent to a 66% uplift.
We continue to invest heavily in the community pharmacy hypertension service, and since October 2021, pharmacies have delivered nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks. In addition, the NHS Blood Pressure @Home initiative has delivered over 220,000 blood pressure monitors to enable at-risk patients to measure their blood pressure remotely.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve early detection and management of high blood pressure; and whether he plans to expand community-based screening initiatives.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The single greatest risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is raised blood pressure and as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a modern service framework for CVD later this year. The framework will identify the best evidenced interventions, set clear quality standards, drive innovation in CVD prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation.
We have invested heavily in hypertension case-finding for those over 40 years old in community pharmacies. As part of the service, pharmacies have delivered nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks since October 2021 and as of August 2024, 7,641 pharmacies were actively delivering the service.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 help reduce male suicide rates through access to timely mental health care, follow-up after (a) self-harm and (b) crisis presentations and support for men at high-risk due to (i) relationship breakdown and (ii) trauma.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into neighbourhood mental health centres which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to all-hours support directly through the NHS App. These services are available to men at high-risk due to relationship breakdown and trauma.
The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, published in 2023, identifies middle aged men and people who have self-harmed as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level.
On 19 November 2025, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. The Strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community and family networks and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide prevention, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.
Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience.
We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 99775, what her planned timetable is for improvements to security, flow and passenger experience for UK-bound passengers at Paris Gare du Nord.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In the Immigration White Paper, the Government set out our ambition to use new technologies to increase the use of automation at the UK border, including at Paris Gare du Nord, and deliver visible changes to security, passenger flow and the customer experience.
We intend to set out further details on contactless travel and our plans to transform the UK border later this year.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2025 to Question 99775, what the results were of the Contactless Travel pilot conducted in October.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
In the Immigration White Paper, the Government set out our ambition to use new technologies to increase the use of automation at the UK border, including at Paris Gare du Nord, and deliver visible changes to security, passenger flow and the customer experience.
We intend to set out further details on contactless travel and our plans to transform the UK border later this year.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of current waiting times in the civil justice system on the competitiveness of the justice system in England and Wales compared to other jurisdictions.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government understands the importance of timely and effective civil justice to England and Wales’ position as an international centre of dispute resolution. We are working towards our goal of a civil justice system in which people and businesses can resolve their disputes and exercise their rights quickly and efficiently at the earliest opportunity.
We acknowledge that the slow processing of claims can have a detrimental effect on business, and that lengthy civil disputes are a drag on economic growth. The quarterly period covering July to September 2025 showed the median time taken for small claims to go from issue to trial 5.9 weeks faster than the year before. For fast, intermediate and multi-track claims, it was 5.1 weeks faster than the year before. It is worth noting, however, this metric only captures the claims which go to full hearing: less than 5% of County Court claims issued. Timeliness is not the only factor which makes our justice system competitive; the high quality of our legal services and judiciary, the international appeal of English Law and our clear procedural rules all contribute to our status as jurisdiction of choice for international litigation.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, a) what steps the Government is taking to reduce delays within the civil justice system, and b) whether he has considered the use of mediation as a potential solution.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to improving performance of, and to reducing demands on, the civil courts. We have put in place measures such as the introduction of digital systems through the HMCTS Reform Programme to drive performance improvements and are focused on increasing capacity through more judicial recruitment.
The quarterly period covering July to September 2025, showed that the median time taken for small claims to go from issue to trial was 39 weeks, 5.9 weeks faster than the same period in 2024. For fast, intermediate and multi-track claims, it was 60 weeks, 5.1 weeks faster than a year earlier. This shows a positive trend regarding timeliness. Published statistics can be found in table 1_5 of the main tables here: Civil justice statistics quarterly: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK.
We recognise the benefits of mediation in resolving disputes swiftly. Mandatory mediation for small money claims below £10,000 is now integrated into the county court process, saving time and costs. A formal evaluation will be published in the summer of this year, and findings will inform decisions on further expansions of mandatory mediation.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 36392, if he will provide an update on funding for lobular breast cancer research.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the crucial need for research into all forms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer. We remain committed to the role of research in driving a stronger collective understanding of the biology behind lobular breast cancer and to improve outcomes for women.
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council.
In November 2025, the NIHR issued a highlight notice encouraging applications for new research into lobular breast cancer, to improve the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term surveillance of patients.
The NIHR continues to welcome high quality funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including lobular breast cancer.