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Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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 he has made of the effectiveness of the monitoring of orders requiring dogs to be muzzled in public.

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

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to encourage responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied. As part of this work, we have reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce to explore measures to promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes consideration of enforcement. We look forward to receiving the findings and recommendations from the taskforce in due course.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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 he has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement of orders requiring dogs to be muzzled in public.

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

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to encourage responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied. As part of this work, we have reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce to explore measures to promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes consideration of enforcement. We look forward to receiving the findings and recommendations from the taskforce in due course.


Written Question
Assistance Animals
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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 he has made of the adequacy of penalties in place for dog-on-dog attacks involving service dogs.

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

It is an offence under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to allow a dog to attack an assistance dog. The maximum penalty for such an offence is three years imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both.

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership. We have reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce and look forward to receiving their findings and recommendations in due course.


Written Question
Assistance Animals
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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 he has made of the adequacy of protections in place to prevent service dogs from attacks by other dogs.

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

It is an offence under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to allow a dog to attack an assistance dog. The maximum penalty for such an offence is three years imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both.

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership. We have reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce and look forward to receiving their findings and recommendations in due course.


Written Question
Assistance Animals
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect service dogs from attacks by other dogs.

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

It is an offence under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to allow a dog to attack an assistance dog. The maximum penalty for such an offence is three years imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both.

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership. We have reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce and look forward to receiving their findings and recommendations in due course.


Written Question
Gambling: Mental Health Services
Monday 7th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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 implications for his policies of the proposals on gambling outlined in the letter sent to him by the Health and Social Care Committee on 8 May 2025.

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

The Department has responded to the letter from the Health and Social Care Committee in full. A copy of the Department’s response is attached.


Written Question
Gambling: Advertising
Monday 7th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of gambling adverts on people living in Bolton North East constituency.

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

Gambling adverts can appear across a significant range of channels from out of home billboards and social media, to complex dynamic or targeted adverts online. As such, the Department does not hold data on the number of gambling adverts published.

This government recognises that while advertising is a legitimate advantage which licensed operators have over unlicensed gambling firms, increased exposure to gambling advertising can have an impact on gambling participation. There are existing robust rules and regulations in place to ensure that advertising and marketing, whenever it appears, is socially responsible.

However, we recognise that more can be done to improve protections. We have set the gambling industry a clear task to raise standards and this work will be monitored closely.


Written Question
Gambling: Advertising
Monday 7th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the number of gambling adverts on people living in Bolton North East constituency.

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

Gambling adverts can appear across a significant range of channels from out of home billboards and social media, to complex dynamic or targeted adverts online. As such, the Department does not hold data on the number of gambling adverts published.

This government recognises that while advertising is a legitimate advantage which licensed operators have over unlicensed gambling firms, increased exposure to gambling advertising can have an impact on gambling participation. There are existing robust rules and regulations in place to ensure that advertising and marketing, whenever it appears, is socially responsible.

However, we recognise that more can be done to improve protections. We have set the gambling industry a clear task to raise standards and this work will be monitored closely.


Written Question
Gambling: Advertising
Monday 7th July 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many gambling adverts were published in each year from 2019 to 2025.

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

Gambling adverts can appear across a significant range of channels from out of home billboards and social media, to complex dynamic or targeted adverts online. As such, the Department does not hold data on the number of gambling adverts published.

This government recognises that while advertising is a legitimate advantage which licensed operators have over unlicensed gambling firms, increased exposure to gambling advertising can have an impact on gambling participation. There are existing robust rules and regulations in place to ensure that advertising and marketing, whenever it appears, is socially responsible.

However, we recognise that more can be done to improve protections. We have set the gambling industry a clear task to raise standards and this work will be monitored closely.


Written Question
Teachers: Religion
Monday 30th June 2025

Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2025 to Question 52388 on Teachers: Religion, what the first degree subjects the 80 percent of entrants to RE Initial Teacher Training who did not have their first degree in Theology and Religious Studies were.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The following table shows the subject for the first degree of new entrants to religious education initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2024/25 academic year. Subject is as specified in the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Common Aggregation Hierarchy. Trainees with unknown first degree subject are excluded. Where trainees have more than one first degree subject, they are listed as “joint honours”. Note that some degree subjects, such as philosophy that are not included within theology and religious studies, may contain relevant content for religious education. It is the responsibility of the accredited ITT provider to determine the suitability of a candidate applying for ITT. The department publishes the ITT criteria which sets out the minimum requirements that a candidate must meet to be eligible for ITT.

Degree subject

Number of trainees

Percentage of trainees

Theology and religious studies

89

20%

Philosophy

82

18%

Sociology

52

12%

Joint honours

47

11%

History

30

7%

Law

29

7%

Psychology (non-specific)

23

5%

Education

18

4%

Politics

14

3%

Anthropology

5

1%

Childhood and youth studies

5

1%

Others in psychology

5

1%

Liberal arts (non-specific)

4

1%

Classics

3

1%

Media studies

3

1%

Social work

3

1%

Cinematics and photography

2

<1%

Health studies

2

<1%

Literature in English

2

<1%

Management studies

2

<1%

Music

2

<1%

Social sciences (non-specific)

2

<1%

Sport and exercise sciences

2

<1%

American and Australasian studies

1

<1%

Art

1

<1%

Business and management (non-specific)

1

<1%

Combined, general or negotiated studies

1

<1%

Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy

1

<1%

Creative writing

1

<1%

Development studies

1

<1%

Developmental psychology

1

<1%

Drama

1

<1%

Economics

1

<1%

English language

1

<1%

Forensic and archaeological sciences

1

<1%

Geography (non-specific)

1

<1%

Health sciences (non-specific)

1

<1%

Nursing (non-specific)

1

<1%

Polymers and textiles

1

<1%

Social policy

1

<1%

Tourism, transport and travel

1

<1%