Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
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 routinely (a) recording and (b) reporting the number of animals bred for and not used in scientific research.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office is presently reviewing the potential merits of recording and reporting the number of animals that were bred for and not used in scientific procedures.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) support retention in the police in England and (b) increase the number of police officers in Aylesbury constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
In 2025/26, the Home Office is providing a total of up to £17.4 billion for police forces, which is an increase of up to £987 million compared to the 2024/25 police funding settlement. This includes a total of up to £376.8 million specifically to support officer maintenance at the expected headcount levels.
Thames Valley Police will receive up to £627.4 million in funding in 2025/26, an increase of up to £40.8 million when compared to the 2024/25 funding settlement, which represents a 7% cash increase and a 3.6% real terms increase in funding. This includes a total allocation of £10,662,824 to support the maintenance of 4,978 police officers (headcount).
As part of this, Thames Valley Police has been allocated a total of up and £6,093,042 to increasing neighbourhood policing roles, and, the projected growth for Thames Valley Police over 2025/26 will be 68 police officers (FTE) in neighbourhood policing roles.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support families of UK citizens murdered overseas.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government remains committed to improving the support available to families affected by these tragic events. We recognise the importance of ensuring that bereaved families receive clear, compassionate, and timely information.
The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Victims’ Commissioner, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to develop guidance aimed at improving the accessibility and clarity of information for families in these circumstances.
Families bereaved by homicide abroad can also access government commissioned support services. This includes the Homicide Service which offers emotional, practical, specialist, advocacy, and peer support to help families build resilience to cope with the impact of these devastating crimes.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Statutory levy and online slot stake limits to be introduced to tackle gambling harm, published on 27 November 2024, what steps she is taking to ensure gambling companies accurately verify gamblers’ ages when enforcing stake limits for online slots.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Online stake limits have been set at £5 per spin for adults aged 25 and over since April of this year, and £2 per spin for 18-24 year olds since May.
All gambling operators offering gambling services to people in Great Britain must have a licence from the Gambling Commission, the independent regulator for gambling in Great Britain. The Gambling Commission requires all operators to complete age and identity verification before a customer can deposit money and gamble. As such, the Gambling Commission is responsible for verifying that operators are applying online slot stake limits correctly.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that a higher proportion of housing is affordable in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771).
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
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 the national spinal cord injury database.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The effectiveness of the National Spinal Cord Injury Database (NSCID) is kept under review and is subject to small incremental improvements to reflect changes to spinal cord injury services, and to maintain compliance with legislation. NHS England has been working with spinal cord injury charities to provide them with data within the parameters of information governance, UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), data security, and data protection legislation, and data sharing agreements are in place.
Plans to enable patients to connect with charities are in development, which will require working in close collaboration with clinicians who will discuss the option of connecting the patient with a charity at the appropriate moment in their treatment pathway. NHS England has processes in place which enable stakeholders to request access to data held in the NSCID. These processes are compliant with existing information governance, UK GDPR, data protection, and data security legislation and policies. Each request for access to data is assessed in accordance with legislation and accompanying policies.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing access to the national spinal cord injury database to (a) charities and (b) other stakeholders.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The effectiveness of the National Spinal Cord Injury Database (NSCID) is kept under review and is subject to small incremental improvements to reflect changes to spinal cord injury services, and to maintain compliance with legislation. NHS England has been working with spinal cord injury charities to provide them with data within the parameters of information governance, UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), data security, and data protection legislation, and data sharing agreements are in place.
Plans to enable patients to connect with charities are in development, which will require working in close collaboration with clinicians who will discuss the option of connecting the patient with a charity at the appropriate moment in their treatment pathway. NHS England has processes in place which enable stakeholders to request access to data held in the NSCID. These processes are compliant with existing information governance, UK GDPR, data protection, and data security legislation and policies. Each request for access to data is assessed in accordance with legislation and accompanying policies.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will review the effectiveness of the Supply of New Cars Order 2000.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Supply of New Cars Order 2000 was introduced following a Competition Commission investigation, to remedy or prevent the adverse effects identified by the Competition Commission in relation to the car retail market. Responsibility for reviewing the Supply of New Cars Order lies with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which keeps markets remedies under review. While the CMA has not initiated a review of this order at this time, it welcomes submissions where existing remedies may no longer be fit for purpose.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support the integration of refugees.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that refugees can integrate in the UK. The Immigration White Paper introduced reforms designed to improve integration and community cohesion. Further details will be set out in due course.
Ministers across Government, including MHCLG, DWP and DfE, are working closely together to improve outcomes for refugees, the economy and society as a whole.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including essential safeguarding aspects of the law in the curriculum.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) has a vital role to play in supporting pupils’ wellbeing, health and safety. Pupils are taught a range of topics in relation to safeguarding, and guidance sets out that they should be made aware of the relevant legal provisions when relevant topics are being taught.
The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence.