Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 46919 on Environment Agency: Lobbying and with reference to the guidance entitled May 2025 Elections: guidance on conduct for civil servants, published on 20 March 2025, which section of that document provides guidance on holding meetings with hon. Members during a pre-election period.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Section 29 of the guidance entitled “May 2025 Elections: guidance on conduct for civil servants” outlines that it is for individual public bodies to apply the guidance within their own organisations. Environment Agency staff follow all relevant sections of the guidance to ensure that their activities do not call into question their political impartiality.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support young people into work.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP provides 16-24-year-olds with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level.
As part of the plan to Get Britain Working we will launch a Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.
Eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers to test and learn before further roll out of the Youth Guarantee have launched in April.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure increased prosecution rates for retail crime.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
This Government’s Safer Streets Mission will drive forward the change we need to crack down on shoplifting – a crime that is blighting our communities.
As Solicitor General, I superintend the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which prosecutes shoplifting and attempted shoplifting in England and Wales.
The CPS increased prosecutions for shoplifting and attempted shoplifting in 2024. In 2024, the CPS prosecuted 113,624 cases of shoplifting, up from 56,986 in 2022. In 2024, the CPS prosecuted 2,025 cases of attempted shoplifting, up from 1,074 in 2022.
However, more needs to be done.
Under the previous government, shoplifting hit a record high, with more and more offenders using appalling violence and abuse against shopworkers.
This Government will not stand for that level of lawlessness and criminality. New money will be invested in prevention, training the police and retailers on specific retail crime tactics to stop crime before it happens.
We’re also putting a stop to the effective immunity for shoplifting of goods below £200 and bringing in a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect those who face unacceptable abuse in their roles serving the public.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help ensure that residential freeholders are notified of future liability for charges during the conveyancing process.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (“the 2024 Act”) contains measures to improve the home buying and selling process for homeowners to ensure perspective homeowners receive relevant and timely information at a reasonable cost.
We will be consulting on the secondary legislation that is required to switch on these measures in due course.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 April 2025 to Question 44030 on Prisoners: Repatriation, whether (a) her Department and (b) HM Prisons and Probation Service have targets for the efficiency of the Early Removal Scheme process.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 5 July 2024 and 22 March 2025, there were 1,848 Early Removal Scheme (ERS) returns, which is a 15% increase compared to 1,610 in the same period 12 months prior.
As part of the government’s Plan for Change and mission to create safer streets, we are building on the existing co-operation between the Home Office and HMPPS (HM Prisons and Probation Service) with a £5 million government investment in prisons across England and Wales which will assist in speeding up returns under the ERS.
This money will fund the deployment of specialist frontline staff to 80 jails to speed up the removal of prisoners who have no right to be in this country.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department issues guidance to the Environment Agency on holding meetings with hon. Members during a pre-election period.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Cabinet Office publishes guidance to civil servants in UK Government departments and staff and members of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and other arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) on their role and conduct during pre-election periods. The most recent guidance was updated on 20 March 2025 ahead of the May 2025 local elections.
Environment Agency (EA) staff follow this guidance to ensure that their activities do not call into question their political impartiality.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to require LINK to amend its assessment criteria for establishing new banking hubs.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
While the Government has no current plans to amend legislation, we continue to work closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 140 are already open.
Any decisions on changes to LINK’s independent assessment criteria are a matter for LINK, the financial services sector, and for the Financial Conduct Authority, which oversees the access to cash regime.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 ensure hospital transport providers are meeting the needs of patients and their families.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of local commissioners and providers to work together to ensure that hospital patient transport services are meeting the needs of their populations locally. National guidance for non-emergency patient transport services, to support them in becoming consistently more responsive, fair, and sustainable, is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/improving-non-emergency-patient-transport-services/
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has a target for the removal of foreign national offenders from prisons.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
HMPPS (HM Prisons and Probation Service) are working closely with the Home Office to ensure the Early Removal Scheme process runs as efficiently as possible by driving up foreign national offender (FNO) returns directly from prison.
Between 5 July 2024 and 22 March 2025, there have been 1,848 ERS returns, which is a 15% increase compared to 1,610 in the same period 12 months prior.
The ERS remains the most effective mechanism for removing eligible FNOs as quickly as possible, freeing up prison beds and saving money.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that adequate infrastructure is in place before new housing is built.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the importance of ensuring that new housing development is supported by appropriate infrastructure.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published 12 December included changes designed to improve the provision and modernisation of various types of public infrastructure.
The government is also committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide the necessary infrastructure communities expect.