Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing mission critical neighbourhoods, as defined by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, on the effectiveness of the Government's policies on tackling (a) deprivation and (b) other issues.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government has recently announced the Plan for Neighbourhoods, a £1.5 billion programme to invest in 75 areas over the next decade, offering a long-term strategy to fix the foundations of places that have been left behind. This plan will help to tackle deprivation at the root cause, creating neighbourhoods where people can thrive, communities are stronger, and people have control over the things that matter to them. In each of these areas, we will help set up a Neighbourhood Board, bringing together residents, local businesses, and grassroots campaigners to draw up a new vision for their neighbourhood. I welcome the launch of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhood’s interim report and look forward to seeing, their insights on how we can build on this agenda to support the most in need neighbourhoods.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she expects to receive the final report of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government has recently announced the Plan for Neighbourhoods, a £1.5 billion programme to invest in 75 areas over the next decade, offering a long-term strategy to fix the foundations of places that have been left behind. This plan will help to tackle deprivation at the root cause, creating neighbourhoods where people can thrive, communities are stronger, and people have control over the things that matter to them. In each of these areas, we will help set up a Neighbourhood Board, bringing together residents, local businesses, and grassroots campaigners to draw up a new vision for their neighbourhood. I welcome the launch of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhood’s interim report and look forward to seeing, their insights on how we can build on this agenda to support the most in need neighbourhoods.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the population of England and Wales has a criminal record.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
To answer the question exactly would be disproportionate costs. The Ministry of Justice holds an extract of data from the Police National Computer (PNC). To obtain data on all those with a criminal record would require collaborating with the Home Office as they hold the complete source data.
In October 2024, the Ministry of Justice published an ad-hoc statistical publication which estimated that 9.4 million working age people in the UK have a nominal record with a criminal element against their name held on the MoJ extract of the PNC. This is a high-level estimate based on the UK population and is equivalent to 22% of the working aged population (those aged 16-64). This is an estimate with limitations. A comprehensive programme of work would need to be undertaken to determine a precise figure and this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what demographic information is held about the subjects of DBS checks in England and Wales.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office and as such the Home Office does not hold any demographic information about the subjects of DBS checks in England and Wales. The DBS itself only holds demographic information that is mandatory for the processing of disclosure checks and barring referrals.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the policy paper entitled Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) 2024: joint statement, published on 17 December 2024, what progress he has made on exploring enhanced collaboration on Land Mobility Platforms.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As outlined in our December 2024 AUKMIN Joint Statement, the UK and Australia agreed to explore enhanced collaboration on Land Mobility Platforms. We are doing just this with our Land Mobility Programme which includes a recognition of Australian land mobility capabilities and how cooperation could mutually benefit our defence industries. This programme is currently underway and is informing investment considerations and decisions, subject to cross-Government approval.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Ministers next plan to meet their Australian counterparts.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Given the strength, breadth and depth of the bilateral defence relationship, The Defence Secretary and Defence Ministers regularly engage with Australian counterparts. Australia will hold federal elections no later than 17 May so I hope the hon. Member will understand, as is normal in any election period, all engagements are under review until Australia has held its election.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the level of the UK’s reliance on Chinese technology in (a) solar panels, (b) wind power generation and (c) batteries.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government will take a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China. We will co-operate where we can, compete where we have different interests, and challenge where we must. As an open economy, we welcome foreign trade and investment where it supports growth and jobs in the UK and meets our legal and regulatory requirements. We work closely with industry to build secure supply chains and back UK businesses. The government has also established Great British Energy to drive forward greater investment in clean, home-grown energy production and to build supply chains across the UK.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will review the adequacy of legislation related to the policing of the operations of (a) Palestine Action and (b) other direct action groups.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Whilst the right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, this right does not extend to activities that promote violence or criminal damage.
The decision to investigate potential criminal activity is a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of government. Home Office Ministers cannot interfere in operational decisions of this nature, as to do so could undermine their independence.
However, the Government will always support the police in using their powers as robustly as possible to prevent crime and maintain public order and safety where appropriate.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to help stop (a) Palestine Action’s direct action training days and (b) the spread of violent direct action training materials.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Whilst the right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, this right does not extend to activities that promote violence or criminal damage.
The decision to investigate potential criminal activity is a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of government. Home Office Ministers cannot interfere in operational decisions of this nature, as to do so could undermine their independence.
However, the Government will always support the police in using their powers as robustly as possible to prevent crime and maintain public order and safety where appropriate.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of direct action taken by Palestine Action on the (a) defence sector and (b) adequacy of the supply of assets to the Armed Forces.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence regularly monitors risks and issues facing the defence sector as part of our supply chain resilience work.
A number of UK Defence companies have reported that they have incurred costs through installing additional security measures in responding to the threat of actions from groups such as Palestine Action. It is also recognised that there are a small number of defence companies, and associated supporting businesses, who have been targeted by Palestine Action with criminal damage and intimidation of their staff. At an individual level these businesses have incurred costs and disruption through the damage caused and we are working with the Police to deal with such offences and mitigate potential future such action.
However, the overall impact to Defence has been limited and there have been no significant reported impacts to the Defence supply chain.