Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the evidence to support NHS eating disorder services routinely considering autism during eating disorder assessment and throughout treatment, including by routinely using autism screening tools alongside clinical judgement.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, led by Professor Peter Fonagy, was published on 9 October, providing analysis and recommendations across a wide range of issues relating to the current scale of problems and needs in this area, and the current provision of services. The independent review found that eating disorders, alongside other mental health conditions, are more common in autistic people.
The Government issued an initial response on the day of publication, but we will set out the full action we are taking in response to the review recommendations in our new Mental Health Strategy to be published later this year, including in relation to the issues raised by the Hon. Member. The response is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-pledges-earlier-support-to-tackle-mental-health-crises
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had since 1 January 2025 with ministers and law enforcement agencies in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) the Republic of Ireland on tackling organised rural crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025–28. This strategy provides a framework through which policing and its partners can work together to tackle the crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including organised criminality affecting farms and agricultural businesses.
Rural crime is not currently recorded as a distinct category within police recorded crime, so it is not possible to produce a single, centrally verified measure of its scale. Instead, offences affecting rural communities - such as theft, criminal damage and wildlife crime - are recorded within existing national categories. Our focus is therefore on improving understanding and response through better use of existing data, and by strengthening national coordination via the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy and specialist units.
To support the policing response, the Home Office is providing over £800,000 in 2026/27 to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
These specialist capabilities provide intelligence, analysis, coordination and operational support to forces across the UK, helping to identify, disrupt and pursue offenders operating across force boundaries. We are committed to improving victims’ experiences by funding vital support services, ensuring access to appropriate assistance, and working with partners across the criminal justice system to deliver the rights set out in the Victims’ Code.
The Government is also committed to working closely with devolved governments, ministers and relevant agencies across the UK. This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.
The CESAR security and registration scheme is already in place and is used by the construction and agricultural industry with over 650,000 machines now protected and registered using this scheme. We are also seeking to implement measures under the Equipment Theft Act, which will make it harder to steal All-Terrain Vehicles and GPS units used in an agricultural setting and easier for the police to identify the owners when such items are recovered.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has assessed the effectiveness of agricultural machinery identification and marking schemes, including CESAR, in reducing theft and increasing recovery rates; and whether she plans to bring forward proposals to expand participation in such schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025–28. This strategy provides a framework through which policing and its partners can work together to tackle the crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including organised criminality affecting farms and agricultural businesses.
Rural crime is not currently recorded as a distinct category within police recorded crime, so it is not possible to produce a single, centrally verified measure of its scale. Instead, offences affecting rural communities - such as theft, criminal damage and wildlife crime - are recorded within existing national categories. Our focus is therefore on improving understanding and response through better use of existing data, and by strengthening national coordination via the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy and specialist units.
To support the policing response, the Home Office is providing over £800,000 in 2026/27 to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
These specialist capabilities provide intelligence, analysis, coordination and operational support to forces across the UK, helping to identify, disrupt and pursue offenders operating across force boundaries. We are committed to improving victims’ experiences by funding vital support services, ensuring access to appropriate assistance, and working with partners across the criminal justice system to deliver the rights set out in the Victims’ Code.
The Government is also committed to working closely with devolved governments, ministers and relevant agencies across the UK. This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.
The CESAR security and registration scheme is already in place and is used by the construction and agricultural industry with over 650,000 machines now protected and registered using this scheme. We are also seeking to implement measures under the Equipment Theft Act, which will make it harder to steal All-Terrain Vehicles and GPS units used in an agricultural setting and easier for the police to identify the owners when such items are recovered.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what central Government funding streams are available in 2026-27 for (a) rural crime prevention, (b) rural crime intelligence activity and (c) support for victims of rural crime; and what criteria are used to assess the effectiveness of that expenditure.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025–28. This strategy provides a framework through which policing and its partners can work together to tackle the crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including organised criminality affecting farms and agricultural businesses.
Rural crime is not currently recorded as a distinct category within police recorded crime, so it is not possible to produce a single, centrally verified measure of its scale. Instead, offences affecting rural communities - such as theft, criminal damage and wildlife crime - are recorded within existing national categories. Our focus is therefore on improving understanding and response through better use of existing data, and by strengthening national coordination via the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy and specialist units.
To support the policing response, the Home Office is providing over £800,000 in 2026/27 to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
These specialist capabilities provide intelligence, analysis, coordination and operational support to forces across the UK, helping to identify, disrupt and pursue offenders operating across force boundaries. We are committed to improving victims’ experiences by funding vital support services, ensuring access to appropriate assistance, and working with partners across the criminal justice system to deliver the rights set out in the Victims’ Code.
The Government is also committed to working closely with devolved governments, ministers and relevant agencies across the UK. This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.
The CESAR security and registration scheme is already in place and is used by the construction and agricultural industry with over 650,000 machines now protected and registered using this scheme. We are also seeking to implement measures under the Equipment Theft Act, which will make it harder to steal All-Terrain Vehicles and GPS units used in an agricultural setting and easier for the police to identify the owners when such items are recovered.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to publish annual statistics on rural crime by offence category, including for each police force area the number of offences recorded, charges brought and convictions secured.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025–28. This strategy provides a framework through which policing and its partners can work together to tackle the crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including organised criminality affecting farms and agricultural businesses.
Rural crime is not currently recorded as a distinct category within police recorded crime, so it is not possible to produce a single, centrally verified measure of its scale. Instead, offences affecting rural communities - such as theft, criminal damage and wildlife crime - are recorded within existing national categories. Our focus is therefore on improving understanding and response through better use of existing data, and by strengthening national coordination via the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy and specialist units.
To support the policing response, the Home Office is providing over £800,000 in 2026/27 to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
These specialist capabilities provide intelligence, analysis, coordination and operational support to forces across the UK, helping to identify, disrupt and pursue offenders operating across force boundaries. We are committed to improving victims’ experiences by funding vital support services, ensuring access to appropriate assistance, and working with partners across the criminal justice system to deliver the rights set out in the Victims’ Code.
The Government is also committed to working closely with devolved governments, ministers and relevant agencies across the UK. This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.
The CESAR security and registration scheme is already in place and is used by the construction and agricultural industry with over 650,000 machines now protected and registered using this scheme. We are also seeking to implement measures under the Equipment Theft Act, which will make it harder to steal All-Terrain Vehicles and GPS units used in an agricultural setting and easier for the police to identify the owners when such items are recovered.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that police response times in rural areas are not consistently lower than in urban areas.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently hold a national dataset of average police response times to incidents in rural areas. However, officials are developing a nationally comparable response-times dataset, working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
The Government will set a national target for forces to attend 90 percent of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas. This will establish a clear national expectation for the service the public should receive, wherever they live.
Performance against national targets, including incident response targets, will be published through the Police Performance Framework. Together with HMICFRS inspections, this will inform force assessments with the Policing Performance System, enabling the identification of forces requiring improvement. Forces will be offered targeted support and, where necessary, receive intervention to help drive performance improvements.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she can provide an update to the Rural Crime Strategy, including when she expects it to be published, and what performance indicators will be used to assess progress against its objectives.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025–28. This strategy provides a framework through which policing and its partners can work together to tackle the crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including organised criminality affecting farms and agricultural businesses.
Rural crime is not currently recorded as a distinct category within police recorded crime, so it is not possible to produce a single, centrally verified measure of its scale. Instead, offences affecting rural communities - such as theft, criminal damage and wildlife crime - are recorded within existing national categories. Our focus is therefore on improving understanding and response through better use of existing data, and by strengthening national coordination via the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy and specialist units.
To support the policing response, the Home Office is providing over £800,000 in 2026/27 to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
These specialist capabilities provide intelligence, analysis, coordination and operational support to forces across the UK, helping to identify, disrupt and pursue offenders operating across force boundaries. We are committed to improving victims’ experiences by funding vital support services, ensuring access to appropriate assistance, and working with partners across the criminal justice system to deliver the rights set out in the Victims’ Code.
The Government is also committed to working closely with devolved governments, ministers and relevant agencies across the UK. This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.
The CESAR security and registration scheme is already in place and is used by the construction and agricultural industry with over 650,000 machines now protected and registered using this scheme. We are also seeking to implement measures under the Equipment Theft Act, which will make it harder to steal All-Terrain Vehicles and GPS units used in an agricultural setting and easier for the police to identify the owners when such items are recovered.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer to Question 27081, whether her Department has considered whether it should set up a national dataset of average police response times to incident in rural areas.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently hold a national dataset of average police response times to incidents in rural areas. However, officials are developing a nationally comparable response-times dataset, working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
The Government will set a national target for forces to attend 90 percent of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas. This will establish a clear national expectation for the service the public should receive, wherever they live.
Performance against national targets, including incident response targets, will be published through the Police Performance Framework. Together with HMICFRS inspections, this will inform force assessments with the Policing Performance System, enabling the identification of forces requiring improvement. Forces will be offered targeted support and, where necessary, receive intervention to help drive performance improvements.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the consistency of crime recording practices between police forces for offences involving (a) livestock, (b) horses, (c) agricultural vehicles and machinery and (d) fly-tipping and rural waste crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime and is taking a coordinated, cross-system approach to tackling this issue. The Home Office has worked closely with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to support the National Police Chiefs’ Council in delivering their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025–28. This strategy provides a framework through which policing and its partners can work together to tackle the crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including organised criminality affecting farms and agricultural businesses.
Whilst rural crime is not recorded as a distinct category within police recorded crime and therefore cannot be assessed separately, relevant offences, including theft, burglary, vehicle crime and certain wildlife offences, are recorded within the police recorded crime framework. The Home Office supports consistent crime recording through the National Crime Recording Standard and the Home Office Counting Rules. Chief Constables are responsible for ensuring offences are recorded in line with these standards, while His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services independently assesses the quality and consistency of crime recording across police forces.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance is provided to police and victim support services on supporting victims of rural crime in cases where no suspect is charged.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to ensuring all victims, including victims of rural crime, have access to the information and support they need to navigate the criminal justice system. Under the Victims’ Code, all victims are entitled to information about and referral to victim support services, regardless of whether a suspect has been identified or charged.
While there is no specific national guidance for victims of rural crime, Chief Constables are operationally independent and are best placed to tailor local policing responses to the needs of their communities. The Ministry of Justice funds Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission local victim support services, based on their assessment of local need, including those affected by rural crime.
The Government also recognises the wider challenges of responding to rural crime and therefore collaborated with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office on the 2025-28 Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy, published in November 2025. This joined-up approach supports efforts to tackle rural crime. Rural communities will also benefit from the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, helping to address crimes such as anti-social behaviour and county lines activity.
In 2025/26, the Home Office provided the first funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit and are continuing this funding of over £800,000 throughout 2026/27 to help specialist policing units tackle crimes that predominantly affect rural communities.