Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 brownfield sites are prioritised for the development of industrial, commercial, and residential property.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to policies L1 and L2 of the new National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with (a) YouTube and (b) other online platforms on how they can improve their systems and complaints processes for stopping (i) online harassment and (ii) impersonation.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The government regularly engages with services to reinforce expectations that they meet Online Safety Act duties. These require services to mitigate illegal harassment risks, remove such content swiftly, and provide accessible complaints procedures.
Services must also protect children from harmful content, including bullying. Impersonation may be illegal when used to facilitate offences. We have introduced further protections to ensure non-consensual intimate images are removed as soon as possible with an absolute backstop of 48 hours.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a review of (a) the operation of discretionary 16 to 19 bursary schemes in further education colleges and (b) whether household-income thresholds should be reviewed and uprated periodically in line with inflation and changes in living costs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s 16 to 19 Bursary Funding includes allocations to institutions to provide discretionary bursaries. Institutions are free to decide which young people receive discretionary bursaries and to determine the level of financial support they need.
Institutions develop their own eligibility criteria and are free to decide how household income will be assessed to identify those who would not otherwise be able to continue in further education or training but it must comply with the basic eligibility conditions of the scheme as set out in the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide.
The department will devolve funding for 16 to 19-year-olds to Strategic Authorities for them to have a stronger role in shaping local education and skills systems, so that provision is better connected to learners, employers and local opportunity.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce new provisions to allow Ukrainians fleeing the war in Ukraine since July 2026 to settle temporarily in the UK.
Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains committed to supporting those displaced by Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The Homes for Ukraine Scheme remains open, enabling eligible Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to come to the UK where they have an approved sponsor for up to 18 months. The Government also continues to provide support for those already in the UK through the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, which permits eligible individuals to apply for further permission to remain in the UK.
The Government keeps the Ukraine Schemes under active review in light of developments in Ukraine. We will continue to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place for those who require sanctuary in the UK.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to increase the level of support for amateur boxing clubs in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
I have seen first-hand the positive impact of grassroots boxing and community sport through visits to Fight for Peace in East London and Lifstan Boys Club in Southend and meeting the APPG on Boxing.
Our arm’s length body, Sport England, is providing long-term investment of over £9 million to England Boxing between 2022 and 2029 to support grassroots boxing participation. England Boxing, as the national governing body for their sport, is responsible for decisions on how and where to target their investment into grassroots clubs.
Sport England’s Movement Fund has also awarded a total of £34,545 to three boxing clubs in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin since 2025, supporting projects that increase opportunities to be physically active and help address barriers to participation.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) National Crime Agency and (b) security service personnel were arrested and charged under (i) the National Security Act 2023 and (ii) the Official Secrets Act between 1st August 2025 and 31st August 2026.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Home Office does not routinely hold or disclose data on the employment or professional backgrounds of individuals arrested or charged under national security legislation.
Employees of the National Crime Agency and the Security and Intelligence Agencies are subject to high standards of professional conduct and are held accountable where those standards are not met. This may include investigation and, where appropriate, prosecution.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of additional school places required in (i) Telford & Wrekin and (ii) Shropshire as a result of new housing developments within existing and emerging local plans.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has not made an estimate of additional school places required specifically from housing developments in Telford and Wrekin or Shropshire. Local authorities have statutory responsibility for ensuring sufficient school places. School capacity survey forecasts reflect the aggregate effect of factors affecting demand, including housing, demographic change and existing capacity.
The department’s territorial teams in Regions Group, who have expertise in place planning, engage with local authorities regularly to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. Territorial teams make use of their expertise, data and regional intelligence.
The latest published ‘School capacity data’, for the 2024/25 academic year, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-in-england-academic-year-2024-to-2025. The department expects to publish the next school capacity data in March 2027 as planned.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Border Force personnel have been removed from their positions as a result of (a) data breaches, (b) misuse of data or (c) accessing data without the necessary consent, for the last period in which this data is held.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office takes the protection of personal data and information very seriously. All Border Force officers are required to complete mandatory training on data protection, information management and security, and must comply with the Civil Service Code and Home Office policies.
Where misconduct, including the misuse of data or unauthorised access to information, is identified, it is investigated and appropriate disciplinary action is taken, including dismissal where warranted. The Home Office does not routinely publish workforce misconduct figures in the format requested.
All Border Force officers are subject to National Security Vetting appropriate to their role. This is supported by Integrity Checks and wider measures delivered through the Border Force Anti-Corruption Strategy to identify and manage risks to the integrity and security of the border. Integrity Checks now apply to new recruits, staff transferring into Border Force and existing officers.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve vetting of Border Force personnel.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office takes the protection of personal data and information very seriously. All Border Force officers are required to complete mandatory training on data protection, information management and security, and must comply with the Civil Service Code and Home Office policies.
Where misconduct, including the misuse of data or unauthorised access to information, is identified, it is investigated and appropriate disciplinary action is taken, including dismissal where warranted. The Home Office does not routinely publish workforce misconduct figures in the format requested.
All Border Force officers are subject to National Security Vetting appropriate to their role. This is supported by Integrity Checks and wider measures delivered through the Border Force Anti-Corruption Strategy to identify and manage risks to the integrity and security of the border. Integrity Checks now apply to new recruits, staff transferring into Border Force and existing officers.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will work with AI companies to monitor AI chatbot searches for developing home-grown chemical and biological pathogens.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Online Safety Act already regulates many generative AI services. Through a delegated power in the Crime and Policing Act, the Government will bring additional unregulated AI chatbots into scope, ensuring consistent protections against illegal content and activity, including terrorism offences. Government are working at pace on the detailed policy and technical work needed to deliver regulation, and to ensure it is effective and proportionate.
The Home Office also works closely with the UK AI Security Institute (AISI) to understand the risks posed by advanced AI. AISI have developed trusted, voluntary partnerships with the world’s leading AI labs. Through these relationships, AISI has secured privileged access to frontier models, testing leading AI systems before they are released and working collaboratively with companies to improve their safety and security. AISI maintains close engagement with government and industry, working alongside international partners to assess and mitigate the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems, including chemical and biological.
The Home Office encourages industry to treat AI safety as an ongoing responsibility, and to monitor their systems throughout their lifecycle to identify risks and put proportionate mitigations in place.s