Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential use of geographically targeted Emergency Alerts to assist police in cases involving missing children and vulnerable adults who are considered to be at immediate or significant risk.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This government remains firmly committed to working to ensure that anyone who is reported missing to the police receives an equal, thorough and swift response, including a robust multiagency response. We are also working to improve support for all missing persons and their families during a missing incident and investigations.
We are very fortunate in the UK in that the public and the media respond with huge interest and support for missing or abducted child cases, including to try and help police and safeguarding partners with investigations to locate a missing child as quickly as possible. Police Forces also have well established media departments which can effectively get messages out to the public quickly and effectively without the need for national co-ordination and with appropriate safeguarding regard for children across the country.
The Cabinet Office has responsibility for the Emergency Alert System. Each new Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies and each request is evaluated by the Cabinet Office on a rigorous, case-by-case basis to ensure it is necessary for public safety. At this time there are no plans to add missing persons alerts to this alert system.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has considered establishing a formal review mechanism for Freeport tax sites that have not delivered the (a) investment and (b) employment outcomes anticipated.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All 12 Freeports across the UK are now operational, with tax sites designated through secondary legislation. Freeports are attracting private investment, creating jobs and supporting local growth.
The Government continues to review the programme through ongoing monitoring and assurance arrangements and plans to evaluate and assess the impact to inform any future changes or enhancements.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department can amend the boundaries of an existing Freeport tax site through secondary legislation.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All 12 Freeports across the UK are now operational, with tax sites designated through secondary legislation. Freeports are attracting private investment, creating jobs and supporting local growth.
The Government continues to review the programme through ongoing monitoring and assurance arrangements and plans to evaluate and assess the impact to inform any future changes or enhancements.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing opportunities for pupils to learn British Sign Language as part of the school curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the benefits that learning British Sign Language (BSL) can bring to both students and the wider deaf community. Learning BSL can help develop communication skills, increase understanding of deaf culture and experiences, and promote inclusion and accessibility within schools and wider society.
The national curriculum does not prescribe specific languages that schools must teach and schools have discretion over which languages they offer. Schools may choose to teach BSL in primary and secondary schools to support the needs and interests of their pupils.
The department, working with the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), has developed the content and assessment arrangements for a BSL GCSE.
Following the publication of Ofqual's final qualification rules for the BSL GCSE, awarding organisations are now able to develop detailed specifications that will form the basis of the content taught in schools and colleges.
Decisions on whether to develop qualification specifications are for exam boards. Any specifications developed by exam boards will need to be accredited by Ofqual before they are available to schools.
I have written to the exam boards to encourage them to seize the opportunity to offer this important qualification.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of protections available to small businesses when seeking compensation from private parcel delivery and courier companies for lost, damaged or delayed deliveries.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
We want to see all delivery companies provide a good level of service for customers and businesses and the government has been clear that some operators need to do more to meet the expectations of their customers.
Ofcom is the independent regulator for the parcel delivery sector, and it monitors the experiences of businesses and consumers of parcel delivery services. Ofcom’s last annual post monitoring report found that around eight in ten SMEs were satisfied overall with delivery services.
Ofcom has, however, recognised growing concerns about parcel operators’ delivery performance and is keeping the need for enforcement or additional regulation under review.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the level of reliability of private parcel delivery and courier services on small and medium sized businesses.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
We want to see all delivery companies provide a good level of service for customers and businesses and the government has been clear that some operators need to do more to meet the expectations of their customers.
Ofcom is the independent regulator for the parcel delivery sector, and it monitors the experiences of businesses and consumers of parcel delivery services. Ofcom’s last annual post monitoring report found that around eight in ten SMEs were satisfied overall with delivery services.
Ofcom has, however, recognised growing concerns about parcel operators’ delivery performance and is keeping the need for enforcement or additional regulation under review.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on digitally excluded and vulnerable households of withdrawals of digital terrestrial television services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is clear that no one should be left behind as television watching increasingly moves online. A core objective of the Department’s work relating to the future of TV distribution is to ensure that any transition is inclusive, and supports both the continued sustainability of the UK’s media ecosystem and the Government’s wider ambitions for digital inclusion. Further information can be found in the Government’s recent Media Green Paper, titled Watch this Space.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration she has given to the potential merits of including a pre-licensing integrity assessment within the forthcoming tobacco, vaping and nicotine licensing scheme, akin to the model under the Dutch Bibob system, to prevent organised crime groups from establishing high street premises.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are carefully considering the responses to our October 2025 call for evidence on tobacco and vapes, including on the granting of licences, to inform our proposals for future consultation, and we will set out our plans in the normal way in due course.
The Government is investing up to £10 million of new funding per year in Trading Standards until 2028/29 to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales, and the implementation of the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Act.
However, powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 also allow licensing fees collected from retailers to be used by local authorities to cover the costs of administering and enforcing the scheme. This will minimise burdens on local authorities and central government, and ensure the scheme can be implemented sustainably.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 potential merits of ringfencing revenue raised from the retail licensing scheme to fund Trading Standards enforcement against illicit high street retailers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are carefully considering the responses to our October 2025 call for evidence on tobacco and vapes, including on the granting of licences, to inform our proposals for future consultation, and we will set out our plans in the normal way in due course.
The Government is investing up to £10 million of new funding per year in Trading Standards until 2028/29 to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales, and the implementation of the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Act.
However, powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 also allow licensing fees collected from retailers to be used by local authorities to cover the costs of administering and enforcing the scheme. This will minimise burdens on local authorities and central government, and ensure the scheme can be implemented sustainably.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will bring forwards the consultation on the retail licensing scheme under the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 to 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are carefully considering the responses to our October 2025 call for evidence on tobacco and vapes, including on the granting of licences, to inform our proposals for future consultation, and we will set out our plans in the normal way in due course.
The Government is investing up to £10 million of new funding per year in Trading Standards until 2028/29 to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales, and the implementation of the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Act.
However, powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 also allow licensing fees collected from retailers to be used by local authorities to cover the costs of administering and enforcing the scheme. This will minimise burdens on local authorities and central government, and ensure the scheme can be implemented sustainably.