Mike Martin

This Government is committed to delivering greener transport and supporting the missions to kickstart economic growth and to make Britain a clean energy superpower. The Department is working across government and the transport sector to turn this vision to reality.

This includes beginning the overhaul of public transport services and accelerating active travel infrastructure deployment. Changes that will make lower-carbon options an attractive choice for most people.

We hugely value the critical role that general practitioners (GPs) play. We want to work with doctors to get the National Health Service back on its feet, so it works for patients and staff. Our plan to restore GPs will require both investment and reform.

The GP contract is reviewed and amended annually following consultation with relevant stakeholders, and we will begin the process in the coming months. Further detail will be made available to relevant stakeholders in due course.

If the UK sanctions an individual, their UK assets are frozen. Sanctioned individuals cannot access frozen funds or obtain any financial benefit (including from ownership of interests in UK companies) without HMT/OFSI granting a licence.

Additionally, the National Security and Investment Act allows HMG to intervene in transactions that threaten national security.

To provide future certainty, Ukrainians who have been provided with sanctuary in the UK under the Ukraine schemes will be able to apply for further permission to remain in the UK through a bespoke Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme due to open in early 2025. The new route will provide an additional 18 months’ permission.

The scheme will provide the same rights and entitlements as the existing Ukraine Schemes, to access work, benefits, healthcare and education.

Further details on eligibility and application processes will be available before the scheme opens, ensuring that Ukrainians have sufficient time to apply to the scheme.

This Government is determined to treat violence against women and girls as the national emergency it is and we have already taken significant steps to strengthen the police response to these devastating crimes. As part of Raneem’s Law we will put domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms and finally pilot new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to keep victims safe and ensure perpetrators are properly pursued.

If an overspend within the Defence Nuclear Enterprise could not be managed within the ringfenced budget, then options to manage this within the wider Defence budget would be considered.

This is distinct from the Dreadnought programme for which HM Treasury hold a separate £10 billion contingency.

We deeply regret the treatment of LGBT Service personnel between 1967 and 2000, which was wholly unacceptable and does not reflect today’s Armed Forces. We are fully committed to ensuring this issue receives Parliamentary scrutiny.

We have already implemented 32 of the 49 recommendations from the LGBT veterans review and we are working with experts across Government to establish an appropriate financial redress scheme. We will provide more details later this year.

The Strategic Defence Review will determine the roles, capabilities and reforms required by UK Defence to meet the challenges, threats and opportunities of the twenty-first century, deliverable and affordable within the resources available to Defence within the trajectory to 2.5%. The Review will ensure that Defence is central both to the security, and to the economic growth and prosperity, of the United Kingdom.

The Review will identify where reprioritisation of roles, capabilities, activities, and support may be made in the current Defence programme, to allow new investment, achieve better value for money, and secure greater economic gain for the UK, and will make recommendations.

The Ministry of Defence only provides support to foreign militaries where it is satisfied that it is lawful under international law and domestic law.

On 2 December 2023, the UK commenced surveillance flights over Gaza solely tasked to support hostage rescue. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authority responsible for hostage rescue. The surveillance aircraft are unarmed and do not have a combat role.

We are unable comment further on detailed intelligence matters for operational security reasons.

We are committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets flourish.

We are funding new partnership models with High Street Accelerators, implementing High Street Rental Auctions, and introducing a strong new ‘right to buy’ for community assets, to empower local communities to rejuvenate our high streets and address the blight of vacant premises.

The department has not obtained such information.

As the allocation process is still in progress, the total number of individuals in Kent to be released from custody at 40% of their standard determinate sentence is not yet known. It is also therefore not possible to ascertain how many units of accommodation would be needed.

Certain offences have been excluded from the SDS change. This includes sex offences irrespective of sentence length; serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security. The change will also not apply to sentences subject to release at the discretion of the Parole Board, or to offences which currently attract automatic release from a standard determinate sentence at the two-thirds point (certain serious sexual and violent offences).

Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict license conditions that would have applied had they been released at a 50% automatic release point. They will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions, or are judged to be a risk to public safety.

Any who are at risk of being homeless upon release can be referred to H M Prison & Probation Service’s Community Accommodation Service, which can provide up to 12 weeks’ temporary accommodation, and we are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to mitigate any impact on local authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless.