Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is considering to help tackle potential transnational repression of (a) Hong Kong, (b) Uyghur and (c) Tibetan diaspora communities in the UK, in the context of the proposed Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Freedom of speech and other fundamental rights are protected under domestic law for everyone within the UK, regardless of nationality. Any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated.
All material planning considerations will be taken into account in reaching a decision on the planning application in question. As the application in question is before ministers in MHCLG to determine, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific elements of it.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to publish an Outcome Delivery Plan for 2025 to 2026.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Outcome Delivery Plans are co-ordinated through the Cabinet Office and we are awaiting confirmation on whether they will be published for this year and the process and timing of this.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) receive and (b) are eligible under existing rules for free school meals in Wimbledon.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department holds free school meals data, which can be found in this publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to require transport authorities to integrate reporting tools for (a) gendered violence and (b) anti-social behaviour into transport apps.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes. The Department for Transport is working with partners across government and the transport industry to play its part in achieve this mission.
We know that consistency of reporting is an important issue and we intend to look at this in more detail. However, we would always encourage victims of violence and anti-social behaviour to report these incidents to the police in the usual way.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to expand public awareness campaigns that encourage reporting of sexual harassment on public transport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes.
The Department for Transport is working with partners across government and the transport industry to play its part in achieve this mission.
This includes working with the British Transport Police to encourage reporting via the 61016 text reporting number. We are also supportive of the Rail Delivery Group’s ‘Zero Tolerance Campaign’ which raises awareness of sexual harassment and encourages reporting and bystander interventions when safe to do so.
We are also bringing forward measures in the Bus Services (No. 2) mandating training for staff in the bus industry on how to recognise and respond to incidents of violence against women and girls, as well as anti-social behaviour (ASB).
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of fraudulent insurance claims that have been made by people who stage road traffic collisions to gain compensation there have been in the last 12 months.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the harm caused by these types of fraudulent claims. This is why we have launched an Insurance Fraud Charter with key insurance firms to agree a series of voluntary measures to reduce fraud against the sector and consumers.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau reports that there has been 118 reports of Insurance related Fraud in the past 13 months.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Car Insurance Taskforce made of the potential impact of fraudulent insurance claims made by people who stage road traffic collisions to gain compensation on levels of car insurance premiums.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government committed in its manifesto to tackle the high costs of motor insurance. To deliver on this commitment, the UK Government formed a cross-government Taskforce on motor insurance, co-chaired by the Department for Transport and His Majesty’s Treasury.
The Taskforce which met most recently on 28 April has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums. It will look at the increased insurance costs on consumers and the insurance industry. The Government will provide updates on the Taskforce in due course.
Regarding fraudulent insurance claims, the Government is committed to tackling this threat and has worked in collaboration with the UK insurance sector to publish an insurance fraud charter. This is a voluntary agreement which aims to raise the visibility of insurance fraud, improve victim support and better detect and prevent scams, such as crash-for cash.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the data release entitled Number of children in Universal Credit households, by School Year and 2024 Parliamentary Constituency, November 2024, published on 5 June 2025, if she will publish this data by local authority.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested data was published here on 6 June 2025, as an additional sheet in the spreadsheet entitled “Number of children in Universal Credit households, by School Year and 2024 Parliamentary Constituency, November 2024”.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-expansion-impact-on-poverty-levels
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the bus fare cap on passenger numbers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is investing over £150 million to deliver the new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help keep bus fares affordable. Under the plans of the previous administration, the £2 cap on bus fares had been due to expire on 31 December 2024, and prior to the Budget, there was no further funding available to maintain a cap on bus fares beyond this point.
The final monitoring and evaluation report into the impact of the £2 bus fare cap was published on 12 February. An evaluation of the £3 fare cap is due to be commissioned in due course.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help increase the capacity of the West Coast Mainline between Crewe and Manchester.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with local leaders, as set out in our manifesto.
While we will not reverse the decision to cancel Phase 2 of HS2, we recognise concerns about connectivity between Birmingham and Manchester and continue to review the position we inherited on rail infrastructure. We will set out our plans in due course.