Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions her Department has had with NHS England and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges on establishing a successor to the Medical Training Initiative; and what steps she is taking to ensure that any replacement scheme retains a two-year training route for overseas doctors, including those funded by their home governments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England closed the Medical Training Initiative scheme to new applicants from 31 March this year. NHS England is working with the Department to keep this position under review and explore the potential for any successor scheme, including engaging with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Department plans to publish the consultation on proposals to prohibit trail-hunting in England and Wales.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 18 June 2026, Defra closed its consultation seeking views on how best to deliver an effective and enforceable ban on trail hunting in England and Wales. The consultation received 184,000 responses. Defra plans to publish a summary of responses as soon as possible.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his department has considered introducing or strengthening age restrictions on the sale and use of hazardous chemicals and poisons for amateur purposes and what measures are in place to ensure compliance and prevent misuse by under-age individuals.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Poisons Act 1972 provides a robust framework to restrict public access to certain hazardous chemicals and poisons, including licensing controls and mandatory reporting requirements designed to prevent misuse.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether information standards in force under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 will be (a) replaced by mandatory information standards made under the amended framework introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022, (b) revoked and (c) allowed to expire; and whether she plans to retain existing information standards on a non-mandatory have due regard basis indefinitely.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025 allow information standards made under the existing system to remain in place, until such a time as they are revoked, replaced, expire, or go through the prescribed procedures to become mandatory. That continuity will provide NHS England with the time it needs to review the existing standards and determine what should happen to them.Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of regulations aimed at tackling abusive content towards LGBTQ+ people online; and whether she plans to introduce further measures to help increase levels of accountability and improve protections for vulnerable and minority communities.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to tackling online abuse including targeted abuse of LGBTQ+ people. The Online Safety Act requires platforms to tackle illegal content and activity. Once the duties are in effect, large user-to-user platforms, known as Category 1 services will also need to provide adult users with more protections from abusive and hateful content by: offering them more choice over the types of content they engage with; filter content from non-verified accounts; and hold platforms to account for their terms of service. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers to enforce these duties.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to encourage the retrofitting of solar photovoltaic panels on existing commercial and industrial rooftops; what financial incentives are available to businesses to support such installations; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increased rooftop solar generation to reduce demand for ground-mounted solar developments on agricultural land.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Solar Roadmap published last year set out actions for Government and industry, including for commercial solar.
Since 2022 there has been a business rates exemption for plant and machinery used in connection with onsite renewable generation. The exemption applies from until 31 March 2035.
The Annual Investment Allowance is permanently set at £1 million which gives 100% tax relief to businesses on plant and machinery investments.
The Government does not take a prescriptive approach to the proportion of future rooftop and ground-mounted solar. Both forms of deployment will be needed to meet our clean power ambitions.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the bespoke refugee work and study route, whether she plans to allow refugees to switch onto this route prior to the expiry of their 30-month protection grant.
Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Work is underway to create the Protection, Work and Study route. Individuals who receive 30 months refugee or humanitarian permission to stay will be able to apply and switch into this route once created. This will include in advance of the expiry of their 30-month protection grant.
Those on the Protection Work and Study route will not be subject to a review of their protection status, provided that they continue in employment or education and successfully renew their leave on that basis.
Further details will be set out in future Immigration Rules changes.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department will publish advance notice of opening dates and times for future Sustainable Farming Incentive application windows; and what assessment she has made of the impact on farmers who were unable to submit applications before available funding was exhausted.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is considering lessons from SFI26 as part of the design of future offers. This includes exploring alternatives to first-come, first-served allocation and considering fairness, accessibility and deliverability. The Government recognises the disappointment of farmers who were unable to submit an application before available funding was allocated. Eligible farmers who did not obtain an SFI26 agreement will have another opportunity to apply in 2027.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to support police forces to develop drone-as-first-responder programmes, including through funding, shared operational standards and the evaluation and expansion of pilot schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to support police forces to develop drone-as-first-responder programmes, including through funding, shared operational standards and the evaluation and expansion of pilot schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.