Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what safeguards will be included in the Great British Railways licence to manage conflicts of interest arising from Great British Railways’ dual role as system operator and rail retailer.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fair and open competition when Great British Railways (GBR) has a dual role as a retailer and provider of wider retail industry management functions, the government has announced a robust package of safeguards. These are a Code of Practice, with the force of a GBR licence condition; separation of decision-making between GBR’s retailer and its cross-industry systems and services; and ORR monitoring and enforcement of GBR’s adherence with the Code of Practice.
The retail Code of Practice will incorporate clear requirements for how GBR should interact with all market participants. There will be full consultation on the Code of Practice, and further detail will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether she has had discussions with the Welsh Government on the potential impact of the proposed visitor levy on the Welsh economy.
Answered by Anna McMorrin - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales Office)
The Welsh Government’s Visitor Levy could raise up to £33 million a year to reinvest in local communities and support tourism, reflecting the strength of the sector.
We have announced that a similar overnight levy will be introduced in England, building on the example set by Wales.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the development, operating and upgrade costs of the proposed Great British Railways retail app and website; how she plans to assess value for money; and when final information on those costs will be published.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Officials continue to develop the proposition for the Great British Railways app and website. We are engaging with industry on this project and will provide updates in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned sequencing and timetable is for (a) publication of the draft Great British Railways licence for parliamentary scrutiny and formal consultation, (b) consultation led by the Office of Rail and Road on the Retail Code of Practice and (c) finalisation of those documents; and whether Parliament will be able to scrutinise the draft licence before the passage of the Railways Bill.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to Question 88358 Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament Further information on the GBR licence can be found in the Railways Bill factsheet: holding Great British Railways to account
There will also be a full consultation on the retail code of practice, and further detail will be confirmed in due course. Further information on the code of practice can be found at Railways Bill factsheet: tickets and retail.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the principle of economic parity between Great British Railways’ retail operations and third-party retailers will be included in the Great British Railways Licence.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fair and open competition when Great British Railways (GBR) has a dual role as a retailer and provider of wider retail industry management functions, the government has announced a robust package of safeguards. These are a Code of Practice, with the force of a GBR licence condition; separation of decision-making between GBR’s retailer and its cross-industry systems and services; and ORR monitoring and enforcement of GBR’s adherence with the Code of Practice.
The retail Code of Practice will incorporate clear requirements for how GBR should interact with all market participants. There will be full consultation on the Code of Practice, and further detail will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral evidence to the Transport Committee on Wednesday 7 January 2026 on the Railways Bill, how structural separation between retail functions and cross-industry management functions of Great British Railway will operate, including governance, accounting, decision-making and information-sharing arrangements; where this separation will be formally set out; and when she plans to publish further details.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fair and open competition when Great British Railways (GBR) has a dual role as a retailer and provider of wider retail industry management functions, the government has announced a robust package of safeguards. These are a Code of Practice, with the force of a GBR licence condition; separation of decision-making between GBR’s retailer and its cross-industry systems and services; and ORR monitoring and enforcement of GBR’s adherence with the Code of Practice.
The retail Code of Practice will incorporate clear requirements for how GBR should interact with all market participants. There will be full consultation on the Code of Practice, and further detail will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the governance, transparency and accountability of the Police Federation of England and Wales in the context of the remuneration of the General Secretary; and what steps she is taking to ensure effective oversight of statutory bodies funded by mandatory subscriptions.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We ask police officers to do a unique and challenging job, so it is vital that they have effective and robust representation of their interests through the Police Federation of England and Wales.
The Police Federation must be fully accountable to its members and transparent in its use of members’ subscriptions, including the remuneration of those who lead the organisation.
We expect the Police Federation to ensure timely publication of its accounts and to give clarity about its future governance and transformation, as key factors in being open and accountable to its members.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what regard he has given to representations from the Gardens Trust about his Department's plans to remove it as a statutory consultee in the planning system.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 17 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation closed on 13 January 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
No decision will be made on the Garden Trust’s role until responses to the consultation have been fully analysed and considered.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Baroness Bertin's independent report entitled Creating a Safer World – the Challenge of Regulating Online Pornography, published in February 2025, whether he has assessed the potential merits of that report's recommendation to hold a problematic pornography use consultation to determine whether it should be formally classed as an addiction, including the potential impact on public health policy and clinical guidance.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government welcomes Baroness Bertin’s independent report, named Creating a Safer World – the Challenge of Regulating Online Pornography, as shedding light on an important issue. The finding that high levels of pornography use can lead to mental health issues in young people is deeply concerning. The nation’s mental health has deteriorated over the past decade, so it is vital we examine the range of potential risk factors for mental ill health. That is why the Government has launched an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism.
On the recommendation to consider a consultation on whether problematic pornography use should be formally classified as an addiction, there are no current plans to launch a consultation on this issue. Classification of conditions, including behavioural addictions, is a matter for international diagnostic frameworks. In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides robust, evidence-based clinical guidance to support commissioners and providers in improving outcomes for people using the National Health Service, public health, and social care services. NICE guidance is informed by the best available research and international standards, including positions taken by the World Health Organisation.
There is a wide range of support available for individuals struggling with their mental health, whatever the reason. Since July 2024, the Government has recruited over 7,000 additional mental health professionals, expanded NHS talking therapy sessions for adults experiencing depression and anxiety, and accelerated the rollout of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, aiming for full national coverage by 2029.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports of non-consensual sexual deepfake images have been recorded by police forces in England and Wales in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what steps her Department is taking to prevent the creation and distribution of synthetic sexual images.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics publishes information on the number of ‘threaten to share intimate photograph or film’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, but information on whether these offences involved non-consensual sexual deepfake images is not centrally held. Data for these offences can be found in Table 11 on the Office for National Statistic’s website (Sexual offences prevalence and victim characteristics, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics)
On 18 December 2025, the Government published ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: A Cross-Government Strategy to Build a Safer Society for Women and Girls’, which included an announcement to ban nudification apps and other tools designed to create synthetic non-consensual intimate images. This Strategy includes a commitment to explore routes to ensure that intimate images that are taken, created or shared without consent are removed online.
In January 2024, the Online Safety Act brought into force offences for the sharing, and threatening to share intimate images including ‘deepfakes’. These are ‘priority illegal offences’, the most serious category of online offence under the Act.
The Data (Use and Access) Act inserts new offences into the Sexual Offences Act 2003, criminalising the creation and requesting the creation of an intimate deepfake without consent or reasonable belief in consent.
In addition, the Home Office introduced world-leading measures making the UK the first country to outlaw possession, creation and distribution of AI tools for generating child sexual abuse material, as well as criminalising paedophile manuals that instruct others on developing such tools.