Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, following notifications by transcription providers of bulk or systematic requests for court transcripts, which individuals or organisations have been (a) approved and (b) refused permission to continue receiving transcripts on that basis; and what reasons were given for any refusals.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Under the terms of HMCTS transcription contracts, transcription providers are required to notify HMCTS where they receive bulk or systematic requests for court transcripts and seek approval before continuing such supply. Any consideration of such notifications is undertaken on a case-by-case basis.
HMCTS does not hold a centrally collated record of the individuals or organisations that have been approved or refused permission to continue receiving transcripts following such notifications.
Decisions are taken having regard to the specific circumstances of each request, including compliance with reporting restrictions, data protection and security requirements. HMCTS does not record reasons for refusal.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many notifications transcription providers have made to HMCTS in each of the last five years under the bulk or systematic request provisions of the HMCTS transcription contracts; and what data HMCTS holds on the total number of transcript requests received by providers each year.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Transcription service providers are required, under the terms of their contracts to notify HMCTS where they receive bulk or systematic requests for transcripts and seek approval before continuing such supply. These notifications are made on a case-by-case as they arise.
HM Courts and Tribunal Service does not hold a centrally collated record of the total number of such notifications made by providers in each of the last five years.
Transcription requests are placed directly with providers by a range of customers, including HMCTS, other public bodies, legal representatives and members of the public. While providers are required to supply management information to HMCTS for contract assurance and performance monitoring purposes, HMCTS does not hold a record of the total number of transcript requests received by providers in each year.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she intervened in negotiations between Northern Trains and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers on (a) a driver open conductor close procedure and (b) other matters.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Negotiations take place between train operating companies and trade unions on a range of matters, including working practices, within mandates issued by the Department for Transport. The Secretary of State has not intervened in Northern’s door operation negotiations.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what lessons Natural England has drawn from the performance of its nutrient mitigation scheme when designing its Environmental Delivery Plans and its future management of the nature restoration fund.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England's Nutrient Mitigation Scheme (NMS) demonstrates the value of a strategic, catchment-level approach over site-by-site mitigation. Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) will build on this approach with Natural England’s NRF and NMS teams working collaboratively to consider best practices including the value of working with local stakeholders to identify and deliver solutions that have the greatest impact and secure value for money. The Government has committed to returning to Parliament once the first nutrient EDPs are made to provide a statement on initial learnings. EDPs covering other environmental issues will only be made after Parliament has considered that statement.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much public funding was allocated to Natural England for its nutrient mitigation scheme in 2022.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2022/23 the (then) Government allocated £30 million over three years to Natural England for the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme. Natural England used this to prepare, facilitate and administer a scheme in accordance with the Secretary of State Direction (see here) to address development pressures in catchments where the scheme could deliver the most impact.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps Natural England is taking to recover the costs of its nutrient mitigation scheme against its commitment that the scheme would be cost neutral to the public purse; and if he will publish the most recent figures for the scheme's total costs and income to date.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The pricing of nutrient credits is set in line with Managing Public Money to achieve full cost recovery. Natural England publishes financial statements in line with statutory requirements in its annual report and accounts. The annual report and accounts for the year-ending 31 March 2025 will be published once they have been certified by the Comptroller & Auditor General.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the minutes of the Natural England Board Meeting of 30 July, in which the Chief Executive noted that nutrient mitigation risks remain significant, what the nature of those risks is; whether they are financial or environmental; and if he will publish any documents held by Natural England that clarify the nature of those risks.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The nutrient mitigation risk being referred to by our Chief Executive as referenced in the Board minutes of 30 July 2025, concerns the inherent uncertainties in predicting future mitigation demand from development and the costs of securing appropriate mitigation from third party suppliers within the financial modelling for the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme. Natural England has continued to work with central government to ensure we have the right skills and capacity to undertake financial modelling work of this kind.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on flood defence investment in each year since 2021; what proportion of that annual spending was allocated to (a) Environment Agency capital schemes and (b) Environment Agency grant in aid schemes delivered by (i) local authorities and (ii) other risk management authorities; and how many properties were better protected in each of those years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On March 17th, Minister Hardy announced that this Government is investing £1.4 billion into flood risk management in England in 2026/27. Flood defence investment allocations for schemes benefitting are published on gov.uk here: Programme of flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) schemes - GOV.UK .
Flood and coastal erosion risk management report.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the FloodReady Review and its recommendation to mainstream property flood resilience, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that Environment Agency flood defence schemes make full use of property flood resilience measures to protect properties from low depth surface water flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The FloodReady report, published in October 2025, sets out recommendations to support the wider uptake of property flood resilience (PFR) measures across the public, private and third sectors. The Government and the Environment Agency (EA) are supporting the delivery of the FloodReady recommendations, alongside existing policies that support the use of PFR as part of the broader flood and coastal erosion risk management approach.
The Government has committed a three-year investment of £4.2 billion to reduce risk from, and increase resilience to, flooding and coastal erosion. The Government’s new flood funding policy will be implemented from 1 April 2026.
EA flood defence schemes are developed using a range of measures to reduce flood risk, including natural flood management, traditional flood defences and PFR where appropriate. Decisions on the use of these measures are made on a case-by-case basis to ensure the most effective and value-for-money approach to protecting communities from flooding.
We have just announced funding for more than 600 flood schemes to help protect tens of thousands of homes and businesses in 2026/27 – from upgraded barriers and embankments to natural flood management projects that slow the flow of water and coastal defences reducing flood risk.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will publish the total amount of spending on property flood resilience in each of the last five years; and how many properties have benefited from such measures in each of those years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) delivers PFR Schemes as part of the flood investment programme. Between April 2021 and March 31 2025, over £9m has been invested in Property Flood Resilience measures, delivering 1245 properties better protected.*
*Figures are provided in the table below
Year | PFR investment | Properties |
2021/22 | £1.0m | 179 |
2022/23 | £1.6m | 266 |
2023/24 | £2.9m | 447 |
2024/25 | £3.5m | 353 |