Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether properties that have received Coastal Adaptation Pilots funding for purposes other than demolition are ineligible for the Coastal Erosion Assistance Grant.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Coastal Erosion Assistance Grant provides up to £10,000 per property for the demolition of homes at greatest risk from coastal erosion. Properties must meet the eligibility criteria published on GOV.UK. Under those criteria, properties receiving Coastal Adaptation Pilots funding are not eligible for the grant.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have started construction foundation apprenticeships since May 2026; and what assessment he has made of the likelihood of meeting the assumption of 10,000 starts by 2028/29.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Foundation apprenticeship starts, including on the Construction and the built environment occupational route, are published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication, which can be accessed at: Release home - Apprenticeships - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK
Foundation apprenticeships are an additional route for young people who need extra support to move from education into work. As with any new apprenticeship offer, employers will need time to understand how foundation apprenticeships can support their workforce need and recruitment plans.
We are engaging with employers and providers to gain insight into how foundation apprenticeships can better support recruitment needs and encourage wider take-up.
Apprenticeships, including foundation apprenticeships, are jobs with training. Foundation apprentices are employed from the start of their apprenticeship and are therefore counted as part of the construction workforce from the point they begin working and training with an employer.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what basis the decision was made to count foundation apprentices as new construction workers from the start of their apprenticeship.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Foundation apprenticeship starts, including on the Construction and the built environment occupational route, are published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication, which can be accessed at: Release home - Apprenticeships - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK
Foundation apprenticeships are an additional route for young people who need extra support to move from education into work. As with any new apprenticeship offer, employers will need time to understand how foundation apprenticeships can support their workforce need and recruitment plans.
We are engaging with employers and providers to gain insight into how foundation apprenticeships can better support recruitment needs and encourage wider take-up.
Apprenticeships, including foundation apprenticeships, are jobs with training. Foundation apprentices are employed from the start of their apprenticeship and are therefore counted as part of the construction workforce from the point they begin working and training with an employer.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has made an assessment of whether appointment procedures for the UK National Security Adviser should include additional vetting requirements beyond those currently applied to holders of that office.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
For National Security reasons, we do not publicly divulge details of the vetting procedure for specific roles.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken is by (a) probation officers and (b) police to respond to breaches of electronic monitoring conditions by people convicted of domestic abuse offences.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require all records to be looked at individually.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Audit Office’s report Electronic monitoring: improving resilience to meet increasing demand, HC 266, whether he plans to implement a pilot for proximity monitoring for victims of domestic abuse and stalking.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is determined to strengthen protections for victims of violence against women and girls and has committed to piloting proximity monitoring technology. Work is actively under way to design a pilot that can provide an additional layer of protection for victims and help manage risk from perpetrators.
Officials are working with key partners across the victims’ sector, including victims’ commissioners and domestic abuse organisations, so that victims’ safety and experience are at the heart of the service, alongside development of the technical and operational arrangements required for delivery.
We are committed to delivering the pilot by the end of this Parliament and will set out further details as the work progresses.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has implemented the National Audit Office’s recommendation to establish escalation thresholds and contingency plans for electronic monitoring by September 2026.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department recognises the importance of robust arrangements for managing risks to electronic monitoring performance and capacity. Well established continency arrangements are already in place and the Department is establishing a system-wide approach to the management and escalation of electronic monitoring risks.
We are considering the National Audit Office’s recommendations carefully and will set out our response and the actions being taken to the NAO through the regular process.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate HM Revenue and Customs has made of the value of Child Benefit overpayments arising from (a) fraud and (b) error that are expected to be unrecoverable because the claimant has left the UK.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HMRC seeks recovery of Child Benefit overpayments through its debt management processes. This includes situations where a claimant has left the UK.
The Government has invested in additional HMRC resource to prevent losses from those in receipt of Child Benefit moving abroad without notifying HMRC. This is forecast to save £285m between 2025-26 and 2029-30. Any additional monies recovered through debt collection would be in addition to these savings.
HMRC does not hold the specific estimates requested.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Independent Review of Prevent, how many Prevent-funded civil society organisations have been found by the Home Office to have promoted extremist narratives or maintained links with extremist individuals or organisations.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) seeking to deliver Prevent project activity must apply to join the provider framework and undergo due diligence before they are onboarded, with further checks conducted annually. All providers must also comply with the Preventing Radicalisation Initiative (PRI) Code of Conduct and ongoing assurance arrangements. The Home Office cannot comment on specific groups or individual cases.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what risk assessment the Probation Service is required to complete before an offender convicted of a domestic abuse offence is released under the progression model.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Before offenders are released from custody, probation practitioners will conduct a thorough risk assessment, taking account of information which they receive from enquiries made of the Police to understand risks of reoffending and of harm the offender may pose to others. This informs the licence conditions and other controls needed to manage the risks which offenders present to their victims and to the general public. Probation practitioners will also take account of representations which victims make to their victim liaison officers as to the conditions they wish included in the post-release licence, for their protection and peace of mind. In the more complex cases, practitioners will also take into account a specialist assessment produced by a qualified psychologist.
Offenders released on licence are subject to a set of standard licence conditions and, where necessary to manage risk and protect victims, they may also be made subject to additional conditions such as exclusion zones, non-contact conditions and location monitoring. If they breach these conditions and risk is no longer manageable in the community, they may be recalled to prison.
From October, new tougher powers will include restriction zones, and the ability to prohibit offenders from driving, attending public events, or entering pubs, clubs and bars.
The Government is committed to ensuring that victims and others affected by the release of offenders can access timely information, support and guidance when they need it. That is why the Ministry of Justice has commissioned Victim Support to deliver the Victim Support: Offender Release Helpline, a dedicated telephone and live chat service available across England and Wales.