Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Indonesia concerning restrictions on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s freedom to worship and reports of discrimination against its members.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We strongly condemn all instances of hate and violence against the Ahmadiyya community. The UK remains committed to championing freedom of religion or belief for all. Last year, we launched the UK's Freedom of Religion or Belief Strategy. The UK, including Embassy officials, engages with religious minority communities, including Ahmadiyya, in Indonesia. The UK regularly raises concern around instances of violence against minority religious groups with Indonesian Government officials, most recently in September 2026. The UK's Human Rights Ambassador Eleanor Sanders raised the restrictions facing Ahmadiyya during her visit to Jakarta in 2025. Through programming, the UK has supported training in Indonesia on inter-faith mediation for community leaders and on understanding legal rights for religious minority communities.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals identified as members of organised grooming gangs have been charged with and convicted of rape offences in the United Kingdom in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold the information requested. Information on criminal offences and criminal justice outcomes is not routinely recorded or published in a way that identifies whether an offender was a member of an organised grooming gang.
Data on the total number of charges for rape offences, not specifically those relating to grooming gangs, recorded in England and Wales for each of the last ten years is shown below. As policing is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Home Office does not hold equivalent data for those jurisdictions.
Financial year ending | Number of charges for rape offences |
March 2017 | 4,543 |
March 2018 | 3,775 |
March 2019 | 2,596 |
March 2020 | 2,404 |
March 2021 | 3,159 |
March 2022 | 3,158 |
March 2023 | 3,954 |
March 2024 | 4,965 |
March 2025 | 5,486 |
March 2026 | 6,976 |
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for rape offences in its Criminal Justice System statistics. These data do not identify whether offenders were members of organised grooming gangs. Ministry of Justice date is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-march-2026
The Government is committed to improving its understanding of, and response to, group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes investing in specialist policing capabilities through the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) Programme and the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce to improve the identification of offenders, support victims and bring perpetrators to justice. The Government is also implementing all of Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to review VAT on school uniforms.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Biodiversity Net Gain and peatland restoration funding on land subsequently developed for onshore wind.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra's peatland funding includes grants to address different challenges across England's peatlands.
Protections for peatland include the National Policy Statements for major renewable energy developments, guiding developers to avoid peatland, and where not possible, mitigate or compensate for impacts.
The National Planning Policy Framework states relevant development proposals should contribute to creation or restoration of habitats which can act as carbon stores, and contribute positively to the natural environment, and supporting nature’s recovery.
Normal biodiversity net gain (BNG) processes apply to onshore wind development. For large schemes consented through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project route, mandatory BNG applies from November.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of restrictions on the mowing, burning and grazing of vegetation on (i) its volume, (ii) its age structure, (iii) its moisture content and (iv) its flammability.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restrictions on burning through The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021 aim to reduce the impacts of unnecessary repeated burning on peatlands. Repeated burning can alter species composition and hydrology, resulting in peatlands that are often dominated by heather or Molinia.
As part of its delivery of the Third National Adaptation Programme, Defra has commissioned a wildfire and peatland study, which includes looking at the effectiveness of a range of peatland land management systems and practices in creating wildfire resilience including practices such as grazing, mowing and controlled burning. Defra will continue to monitor these results and engage with key stakeholders.