Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £400m Afghan Response Route funds announced on the 15 July 2025 was classified as Official Development Assistance in each year of operation; and from which Departments’ budgets it was sourced.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
No money spent on relocation or resettlement in the UK as a result of the data loss incident is being paid for out of the Official Development Assistance budget.
HM Treasury included the cost of Afghan resettlement schemes, including the ARR, in the spending audit in July 2024, we have since fully funded the cost of the resettlement schemes as part of the 2025 Spending Review.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of levels of availability of fuel in Gaza; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of levels of fuel availability on water desalination plants in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. We remain deeply concerned at the lack of fuel supply in Gaza, which puts vital services such as water desalination at risk. On 18 July, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) described the deepening fuel crisis in Gaza, including the impact on solid waste collection and availability of clean water supplies and health services. We highlighted the impact of the lack of fuel on water supplies and hospitals and the critical situation for Gaza's children at a session of the UN Security Council which we co-called on 16 July, and at the International Development Committee on 16 July.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that AI technologies which fall outside the scope of the Online Safety Act are subject to appropriate regulatory oversight of their potential use in generating child sexual abuse material.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are committed to ensuring our laws keep pace with technology and are building on the Online Safety Act by taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise AI models which have been optimised to create child sexual abuse material.
As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. We are working proactively with regulators, including Ofcom, to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many companies are listed on the Government’s Debarment List under the exclusion regime in the Procurement Act 2023.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to tackling misconduct in public procurement. All contracting authorities and suppliers are expected to act, and be seen to act, with integrity. The debarment regime came into effect on 24 February 2025. We will not hesitate to make use of those powers where there is evidence of wrongdoing where appropriate.
In order for any supplier to be added to the debarment list, an investigation must be undertaken.
The outcomes of debarment investigations will be published here. Currently there are no suppliers included on the debarment list.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of unfilled magistrate vacancies on 9 July 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We do not have a set number of magistrate vacancies. Magistrate recruitment targets are set on an annual basis covering 1 April to 31 March. As of 1 April 2025, there were 14,636 magistrates in post. We are aiming to recruit around 2,000 magistrates in 2025/26, and we are currently considering our ongoing resourcing needs in light of the planned reform of the criminal courts.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's transparency data entitled Non-technical summaries for project licences granted January – March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the 2,161,210 animals approved for use across 125 projects.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is committed to ensuring that the use of animals in scientific research is strictly regulated and is only permitted where no suitable alternatives are available.
In parallel, the Government is committed to working towards a vision of phasing out the use of animals in science. This Government will publish a strategy that describes how it will accelerate the development and uptake of alternative methods to animal research and testing later this year.
All applications for animal research must conform with all legal requirements set out in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This includes, applying the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement); the replacement of animals with alternatives, the reduction of the number of animals used to the minimum possible and the refinement of any techniques to reduce the harm suffered by the animals to the minimum.
The Home Office only allows the use of animals if it can be demonstrated that the benefits outweigh the harms and the 3Rs have been fully applied. This ensures that any project is justified by the expected benefits for humans, animals or the environment.