Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to issue guidance to local authorities on the procurement of food that is locally produced or certified to higher environment standards.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is responsible for the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF), which set the requirements for sourcing, cooking, and serving of food for central Government and executive agencies in England. Local authorities are encouraged to comply with these where possible. Further, we have already published a new national procurement policy statement which sets expectations for Government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that we think high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for ensuring that half of all food purchased across the public sector is (a) locally produced and (b) certified to higher environment standards.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. As a first step, we will be reviewing the food currently purchased by the public sector and its provenance to help inform our future approach on public sector food procurement.
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, if he will respond to the report of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights entitled The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Regaining Power, published on 27 June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights report entitled 'The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Regaining Power', and the issues it raises in relation to the rollback on rights.
The UK has a long history as a well-respected and influential global leader on SRHR and in defending and championing these fundamental rights. The UK continues to work with likeminded Member States, NGOs, and Civil Society Organisations to defend, promote and support SRHR.
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 - Minister of State (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
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 - Minister of State (Education)
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.