Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the current average distance between dedicated emergency refuge areas, excluding slip roads and junctions, on All Lane Running Smart Motorways.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My previous answer on 27 April 2026 set out that the average distance between places to stop in an emergency is now less than a mile (around 0.9 miles). Design standard GD301 sets out the new spacing standard (around 3/4 mile where feasible and 1 mile maximum) and defines what a place of relative safety is. The document can be found at: GD 301 - Smart motorways.
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 steps her Department is taking to help tackle conflict-related sexual violence and sexualised abuse in the West Bank in the context of (a) incidents occurring in the presence of Israeli military forces and contributing to displacement and (b) other incidents; and whether this includes (i) applying UK commitments within the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including the UK National Action Plan, (ii) not providing assistance in maintaining the situation, including through reviewing (A) trade, (B) arms export licences and (C) security cooperation for compliance with international law and (iii) taking steps in line with the ICJ 2024 Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in relation to (1) ending Israel’s presence in Occupied Palestine and (2) the removal of settlements.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided by the Foreign Secretary to the Member for Tooting at the last session of departmental oral questions on 21 April.
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 the planned consultation on banning the use of high-concentration carbon dioxide gas stunning for pigs will include a proposed timetable for phasing out that method.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Government’s animal welfare strategy, Defra will consult on banning carbon dioxide gas stunning of pigs and on possible timescales for phasing out this method. Further details will be set out later this year.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the current average distance between emergency refuge areas on All Lane Running Smart Motorways.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways has completed construction of 151 additional emergency areas across the All Lane Running smart motorway network, through the National Emergency Area Retrofit programme. Across every All Lane Running motorway, the average distance between places to stop in an emergency is now less than a mile (around 0.9 miles), compared to around 1.2 miles before the retrofit.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Third Report of the Transport Committee of Session 2021–22, Rollout and safety of smart motorways, HC26, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that emergency refuges on All Lane Running Smart Motorways are spaced no more than 1,500m apart, and no more than 1,000m apart where possible.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways has completed construction of 151 additional emergency areas across the all lane running (ALR) smart motorway network through the National Emergency Area Retrofit (NEAR) programme. National Highways is evaluating the effectiveness of these additional emergency areas, including impacts on live-lane stops, safety outcomes and road-user perceptions. Initial findings are expected in 2026, with a full three-year evaluation concluding in 2028.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps their department will take to ensure all police forces will be kept updated to latest trends and best practice relating to modern slavery and human trafficking now support through the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit will no longer be available.
Answered by Jess Phillips
Modern slavery crimes are complex to investigate and prosecute, and ensuring a consistent and coordinated national policing response to modern slavery remains a priority for the Home Office.
The Department worked closely with the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit (MSOICU) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to review the programme’s functions and agree contingency arrangements to ensure key functions are preserved to maintain national coordination following the programme’s closure.
This includes issuing an expression of interest to appoint a new National Police Chief Council (NPCC) lead for modern slavery to continue to provide national leadership on the policing response to modern slavery. Once appointed, the Home Office will work closely with the NPCC lead and the NCA to ensure modern slavery remains a policing priority.
Forces will continue to receive relevant updates from the Home Office on modern slavery and human trafficking through existing stakeholder forums, such as the Modern Slavery Engagement Forum and the First Responder Forum.
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 discussions she has had with her Ethiopian counterpart on evidence published by the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab on the use of Ethiopian National Defence Force facilities near Asosa by the Rapid Support Forces as a base from which to launch attacks in the Blue Nile State in Sudan; and what information her Department holds on whether there have been arms shipments to those engaged in fighting in the Darfur region.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to monitor the evolving situation between Ethiopia and Sudan closely. Any further escalation would risk destabilising the region and carries a high risk of human rights abuses and atrocities. The Foreign Secretary discussed the conflict with the Ethiopian Prime Minister during her visit to Addis Ababa in February, and the Minister of State for International Development and Africa reiterated these messages in a call with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister on 25 March.
During the Foreign Secretary's statement to the United Nations Security Council on 19 February, she made clear that "We urgently need an end to arms flows. Reports into breaches of the UN arms embargo, which we agree should be extended and enforced, must be investigated." We continue to emphasise to all parties the importance of refraining from actions that prolong the conflict and urge those with influence over the warring parties to bring them to the negotiating table to seek a political resolution.
We also expect all countries to comply with their obligations under United Nations sanctions regimes, including upholding the UN Arms Embargo on Darfur, and will continue to work closely with Security Council partners and the UN Panel of Experts to support effective monitoring and enforcement.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chevening Scholars have subsequently claimed asylum in the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.
The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
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, if she will make it her policy to include decapod crustaceans in the Animal Welfare Act 2006; and if she will publish a timeline for an announcement on that decision.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to an evidence-based and proportionate approach to setting welfare standards for decapod crustaceans. We set out in our Animal Welfare Strategy that we will develop this evidence base through research and continued stakeholder engagement. Defra-commissioned research on how live decapods move from sea to plate is due to finish later this year. In addition, a project on the welfare of decapod crustaceans across the supply chain is included in the Animal Welfare Committee’s current work plan. We will also publish guidance on which methods of killing decapods are compatible with the existing welfare at time of killing legal requirements.
No policy decisions about these animals in relation to the Animal Welfare Act (2006) have been made whilst the evidence base is being built. The Government will keep the legislative position under review, as is standard practice.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether their department plans to collect and publish data on the number of modern slavery and human trafficking police investigations, after this is no longer done by the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit.
Answered by Jess Phillips
The Department has been working closely with the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit (MSOICU) to review the programme’s functions and agree contingency arrangements to ensure key functions are preserved following the programme’s closure. This includes the collection of modern slavery police investigation data.
The current investigations data only provides a partial and incomplete picture, as not all forces submit returns. Once in post, we will work with the new National Police Chiefs Council lead to consider the most effective approach to collecting consistent data on modern slavery investigations in the future.
As part of the wider police reforms, national strategic policing priorities will be developed to improve policing standards and performance. The Home Office will consider how modern slavery measures and data collection can be reflected within these.
We will continue to draw on data already collected by the Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Justice, including data on recorded offences and criminal justice outcomes, to support our understanding of modern slavery trends and performance.