Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken with police forces to ensure the accurate collection of data on the abuse of older people; and if she will publish the most recent data held by her Department for Wiltshire.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS), who are responsible for the publication of crime statistics in England and Wales has explored the feasibility of extending the Crime Survey for England and Wales, to cover the population resident in care homes and the use of other sources to improve coverage of elder abuse in its crime statistics. A report on this work has been published and can be found here:
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the proposals in Law Commission’s report entitled Modernising Wills Law, published on 15 May 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has welcomed the Law Commission’s comprehensive report on the law of making a will and will be giving the report careful consideration.
This is the first major review of the law on making wills since the Wills Act 1837, and the reforms proposed by the Law Commission are significant and wide ranging. They deserve detailed consideration. The Government recognises that the current law is outdated, and we must embrace change, but the guiding principle in doing so will be to ensure that reform does not compromise existing freedoms or protecting the elderly and vulnerable in society from undue influence.
The Government will make further announcements in due course, once it has given the report the detailed consideration it deserves.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations she has received from disability and passenger rights organisations in Wiltshire on Great Western Railway’s proposed staffing reductions; and if she will publish a summary of those representations.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Great Western Railway (GWR) are not proposing any staffing reductions in Wiltshire and we have not had any representations from disability and passenger rights organisations on this subject. GWR have confirmed that they will not be bringing forward any changes to ticket office opening hours at the current time.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's timetable is for publishing (a) a full timeline and (b) funding pathway for achieving the target of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence; and what plans he has for infrastructure upgrades at bases in Wiltshire.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The pathway to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence was set out in the Spring Statement earlier this year and will be reflected in the outcome of the second phase of the Spending Review that is due to be finalised on 11 June 2025.
The Defence Housing Strategy, planned for publication later this year, will set out a roadmap to deliver a generational renewal of military accommodation. The main objective is to raise the minimum standard of Armed Forces housing across the MOD estate, including military housing in Wiltshire.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance with (a) licence conditions and (b) restraining orders for early-released offenders in Wiltshire; and what steps she takes to respond to breaches.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Eligibility under SDS40 is determined by law and we exempted a number of offences from the measure. Unlike the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, we excluded certain offences connected to domestic abuse. SDS40 offence exclusions include specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. Our exclusions send a very clear message about how seriously domestic abuse is taken by this Government, which was elected on a landmark pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. Tackling domestic abuse is a core part of this mission.
However, there is no one offence for domestic abuse, meaning it was not possible to exempt all domestic abusers.
To safeguard victims and their families, SDS40 was introduced with an eight-week implementation period, clear offence-based exclusions, and extensive coordination across the Criminal Justice System. Offenders released under SDS40 are subject to strict licence conditions and close supervision by probation services. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody. We will also recruit a further 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 to ensure probation has the right resource to supervise high risk offenders and meet the growing demands of our justice system.
We have published SDS40 release data as part of the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of early release schemes on the safety of domestic abuse survivors in Wiltshire.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Eligibility under SDS40 is determined by law and we exempted a number of offences from the measure. Unlike the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, we excluded certain offences connected to domestic abuse. SDS40 offence exclusions include specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. Our exclusions send a very clear message about how seriously domestic abuse is taken by this Government, which was elected on a landmark pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. Tackling domestic abuse is a core part of this mission.
However, there is no one offence for domestic abuse, meaning it was not possible to exempt all domestic abusers.
To safeguard victims and their families, SDS40 was introduced with an eight-week implementation period, clear offence-based exclusions, and extensive coordination across the Criminal Justice System. Offenders released under SDS40 are subject to strict licence conditions and close supervision by probation services. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody. We will also recruit a further 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 to ensure probation has the right resource to supervise high risk offenders and meet the growing demands of our justice system.
We have published SDS40 release data as part of the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who (a) have been convicted of offences related to domestic abuse in Wiltshire and (b) may be eligible for early release; and what steps her Department is taking to safeguard (i) victims and (ii) victims' families when domestic abusers are released early.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Eligibility under SDS40 is determined by law and we exempted a number of offences from the measure. Unlike the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, we excluded certain offences connected to domestic abuse. SDS40 offence exclusions include specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. Our exclusions send a very clear message about how seriously domestic abuse is taken by this Government, which was elected on a landmark pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. Tackling domestic abuse is a core part of this mission.
However, there is no one offence for domestic abuse, meaning it was not possible to exempt all domestic abusers.
To safeguard victims and their families, SDS40 was introduced with an eight-week implementation period, clear offence-based exclusions, and extensive coordination across the Criminal Justice System. Offenders released under SDS40 are subject to strict licence conditions and close supervision by probation services. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody. We will also recruit a further 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 to ensure probation has the right resource to supervise high risk offenders and meet the growing demands of our justice system.
We have published SDS40 release data as part of the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria was used to assess the eligibility of schools for the Schools Rebuilding Progamme; and how many schools in Wilshire have been included since 2020. .
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools have been prioritised because they met one or more of the following criteria:
More information about how the department prioritised schools can be found in the published methodology notes, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The number of schools in Wiltshire that have been included in the School Rebuilding Programme is 3.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to use a proportion of the additional funding for defence to improve (a) accommodation and (b) facilities for (i) service personnel and (ii) their families in Wiltshire.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Housing Strategy, planned for publication later this year, will set out a roadmap to deliver a generational renewal of military accommodation. The main objective is to raise the minimum standard of Armed Forces housing across the Ministry of Defence estate, including military housing in Wiltshire.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has reviewed the performance of housing maintenance contracts for military service accommodation in Wiltshire.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation continues to drive for improved performance from the Future Defence Infrastructure Services Accommodation Industry Partners in all regions, including Wiltshire.
Performance is monitored on a monthly basis, including oversight at Chief Executive level, to hold Industry Partners to account.
The performance of housing maintenance contracts for Service Family Accommodation in Wiltshire has not been specifically reviewed since it is part of the contract covering the wider South West accommodation region.