Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) number and (b) size of (i) national parks and (ii) national park cities.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Natural England is the statutory authority responsible for designating National Parks and National Landscapes/Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) in England.

Natural England have undertaken early exploratory work to consider possible approaches to the designation of a new National Park in England. They currently do not have a timeline for progressing this work which is subject to on-going discussions and are not considering any additional landscape designation cases at the current time.

Natural England is not responsible for National Park Cities. The National Park City Foundation (a registered charity) is the steward of the global movement supporting cities all around the world in their aspiration of becoming National Park Cities. The Foundation has provided guidance for prospective National Park Cities including how to register local campaigns and submit applications. The Foundation states that they are on course for at least twenty five global National Park Cities by 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to empower (a) individuals, (b) grassroots organisations and (c) local authorities to increase (i) green spaces and (ii) biodiversity in their communities.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is committed to creating better access to parks and green spaces for everyone.

The MHCLG-owned Green Flag Award scheme sets the national standard for parks and green spaces that are welcoming, safe, well-maintained and promote biodiversity and community participation, promoting best practice across the sector.

Planning regulations including Local Green Space Designation and Biodiversity Net Gain bolster the creation and protection of green spaces.

Cross government initiatives to increase available natural space and make it more accessible includes Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework and Defra's Access for All and Farming in Protected Landscapes programmes.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies, 48 locally led strategies covering all England, set priorities and map proposals for key actions to drive nature recovery and environmental improvement.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to increase green spaces in urban communities.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is committed to creating better access to parks and green spaces for everyone.

The MHCLG-owned Green Flag Award scheme sets the national standard for parks and green spaces that are welcoming, safe, well-maintained and promote biodiversity and community participation, promoting best practice across the sector.

Planning regulations including Local Green Space Designation and Biodiversity Net Gain bolster the creation and protection of green spaces.

Cross government initiatives to increase available natural space and make it more accessible includes Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework and Defra's Access for All and Farming in Protected Landscapes programmes.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies, 48 locally led strategies covering all England, set priorities and map proposals for key actions to drive nature recovery and environmental improvement.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the sustainability of local journalism including (a) magazines and (b) print media (i) nationally and (ii) in Southampton Test constituency.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Sustainability of local journalism is an area of particular concern for this Government, across the country and in Southampton Test. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.

We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops and will announce further details in due course.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage local magazine publishing in Southampton Test constituency.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government’s Industrial Strategy will support the growth of the creative industries, including publishing which contributes £11.6 billion to the economy and supports 127,000 jobs.

In Southampton, Arts Council England (ACE) supports local writers through Artful Scribe, a not-for-profit development agency. ACE has committed over £184,000 to Artful Scribe through to 2027, including those interested in magazine publishing.

Nationally, ACE invests in poetry magazines such as Poetry London (£50,000 annually) and Wasafiri (£60,506 annually), both National Portfolio Organisations. ACE support also extends to writing development agencies like New Writing South (Brighton, £126,477 annually) and Literature Works (Plymouth, £98,333 annually), which offer guidance to writers seeking opportunities in local magazine publishing.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle retail crime in (a) Southampton and (b) nationally; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional powers to the police for this purpose.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft is at a record high, police recorded crime for shoplifting in Southampton Community Partnership area saw an increase of (43%) in the latest year and a higher increase than in England and Wales as a whole (29%).

This Government is taking strong action to tackle this problem by ending the effective immunity, introduced by the previous Government, granted to shop theft of goods under £200. We will also introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

As announced in the Autumn Budget, and building on current Home Office funding, we will provide:

£5 million over three years to continue to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the National Policing Intelligence Unit for serious organised acquisitive crime, to crack down on organised gangs targeting retailers;

£2 million over three years to the National Business Crime Centre, a resource for police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime; and

£100k in 2025-26 for the National Police Chiefs' Council for further training on prevention tactics.

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 his Brazilian counterpart on the (a) protection of the Amazon rainforest and (b) restoration of rainforest habitats destroyed by wildfires.

Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK government is boosting its relationships with Brazilian ministers to prioritise the protection of the Amazon. The Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero regularly underline our shared climate ambitions, including protection of the Amazon rainforest, with their counterparts in calls and meetings. The UK also supports a variety of programmes aimed at preventing deforestation and restoring rainforests destroyed by wildfires. In Ecuador and Peru, we are contributing up to £12.3 million through the Andes-Amazon Biodiverse Landscape Fund and in Brazil, through the Amazon Fund (£80 million contributed, £35 million committed).