Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds data on the number and proportion of people convicted of terror offences who previously had free school meal eligibility.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Home Office does not collect or hold data on individuals convicted of terrorism-related offences who previously had free school meal eligibility. The Home Office collects and publishes official statistics on the individuals convicted of terrorism-related offences in the UK in the quarterly statistical release titled Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation which is published on GOV.UK: Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 statistics - GOV.UK.

This includes detailed quarterly and annual data tables for Great Britain, covering a range of individual and offence-related characteristics, such as age and the principal offence those individuals are convicted under terrorism legislation. The latest statistical release is available for the year ending June 2025: Operation of police powers under TACT 2000, to June 2025 - GOV.UK.

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 improve access to heritage sites for young people.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

One of the Secretary of State’s three priorities is richer lives with choices and opportunities for all.

DCMS funds Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme which has facilitated almost 3 million pupils from areas of low social mobility to discover their local heritage since its launch in 2012, with 99% of teachers involved in the scheme agreeing that local heritage boosts students’ pride and sense of place. Historic England also partnered with the Youth United Foundation in 2022, which has increased access to heritage outside of formal education settings.

Since 2001, the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has awarded £23million of funding towards supporting young people’s access and engagement with heritage. Between 2017-2023, the NLHF ran a £10 million Kick the Dust Programme awarding 12 large-scale projects across the UK to transform how heritage organisations engage young people by making heritage relevant, inclusive, and youth-led. The legacy of this work with Children and Young people has transferred into their 2023-2026 strategy and delivery plan, which contains a commitment in the investment plan to “decide on approaches to support projects to engage children and young people in heritage and provide routes into skills development”.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) quality and (b) availability of cancer services for patients in Telford.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Cancer services are provided from the Lingen Davies Centre at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, which comprises of an outpatient area, a chemotherapy day centre and radiotherapy facilities.

Linear accelerators at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, deliver around 1600 radiotherapy treatments, alongside 1700 systemic anti-cancer therapy (chemotherapy) treatments, each month for the population of Shropshire, Telford and the Wrekin. NHS England also commission cancer surgery for patients in the integrated care board.

Many rare cancers have dedicated pathways in place to ensure all patients can access the services required. These pathways are all agreed with the West Midlands Cancer Alliance.

The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) allows cancer patients to give feedback on the care that they have received. This feedback is used to understand where care is working well and how National Health Service cancer services across England can be improved. Results from the survey are used by providers to improve the experience of cancer patients at a national, regional, and local level.

The CPES 2024 results for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, were published in July 2025 and are available at the following link:

https://www.ncpes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CPES-2024-Trust-The-Shrewsbury-and-Telford-Hospital-NHS-Trust-RXW.pdf

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the efficacy of the Government's efforts to reduce tax evasion.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC is committed to closing the tax gap further and tackling non-compliant behaviours such as tax evasion, tax avoidance, criminal attacks, error, failure to take reasonable care, hidden economy activity, legal interpretation issues, and non-payment.

In 2024 to 2025, HMRC’s compliance work contributed to record tax revenues of £875.9 billion, collecting and protecting £48 billion of tax that would have gone unpaid if HMRC hadn’t stepped in – up from £41.8 billion the previous year.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative data her Department holds on the proportion of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (a) who were previously eligible for free school meals and (b) overall.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department publishes statistics on those aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.

At the end of 2024, the proportion of the 16 to 24 population who were NEET was estimated to be 13.6%. Data is not available for those NEET who attended state schools nor who were previously eligible for free school meals, as this is not collected in the LFS.

Official statistics for 16 to 18 destination measures show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16 to 18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. The latest publication includes destinations in 2023/24 by characteristics breakdown, for those finishing 16 to 18 study in 2022/23. Data on those who were not recorded as continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination is available for state-funded mainstream schools and colleges, and by free school meals eligibility here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9e5bf7ed-27f0-49f3-b1bd-08de39895a0e.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in Telford constituency have applied for funding to provide a) free breakfast clubs and b) funded nurseries places in all rounds of applications up to and including 6 December 2025; and how many of those applications have been successful.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department launched the free breakfast club early adopter scheme in April 2025 to test and learn what works in delivering free breakfast clubs in 750 state-funded schools across England. Early adopter schools were selected to ensure a wide range of representation across different school types, sizes and geographical areas. In Telford, one school is taking part in the scheme. National rollout will begin in April 2026, and the first cohort of applications closed on 5 December. Successful applicants will be announced in due course.

High quality early years education is central to the department’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the School-based Nursery Programme. In phase 1 of the programme, one primary school in Telford applied and was awarded funding. Phase 2 closed on 11 December, with successful schools to be announced 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 her Department is taking to help protect UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK from potential environmental threats.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS provides support and advice to all World Heritage Sites across the UK and Overseas Territories that are grappling with environmental threats in our capacity as State Party of the World Heritage Convention.

DCMS works closely with environmental agencies across the UK, including the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, as well as Historic England as our expert advisers on World Heritage. We also consult with individual site managers and local authorities to monitor potential and known threats to our sites and to consider which issues require notification to, and assistance from, UNESCO.

In addition, DCMS funded the project ‘Climate Change & UNESCO Heritage’ which ran from February 2024 - October 2025 and was delivered by the UK National Commission for UNESCO. This project developed open-source tools that support UNESCO heritage sites to address climate challenges.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support the financial sustainability of police forces.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This Government is committed to ensuring that policing has the resources it needs. In December 2025, we published the provisional police funding settlement for 2026-27, which proposes funding of up to £18.3 billion for territorial police forces. This is an increase of up to £746 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement, equivalent to a 2.0% real terms increase.

More widely, the Home Office engages regularly with police forces, the NPCC, and APCC to discuss police finances and understand the pressures on police budgets.

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 and preserve UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

As State Party to the World Heritage Convention, DCMS has the primary responsibility for keeping UNESCO updated on the UK’s 35 World Heritage Sites, and responding to requests for information from UNESCO.

While heritage is a devolved policy area, DCMS works closely with cultural heritage and environmental agencies across the UK to provide support and advice regarding engagement with UNESCO. This includes engaging the World Heritage Centre; the World Heritage Committee and their Advisory Bodies; and ensures that both our cultural and natural (and mixed) sites retain their World Heritage status.

DCMS engages with site managers, steering groups and local authorities to provide advice, particularly where a site is under increased scrutiny from UNESCO. DCMS also advises sites on the UK’s Tentative List that have the potential to be inscribed as future World Heritage Sites to ensure the right protection and management arrangements are in place from the start.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to reduce fly-tipping and strengthen the power of local authorities to prevent fly-tipping.

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

We encourage local councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution action.

We are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to more consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.  We are also conducting a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool.

In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

In the meantime, Defra continues to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities, National Farmers Union and the Environment Agency, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage: https://nftpg.com/

In addition, under our reforms, waste carriers, brokers, dealers will need to apply for a full environmental permit giving the regulator more powers and resources to ensure compliance, whilst making it easier for householders to identify legitimate waste services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative data her Department holds on the proportion of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (a) who attended state schools and (b) overall.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department publishes statistics on those aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.

At the end of 2024, the proportion of the 16 to 24 population who were NEET was estimated to be 13.6%. Data is not available for those NEET who attended state schools nor who were previously eligible for free school meals, as this is not collected in the LFS.

Official statistics for 16 to 18 destination measures show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16 to 18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. The latest publication includes destinations in 2023/24 by characteristics breakdown, for those finishing 16 to 18 study in 2022/23. Data on those who were not recorded as continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination is available for state-funded mainstream schools and colleges, and by free school meals eligibility here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9e5bf7ed-27f0-49f3-b1bd-08de39895a0e.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to use AI and digital technology to improve the efficacy of job and employment services.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are adopting AI in DWP to help colleagues deliver better outcomes for customers and to improve productivity and efficiency.

We will develop the Jobs and Careers Service to better support jobseekers and employers. As part of the design of the service, we will explore and test the most appropriate use of technology (including AI) to support job seekers with their work search.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the use of artificial intelligence to improve and streamline public services.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

AI is at the heart of the government’s plan to transform how we deliver public services. As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Blueprint for a Modern Digital Government, both published January 2025, the UK government has a vision to support the UK’s leading position in the global AI sector through a safe, effective, efficient and ethical adoption of AI in the UK’s public sector.

DSIT has conducted some analysis of the early impact of AI in the public sector. A cross-government pilot of 20,000 civil servants found tools like Microsoft Copilot save an average of 26 minutes per person per day while a trial of AI coding assistants found that public sector engineers reported 56 minutes saved per day.

A number of trials across departments demonstrate the breadth of efficiency gains AI can deliver. Early trials of Incubator for AI’s Consult have showed a significant reduction in processing time for government consultations, while their Extract tool cuts the time needed to convert old planning documents into digital data from 1–2 hours to 40 seconds. Other efficiency gains include NHS Ambient Voice, which enables doctors to spend almost 25% more time directly interacting with patients.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on integrating artificial intelligence into public services.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology regularly engages with Cabinet colleagues on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into public services. AI is at the heart of the government’s plan to transform how we deliver public services, improving outcomes for citizens and public sector workers through responsible adoption.

This work is guided by the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Blueprint for a Modern Digital Government, which set out a vision for safe, effective and ethical use of AI across government. Departments are supported through resources such as the AI Knowledge Hub and a cross-government AI Community of Practice, which share best practice and practical guidance.

We are following a “scan, pilot and scale” approach to embedding AI, including through the Prime Minister’s AI Exemplars and the AI Frontiers Portfolios. These initiatives are testing high-potential use cases – from AI diagnostics in healthcare to tools that streamline planning applications and probation casework – and sharing lessons learned to accelerate adoption.

AI also plays a central role in delivering the Cabinet Office-led productive and agile state agenda. This means reducing bureaucracy and duplication, streamlining approval processes and improving accountability for Civil Service performance. By automating routine tasks and enabling smarter workflows, AI helps free up staff time for citizen-facing work and supports faster, more efficient decision-making. Our collaboration with the Cabinet Office ensures that AI adoption aligns with this vision and accelerates progress towards a modern digital government.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of his Department's progress on increasing the processing capacity of the court system.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Government has made significant progress in increasing the processing capacity of the courts and tribunals system and remains committed to reducing backlog.

In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days - the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous Government funded for the last financial year.

In the Family Courts, reforms are already delivering results. Courts operating under the private law Pathfinder model are achieving some of the lowest case durations nationally, in South East Wales, for example, average duration fell from 37 weeks to 12 weeks on average. In addition, the Department for Education invested £10 million in 2024/25 to fund pilots aimed at reducing delays in family proceedings, with evaluation due to conclude in 2026.

Across the tribunals system, we are taking a comprehensive approach to improve productivity. Sitting day capacity has been set at or close to the maximum deliverable level. We are also promoting early dispute resolution to reduce unnecessary demand, including judicial Alternative Dispute Resolution pilots in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26 and we will say more in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve educational outcomes for boys with free school meal eligibility.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

​Too many children are held back by their background. The Opportunity Mission will break the link between background and future success.

Schools receive the pupil premium grant, worth over £3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. Pupil premium eligibility includes pupils who have been recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) within the past six years.

​Our Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030. This includes the expansion of FSM which will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament and put £500 back in families’ pockets. Providing over half a million disadvantaged children with a free lunchtime meal will lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes.

Additionally, we are driving standards in every school through regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, a refreshed high-quality curriculum and assessment system, and recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers.

However, we know that there is further work to do, which is why, through our schools white paper, we will build a school system that drives educational excellence for every child, regardless of background or circumstance.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of her Department's progress on reducing unauthorised migration across the English Channel.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has taken significant steps to address illegal migration and its Plan for Change sets out our ambition to secure borders and control immigration. We are committed to tackling illegal migration and the criminal networks which facilitate it. Since July 2024, nearly 50,000 individuals without lawful status have been removed from the UK. Our agreement with France means that those arriving by small boats can be detained and returned to France.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 has now received Royal Assent and the overarching impact assessment for this can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-security-asylum-and-immigration-bill-2025-impact-assessment/border-security-asylum-and-immigration-bill-2025-impact-assessment-accessible#impact-assessment(opens in a new tab)

The Government is continuously monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of our measures in place to tackle small boats. As stated in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, the Border Security Command will be publishing an annual report, which must state the Commander’s views on the performance in the financial year of the border security system. This is set out in the Act here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/31/section/4/enacted(opens in a new tab)

Border security is fundamental to both our national security and economic security and evaluating our approach is a critical part of that.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential for AI and digital technology to reduce a) tax evasion and b) tax avoidance.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC is expanding its use of AI to help tackle the tax gap and The Hon gentleman’s Telford constituency is an important hub for HMRC’s digital and AI work. HMRC’s expansion includes how they focus their compliance work through new risk-targeting capabilities to identify cases for investigation, improving case selection. It also means using AI to identify nascent issues with the tax system, so they can act rapidly to prevent them before they grow.

This year, HMRC has also significantly invested in partnering with the private sector to explore the use of novel analytical techniques and data to identify deliberate evasion.

HMRC is harnessing artificial intelligence to deliver a more efficient and professional service for customers. They will use new technology as a tool to help them to do their jobs more effectively. Greater use of AI will mean that staff spend less time on admin and more time helping taxpayers. It will also help HMRC better target their action against fraud and evasion, to bring in more money for public services.

Artificial intelligence supports some of their processes but never replaces human decision-making and oversight. HMRC remains committed to the safe use of these technologies, underpinned by strict data protection, security and ethical standards. In cases where AI is used in a way that could impact customer outcomes, HMRC ensures that results are explainable and that there is always human oversight. This means that even when AI is used to support decision-making, final decisions are always made by experienced, trained case workers.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of his Department's progress towards its target of increasing prison capacity.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

This Government inherited a prison system in collapse. We have taken decisive action to put prison capacity on a sustainable footing and end the cycle of repeated crises.

We have committed to the largest expansion of the estate since the Victorians, investing £7 billion in building prison places between 2024/25 and 2029/30. We are on track to deliver 14,000 new prison places by 2031 with c. 2,900 delivered already under this Government.

On top of this, we have introduced landmark sentencing reforms to end our prisons crisis – and deliver punishment that cuts crime. On 2 September we introduced the Sentencing Bill to take forward most of the recommendations made by David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review, as well as the measures that go further to manage offenders in the community. The House of Lords committee stage was concluded on 3 December.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the maximum penalty for dog fouling offences.

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

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour. These powers include Public Space Protection Orders which can be used to, among other things, require dog owners to pick up their dog's faeces.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Home Office are increasing the upper limit for a fixed penalty notice for breaches of a Public Spaces Protection Order from £100 to £500.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government's progress in meeting reforestation targets.

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

The Government is committed to meeting the Environment Act target to increase woodland cover to at least 16.5% of total land area in England by 2050. In the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 we have also set the interim target to increase England’s tree canopy and woodland cover by 0.33% of land area by December 2030 from the 2022 baseline of 14.9%, equivalent to a net increase of 43,000 hectares.

Tree planting in England is at the highest recorded rate in over 20 years, with over 7,100 hectares planted in 2024/25.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve rail connectivity in Shropshire.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

West Midlands Railway’s (WMR’s) modern Class 196 fleet entered service between Shrewsbury and Birmingham in 2022, increasing capacity, and improving reliability and customer experience. Transport for Wales (TfW) are introducing new Class 197 trains from 2026 on their route through Shropshire to Birmingham International.

The Department also worked with the West Midlands Rail Executive to restore the semi-fast WMR service between Shrewsbury and Birmingham New Street.