Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty on fire and rescue services in England to respond to major flooding events.

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

Defra is the Lead Government Department for Flooding and are responsible for response and prevention of flooding.

Fire & Rescue Services, with continued support from the Home Office, remain ready to respond to flooding. The Home Office supports FRAs in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capability comprising 45 HVPs. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents.

Fire and Rescue Authorities have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. Fire Rescue Authorities also have discretionary powers to respond to incidents under their general powers in the Fire and Rescue Services Act (2004) and in response to the risks set out in their Community Risk Management Plans prepared under the National Framework.

The Home Office is undertaking further work alongside Defra, National Fire Chiefs Council and other relevant stakeholders to understand in more detail if there are gaps in the Fire and Rescue Services flooding response and resilience system.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the capacity of fire and rescue services in England to respond to flooding.

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

Defra is the Lead Government Department for Flooding and are responsible for response and prevention of flooding.

Fire & Rescue Services, with continued support from the Home Office, remain ready to respond to flooding. The Home Office supports FRAs in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capability comprising 45 HVPs. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents.

Fire and Rescue Authorities have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. Fire Rescue Authorities also have discretionary powers to respond to incidents under their general powers in the Fire and Rescue Services Act (2004) and in response to the risks set out in their Community Risk Management Plans prepared under the National Framework.

The Home Office is undertaking further work alongside Defra, National Fire Chiefs Council and other relevant stakeholders to understand in more detail if there are gaps in the Fire and Rescue Services flooding response and resilience system.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the performance of Transport for Wales trains from Aberystwyth to Birmingham International via Telford in both directions; and what steps she plans to take to help improve performance.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Contracting of Transport for Wales services is devolved to the Welsh Government. Performance information from across the rail network in Great Britain is published by the Office for Road and Rail (https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/); further details are available on operators' websites.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what outstanding money was owed by defendants in (a) court fines, (b) prosecution costs, and (c) victim related costs at Telford Magistrates for each year data is available.

Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Although HMCTS holds data on the total amount of impositions outstanding at an enforcement accounting division level, we do not report on it at an individual court level. To access the court level detail, each account in that division’s database would need to be interrogated to find the cases heard at Telford Magistrates and then the outstanding balances extracted, collated and totalled and this would therefore result in disproportionate cost.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on improving flood resilience and response in England.

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

In just five months in Government, we have introduced a series of measures to better protect communities from flooding including:

• Invest £2.4 billion over the next two years to maintain, repair and build flood defences to protect communities across the country.
• Set up a new Floods Resilience Taskforce bringing together representatives from central and local government, Local Resilience Forums, emergency responders and the National Farmers Union, among others, to discuss how they will speed up and co-ordinate flooding preparation and resilience.
• Consultation to review the existing funding formula, ensuring the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately considered.
• Invested £50 million to Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) to better enable them to manage water levels for agriculture and environmental needs.
• Supporting farmers impacted by flooding through a £60 million Farming Recovery Fund, which provides grants of up to £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was in before storm damage.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court clerks have worked at Telford Magistrates Court for each year that data is available.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HMCTS employs Legal Advisors, rather than clerks, to support magistrates in court and therefore this response is based on the number of Legal Advisors routinely based at Telford Magistrates Court from 2018 to 2024. On the occasions that the Crown Court is listed to sit at the court, a Crown Court clerk will also work there.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data her Department holds on the number of (a) criminal legal aid firms and (b) duty solicitors contracted to provide legal aid in (i) Shropshire and (ii) Telford constituency for each year data is available.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales.

The commissioning and monitoring of criminal legal aid services are undertaken at a national level.

Information about the number of legal aid providers contracted to provide services are published as part of the LAA’s statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8]. These statistics are used by the LAA as management information to monitor the supply of legal aid services over time, in different areas of law and different regions of England Wales.

The duty schemes serving the Shropshire and Telford constituency are the Shrewsbury and Telford schemes. There are currently 13 duty solicitors (members) in the Shrewsbury scheme, 8 duty solicitors in the Telford scheme and a total of 7 criminal legal providers across Shropshire.

The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate provision of criminal legal aid services in Telford and Shropshire, including under the relevant duty solicitor schemes operating in the area.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a permanent Access to Elected Office fund for disabled election candidates.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office.

The Government has been clear that it will champion disabled people's rights, and work closely with them so that disabled people's voices and views are at the heart of all we do.

We know that some disabled people still face additional financial barriers when standing for elected office. We are looking at how we might work with political parties and others to help tackle this.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will include a degradation factor for new builds that applies to loft insulation over time in her Department's proposed Future Homes Standard.

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

The Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024; a government response has not yet been issued.

Government fully supports the need for low carbon homes and buildings, fit for a net zero future. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation, including those on loft insulation, and will publish the Government response in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to roll out loft insulation protection through the Warm Homes Plan.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is committed to protecting homeowners across the UK who have clean heating and energy efficiency products installed. The Government’s Warm Homes Plan will support investment in insulation, low carbon heating and other home improvements to cut bills. We will set out full details in due course.

As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1 billion of this allocated to next year.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what records his Department holds on whether the Protectorate Treaty ceding Akwamu to the Gold Coast Colony, signed on 27 July 1886, was ratified.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

According to our records, the sole treaty signed on this date was the Arrangement between Great Britain and Germany, supplementary to the Arrangement of April-June 1885, relative to the respective Spheres of Action of the two Countries in the Gulf of Guinea, signed at London on 27 July 1886 and 2 August 1886. It is described as having entered into force immediately, which is the later of the dates above, and ratification was not required.