Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the findings of the Centre for Young Lives report on 'looksmaxxing'; and what steps she is taking to counter the progression of young men from body image forums into radicalised misogynistic networks.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is committed to addressing the challenges young men face online and the development of radicalised misogynistic networks. The Online Safety Act requires platforms to take responsibility for the safety of their users by tackling illegal content and protect children from harmful content including misogynistic content. The Government has built on the OSA and gone further in announcing its intention to restrict social media companies from providing services to under-16s.
The Government has also launched its "You Won't Know Until You Ask" campaign to help parents and carers support children in developing critical thinking skills online and resilience to misleading, polarising or harmful content.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to protect residential housing developments built adjacent to urban parks from grass fire threats.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has strengthened national planning policy to ensure that climate resilience, including wildfire risk, is considered when planning for new development.
The National Planning Policy Framework requires local planning authorities to take account of climate change adaptation, including wildfire risk where relevant, through the plan-making process. It also makes clear that development proposals should account for the current and expected impacts of climate change over their lifetime, including by minimising vulnerability to risks such as wildfires.
Through these planning reforms, the government is helping to ensure that new residential development, including where proposed in locations that may be vulnerable to wildfire hazards, is designed and located in a way that supports safer and more climate-resilient communities.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the final Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement will require applications for the necessary rail infrastructure to be submitted before, or alongside, an application for development consent for Heathrow expansion.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) does not require that applications for any new rail infrastructure must be submitted before, or alongside, an application for development consent for Heathrow expansion. Instead, any promoter seeking development consent would be required to demonstrate clearly the rail enhancements it proposes to deliver and a credible plan for their delivery as part of a wider, credible and deliverable surface access strategy for an expanded Heathrow. The consultation on the draft HENPS has now closed and the Government will review responses before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department provides to support grassroots sports programmes aimed at diverting young people away from antisocial behaviour and gang involvement.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department works closely with Sport England to target grassroots investment toward high-need areas, which includes areas experiencing elevated youth violence. Through the Community Sports Facilities Programme, which is investing £400 million of funding through to 2030, we are expanding peak evening and weekend capacity by funding floodlights and durable all-weather pitches that offer up to 80 hours of weekly use.
In addition, Sport England have partnered with StreetGames to produce a Theory of Change document focused on Sport, Youth Offending and Serious Youth Violence. The document sets out clearly how sport can reduce risk factors linked to youth offending while strengthening protective factors that keep young people safe. That theory underpinned the Ministry of Justice’s £5m Youth Justice Sport Fund, which now informs more than a dozen place-based partnerships with Active Partnerships, Police and Crime Commissioners and Violence Reduction Units.
The Department also funds the Million Hours Fund, in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund, which provides youth organisations with funding to deliver additional hours of positive activities for young people in areas with higher levels of anti-social behaviour. The latest phase of the Fund, which runs until March 2027, awarded £18 million to 292 organisations, including grassroot sports programmes.
DCMS is also funding the Young Futures Hubs and Transformation Programme to improve local youth services and establish a network of 50 Young Futures Hubs by March 2029. Each Young Futures Hub will meet three outcomes of increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her department is taking to increase localised preventive care and diagnostic capacity in parliamentary constituencies where UK Health Security Agency profile data indicates Type 2 diabetes prevalence exceeds 12 per cent, such as Leicester East.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme available to all integrated care boards (ICBs) in England. For eligible people with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes, NHS England commissions the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme, which is also available to all ICBs in England.
Together, these national programmes complement locally commissioned prevention, weight management and diabetes care services, helping to address the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes by preventing or delaying new cases.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of planning, executing and reviewing the recent Emergency Alert regarding wildfires by department, mobile network operator and third-party contractors.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The planning and activation of the Emergency Alert capability on 14 August was issued at no cost to the taxpayer.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of health risks to minors from online 'looksmaxxing' trends promoting DIY cosmetic procedures and extreme dietary measures.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the national consultation, Growing up in the Online World, the Government is banning social media companies from offering their services to children aged under 16 years old. We will take the same approach as Australia. This will capture user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction, including platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
The ban will reduce children’s exposure to all potentially harmful content which can be viewed via social media platforms, including online trends which promote harm to children.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether government departments are revising their own policies with reference to the model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees issued on 22 May 2026.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments are undertaking consultation with relevant stakeholders to revise their own policies.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information her Department holds on the number of people who were employed in the automotive manufacturing sector in each month since January 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady Parliamentary Question of 8th September is attached.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the failure-to-attend rate for practical car driving tests was in each month since May 2026.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The answer to question 16746, 13 July 2026, provides data on the failure to attend (FTA) rate for car practical driving tests in June 2026. In July 2026, the FTA rate was 2.8% and in August 2026 it was 2.9%.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency monitors failure-to-attend rates and consider potential causes of those rates changing, together with potential interventions to reduce such rates, on an ongoing basis.