Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 36916 on British Overseas Territories: Companies, what discussions he has had with the British Virgin Islands government on the reasons why it did not implement a register of beneficial ownership by the end of June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) committed to implement a register of beneficial ownership accessible to those with a legitimate interest offering the maximum possible degree of access and transparency, whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with its constitution, by June 2025.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials have been in regular contact with the BVI to press for improvements to its register and to ensure that it meets its JMC commitment. The BVI published an updated policy on its register on 23 June. In my discussions with Premier Wheatley, I will continue to make clear the importance of further improvements in the BVI's proposal, as well as timely delivery of the register. My Written Ministerial Statement of 3 July provides further details of the next steps.
I have raised this issue on a number of occasions recently with the Premier both bilaterally and in the context of wider meetings with OT leaders. I look forward to meeting him again in person soon to raise this and other matters. Our expectations remain the same.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her polices of trends in levels of theft of Royal Mail post boxes; and whether she has had recent discussions with Royal Mail on those trends.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the year ending June 2024, there were 6,290 ‘Theft of mail’ offences recorded by the police across England and Wales, a 26% decrease compared with the previous year.
Theft, including the theft of post boxes is a serious issue. This Government recognises the distress and disruption that theft and vandalism can cause, not only to businesses, but also to local communities and critical infrastructure.
That is why we are putting 13,000 additional police officers and personnel into neighbourhood policing roles. This will ensure that everyone has a named, contactable officer, responsive to local problems including the theft of Royal Mail post boxes.
The 2025-26 final Police Funding Settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared with the 2024-25 settlement and includes an additional £200 million to kickstart the first phase of the additional neighbourhood policing roles.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of removing funding for the development of neighbourhood plans on parish councils.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the Spending Review we’ve looked at all the services and programmes the government supports to identify those that should now be in a position to support themselves without ongoing funding. After more than a decade of taxpayer support, we believe that support for neighbourhood planning groups should be possible without further government funding. Parish and Town Councils have access to their own resources which they can choose to use for neighbourhood planning if they wish. With the end to the national structure for support, planning consultants should be able to innovate and offer groups lower cost support more targeted at their particular ambitions and needs.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support the establishment of a dental school at the University of East Anglia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the minimum income requirements for spousal visas on pensioners who are unable to increase their income.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules. Once published, we will consider their report and decide on any policy changes, consistent with the objectives of the Government’s Immigration White Paper.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing penalties to local government for delays in implementing food waste collections due to (a) market congestion for vehicles and (b) other external factors.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working closely with local authorities and other key stakeholders across the waste sector to support implementation of food waste collections under Simpler Recycling in England. We are aware of concerns about delivery timelines, pressure on supply chains for vehicles and containers, and the need to upgrade waste and recycling infrastructure. Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) on interventions to address bottlenecks in supply chains, including recently published guidance by WRAP to support local authorities procuring food waste services: Weekly food waste implementation supplementary procurement guidance | WRAP.
Public authorities (such as waste collection authorities) are expected to comply with their statutory duties. If they do not comply, they are at risk of judicial review. Local authorities are independent bodies and are accountable to their electorate rather than to Ministers or Government departments.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of postbox theft; and what steps her Department is taking to tackle it.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the year ending December 2024, there were 7,998 ‘Theft of mail’ offences recorded by the police across England and Wales, a 24% increase compared with the previous year.
The Government recognises the profound impact theft can have on individuals and wider communities. Key to tackling all types of theft is having more police on the streets. That is why we are putting 13,000 additional police officers and personnel into neighbourhood policing roles. This will ensure that everyone has a named, contactable officer, responsive to local problems.
The 2025-26 final Police Funding Settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared with the 2024-25 settlement and includes an additional £200 million to kickstart the first phase of the additional neighbourhood policing roles.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of rules on pension entitlements for survivors of police officers on levels of loneliness.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2015 police pension scheme is the scheme currently open to serving police officers. This scheme provides life-long survivor benefits for spouses, civil partners and unmarried partners, including those who remarry or cohabit after losing a spouse. These benefits were first introduced for all eligible police officers in the 2006 police pension scheme, which was superseded by the 2015 scheme.
For officers who joined policing prior to 2006, the 1987 police pension scheme provides a pension for the widow, widower or civil partner of a police officer who dies. In common with most other public service pension schemes of that time, these benefits cease to be payable where the widow, widower or civil partner remarries or cohabits with another partner.
From 1 April 2015, the 1987 police pension scheme was amended to allow widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers who have died as a result of an injury on duty to receive their survivor benefits for life regardless of remarriage, civil partnership or cohabitation.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will publish the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling rural crime, safeguarding rural areas through tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft and anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and action to prevent fly-tipping.
We recognise that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime. That is why we are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver the next iteration of a Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy, to ensure the government’s Safer Streets Mission benefits every community no matter where they live, including rural communities. This will be published in due course.
This joined up approach between government and policing will help ensure the weight of government is put behind tackling rural crimes such as the theft of high value farm equipment and livestock.
In addition, we are providing funding of £800,000 in the current financial year to the National Rural and National Wildlife Crime Units. This will ensure these specialist units continue to help police forces tackle rural and wildlife crime, including helping tackle organised theft and disrupting the activities of serious and organised crime groups.
Rural communities will also benefit from more local visible policing through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, helping to tackle crimes like anti-social behaviour and county lines which can have a devastating impact on rural life.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to help tackle the backlog in certificate of lawfulness appeals at the planning inspectorate.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate's Strategic Plan commits to removing all casework backlogs and meeting all Ministerial targets by 2027.
Casework including nationally significant infrastructure projects, local plan examinations, critical Secretary of State casework, appeals against refusal of planning permission and appeals against enforcement notices are currently being prioritised.
In addition, the Inspectorate has designed and developed a new digital Appeals Service currently in Beta phase. This new service improves the process for submitting appeals, including reducing the number of invalid appeals submitted. In turn, this reduces the number of validation checks required and is speeding up the time taken to validate appeals.
The new service has been expanded to cover all local planning authority areas.
The Planning Inspectorate is an Arm's Length Government Body with responsibility for allocation of resources, prioritisation and overall operational performance. The Inspectorate publishes updates on its performance on its website regularly.