Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that (a) Airbnb and (b) other UK- (i) based and (ii) operating companies do not operate in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's clear position on illegal Israeli settlements is set out on the Overseas Business Risk website. We advise British businesses to bear in mind the British Government's view on the illegality of settlements under international law when considering their investments and activities in the region.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment with the Medway NHS Foundation Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) June 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Referral to Treatment data published by NHS England shows that the waiting list at the Medway NHS Foundation Trust was 43,722 at the end of July 2024.
Official statistics have not yet been released for June 2025, though the latest published data shows the waiting list was 40,087 at the end of May 2025. This marks a reduction of 3,635 in the waiting list from July 2024.
Provisional management information published by NHS England estimates the waiting list to be 39,980 in the week ending 29 June 2025.
Official statistics containing data for June will be published on 14 August.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) June 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Referral to Treatment data published by NHS England shows that the waiting list at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust was 45,074 at the end of July 2024.
Official statistics have not yet been released for June 2025, though the latest published data shows the waiting list was 46,988 at the end of May 2025. This marks an increase of 1,914 from July 2024.
Provisional management information published by NHS England estimates the waiting list to be 48,944 in the week ending 29 June 2025.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has held recent discussions with his international counterparts on facilitating safe passage for Palestinians in Gaza with family in the UK.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Border crossings out of Gaza have been closed to civilians and general traffic since the Israeli military took control of the Rafah crossing on 6 May 2024. We are working with authorities in the region to help British nationals leave Gaza. We are also able to try to help Palestinian nationals to leave where they have a spouse or partner, or a child aged 17 or under currently living in the UK, and they hold valid permission to enter or remain in the UK for longer than 6 months.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 updating the registration of Sex Offenders under the Sexual Offenders Act 2003 to include a private police record of (a) email address, (b) telephone numbers, (c) (i) registration and (ii) monitoring of any tablet and computer devices and (d) other information.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Crime and Policing Bill has already introduced a number of measures which will strengthen the management of sex offenders, including requiring registered sex offenders to provide notification in advance of changing their name and placing restrictions on certain offenders changing their name without seeking police authorisation.
In addition to the above measures, regulations will be made under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which expand the notifiable information that must be provided by registered sex offenders. The additional notifiable information will include:
The changes to the notifiable information will allow the police to monitor registered sex offenders more closely and protect the public from the risk of sexual harm. We will continue to keep this area under review as we formulate our long term strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timeline is for introducing legislation to prohibit the sale of sharp-pointed kitchen and utility knives for domestic use; and what steps she is taking to ensure that large online retailers comply with any such future restrictions.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s mission to halve knife crime over a decade will be delivered through tougher enforcement and stronger prevention, and we are actively considering a range of options to achieve those goals, further details of which will be set out in the normal way in due course.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) pricing structures imposed by large pub companies on tenant landlords and (b) restrictions on purchasing alcohol from independent breweries on the long term sustainability of community pubs.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government works with the Hospitality Sector Council to address challenges facing the sector, including community pubs. The Government’s £1.5 million Hospitality Support Scheme co-funds projects to help community pubs adapt to their communities’ changing needs. The Government is also conducting an exercise to understand potential market barriers for small brewers. Interested parties can contact beermarketreview@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
Tied tenant landlords of pub-owning businesses with 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales are protected by the Pubs Code which ensures they are treated fairly and lawfully and are no worse off than if not subject to any product or service tie. The third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator is underway and the call for inputs is open until 14 August 2025.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the economic contribution of Gatwick Airport to the South East.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As this is live planning application that is yet to be decided, unfortunately I cannot comment in detail at this time. The Secretary of State will assess all evidence provided to her, by the applicant, the Examining Authority, and any parties who chose to make written representations. This will include information on economic impacts. Once the decision is made, the decision letter will set out the full rationale.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 through Fisheries Management Plans to help ensure the requirement under Article 6.3 of the Fisheries Act 2020 to restore fish populations to sustainable levels is met.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fisheries Management Plans are evidence-based plans developed in accordance with the Fisheries Act 2020. They set out short, medium and long-term actions to restore or maintain fish stocks at sustainable levels and meet the requirements of Article 6.3.
To date, Defra has developed and published six FMPs which are available at www.gov.uk/government/collections/fisheries-management-plans#published-fmps which we are now beginning to implement. For example, last year we introduced legislation to better manage fly seine fishing in the English Channel, increased the minimum conservation reference sizes for brill, lemon sole, turbot and crawfish to protect the juveniles of these species.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to provide financial support for (a) marine gliders, (b) autonomous vehicles and (c) other autonomous robots in maritime water defence.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence continuously evaluates its capabilities, including potential enhancements to the Royal Navy's fleet.
All future capability plans for the Royal Navy will be part of the Strategic Defence Review.