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.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to review the level of the Video Games Expenditure Credit for projects with a budget of £10m or less.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the UK’s video games sector and the key role it plays in driving economic growth. As part of our modern Industrial Strategy, we are developing a creative industries sector plan with business, local leaders, and sector experts.
The Government supports the video games sector through the tax system and through funding. Video games companies already benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC), which provides a generous tax credit of 34 per cent on UK video games development costs.
In addition, companies may benefit from the £5.5 million UK Games Fund for 2025/26, which helps high-potential start-ups scale-up.
When considering new tax reliefs, the Government has to balance a wide range of factors, including the fiscal position and complexity of the tax system.
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 steps his Department is taking to support (a) the (i) Medway Community Healthcare and (ii) other NHS providers, (b) healthcare social enterprises and (c) community interest companies with cyber-resilience.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Last year, we provided technical support to Medway Community Healthcare to help the organisation respond to and recover from a cyber incident. In the past year we have invested £37.6 million across health and social care, building on the £338 million invested since 2017. Through our ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme, we are tackling the changing cyber risk head-on, expanding protection and services to better protect the health and care system.
The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) online self-assessment tool allows organisations to measure their performance against national expectations. Guidance and regular webinars are available via the DSPT website. Further guidance and cyber alerts are published on the NHS England cyber and data security website and via the National Cyber Security Centre. Organisations can report urgent cyber security issues to the National Health Service data security helpline, which is available 24/7. We are currently reviewing our national policy on cyber security for social enterprises and community interest companies.
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, if he will make an estimate of the number of people on NHS waiting lists in (a) Chatham and Aylesford, (b) Gillingham and Rainham, (c) Rochester and Strood and (d) Sittingbourne and Sheppey constituency in (i) August 2024 and (ii) March 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data at the requested granularity. Tackling waiting lists remains a top priority for the Government. We are working to cut National Health Service waiting lists and to ensure people have the best possible experience during their care. As a first step, we have exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over three million more appointments. We have seen a reduction in the national list of over 219,000 since July 2024.