Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions were held at the meeting in Caracas on 5 March 2026 with Harriet Thompson, Colin Dick and British natural resource companies.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Ministers in her Department have met with (a) BP and (b) Shell to discuss Venezuela since January 2026.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, who was present at the meeting on 24 January 2025 between Baroness Chapman and Shell PLC; and what their job titles were.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions were held at the meeting on 24 January 2025 between Baroness Chapman and Shell PLC.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to relax arms export controls to Argentina.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the government statement on this subject issued in December 2025, which said: "There are no specific talks with Argentina about the UK relaxing its arms export controls, but more broadly, we look forward to deepening our co-operation with Argentina across areas including trade, science and culture to deliver growth for the British people."
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has shared satellite data (a) imagery and (b) video gathered by the Tyche microsatellite with other countries since 2024.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
In the interests of operational security of the UK and international partners, we cannot comment on the sharing of data from UK Space Command’s TYCHE satellite with other countries since its launch in August 2024.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that sanctions are imposed as a last resort and after adequate warning.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Sanctions are only ever applied if a claimant has failed to undertake their agreed requirements without good reason. All requirements are set in discussion with the claimant and tailored to their capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable. Requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for every claimant.
Our work coaches regularly repeat key messages about the need for a claimant to meet their requirements and what the consequences of not meeting them are. If a claimant has known vulnerabilities, we take them into account and provide additional support where possible.
Before a referral is made, a pre-referral quality check is completed as an additional safeguarding measure to check for any claimant vulnerabilities and to review the appropriateness of the activity set.
If a referral is made, an independent DWP decision maker will further consider the claimant’s circumstances, whether the work-related requirement was appropriate, the external situation at the time of failure, and any evidence of good reason, before deciding whether a sanction is applicable.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consideration he has given to lowering the sanctions daily rate reduction rate to less than 100% of the Universal Credit standard allowance.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst a sanction typically results in a 100% reduction of the Universal Credit standard allowance rate for each day the sanction is in place (except for couples where this is halved), lower reduction rates apply in certain scenarios where it is reasonable due to the claimant’s circumstances, such as if they are aged 16 or 17. If a claimant is entitled to additional elements on top of their standard allowance such as for children or housing costs, they will continue to be paid.
To keep the conditionality and sanctions system clear, fair and effective in promoting positive behaviours, we keep our policies and procedures under continuous review.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of the Work and Pensions Committee's Get Britain Working, Reforming Jobcentres report, what steps he is taking to monitor the quality and consistency of sanctions pre-referral quality checks.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pre-referral Quality Check is completed by a Jobcentre Team Leader, deputy, or colleague with the relevant experience.
The Department has a variety of internal performance metrics in place to monitor the quality of our services. We regularly review referrals to ensure they are being delivered consistently and fairly.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance or oversight mechanisms are in place to ensure that police forces do not lose prosecutions due to the expiry of statutory time limits; and whether the Government plans to review safeguards relating to such time limits in cases involving threats of serious violence.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes official statistics on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and their investigative outcomes on a quarterly basis. This includes outcome type 17 “Prosecution time limit expired”, and the requested information can be accessed here:
Whilst some cases may exceed statutory time limits, we expect police forces to follow the Director’s Guidance on Charging (6th edition) and to apply consistent, robust case management practices. This includes ensuring investigations are developed into high quality case files and that decisions are diligently reviewed against evidential and disclosure standards, doing everything possible to avoid the loss of viable prosecutions.
When prosecutions fail due to shortcomings in police case management, victims retain formal avenues to seek reassurance and challenge decisions, such as the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR). This allows victims to request an independent reassessment of decisions not to charge or to discontinue proceedings. As part of this process, police undertake a review of the original decision, examining all available evidence and considering whether any further investigative steps or alternative outcomes are possible.
The VRR framework provides an important safeguard within the Criminal Justice System by ensuring that decisions are tested against appropriate evidential and public interest standards and that the rationale for those decisions is transparent and robust.
It is important to note however, that the VRR process cannot override decisions made where statutory time limits governing the prosecution of the offences apply. Summary only offences, must have a charge laid within six months of the offence date under section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980. Once this statutory time limit has expired, proceedings cannot lawfully be initiated; as a result the VRR route cannot reinstate any proceedings.
In cases involving either way or indictable offences, where no statutory time limit applies, a successful VRR can lead to the reinstatement of proceedings if the review finds that the original decision was not sound.