Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to improve awareness of cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques amongst pupils in state a) primary and b) secondary schools in i) England and ii) Romford constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Romford to the answer of 28 November 2025 to Question 92868.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that military memorials are kept in good condition.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Responsibility for military memorials is split between several organisations, depending on the type and location of the memorial.
Across the globe, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains 23,000 war memorials and war cemeteries commemorating 1.7 million commonwealth casualties who died during the First and Second World Wars. During the Financial Year 2024-25, the Ministry of Defence contributed £56.3 million Grant in Aid funding to support this core commemoration to a high standard, sometimes in inhospitable locations.
Additionally, there are many military memorials, both within the UK and abroad, which have been established, and are owned by institutions such as local authorities, charities, churches, museums, schools, businesses and private individuals. The care and maintenance of such memorials are the sole responsibility of the owner.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to (a) remove the cap on the number of days courts can sit, (b) help ensure prisoners are transported to court on time, (c) hold discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service on the removal of cases from the backlog, (d) help support the recruitment of more public sector barristers and (e) help ensure that court buildings are fit for purpose.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a record and rising open caseload of nearly 80,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard and too many victims waiting years for justice.
In the Crown Court for this financial year (2025/26), we are funding 111,250 sitting days – the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous Government funded for the last financial year. The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2026-27, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament. We will provide Parliament with an update on the sitting day allocations in the usual way at the conclusion of the Concordat process.
Prisoners should be produced on time and we are committed to making improvements where we can. Prisoner transport delivery is regularly reviewed and a significant number of contract changes have been made already to adapt to the changing operational requirement. But even if every prison van ran like clockwork tomorrow, we would still be left with a backlog edging towards 100,000 cases. Prisoner transport delays are a symptom of a stretched system, not a cure for it.
There is no quick fix to the criminal courts crisis, and no single lever that can be pulled. It is vital that all system partners work together to deliver swifter justice for victims. We continue to talk to system partners, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), to consider options, including those in Sir Brian Leveson’s Part I report on criminal court reform. In June 2025, the Chancellor announced a landmark increase of £96 million (RDELex) in additional funding for the CPS over the spending review period 2026-2029. This will help CPS protect victims by tackling the backlog, speeding up justice, and delivering a justice system that services victims.
We are investing up to an additional £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We are also taking forward Sir Brian’s recommendation to match-fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages, with a particular focus on opening a career at the criminal Bar to even more young people from across society.
This Government has also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing £148.5 million in court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous Government funded last financial year.
But investment alone is not enough – that is why this Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister responded to the first part of that review and set out why structural court reform is necessary, alongside investment and modernisation.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of legal aid they envisage being made available for each individual bereaved person and family at inquests in England and Wales for (1) legal help, and (2) advocacy, under the provisions of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will provide non-means tested legal aid to bereaved family members at any inquests where a public authority is named as an interested person.
Under the Bill, an “individual” is defined as being a member of another individual’s family if they are relatives (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership), they are cohabitants (as defined in Part 4 25 of the Family Law Act 1996), or one has parental responsibility for the other.
Legal aid consists of legal help and advocacy.
a. Legal help covers advice, assistance and preparation for an inquest but not advocacy at the hearing. Under the Bill’s expansion, multiple bereaved family members will be able to receive non-means tested legal help services where a public authority is named as an interested person.
b. Advocacy covers the instruction of an advocate (usually a barrister) to prepare for and attend the inquest hearing(s) to make submissions. The Bill limits advocacy funding to one member of each family – in practice, this level of service will be granted to the first family member to apply. We believe that one legally aided advocate should in most cases be sufficient to support each family through the inquest hearing and that it is reasonable to ask members of the same family to collaborate in the instruction of a single advocate.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions her officials have had with counterparts in the Scottish Government on the (a) alignment between and (b) potential impact of ODA programmes funded by both Governments in Malawi.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary was grateful for the First Minister's letter and will respond to the issues raised in due course.
Our focus in Malawi remains on supporting resilience to climate and environment shocks, strengthening health systems and education outcomes, and supporting economic growth and improved governance.
We are committed to a modern development partnership with Malawi, using UK expertise to support Malawians with their own reforms. Detailed decisions are currently being worked through on how our aid budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and we plan to publish indicative allocations in the coming months.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria she plans to use to determine whether her Department should continue to provide ODA funding for programmes in Malawi.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary was grateful for the First Minister's letter and will respond to the issues raised in due course.
Our focus in Malawi remains on supporting resilience to climate and environment shocks, strengthening health systems and education outcomes, and supporting economic growth and improved governance.
We are committed to a modern development partnership with Malawi, using UK expertise to support Malawians with their own reforms. Detailed decisions are currently being worked through on how our aid budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and we plan to publish indicative allocations in the coming months.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will publish a response to the letter addressed to her published by the First Minister of Scotland on 14 December 2025.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary was grateful for the First Minister's letter and will respond to the issues raised in due course.
Our focus in Malawi remains on supporting resilience to climate and environment shocks, strengthening health systems and education outcomes, and supporting economic growth and improved governance.
We are committed to a modern development partnership with Malawi, using UK expertise to support Malawians with their own reforms. Detailed decisions are currently being worked through on how our aid budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and we plan to publish indicative allocations in the coming months.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what her timetable is for making a decision on the future of ODA funding for programmes in Malawi.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary was grateful for the First Minister's letter and will respond to the issues raised in due course.
Our focus in Malawi remains on supporting resilience to climate and environment shocks, strengthening health systems and education outcomes, and supporting economic growth and improved governance.
We are committed to a modern development partnership with Malawi, using UK expertise to support Malawians with their own reforms. Detailed decisions are currently being worked through on how our aid budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and we plan to publish indicative allocations in the coming months.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's ODA programmes in Malawi on helping that country make progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary was grateful for the First Minister's letter and will respond to the issues raised in due course.
Our focus in Malawi remains on supporting resilience to climate and environment shocks, strengthening health systems and education outcomes, and supporting economic growth and improved governance.
We are committed to a modern development partnership with Malawi, using UK expertise to support Malawians with their own reforms. Detailed decisions are currently being worked through on how our aid budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and we plan to publish indicative allocations in the coming months.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the government has plans to offer basic first aid training in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton to the answer of 28 November to Question 92868.