Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take, if any, to introduce private finance to farming and nature recovery budgets.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra published the Land Use Framework in March this year. The Framework set out the steps Government will take to increase private demand for the environmental services that farmers and land managers provide and ensure that public payments can be combined with private payments as recommended by the Corry Review.
The Landscape Recovery (LR) scheme pilot phase will help Defra understand how much private finance projects are able to secure from private nature markets and what areas of projects that funding supports. Defra will apply that learning across LR and other schemes where appropriate.
Defra will publish the Farming Roadmap later this year. It will set out the role of private finance alongside public funding in supporting farms to profitably meet environmental outcomes and increase long term productivity.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve monitoring of the Marine Protected Area network.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Working with statutory nature conservation bodies, this Government is processing options to improve monitoring of the English Marine Protected Area (MPA) network including through use of modern technology. Defra secured increased funding in this year’s Spending Review to support expanded ecological surveys, non‑intrusive monitoring methods, and enhanced satellite‑based compliance monitoring. This will support enforcement and evidence to inform future management measures.
Defra and its arm’s‑length bodies are also investing, in innovative approaches such as automation, remote data collection and environmental DNA. This aims to support more cost‑effective and holistic assessment of environmental change and MPA effectiveness. Defra is jointly funding a pilot collaborative survey through the Centre for Seabed Mapping to generate high‑resolution data in priority MPAs, fill evidence gaps, and test scalable models for future UK marine monitoring and innovation.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2026 to question 118315 on USA: RAF Akrotiri, what is the scope of the permissions the US have been granted to use RAF Akrotiri.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
As the Defence Secretary previously stated, the UK has agreed to a US request for permission to use RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for specific defensive purposes to destroy Iranian missiles and launchers at source.
For operational security reasons, we do not offer comment on information relating to foreign nation’s military operations. Permissions to utilise UK military bases are considered on a case-by-case basis and the decision to grant permission is dependent on the nature and purpose of their activity.
Asked by: David Taylor (Labour - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of poor HGV facilities on the incidence of fuel theft from commercial vehicles; and what steps she is taking to protect UK hauliers and national supply chains.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fuel theft undermines businesses and their workers. We are equipping the police to fight the organised crime gangs which can drive this theft nationally. Our £5m investment into OPAL, (the police national intelligence unit who focus on serious organised acquisitive crime) will supercharge intelligence-led policing to expand its capability to tackle freight crime, identify offenders, and disrupt the tactics used to in addition to bringing more criminals to justice.
We recognise that fuel theft is often organised, mobile and cross-border in nature. Through police reform this Government will address these challenges, reforming the policing system to ensure crime that operates across force boundaries is met with a strong national and regional response.
Through the creation of a new National Police Service, policing will benefit from stronger national leadership, consistent standards and improved coordination to tackle serious and organised crime. This will strengthen the collective response where criminals operate across multiple police force areas.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how schools are encouraged to teach students about the long-term environmental impact of human activity.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommended an enhanced focus on climate education and sustainability, with detailed engagement and earlier sequencing in subjects such as geography, science, design and technology, and citizenship. The government has accepted these recommendations and is committed to improving climate education in the national curriculum.
Curriculum content is only part of the picture, and the method of teaching also has an important role to play through the use of climate and nature related resources.
The National Education Nature Park provides free, quality‑assured, curriculum‑aligned resources, filterable by key stage. By participating in the National Education Nature Park and developing robust climate action plans, schools can help children and young people see real-world connections to their studies.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of homicide incidents in each of the last 12 months which involved a suspect who had been a patient of an NHS mental health trust within the preceding six months.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicides and Homicides (NCISH) which has two functions in relation to homicides. First, it reports a count of homicides by people in the care of mental health services. Second, it does research into suicides and homicides, with the aim of helping to identify opportunities for improvements to clinical care in order to improve safety.
The ‘count’ of patient homicides by people under the care of mental health services, is not real-time, and there is a delay between the incident occurring and the incident being included in this national data. This is because an incident can only be confirmed as a mental health homicide when a judicial process has determined whether a homicide has been committed and by whom, as well as the nature of the crime.
In line with the national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, in addition to local provider led safety reviews, any reported homicides/suspected homicides involving mental health patients are shared for review by regional NHS England teams, to establish whether an independent investigation is also required. Those requiring independent investigation are commissioned by regional teams.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2026 to Question 119316 Strategic Migration Partnerships: Finance, what the nature of the sensitivity is.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office have Grant Agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in place with Strategic Migration Partnerships in 12 regions/nations in the UK. Strategic Migration Partnerships provide leadership and coordination on migration for Asylum and Resettlement. Each Strategic Migration Partnership is awarded funding to carry out delivery of the outcomes under Asylum and Resettlement workstreams set out in the Grant and MOU. Funding is allocated individually to each SMP, and the details of each funding allocation is not shared amongst SMPs other than the recipient due to the agreement being made between the Home Office and recipient and varies in allocation amount.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will reinstate a route to settlement by allowing time spent under the Ukraine Schemes to count towards the 10‑year settlement pathway.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As the conflict in Ukraine continues, the Government recognises the impact that uncertainty can have on Ukrainian individuals and families who have built their lives in the UK, including pressures relating to housing, employment and education. The Government has therefore taken concrete steps to provide greater certainty and stability, including extending the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme and widening the application window to support effective forward planning.
From the outset, the Government has been clear that the Ukraine schemes are temporary in nature and do not provide a route to settlement. Time spent in the UK under the Ukraine schemes does not count towards the Long Residence route. This reflects the Ukrainian Government’s wishes for His Majesty’s Government to offer temporary sanctuary, due to their strong desire for the eventual return of its citizens to Ukraine once it is safe to do so.
The Government recognises the importance of longer‑term clarity and is actively considering the future position. In doing so, it is drawing on a wide range of evidence from across government, academia, civil society and stakeholder engagement. It will respond in a responsible and considered manner, and intends to make a further statement later this year to support Ukrainians in planning effectively for their futures.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will introduce a transition visa at the end of the Ukraine Permission Extension period.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As the conflict in Ukraine continues, the Government recognises the impact that uncertainty can have on Ukrainian individuals and families who have built their lives in the UK, including pressures relating to housing, employment and education. The Government has therefore taken concrete steps to provide greater certainty and stability, including extending the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme and widening the application window to support effective forward planning.
From the outset, the Government has been clear that the Ukraine schemes are temporary in nature and do not provide a route to settlement. Time spent in the UK under the Ukraine schemes does not count towards the Long Residence route. This reflects the Ukrainian Government’s wishes for His Majesty’s Government to offer temporary sanctuary, due to their strong desire for the eventual return of its citizens to Ukraine once it is safe to do so.
The Government recognises the importance of longer‑term clarity and is actively considering the future position. In doing so, it is drawing on a wide range of evidence from across government, academia, civil society and stakeholder engagement. It will respond in a responsible and considered manner, and intends to make a further statement later this year to support Ukrainians in planning effectively for their futures.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms her Department has developed for the reporting and monitoring of transnational repression.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that individuals who believe they may be victims of transnational repression have access to clear, trusted and effective mechanisms for reporting concerns and receiving support. The Defending Democracy Taskforce’s Review considered, in consultation with Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), how best to encourage reporting and ensure reports are treated seriously and dealt with appropriately.
CTP’s assessment, developed in conjunction with the Government, is that the existing 999 and 101 services are the most widely known and accessible routes for contacting the police. These allow call handlers to assess reports and provide the most appropriate response, including immediate action where required, and to refer cases to specialist teams depending on the nature of the activity, including potential state threats.
The Government will continue to work closely with policing to strengthen awareness, confidence and capability in responding to transnational repression, while ensuring the approach remains proportionate, effective and focused on protecting those most at risk.