Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce shop theft in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, up 20% on year up to December 2024. We will not stand for this.
We are providing £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the National Policing Intelligence Unit for serious organised acquisitive crime, to crack down on the organised gangs targeting retailers.
We are also investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.
Via the Crime and Policing Bill we will repeal the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, which means it can only be tried a magistrate’s court. This will send a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously. Also included in the Bill is a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
I chair the Retail Crime Forum which brings together the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement agencies to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration, share best practice and to work collectively to tackle the serious issue of retail crime. This includes the development of a new strategy to tackle shop theft published by policing, retail sector representatives and industry as part of collective efforts to combat shop theft.
The strategy builds on previous progress made by police and retailers but provides a more comprehensive and intelligence-led approach to tackle all perpetrators of shop theft – not just organised criminal gangs.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to provide safe walking routes for children to schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is for local authorities to decide on where to prioritise investment in their local transport networks. Surrey County Council is in the process of developing Local Cycling and Walking Investment Plans (LCWIPs) across the county, including one for Surrey Heath Borough. LCWIPs help local authorities to make a strong case for future investment in active travel infrastructure.
Active Travel England recently announced funding allocations to local authorities through the Consolidated Active Travel Fund. Surrey County Council’s has been awarded almost £4.4 million in revenue and capital funding to support the delivery of high-quality walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure as well as capability building measures and behaviour changes activities.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 help support people suffering with chronic urinary tract infections in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Appropriate treatment and support for people with chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) are dependent on receiving an accurate diagnosis. Diagnostic tests for chronic UTIs, such as urinalysis and urine culture, are widely available across all pathology networks in England, including Surrey. Ensuring accurate diagnostic testing not only aids more effective identification of infection but can also reduce unnecessary prescribing and overprescribing of broad-spectrum antimicrobials and directly benefit patients in Surrey Heath who will get the right treatment sooner.
General practitioners can request testing for chronic UTIs via several pathways, including at point-of-care, via community diagnostic centres, or via laboratories. Laboratories across England adhere to stringent quality standards for diagnostic tests, including the UK Accreditation Standard ISO 15189, and implement robust internal and external quality assurance schemes. Together, these measures ensure the accuracy and reliability of diagnostic testing.
Through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department is supporting work to understand the research gaps on UTIs that matter most to patients, carers and clinicians. This is through a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership (PSP), led by Antibiotic Research UK, Bladder Health UK and The Urology Foundation. This partnership will publish its findings in spring 2026. The aim of the Chronic and Recurrent UTI PSP is to identify the unanswered questions about chronic and recurrent UTIs from patient, carer and clinical perspectives and then prioritise those that patients, carers and clinicians agree are the most important for research to address.
NHS England is also supporting research into newer, more accurate point-of-care tests for UTIs, such as via the Toucan study.
More information on the study is available at the following link:
https://www.phctrials.ox.ac.uk/recruiting-trials/toucan-platform-for-uti-diagnostic-evaluation
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the safety of town centres during summer 2025 in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, £200 million has been allocated to forces for 2025/26 to support the Government’s commitment to deliver additional personnel into neighbourhood policing. Surrey Constabulary has been allocated £2,588,427 and will deliver an increase of 25 police officers by 31 March 2026.
The Home Office is also providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour. Surrey Police will receive £1,000,000 of this funding.
In addition to this, the Safer Streets Summer Initiative is a government-led initiative to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB), street crime and retail crime in town centres this summer, and to increase local confidence through increased collaboration at a local level. It will be led by Police and Crime and Commissioners, in partnership with Chief Constables and other key local partners such as councils, schools, health services, business, transport and community organisations.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to modernise public transport technology for buses in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to delivering better bus services for passengers, and has confirmed investment of £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £712 million allocated to local authorities which can be used in whichever way they wish to improve services for passengers, including modernising the technology used to support bus services. Surrey County Council has been allocated £12.1 million of this funding.
The Department for Transport is also working with representatives from the bus industry, Midlands Connect and Transport for the West Midlands to develop a national technology solution to facilitate multi-operator ticketing on buses and trams, focusing on contactless bank card payments and enabling fares capping outside of London, which could help to modernise public transport technology in Surrey Heath.
The government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in buses at the Spending Review by confirming around £900 million of revenue funding each year to maintain and improve vital bus services, including taking forward franchising pilots and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.
The Spending Review also confirmed £2.3 billion through the Local Transport Grant over the Spending Review period for local transport improvements in places outside areas receiving Transport for City Regions settlements, which could include supporting improvements to bus technology and infrastructure. Surrey County Council have been allocated £38.2 million of this funding.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 ensure adequate GP provision for new housing developments in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the challenges that areas of significant housing and population growth can place on primary care infrastructure.
The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government to address this issue in national planning guidance and to ensure all new developments have an adequate level of healthcare infrastructure. This is alongside work to ensure developer contributions from new housing developments can be better negotiated and used towards delivering local health services and infrastructure.
The Frimley and Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Boards are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring general practice services within the Surrey Heath Constituency, through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including general practices, in each local area. It should also take account of population growth and demographic changes.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting not-for-profit organisations from business rates in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Currently, properties which are wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes are eligible for charitable relief, which provides businesses with up to 80% off their business rates bills. Provision of further relief to charitable properties is at the discretion of local authorities.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 to improve the (a) condition and (b) ecological quality of woodlands in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises the importance of woodland management to improve the condition and ecological quality of woodlands. We are helping owners manage their woodlands by providing Countryside Stewardship woodland management planning grants, infrastructure grants, and woodland improvement as well as supplements for deer and grey squirrel impact management.
Through the Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds, grant funding has been made available to stimulate the development and testing of new ideas that can help improve the ecological condition of woodlands.
Grants are demand led, and we do not measure uptake at constituency level.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of cervical screening services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s data for 2023/24 shows that cervical screening coverage in the Surrey Heath primary care network was 71.6% in the 25 to 49 year old age group, and 76.8% in the 50 to 64 year old age group. These figures are above the England average, 67.5% and 74.9% respectively, but below the acceptable threshold of 80%.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to tackle fly-tipping in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment, and we appreciate the difficulty and cost that it poses to landowners.
Local councils are usually best placed to tackle fly-tipping in their areas, and they have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop new enforcement guidance. We are also conducting a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool.
Defra continues to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping, including on private land. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available here.