Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to incentivise UK-based companies to retain and create skilled jobs in the UK rather than offshore them.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our modern Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan to back our strengths and create a highly skilled, economically prosperous country, with key objectives to drive up business investment and create high-quality jobs across the UK. We are focused on capturing a greater share of internationally mobile capital and supporting businesses to employ skilled workers in the UK, including through investing over £1 billion in tailored sector skills packages. We have also published the Clean Energy Jobs Plan with ambitions to recruit 400,000 people in the UK, with Jobs Plans covering other priority sectors to follow.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the UK will proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terrorist organisation following its designation by the European Union.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK stands proudly on the side of freedom and human rights, and we have long criticised Iran’s authoritarian regime and taken robust action to protect UK interests from Iranian state threats. On 13 January, the Foreign Secretary set out the action that the Government is taking in coordination with allies in response to the consistent threat that the Iranian regime poses to stability, security, freedom and the UK national interest. We are now working further with the EU and other partners to explore what sanctions will be needed to respond to the horrific escalation seen in recent weeks.
It is the Government’s long-standing position not to comment on the detail of security and intelligence matters, including whether or not a specific organisation is being considered for proscription.
However, we are acting decisively to disrupt threats posed by Iran here in the UK. We have placed the Iranian state on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), meaning that anyone working for or directed by the Iranian state to conduct activities in the UK must declare that activity, or risk up to five years in prison. The National Security Act 2023 also strengthens our powers to counter state threats, including from Iran, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt these threats. Furthermore, we have committed to take forward plans recommended by Jonathan Hall KC for a proscription-like power for state and state-linked bodies to tackle malign activity more appropriately than is offered under the existing powers. We will introduce legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
The UK now has over 550 sanctions against Iranian linked individuals and entities, including the IRGC, which has been sanctioned in its entirety. Over 220 designations have been imposed since this Government came into office. In concert with international partners, we will use all appropriate tools at our disposal to protect the UK, and our interests, from state threats.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the security of prisons holding ISIS members following gains by the Syrian army against the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the written ministerial statement published on 28 January. Any further updates on the issues addressed in that statement will be made in the normal way in due course.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish a break down of the billions in investment secured on his visit to China in January 2026.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As set out in the 30 January press release, hundreds of millions worth of new investment was secured as part of the visit, alongside £2.2 billion in export deals. This includes investment from HiTHIUM, Chery Commercial Vehicle, Asymchem, and POP MART.
Further detail can be found in the press release.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the £530,000 community compensation payment listed in the Community funds for transmission infrastructure guidance for the installation of a substation applies to substations installed as part of a wider solar development.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The £530,000 figure is not compensation. It is a community benefit recognising, transparently, the vital role that host communities play in delivering nationally important clean energy infrastructure.
The guidance applies only to onshore electricity transmission assets including transmission substations delivered by transmission network project developers. Whether a substation is associated with a solar farm or another project does not alter this: applicability is determined by its status as an in‑scope onshore transmission asset.
DESNZ has consulted on a mandatory community benefits scheme for low carbon energy infrastructure, including solar, a response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department issues guidance on membership of the Chinese Communist Party being a declarable interest for university senior staff and trustees.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines the information for England only.
Higher education (HE) providers are independent and autonomous bodies, and as such are responsible for designing and implementing their own policies.
As the independent regulator, it is the role of the Office for Students to monitor and assess registered universities’ compliance with its conditions of registration, including those relating to good governance, and to take regulatory action where they have been breached. This includes that higher education providers must uphold public interest governance principles, which encompasses management of conflicts of interest.
We are clear that foreign interference in the HE sector is unacceptable, and whilst there are a range of existing requirements on universities to protect against it, we believe more should be done to support providers to proportionately mitigate risk. We set out our considerations in the ‘Future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act’ policy paper published in June 2025, and are taking steps to share good practice, raise awareness and develop new responses where necessary.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report on the Southport attack by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new offence of planning a mass casualty attack.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government accepts and strongly supports the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s (IRTL) recommendation to consider creating a new offence to capture individuals intending to kill multiple people and planning for such attacks. As recognised by the IRTL, this is a complex area of law and will require working through difficult legal and ethical issues to avoid unintended consequences. We are considering carefully the best way to close the gap in the legislation.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Prime Minister shared with the Planning Casework Unit a written record of his discussions on 23 August 2024 and 18 December 2024 with the President of the People's Republic of China on the proposed new Chinese Embassy.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As has been the case under successive administrations, government does not normally disclose details of internal discussions.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Guidance on planning propriety: planning casework decisions, published on 16 December 2021, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Government's compliance with that guidance in the context of discussions between the Prime Minister the Chinese President in (a) August and (b) December 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In dealing with any application, Ministers and officials will act in accordance with published propriety guidance on planning casework decisions. More information can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the current period of prolonged frost and frozen ground on the ability of woodcock to feed; and whether she intends to exercise existing powers to introduce a temporary suspension of woodcock shooting during this period.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Managed by JNCC, the Severe Weather Scheme is designed to help with the conservation of birds listed at Schedule 2 Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, including woodcock, by reducing disturbance during periods of prolonged cold weather through voluntary restraint and then statutory suspension of shooting.
The threshold for the minimum number of days of freezing weather which would trigger voluntary restraint in England has not been met this winter. However, JNCC remains in regular discussion with Defra, the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, and environmental organisations on the impact to birds of the current and forecast cold weather.