Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she has considered the potential merits of widening the eligibility criteria for the Blue Badge scheme.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government fully recognises the importance of ensuring that the Blue Badge scheme supports those who have their mobility impacted by substantial and enduring disabilities and other health conditions. The Department for Transport works closely with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the Blue Badge scheme remains fair, effective, and focused on those who need it most.
The Department previously consulted on extending the Blue Badge eligibility criteria in 2019 to allow people with non-visible (hidden) disabilities to be eligible for a Blue Badge. The current eligibility criteria are focused on the impact on an applicant’s mobility, rather than based on specific disabilities or conditions, and can be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she has considered the merits of making it mandatory for DBS checks to be (a) single use and (b) job specific.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not place requirements on how DBS checks are used. It is for individual sectors to decide what, if anything, they want to mandate for their sectors
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken to (a) repair and (b) improve the condition of road networks in (i) England and (ii) Romford constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
At the Autumn Budget, the Government committed over £2 billion annually by 2029/30 for local authorities to repair and renew their roads and fix potholes. For the first time, we have confirmed funding allocations for the next four years, enabling local authorities to plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and instead invest in proactive and preventative maintenance.
This is in addition to the Government's investment of £1.6 billion this year, a £500 million increase compared to last year.
The local highway authority for the Romford constituency is the London Borough of Havering. The table below sets out the highways maintenance funding that Havering is eligible to receive from 2025/26 to 2029/30.
Local authority | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 |
London Borough of Havering | £1,082,000 | £3,060,000 | £3,289,000 | £3,520,000 | £4,033,000 |
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support local authorities to repair roads in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
At the Autumn Budget, the Government committed over £2 billion annually by 2029/30 for local authorities to repair and renew their roads and fix potholes. For the first time, we have confirmed funding allocations for the next four years, enabling local authorities to plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and instead invest in proactive and preventative maintenance.
This is in addition to the Government's investment of £1.6 billion this year, a £500 million increase compared to last year.
The local highway authority for the Romford constituency is the London Borough of Havering. The table below sets out the highways maintenance funding that Havering is eligible to receive from 2025/26 to 2029/30.
Local authority | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 |
London Borough of Havering | £1,082,000 | £3,060,000 | £3,289,000 | £3,520,000 | £4,033,000 |
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of de-proscribing Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham on the UK's foreign policy objectives in Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to my statement on gov.uk marking the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime and the written ministerial statement to both Houses on 22 October, which can be found respectively at the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/minister-falconer-article-on-syria-anniversary-december-2025 and https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-10-22/hcws977
These set out, respectively, the UK's support for the efforts of the new Syrian government to build a more stable, inclusive and representative country and the decision that the Government came to on de-proscription.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of giving local authorities the power to introduce a temporary Blue Badge scheme.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Currently, local authorities, in their capacity as the traffic authority for their area, are already free to consider setting up locally determined temporary parking concessions that could assist the recovery of residents who have recently undergone major surgery or suffered serious illness. LAs already have powers under Part IV of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to mark out bays for specific purposes, issue local parking permits, and use Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) to reserve spaces for specific purposes. This can be a voluntary local scheme, and the cost and nature of the concession would be for the local authority to decide.
Whilst the primary focus of the Blue Badge on-street parking scheme is to help people who have an enduring and substantial disability that affects their mobility park closer to their destinations, goods, and services, the Department routinely monitors the scheme to see how it may be improved, to ensure that it continues to serve those who need it most.