Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on a) local and b) national infrastructure improvements in the context of the Universal United Kingdom Resort.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has been working closely with the Department for Transport on delivering the infrastructure that will bring visitors to the park as well as provide benefits for both local communities and those travelling through Bedford. This includes upgrades on the A421 and a new station at Wixams, both of which will facilitate visits to the resort and improve access in the local area for residents.
The investment from Comcast NBCUniversal is this Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy in action, and DCMS is working closely with the Department for Business and Trade to make Universal United Kingdom Resort a success.
I was delighted to visit the site on 3 June alongside the Chancellor, where I met the first of the new employees who will be based in Bedford, and have an essential role in delivering this transformational project.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether county courts will have additional sitting hours to deal with Section 8 possession orders following the commencement of the Renters Rights Act.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice (including its executive agency His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service) is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make sure that the courts have sufficient capacity to manage the impact of the Renter’s Rights Act 2025 on the justice system. This includes ensuring sufficient provision of sitting days to deal with case volumes.
This year, there will be 80,200 sitting days in the civil jurisdiction. This is a record allocation, recognising the importance of the civil jurisdiction.
We continue to invest in annual judicial recruitment for c.1000 vacancies across all jurisdictions, including the county courts. The Judicial Appointments Commission reports how many District and Deputy District Judges it has recommended from annual District Judge and c.18-monthly Deputy District Judge recruitment.
The information can be found at - https://judicialappointments.gov.uk/corp-publication/completed-selection-exercises-for-the-2025-26-financial-year/#4-January2026March2026Quarter4. District Judge recruitment is underway for up to 70 candidates and further Deputy District Judge recruitment is planned for later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many judges he plans to recruit to help speed up Section 8 repossession orders.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice (including its executive agency His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service) is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make sure that the courts have sufficient capacity to manage the impact of the Renter’s Rights Act 2025 on the justice system. This includes ensuring sufficient provision of sitting days to deal with case volumes.
This year, there will be 80,200 sitting days in the civil jurisdiction. This is a record allocation, recognising the importance of the civil jurisdiction.
We continue to invest in annual judicial recruitment for c.1000 vacancies across all jurisdictions, including the county courts. The Judicial Appointments Commission reports how many District and Deputy District Judges it has recommended from annual District Judge and c.18-monthly Deputy District Judge recruitment.
The information can be found at - https://judicialappointments.gov.uk/corp-publication/completed-selection-exercises-for-the-2025-26-financial-year/#4-January2026March2026Quarter4. District Judge recruitment is underway for up to 70 candidates and further Deputy District Judge recruitment is planned for later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which estate agencies does his Department consult with regularly in large urban areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department engages regularly with stakeholders from across the home buying and selling sector, including estate agent membership organisations and individual estate agent businesses from across the country.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to tackle illegal gasworks on private properties.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the enforcing authority for gas businesses and engineers (including self- employed gas engineers) who work in private properties. Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) requires engineers undertaking gas work to be competent, registered with Gas Safe Register (GSR), to work in accordance with the appropriate standards and in a way that does not put people in danger.
HSE regulate this in private properties through enforcement powers set under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Enforcement powers available to regulators include prosecution, prohibition notices and improvement notices.
GSR also has a dedicated team to investigate allegations of gas work by unregistered engineers and businesses (illegal gas fitters) and provides HSE with evidence of these activities. In addition to this, GSR publishes a range of gas safety information and guidance on its website and regularly runs media campaigns to promote key gas safety messages to the public.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether there are additional sitting hours for first tier tribunals after 1 May 2026.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice confirmed in February 2026 the sitting day allocations and funding envelope for His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for the period 2025-26 to 2028-29, including high allocations for the First Tier Tribunals: Courts and Tribunals: Sitting Day Allocations - Hansard - UK Parliament.
The Ministry of Justice has and continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) has the capacity to manage demand following commencement of the Renters’ Rights Act on 1 May 2026. This includes provision of sufficient sitting days to deal with increased case volumes.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of reducing the qualification time for people to sit on a first tier tribunal.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Judges of the First-Tier Tribunal are required by statute (the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007) to have a specific legal qualification and appropriate legal experience. This must be five years’ post qualification experience (PQE), with a minimum of 20% of each year devoted to law-related activity. These statutory requirements help to safeguard judicial standards by ensuring that judges have the appropriate knowledge and skills to be able to apply the law fairly and effectively. Most candidates have significantly more than the minimum PQE when they apply.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to increase economic productivity in a) England and b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to increasing productivity as a central driver of sustainable economic growth and rising living standards.
To support this, at the 2026 Mais Lecture, the Chancellor announced the government is going further with three big choices to drive stronger, more secure growth by empowering regional growth, embracing AI and innovation, and establishing a closer relationship with the EU.
This builds on the significant steps the Government has already taken to increase investment across the whole of the UK, including delivering on our plans to increase public investment by over £120 billion compared to previous plans, alongside reforms to boost private investment.
As part of our plans, the Government is investing £39bn to increase the supply of affordable homes, and over £820m for the Youth Guarantee to strengthen access to employment opportunities in areas such as Romford supported by initiatives such as Trailblazer Youth and Economic Inactivity Hubs.
The Government are also investing in public services, with the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund expanding GP capacity by upgrading over 1,000 surgeries nationwide, including 7 schemes across the North East London Integrated Care Board area covering Romford.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her Department’s policy to remove religious exemptions from section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence to have an article with a blade or point in a public place. The law allows for a person found in possession of a bladed article to claim a defence of having a good reason for having the article in public. One of the examples of a good reason listed in the legislation is for religious reasons. A court will then reach a judgement on whether that defence is valid, based on the evidence.
The defence for the carrying of knives for religious use has been a long-standing arrangement, as a way of balancing public safety and religious freedom.
We keep all legislation under review, but we are clear that should any bladed article be used to threaten or harm others, it will be met with the full force of the law.
We will discuss current legislation with the police, the Sikh community and knife crime campaigners.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the (a) efficiency and (b) response time of the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office’s senior sponsorship board monitors the IOPC’s performance against key perform indicators. The targets include times taken to respond to referrals and to carry out independent investigations. Rolling twelve-month figures are published on the IOPC’s website. Home Office Ministers sign off on its (published) business plans and annual report. The IOPC itself has had a major transformation programme in place since 2024 to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. As announced in our Police Reform White Paper, published in January 2026, we intend to go further and, this year, will launch a external review of the end to end processes of police accountability, including the IOPC’s role, and with a focus on the question of timeliness.