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Written Question
Fly-grazing
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support local authorities (a) manage and (b) care for neglected horses that have been left to fly-graze.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Control of Horses Act 2015 provides powers for landowners, land occupiers and local authorities to deal with horses placed unlawfully on any land, public or private (including equine abandonments). The 2015 Act allows for action to be taken quickly where horses are placed on land without the land-owner’s permission. If no owner can be identified within four working days, options include rehoming, either privately or via charities, or offering the horses for sale.

Local authorities are responsible for compliance with the legislation and its enforcement. Enforcement will vary according to location, depending on local priorities. We therefore encourage all interested parties to work together at local level to use the available powers to address the problem of abandoned horses.

The Government considers that the relevant legislation and guidance in place provides the right safeguards and powers in respect of protecting equine welfare. We remain committed to working with enforcement agencies and other interested parties to ensure issues of horse abandonments or neglect are effectively addressed.


Written Question
Horses: Animal Welfare
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to help ensure that people who neglect their horses are prosecuted.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 amends the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) to provide one of the toughest sanctions in Europe and strengthens the UK's position as a global leader on animal welfare. The 2006 Act, as amended in 2021, now means a maximum sentence of five years and/or an unlimited fine will apply to the most serious animal cruelty offences, including causing unnecessary suffering, and is a significant step forward in improving animal welfare.

Local authorities have powers under the 2006 Act to act where a horse is suspected to be suffering on any land, public or private. In such circumstances, the local authority may enter the land and take control of the animal.


Written Question
Horses: Animal Welfare
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

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 has taken to tackle horse (a) fly-grazing and (b) abandonment.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Control of Horses Act 2015 provides powers for landowners, land occupiers and local authorities to deal with horses placed unlawfully on any land, public or private (including equine abandonments). The 2015 Act allows for action to be taken quickly where horses are placed on land without the land-owner’s permission.


Written Question
Ukraine: Military Aid
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support the international response in Ukraine.

Answered by James Heappey

The UK continues to galvanise international support for Ukraine.

We were the first to send lethal aid before the invasion to Ukraine. £896 million has now been pledged to UK-established International Fund for Ukraine.

We continue to deliver a training operation for Ukrainian forces alongside 11 international partners, with more than 60,000 Ukrainians trained since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2014.


Written Question
Schools: Greater London
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support London’s schools and local authorities with falling school rolls.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department recognises the challenge some schools face with falling rolls, particularly in London. London is attracting an additional £75.1 million of funding for schools in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 through the schools Dedicated Schools Grant, which is an increase of 1.6% per pupil excluding growth funding. This takes the total funding for 2024/25 in London to over £7.4 billion, based on current pupil numbers.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the department is changing how ‘growth and falling rolls funding’ is allocated to local authorities, so that this is based not only on increases in pupil numbers, but also decreases. This methodology will ensure that local authorities in which schools are experiencing significant decreases in pupil numbers will attract additional funding to support those schools. The restriction that schools must be judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in their last Ofsted inspection to be eligible for falling rolls funding has also been removed.

The department is also broadening the scope of growth funding to allow local authorities to use growth funding to meet the revenue costs of removing surplus places. Such funding could support local authorities to repurpose space to create Special Educational needs and Disability (SEND) units, resourced bases, or wraparound childcare provision in mainstream schools. This is activity which we know many local authorities are already undertaking.

More information is available in published guidance at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-16-schools-funding-local-authority-guidance-for-2024-to-2025/growth-and-falling-rolls-fund-guidance-2024-to-2025.


Written Question
Poland: Abduction
Monday 4th December 2023

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Polish counterpart on cases outstanding of children abducted from the UK to Poland.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The Government takes international parental child abduction (IPCA) very seriously and I [Minister Docherty] recognise the distress of all those affected. Ministers and senior officials raise IPCA with the Polish authorities at every appropriate opportunity. I raised the issue with my Polish counterpart, Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk, most recently on 7 September. The former Foreign Secretary also raised the issue in his dialogue with Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, on 5 July, and the Minister for International Affairs (MoJ) raised IPCA with Deputy Justice Minister Sebastien Kaleta on 18 September. We will continue to engage with representatives of the new Polish government on this issue, once formed.


Written Question
Transport for London: Finance
Thursday 13th July 2023

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on Transport for London’s finances.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Secretary of State for Transport last met the Mayor of London on 29 November 2022. In addition I met yesterday (12 July) with Deputy Mayor Seb Dance and senior TfL officials to discuss their plans to put TfL onto a sustainable financial footing.


Written Question
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
Friday 30th June 2023

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on issuing guidance with NHS bodies on Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The Department has no plans to issue guidance on the treatment of Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.


Written Question
Blue Badge Scheme: Theft
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list the local authority areas that have reported the highest incidents of Blue Badge theft in the last year.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Transport publishes annual statistics in relation to the Blue Badge scheme in England. The latest available data shows that in the year ending March 2022, 6,183 badges were reported to be lost or stolen in England. Of these, 76% were reported to be lost, and 24% (1,497 badges) were stolen. Published statistics are not broken down by local authority.


Written Question
Blue Badge Scheme: Theft
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of Blue Badges reported stolen in England in the last year.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Transport publishes annual statistics in relation to the Blue Badge scheme in England. The latest available data shows that in the year ending March 2022, 6,183 badges were reported to be lost or stolen in England. Of these, 76% were reported to be lost, and 24% (1,497 badges) were stolen. Published statistics are not broken down by local authority.