Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested for protesting the proscription of Palestine Action.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is absolutely clear that support for proscribed organisations is unacceptable. Anyone expressing support for a proscribed organisation should expect to be investigated by the police.
To be clear, those who want to oppose the proscription of Palestine Action can do so freely and lawfully – that is not itself an offence. It is an offence when protest is focused on showing support for an organisation that has been proscribed.
The Home Office releases statistics which cover arrests for terrorist-related activity on a quarterly basis. The latest release for the quarter ending June 2025 can be found here:
.Operational decisions, including arrests, are a matter for the police, who are independent of Government.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how the cyber risk to Government has changed in the last 5 years; how his Department's approach to cyber security has changed in that time; and what assessment he has made of how the Government's level of cyber resilience has changed in that time.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our approach to tackling Government cyber risk is driven by the 2022 Government Cyber Security Strategy which sets a clear target for critical functions to be hardened to cyber attack by 2025.
We have made important steps in understanding and mitigating risk; GovAssure has dramatically improved our understanding of cyber resilience levels across government and the systemic issues preventing departments from achieving targets. The Government Cyber Coordination Centre enables us to respond as one government to cyber incidents, threats and vulnerabilities.
However, the threat picture is the most sophisticated it has ever been and the UK's resilience picture is poorer than previously estimated. In January 2025, the NAO report into Government cyber resilience confirmed that Government since 2022 has not improved its cyber resilience quickly enough to meet its 2025 target. We welcome the report and are taking immediate action to address the recommendations.
We are accelerating our response through the launch of a more interventionist approach, which will address the long-standing shortage of cyber skills, strengthen accountability for cyber risks, provide greater support for delivery in the form of cyber services, guidance, and hands-on technical support and bolster our response capabilities to fast-moving cyber incidents.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to be able to meet its target for the Government to be cyber resilient by the end of 2025.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our approach to tackling Government cyber risk is driven by the 2022 Government Cyber Security Strategy which sets a clear target for critical functions to be hardened to cyber attack by 2025.
We have made important steps in understanding and mitigating risk; GovAssure has dramatically improved our understanding of cyber resilience levels across government and the systemic issues preventing departments from achieving targets. The Government Cyber Coordination Centre enables us to respond as one government to cyber incidents, threats and vulnerabilities.
However, the threat picture is the most sophisticated it has ever been and the UK's resilience picture is poorer than previously estimated. In January 2025, the NAO report into Government cyber resilience confirmed that Government since 2022 has not improved its cyber resilience quickly enough to meet its 2025 target. We welcome the report and are taking immediate action to address the recommendations.
We are accelerating our response through the launch of a more interventionist approach, which will address the long-standing shortage of cyber skills, strengthen accountability for cyber risks, provide greater support for delivery in the form of cyber services, guidance, and hands-on technical support and bolster our response capabilities to fast-moving cyber incidents.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken for victims to wait for cases to be heard.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. It is unacceptable that victims and witnesses are waiting years for justice. We are committed to creating a more sustainable justice system, in which victims and the public can have confidence.
Upon taking office, the Deputy Prime Minister took immediate action to allocate additional Crown Court sitting days this financial year, taking the total to a record-high allocation of 111,250. We continue to build capacity in magistrates’ courts, with 14,636 magistrates in post as of April 2025 across England and Wales and we are uplifting our programme to bring in 2,000 new magistrates over the next 12 months. We will continue to recruit at high levels in future years, ensuring our benches reflect the diverse communities they serve. We also continue to recruit high levels of legal advisers, securing resilience for years to come.
However, demand is currently so high, it is indisputable that fundamental reform is needed. That is why this Government commissioned the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to propose once-in-a-generation reform to improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swift justice for victims.
We are carefully considering Sir Brian’s first report and will respond in due course. Work on Part 2 of the report, looking at how the criminal courts can operate as efficiently as possible, is underway and it is expected to be finalised later this year.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle misogyny in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for for Blyth and Ashington to the answer of 19 September 2025 to Question 76624.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to educate communities on the rise of far right extremism.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government takes extremism seriously and has been clear that we will tackle far right extremism head on. We make no apology for that. We are committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers needed to address this issue. Efforts to counter extremism span a broad range of Government and law enforcement activity and we must persist in our efforts to challenge extremist narratives, disrupt the activity of radicalising groups, and directly tackle the causes of radicalisation.
We work closely with frontline partners to tackle harmful ideologies, providing guidance and training on the threat from all extremist ideologies and how to spot the signs of radicalisation.
Civil Society Organisations are vital partners in the delivery of targeted Prevent project work. They support local partners in building resilience to radicalisation and supporting early intervention within communities, including countering extreme right-wing narratives.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) race and (b) religious hate crimes took place in Blyth and Ashington constituency between September (i) 2024 and (ii) 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes official statistics on hate crimes at the Police Force Area level. The latest published information for the year ending March 2024, including for Northumbria Police, can be found here: Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK
Information on hate crimes recorded by the police in the year ending March 2025 is due to be published on the 9 October.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the number of prosecutions of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
In the year ending 30 June 2025, 83 persons were tried for terrorism-related offences, an increase of 5 compared with the year ending June 2024 and 16 more than the average over the last 10 years (67). 80 of those 83 (96%) persons tried were convicted. Conviction rates have remained consistently high in recent years, with the highest conviction rate on record in the year ending 31 December 2024 (98% - 84 out of 86 trials resulting in conviction). This is a testament to the sustained efforts of CT Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service in securing record convictions for terrorism-related offences.
These statistics are routinely published by the Home Office as part of its quarterly reporting on the ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation’.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure an adequate supply of ADHD medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has worked closely with industry stakeholders and, following extensive collaborative efforts, previous issues have been resolved, and all strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, atomoxetine oral solution, guanfacine prolonged-release tablets, and methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets are now available. We are working to resolve a remaining issue for Equasym XL capsules, and anticipate that this issue to be resolved in August 2025.
We continue to support the NHS England ADHD taskforce, which brings together expertise from the National Health Service, education, and justice sectors to coordinate a system-wide response to rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) data improvement plan, we are developing future growth forecasts to support improved demand planning. These forecasts will be shared with industry to help ensure a more responsive and sustainable supply of ADHD medicines. In parallel, we are also engaging with new suppliers for ADHD medicines to increase supply capacity and resilience.
The Department also maintains and regularly updates a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This resource supports prescribers and dispensers in making informed decisions with patients. The list is available at the following link:
www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to help amend UN frameworks to tackle global debt.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Tackling unsustainable debt in low-income countries is a key development priority for this government. We are working closely with partners to strengthen and speed up the G20 common framework, and to enhance debt transparency for debtor and creditors. We have set up the new London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt, to promote contractual innovations for increased resilience and to make restructurings quicker.
The government welcomes the package to support debt sustainability in the outcome document agreed at the UN’s Seville Conference on Financing for Development in June, specifically the strong action to improve debtor voice, debt transparency, disaster pause clauses and strengthen the G20 Common Framework. We will maintain momentum on reforms to the existing debt architecture. We are also engaging with partners on the intergovernmental process at the UN