Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Treasury has held discussions with international partners on the use of sanctions in response to reported serious human rights abuses in Hong Kong prisons.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is responsible for overall policy and the development of sanctions measures, and the UK’s response to international human rights abuses. This includes sanctions under the UK’s Global Human Rights sanctions regime.
HM Treasury has regular discussions with international partners on a range of multilateral issues.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to include transport cost as a proportion of household income, service frequency, journey times and reliability in assessments of transport poverty in rural areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport recognises that rural communities face particular transport challenges. As announced in the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, the Department is developing a new transport poverty tool to help national and local bodies in England identify where transport connectivity and affordability may be barriers to people’s access to employment and essential services. In developing this tool, officials are considering a range of data sources, together with the perspectives of academics, local transport authorities, community organisations and residents through targeted research, to understand better the transport issues people, particularly those in low-income households, experience.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the recording and reporting of rural crime as a distinct category within national policing frameworks.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is no distinct offence category or grouping that captures rural crimes separately from other offences. Currently any centrally held data on crimes recorded by the police and the investigative outcomes of crimes will not be broken down into rural crime.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police funding for rural forces in light of geographic scale, response times and organised criminal activity affecting farms and rural businesses.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is introducing the most radical and comprehensive policing reforms in nearly 200 years. We will modernise policing in this country – equipping it to tackle more sophisticated, online, and cross-border crimes (like wildlife crime and organised equipment theft), while also restoring neighbourhood policing.
We are on track to hit 3,000 more neighbourhood officers in March – and our target remains 13k by the end of the parliament. With the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee every neighbourhood, rural or urban, now gets a named contactable officer and a response to non-urgent queries in 72 hours. Every rural area will also be covered by a Local Policing Area under a commander responsible for emergency response, local crime investigation and neighbourhood policing. They will be set targets to ensure they answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds and attend 90% of the most serious incidents within 20 minutes in rural areas.
This financial year (FY25/26) we are providing £800,000 of funding to the National Rural Crime Unit and the National Wildlife Crime Unit, and we will be providing the same level of funding in 26/27. These capabilities play key roles in helping police across the UK tackle organised theft and disrupt serious and organised crime groups, which can pose unique challenges for policing in large and isolated rural areas.
The Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime, which is why we worked closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the next iteration of their Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy and sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2025 to Question 44172 on Public Order Act 2023, what progress her Department has made with post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of this Government’s commitment to protect the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, in May 2025 the Home Office began conducting post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023.
The post-legislative scrutiny of this Public Order Act 2023 is ongoing and once completed, the command paper will be sent to the Home Affairs Select Committee in accordance with the guidance on established post legislative scrutiny. In parallel the Home Secretary has commissioned Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC to conduct a review of public order and hate crime legislation which will be concluded by the end of Spring.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what support his Department is providing for retrofitting and improving the energy efficiency of older rural housing stock.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund support eligible households– including in rural areas and off gas grid to upgrade their homes, with measures including insulation, solar, batteries, and heat pumps.
All eligible households in England and Wales can benefit from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) to support low-carbon heating installations, funded with £2.7 billion to 2030. There is a strong uptake of BUS grants in rural areas, with 49% of all grants given to rural properties to date.
Additionally, the government has consulted on alternative heating solutions to ensure every household has a suitable low-carbon option. The consultation is now closed. A government response will follow in due course.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has undertaken any assessment of the risk that UK firms could be linked through supply chains to surveillance, security or prison-related technology used in Hong Kong’s correctional system against political prisoners.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government continues to highlight concerns about the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong in public statements, and monitors associated risks through wider human‑rights and supply‑chain due‑diligence policies. UK businesses are guided by NCSC supply‑chain security principles to identify and manage risks in complex supply chains. The UK operates a comprehensive regulatory framework for strategic export controls, which prevents the export of goods where there is a risk to domestic security, international security, or human rights.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions her Department has had with driving instructor bodies such as National Associations Strategic Partnership on the consultation on Improving car driving test booking rules.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The changes to driving test booking rules follow a call for evidence and a public consultation that many in the driving instructor industry responded to.
In addition to reviewing the consultation responses, an options assessment was conducted. This provides a structured approach to decision making by evaluating the potential benefits, risks, and implications of different choices, in line with the better regulation framework guidance. The Options Assessment process is based on the ‘Rationale, Objectives, Appraisal, Monitoring, Evaluation, Feedback’ policy cycle and uses options analysis to ensure good practice in developing policy based on robust evidence.
Further details of the options assessment will be published alongside amendments to The Motor Vehicles Regulations 1999 at a later date.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) knows that some learners might need help with the online booking process when these measures are introduced. Before they are implemented, DVSA will
DVSA will provide further information on this before the change is implemented.
DVSA has engaged with driving instructor representative bodies, including the National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP), and large driving schools, before, during and after the consultation on improving car driving test booking rules.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help ensure changes to driving test booking rules mean booking driving tests will be accessible to everyone.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The changes to driving test booking rules follow a call for evidence and a public consultation that many in the driving instructor industry responded to.
In addition to reviewing the consultation responses, an options assessment was conducted. This provides a structured approach to decision making by evaluating the potential benefits, risks, and implications of different choices, in line with the better regulation framework guidance. The Options Assessment process is based on the ‘Rationale, Objectives, Appraisal, Monitoring, Evaluation, Feedback’ policy cycle and uses options analysis to ensure good practice in developing policy based on robust evidence.
Further details of the options assessment will be published alongside amendments to The Motor Vehicles Regulations 1999 at a later date.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) knows that some learners might need help with the online booking process when these measures are introduced. Before they are implemented, DVSA will
DVSA will provide further information on this before the change is implemented.
DVSA has engaged with driving instructor representative bodies, including the National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP), and large driving schools, before, during and after the consultation on improving car driving test booking rules.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to driving test booking rules on intensive driving schools.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The changes to driving test booking rules follow a call for evidence and a public consultation that many in the driving instructor industry responded to.
In addition to reviewing the consultation responses, an options assessment was conducted. This provides a structured approach to decision making by evaluating the potential benefits, risks, and implications of different choices, in line with the better regulation framework guidance. The Options Assessment process is based on the ‘Rationale, Objectives, Appraisal, Monitoring, Evaluation, Feedback’ policy cycle and uses options analysis to ensure good practice in developing policy based on robust evidence.
Further details of the options assessment will be published alongside amendments to The Motor Vehicles Regulations 1999 at a later date.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) knows that some learners might need help with the online booking process when these measures are introduced. Before they are implemented, DVSA will
DVSA will provide further information on this before the change is implemented.
DVSA has engaged with driving instructor representative bodies, including the National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP), and large driving schools, before, during and after the consultation on improving car driving test booking rules.