Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of protections for micro and small businesses entering into long-term telecommunications contracts.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
Cumbria is at the forefront of the Government’s ambitious programme to drive growth by expanding devolution, with an election of a mayor due for the first time in 2027 as part of the Devolution Priority Programme.
Penrith will also benefit from the improvements to the A66, delivering a continuous 50-mile dual carriageway between the M6 and A1(M), improving safety, reducing congestion and strengthening connectivity between the North-East and Cumbria.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of mis-selling of telecommunications contracts to micro and small businesses.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private investment in the UK is increasing and since the general election, companies have announced investment plans totalling £495 billion.
We’re ensuring that the UK continues to be an attractive place to invest, including by maintaining the lowest headline rate of corporation tax in the G7.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had discussions with Ofcom on the number of complaints it has received from micro and small businesses relating to the mis-selling of telecommunications contracts in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
At Budget, the Chancellor announced reforms to the tax system including making online platforms liable for collecting VAT on behalf of sellers, implementing a new system of VAT e-invoicing, and publishing a Call of Evidence on modernising Corporation Tax administration.
These measures will make it easier for individuals and businesses to navigate the tax system and pay the right amount of tax at the right time, reducing error and unnecessary burdens.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Ofcom's enforcement of its General Conditions in relation to the sale of telecommunications services to micro and small enterprises.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This government is committed to driving economic growth across Wales and the rest of the UK.
At the Budget, we announced funding to support growth in Wales, including £30 million to progress Cardiff Parkway railway station and £2.5 million to expand Anglesey’s M-Spark science park.
We also provided the Welsh Government with £450 million through Barnett. This is in addition to their record spending review settlement.
This investment will help businesses create high-quality jobs and drive growth.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of alternative dispute resolution arrangements for micro and small businesses in disputes with telecommunications providers.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government is backing cafes and other hospitality businesses with a package which means that all retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England will see their business rates either frozen in real terms, reduced, or cut to zero.
The package includes a two-year real-terms freeze for all retail, hospitality and leisure properties to cap bill increases at inflation; and removing 70,000 extra properties from business rates, meaning half of all RHL properties will now pay no business rates at all.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2026 to Question 37666, for what reason Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers were used in place of contracted vessels from Aeolian Offshore Ltd for operations off the Isle of Wight and Hampshire on 6 September and 22 September 2026.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The RNLI is an independent charity and one of several organisations that make lifesaving assets available for HM Coastguard to task. They may be tasked where their location and capability make them an appropriate resource for people who are, or may become, in distress. HM Coastguard considers all incidents and available resources across an area and manages operational priorities as circumstances change.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of using secure temporary accommodation units for low-risk offenders to ease pressures on the prison population.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As set out in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and are working to do so by 2031; we have already delivered around 3,300 of these since taking office.
As part of these plans, the Rapid Deployment Cells (RDC) Programme is delivering modular, self-contained accommodation on existing prison sites. These units are non-secure and designed for use by low-risk prisoners in the open estate and by risk-assessed prisoners in the Category C estate. Around 1,000 RDC places have been delivered across 20 sites, with a further 400 planned.
We currently have no plans to introduce secure temporary accommodation across the prison estate, as no suitable design yet meets the operational and security requirements for prison use. We continue to explore innovative approaches to increasing prison capacity and keep both temporary and permanent accommodation solutions under review
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, what resources her Department has allocated to deliver the commitments on decapod crustaceans; what progress her Department has made on (a) publishing guidance on killing methods and (b) examining the treatment of decapods through supply chains; what steps she has taken following stakeholder engagement on those commitments; and what her planned timetable is for the delivery of each of those.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Strategy sets out the priority issues that this Government will address, focusing on the changes and improvements that Defra aim to achieve by 2030 to improve the lives of millions of animals across the UK and resources have been allocated accordingly.
Publication of decapod guidance will be sequenced alongside the broader set of policies set out in the strategy.
Defra-commissioned research on how live decapod crustaceans move from sea to plate has been completed and will be published in due course. A project on the welfare of decapod crustaceans across the supply chain is in the Animal Welfare Committee’s current work plan.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has assessed the contribution of community pharmacy services to a) NHS productivity and b) the delivery of the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community pharmacies are at the heart of our plans to bring healthcare closer to home. The Government has uplifted community pharmacy funding by £340 million in 2026/27, a 10% cash increase endorsed by Community Pharmacy England, following a 19% uplift across 2024/25 and 2025/26. Through our Pharmacy First programme and the 10-Year Health Plan, pharmacies will play an even bigger role in neighbourhood healthcare in the future, helping patients access treatment for an increasing range of common conditions, and relieving pressure that might otherwise fall on general practitioners and A&E units.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether vessels chartered under the contract between her Department and Aeolian Offshore Ltd were (a) available and (b) requested for the operations off the Isle of Wight and Hampshire on 6 September and 22 September 2026; and what the reasons were for relying on Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers on those occasions.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not comment on operational tactics, capabilities or procedures relating to maritime operations. Responsibility for the coordination and tasking of search and rescue operations within the UK Search and Rescue Region rests with HM Coastguard, an agency of the Department for Transport. You may therefore wish to direct questions concerning the operation of search and rescue vessels to the Secretary of State for Transport.