Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There is no record of any such discussions.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there are British armed forces personnel in active service in Venezuela.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
There are no British Armed Forces personnel in active service in Venezuela.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has held discussions with oil companies relating to investment in Venezuela.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what funding her Department has directly or indirectly provided to organisations for the purposes of advocacy in Venezuela in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 May 2025 to Question 50066. He can find details of all programmes supported in Venezuela on the GOV.UK Development Tracker (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/).
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications have been made for grey belt designated land since changes to the NPPF.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reconsider the criteria for covid vaccination eligibility, in the context of levels of prevalence of new variants.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s policy on the groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to prevent serious disease, meaning hospitalisation and/or mortality, arising from COVID-19. Population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity, following recovery from infection, and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant.
The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of hospitalisation and mortality in specific groups to provide the Government with advice on the autumn 2025 programme. A more targeted vaccination programme aimed at individuals with a higher risk of developing serious disease was advised for autumn 2025.
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on who should be offered vaccination in autumn 2025. On 26 June 2025, the Government decided, in line with this advice, that a COVID-19 vaccine should be offered in autumn 2025 to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in a care home for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in the ‘immunosuppression’ sections of tables three or four in the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Green Book.
The UKHSA advises that currently, XFG and its sub lineages, sometimes called the ‘Stratus’ variant, are the most prevalent in England. This lineage is closely related to previous variants that circulated in the United Kingdom. At this time there is no indication that XFG causes more serious disease, or that the vaccines being used in the autumn 2025 campaign will not be effective against it. The UKHSA will continue to monitor both COVID-19 outcomes and variant prevalence as we enter the winter season.
This means that while the JCVI keeps the available data under regular review, there are no plans to offer vaccination through the national programme outside these JCVI advised groups for autumn 2025. All those individuals who are eligible are encouraged to take up the offer of vaccination.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had any discussions with the Bank of England on the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority proposal to reduce data reporting for banks.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor and I meet regularly with the leadership of the Bank of England to discuss a range of topics, including its work to streamline data reporting requirements for banks and other firms regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
The government has today published an update on the Regulation Action Plan which welcomes actions the PRA has proposed or implemented to reduce some of the requirements on the firms it regulates.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the additional costs disability payment proposal from the Commission on Social Security; and whether he has had discussions about the ACDP proposals with relevant authorities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I am aware of the Commission’s report and welcome its contribution to these important discussions.
The Commission’s paper is one of many proposals which the Timms Review will be able to consider. Once the Review’s core leadership group is in place, it will have the ability to set its focus and to draw on evidence from diverse perspectives.
As part of this work, the Review will seek input from the diverse views and voices and consider a wide range of evidence and sources.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Bank of England on the use and reliability of stablecoin in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury and Bank of England are maintaining a close and ongoing dialogue on the legal and regulatory treatment of stablecoins in support of the Government's objective to make the UK a global destination for digital assets.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has given the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield in grants in the last five years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS has not provided any funding directly to the National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMME) in the last five years. The Department provides funding to the Science Museum Group (SMG) with agreement that SMG in turn provides an annual grant payment to NCMME. This provision of grant funding is managed directly between SMG and NCMME and the annual amounts are published as part of the SMG accounts.