Maria Eagle

The government recognises that the decision to close ECO4 presents immediate challenges. In the Warm Homes Plan, we committed to supporting the workforce accessing opportunities from £15 billion of funding, regulations in the rented sector and the future homes standard.

The number of jobs supported in clean energy industries and their supply chains is estimated to increase from around 430,000 today to over 800,000 by 2030. The government is working closely with the sector to support growth.

The government has established the Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce, with trade unions and industry, to facilitate the transition to clean energy sectors.

The government recognises that the decision to close ECO4 presents immediate challenges. In the Warm Homes Plan, we committed to supporting the workforce accessing opportunities from £15 billion of funding, regulations in the rented sector and the future homes standard.

The number of jobs supported in clean energy industries and their supply chains is estimated to increase from around 430,000 today to over 800,000 by 2030. The government is working closely with the sector to support growth.

The government has established the Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce, with trade unions and industry, to facilitate the transition to clean energy sectors.

The government recognises that the decision to close ECO4 presents immediate challenges. In the Warm Homes Plan, we committed to supporting the workforce accessing opportunities from £15 billion of funding, regulations in the rented sector and the future homes standard.

The number of jobs supported in clean energy industries and their supply chains is estimated to increase from around 430,000 today to over 800,000 by 2030. The government is working closely with the sector to support growth.

The government has established the Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce, with trade unions and industry, to facilitate the transition to clean energy sectors.

The government recognises that the decision to close ECO4 presents immediate challenges. In the Warm Homes Plan, we committed to supporting the workforce accessing opportunities from £15 billion of funding, regulations in the rented sector and the future homes standard.

The number of jobs supported in clean energy industries and their supply chains is estimated to increase from around 430,000 today to over 800,000 by 2030. The government is working closely with the sector to support growth.

The government has established the Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce, with trade unions and industry, to facilitate the transition to clean energy sectors.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Liverpool Garston constituency, this is the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.

1.8 million additional courses of National Health Service dental treatment have been delivered in the seven months between April and October 2025 compared to the corresponding months prior to the general election, nearly half of which were delivered to children. We have reduced the dental underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to just £36 million in 2024/25, maximising the treatments provided for taxpayers’ money and delivering on our aim that every penny for NHS dentistry is spent on NHS dentistry.

From April 2026, we began introducing a package of reforms to address some of the pressing issues that dental teams have been experiencing. These reforms will prioritise those with the greatest need, shifting care away from clinically unnecessary check-ups.

We are also committed to fundamentally reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.

Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so. The Council has issued a guideline for strangulation and suffocation offences which came into force in January 2025. The guideline provides a structured approach for sentencers to follow when sentencing these offences and is designed to help enhance consistency and transparency in sentencing decisions. It is available on the Council’s website at: https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/strangulation-or-suffocation-racially-or-religiously-aggravated-strangulation-or-suffocation/

As with all the guidelines it issues, the Council will monitor the operation of this guideline and will evaluate its effect after it has been in force for a period of time to allow sufficient evidence to be gathered and analysed.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of crime, including victims of domestic abuse, receive the entitlements they can expect under the Victims’ Code. This is why in 2025 a new statutory duty was commenced from the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 which requires agencies who provide Code services to comply with the Code unless there is a good reason to not. The 2024 Act also enhances the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner by requiring relevant agencies to respond to recommendations made in the Commissioner’s reports, and to cooperate, where appropriate and reasonably practicable to do so, with requests from the Commissioner such as requests for data or for meetings.

The 2024 Act also establishes a framework to monitor criminal justice agencies' compliance with the Code. Once commenced, certain criminal justice bodies (including the police, the CPS and HMCTS) will be required to keep under review whether and how services are provided in accordance with the Code, including collecting and sharing certain Code compliance information. The framework has not yet been commenced but preparatory work is underway with criminal justice agencies to improve the quality of the underlying victims’ data that will support the development of prescribed metrics which will underpin the framework.

The Victims and Courts Act 2026 strengthened the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner within that framework by requiring the Commissioner to produce their own report on Code compliance to enable independent oversight of the criminal justice agencies compliance with the Code.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice ran a public consultation on a new Victims’ Code, which closed on 30 April. The Department is now taking the time to consider the responses it has received and will respond publicly in due course, ahead of bringing a new Code into force.

Finally, where victims feel that they have not received the services they can expect as set out in the Code, there are formal complaints processes that service providers are required to provide. If victims are not happy with a service provider’s complaint response, complaints can be directly sent to the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman without going through an MP.

The Victims’ Code (the Code) sets out the rights and information victims can expect to receive from criminal justice agencies in England and Wales. As part of implementation of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, we have consulted on a new draft Victims’ Code (which is available online), which closed on 30 April. We are now considering the nearly 200 responses and will respond publicly, ahead of bringing a new Code into force.

The current Code sets out that all victims (including victims of coercive control, stalking, economic abuse and other forms of domestic abuse) are entitled to be referred to a support service by the police within 2 working days of a crime being reported to them. Both the current Code, and the new draft Code include information about a victim’s ability to ask the Attorney General to consider making a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme. The Victims and Courts Act 2026 introduced a new statutory obligation to ensure that new and revised Codes always include such information.

This Government recognises the significance and seriousness of strangulation as a method of exerting power and control. Indeed, non-fatal strangulation and suffocation is a criminal offence, an indicator of controlling or coercive behaviour, and a recognised risk factor for intimate partner homicide. The Code sets out the information and support victims can expect to receive; it therefore does not seek to provide guidance to criminal justice agencies about the risk profiles of specific criminal offences, which is a matter best dealt with elsewhere.

Guilty pleas can avoid the need for trial, shorten the gap between charge and sentence, and can save victims from having to be cross-examined on potentially highly traumatic evidence in court. Guilty pleas are also relevant to sentencing, though when they are entered later in the process, any reduction in sentence is substantially lower than in cases where guilty pleas are made earlier in the process.

Even though a guilty plea removes the need for a trial, victims have a right under the Code to make a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) to the Police, explaining how the crime has affected them. If the case proceeds to a sentencing hearing (including after a guilty plea), the VIS is delivered as evidence and the court will take into account all the circumstances of the case, including the VIS, in determining sentence. This is already set out within the current Code, but we have sought views through the consultation on how to improve communication with victims on making a VIS and on how well sentencing decisions are explained to and understood by victims.

The Victims’ Code (the Code) sets out the rights and information victims can expect to receive from criminal justice agencies in England and Wales. As part of implementation of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, we have consulted on a new draft Victims’ Code (which is available online), which closed on 30 April. We are now considering the nearly 200 responses and will respond publicly, ahead of bringing a new Code into force.

The current Code sets out that all victims (including victims of coercive control, stalking, economic abuse and other forms of domestic abuse) are entitled to be referred to a support service by the police within 2 working days of a crime being reported to them. Both the current Code, and the new draft Code include information about a victim’s ability to ask the Attorney General to consider making a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme. The Victims and Courts Act 2026 introduced a new statutory obligation to ensure that new and revised Codes always include such information.

This Government recognises the significance and seriousness of strangulation as a method of exerting power and control. Indeed, non-fatal strangulation and suffocation is a criminal offence, an indicator of controlling or coercive behaviour, and a recognised risk factor for intimate partner homicide. The Code sets out the information and support victims can expect to receive; it therefore does not seek to provide guidance to criminal justice agencies about the risk profiles of specific criminal offences, which is a matter best dealt with elsewhere.

Guilty pleas can avoid the need for trial, shorten the gap between charge and sentence, and can save victims from having to be cross-examined on potentially highly traumatic evidence in court. Guilty pleas are also relevant to sentencing, though when they are entered later in the process, any reduction in sentence is substantially lower than in cases where guilty pleas are made earlier in the process.

Even though a guilty plea removes the need for a trial, victims have a right under the Code to make a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) to the Police, explaining how the crime has affected them. If the case proceeds to a sentencing hearing (including after a guilty plea), the VIS is delivered as evidence and the court will take into account all the circumstances of the case, including the VIS, in determining sentence. This is already set out within the current Code, but we have sought views through the consultation on how to improve communication with victims on making a VIS and on how well sentencing decisions are explained to and understood by victims.

The Victims’ Code (the Code) sets out the rights and information victims can expect to receive from criminal justice agencies in England and Wales. As part of implementation of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, we have consulted on a new draft Victims’ Code (which is available online), which closed on 30 April. We are now considering the nearly 200 responses and will respond publicly, ahead of bringing a new Code into force.

The current Code sets out that all victims (including victims of coercive control, stalking, economic abuse and other forms of domestic abuse) are entitled to be referred to a support service by the police within 2 working days of a crime being reported to them. Both the current Code, and the new draft Code include information about a victim’s ability to ask the Attorney General to consider making a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme. The Victims and Courts Act 2026 introduced a new statutory obligation to ensure that new and revised Codes always include such information.

This Government recognises the significance and seriousness of strangulation as a method of exerting power and control. Indeed, non-fatal strangulation and suffocation is a criminal offence, an indicator of controlling or coercive behaviour, and a recognised risk factor for intimate partner homicide. The Code sets out the information and support victims can expect to receive; it therefore does not seek to provide guidance to criminal justice agencies about the risk profiles of specific criminal offences, which is a matter best dealt with elsewhere.

Guilty pleas can avoid the need for trial, shorten the gap between charge and sentence, and can save victims from having to be cross-examined on potentially highly traumatic evidence in court. Guilty pleas are also relevant to sentencing, though when they are entered later in the process, any reduction in sentence is substantially lower than in cases where guilty pleas are made earlier in the process.

Even though a guilty plea removes the need for a trial, victims have a right under the Code to make a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) to the Police, explaining how the crime has affected them. If the case proceeds to a sentencing hearing (including after a guilty plea), the VIS is delivered as evidence and the court will take into account all the circumstances of the case, including the VIS, in determining sentence. This is already set out within the current Code, but we have sought views through the consultation on how to improve communication with victims on making a VIS and on how well sentencing decisions are explained to and understood by victims.