Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Legal Aid Agency in ensuring solicitors use qualified and security‑vetted interpreters in legally‑aided family proceedings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Interpreters play a crucial role in family court proceedings, ensuring that individuals who do not speak English or have hearing impairments can fully participate and understand the legal process.
For most family court proceedings, His Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Services is responsible for securing interpreters for use during hearings. Neither legal aid providers nor the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) are involved in this process.
A legal aid solicitor may instruct an interpreter for use outside of hearings. All providers who undertake legal aid work are independent providers of legal aid services and are subject to oversight and regulation by relevant professional bodies rather than the LAA. When instructing interpreters in legal aid cases, legal aid providers must ensure that they adhere to the requirements set out under paragraphs 2.48-2.51 of the 2024 Standard Civil Contract: Specification. This includes provisions regarding the level of qualification that the interpreter must hold and the evidence which must be obtained and retained on file regarding this and the circumstances in which it is permissible to instruct a non-qualified interpreter.
The LAA undertakes a range of audit and assurance activity to ensure legal aid providers are complying with their contractual obligations. Clause 24 of the 2024 Standard Civil Contract: Standard Terms empowers the LAA to apply a sanction where breaches of contract are identified.
These contractual provisions act as an effective safeguard to ensure the most appropriate interpreter is used having regard to the specific circumstances of the case.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to address regulatory gaps where rooftop solar installation companies and asset owners (a) cease trading and (b) withdraw support.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are overhauling the system of standards and protections for energy efficiency and solar and battery installations. Measures announced in the Warm Homes Plan will ensure that consumers can have confidence in measures they take to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses and seek clear routes to redress where necessary.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what guidance his Department has issued on (a) access and (b) ownership of (i) performance and (ii) operational data from rooftop solar systems.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
No guidance has been issued, and we are not aware that any such data exists on a national scale.
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme holds data on every MCS certified installation since 2010 in the MCS Installations Database.
However, it does not include operational data of every system, and access is limited in line with GDPR best practice.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of (a) current funding models in the context of high mobility and separation on Service pupils and (b) targeted support for those with special and additional education needs, and disabilities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Over £26 million of targeted funding was allocated in 2025/26 to help schools in England support their Service pupils, through the Service Pupil Premium. The rate increased to £350 per eligible pupil in 2025, reflecting the department’s commitment to recognising the unique challenges faced by Armed Forces families. This funding enables schools to provide targeted pastoral and academic support to mitigate the effects of mobility and parental separation on pupil progress and wellbeing. The department reviews the Service Pupil Premium annually.
Service children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) might experience delays in identifying needs and inconsistent services and support between local authorities when their parents are redeployed and they move to a new area. The SEND reforms we are proposing respond directly to long-standing concerns about the outcomes for children with SEND and the inconsistency and inefficiencies in support. For example, National Inclusion Standards will set out support that should be available in every mainstream setting so that children can receive more consistent support. Education, health and care plans and new Individual Support Plans will be digital, to support smoother transitions when children move between schools or local authorities.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the portability of (a) special and (b) additional needs, and (c) disability provision for children in Armed Forces families.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the consultation on the government’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms, I recently attended a roundtable hosted by the Armed Forces Community All-Party Parliamentary Group. I met representatives from armed forces families and the charities that support them to hear first-hand about the problems they face. Children and young people from armed forces families might have to change nursery, school or college when their parents are redeployed. They can experience delays in identifying their needs, and inconsistent services and support between local authorities.
To address the problems caused by delays, the department’s special educational needs and disabilities reforms will improve early identification of children’s needs so that provision can be put in place more quickly. We will invest in new training for all staff and increase the number of specialists. Education health and care plans and new Individual Support Plans will be digital, which will support services children by facilitating smoother transitions when they move between schools or local authorities.
In future, services children should receive more consistent services when they move. National Inclusion Standards will set out, for the first time, support that should be available in every mainstream setting. A nationally consistent set of Specialist Provision Packages will provide comprehensive, evidence-based packages of support for children and young people with the most complex needs.
Education is a devolved matter and the reforms will apply to England only.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support families who travel long distances for NHS‑commissioned inpatient mental health care.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that being sent to a hospital far away from home, family, and support networks means a poorer experience of care for patients and increased safety risks, which is why we are working to end this practice. We have invested £75 million of capital funding in 2025/26 to improve inpatient care and help stop mental health patients being sent far from home for treatment. A national quality improvement programme is in place across England to improve the culture of care in all mental health hospitals.
Through the 10-Year Health Plan we will move care closer to home by reducing ‘out of area placements’ for mental health patients by March 2027. The NHS England Capital Guidance for 2026/27 to 2029/30, published in November 2025, makes £473 million of capital funding available for systems and encourages them to establish community based mental health centres, alongside other capital priorities. These include eliminating inappropriate out of area placements.
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to a family life. All patients have the right to maintain contact with, and be visited by, anyone they wish to see, subject to carefully limited exceptions. The value of visits in maintaining links with family and community networks is recognised as a key element in a patient’s care, treatment, and recovery. Every effort should be made to assist patients to maintain contact with friends and family, including considering the need to travel for visits when the patient is placed out of area.
Where the patient is detained under the Mental Health Act, the Code of Practice sets out that commissioners should consider whether they can provide any assistance where there are difficulties visiting because of distance. Local authorities should also consider whether it would be appropriate to provide financial support to enable families to visit children and young people placed in hospital, taking into account their duties to promote contact between children and young people and their families. Such duties arise when children and young people are being looked after by local authorities as well as when they are accommodated in hospital for three months or more. Consideration of any transfer to another hospital must include whether the transfer would give the patient greater access to carers or have the opposite effect.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the support available to small businesses for unsolicited sales approaches from third‑party intermediaries.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government’s plan is to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business, with a culture that supports entrepreneurship in every community and high street.
There is a range of support offers available to businesses and entrepreneurs including the new Business Growth Service, a network of Growth Hubs across England including the West Yorkshire Business Growth Hub and the Business Support Service, all providing free, impartial advice, information and guidance on starting up and running a business, including statutory rights and obligations for business owners.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the sale of (a) knives, (b) swords, and (c) battle axes on third-party online selling platforms.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has been strengthening controls on the online sales of bladed articles, including knives, swords and axes. We commissioned Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, to conduct a review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The review was published on 19 February 2025 and made a number of recommendations.
We are taking forward the most pressing recommendations in the report under “Ronan’s Law” a range of measures in the Crime and Policing Bill which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives, including third party platforms, incorporating strengthening age verification controls and checks through a two-stage checks at the point of purchase and on delivery.
We have introduced new legislation in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide the police with the power to require social media, marketplace, and search services to take down illegal knife and offensive weapon content. Failure to remove this material could result in both the company and a designated senior executive facing significant penalties. Further measures in the Bill, include increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives and introduce a duty on sellers to report online bulk sales of knives.
We are also looking to go further, In December last year we launched a consultation on plans to introduce a licensing scheme for those who sell knives or other bladed articles, including importers, retailers and private sellers, making them subject to strict regulations and conditions. The consultation closed on 24 February, and we are currently analysing the responses and will provide a response in due course.
Effective law enforcement is also very important. We are therefore supporting the creation of a new police unit, the National Knife Crime Centre to provide a national capability tackling the unlawful sale and marketing of knives and weapons online and links to wider criminality. In 2026/27 we are providing the Centre with £1.75m of funding for its activities.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 4th March to Question 116233, if he will clarify (a) the timeline for introducing secondary legislation and (b) whether it will apply to all Common High Priority List items.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We expect to lay secondary legislation to deliver the sanctions end-use control this Spring, subject to the Parliamentary timetable.
The sanctions end-use control is intended to apply to exports which are not already subject to strategic export controls, where a risk of circumvention to a sanctioned destination is identified. The full scope of this measure and details on its application and implementation will be set out in guidance upon laying the legislation.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to the Palestinian Authority on payments to convicted terrorists.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer provided in the House of Lords on 13 November 2025 in response to Question HL11575, which for ease is reproduced below:
In President Abbas' letter to President Macron, dated 9 June 2025, he set out his commitment to the principles of non-violence, the organisation of elections, the development of a school curriculum that is free from incitement, and the implementation of a new social security system, which will revoke so-called prisoner payments, and ensure that any future welfare payments are needs-based and delinked from violent actions. The Palestinian Authority must now ensure that an independent audit is conducted to verify that these reforms have been completed.