Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an estimate of the lifetime net cost of a small boat migrant accepted by the UK.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has not carried out an assessment of the lifetime net cost of a small boat migrant who arrives in the UK and we have no plans to do so.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to include physiotherapy graduates in the Graduate Guarantee Scheme.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are currently no plans to expand the Graduate Guarantee to physiotherapy graduates.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the cost and feasibility of undergrounding new electricity transmission infrastructure in rural areas, including Suffolk.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Network developers, not Government, are responsible for assessing the cost and feasibility of construction methods for new electricity transmission infrastructure. This includes consideration of whether construction methods are technically deliverable and an assessment of any environmental impacts.

Undergrounding is significantly more expensive, with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (April 2025) estimating that it costs around four and a half times more than overhead lines. As these costs are ultimately borne by electricity bill payers, overhead lines are the Government’s starting presumption for new transmission infrastructure.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what information his Department holds on the number of people that have been prosecuted for facilitating forced marriages in each year since 2010 and broken down by local authority area.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Offences relating to forced marriages are created by s121 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which came into force in June 2014. Section 121 was further amended in February 2023 when s121(3A) was inserted making it an offence to force a child under the age of 18 into a marriage.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds management information from 2015 which shows the number of offences charged by way of s121 (forced marriage) in which a prosecution commenced. Table 1 below shows the number of these offences from 1^st April 2015 to 30^th September 2025.

The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data are held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.

In addition to the offence-based data, management information is held showing the number of defendants flagged with the forced marriage monitoring flag who were prosecuted from 1^st April 2010 to 30^th September 2025. Table 2 shows the number of flagged defendants prosecuted during this period.

The CPS forced marriage monitoring flag applies to any person who commits an offence under the law of England and Wales if he or she (a) uses violence, threats, or any other form of coercion for the purpose of causing another person to enter into a marriage, and (b) believes, or ought reasonably to believe, that the conduct may cause the other person to enter into the marriage without free and full consent.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to establish a development corporation in support of construction related to the Forest City 1 plan to build a city of a million people between Newmarket and Haverhill.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government has no current plans to establish a development corporation in support of construction related to the Forest City 1 proposal.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps Ofcom is taking to help tackle websites that provide instructions on committing suicide.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to prevent all users from encountering illegal suicide and self-harm content, and children from legal content encouraging, promoting, or providing instructions for suicide or self-harm.

The independent regulator Ofcom enforces compliance with the Act. Ofcom’s first investigation under the Act targeted a pro-suicide forum. On 6 January, Ofcom confirmed it has informed the forum provider that Ofcom is working towards issuing a provisional notice of contravention in relation to Act breaches.

Ofcom has also established a dedicated small but risky supervision taskforce, focusing on small services posing the most severe risk of harm.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what grounds Border Force might allow (a) sodium nitrate and (b) other toxic materials onward passage to a postal address.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Border Force controls imports and exports of sodium nitrate and other toxic materials in line with legislation. Where appropriate, Border Force uses powers in the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (CEMA), The Police and Crime Evidence Act 1984, The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, and common law powers to detain or seize such goods, when they are liable to forfeiture under CEMA or evidence of an offence, referring to other law enforcement agencies for actioning as necessary.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what Border Force's policy is on the interception of (a) sodium nitrate and (b) other toxic materials at the border.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Border Force controls imports and exports of sodium nitrate and other toxic materials in line with legislation. Where appropriate, Border Force uses powers in the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (CEMA), The Police and Crime Evidence Act 1984, The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, and common law powers to detain or seize such goods, when they are liable to forfeiture under CEMA or evidence of an offence, referring to other law enforcement agencies for actioning as necessary.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what information his Department holds on the number of people that have been prosecuted for honour-based offences broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) category of offence in each year since 2010.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The CPS define ‘honour’ based abuse as an incident or crime involving violence, threats of violence, intimidation coercion or abuse (including psychological, physical, sexual, financial, or emotional abuse) which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of an individual, family and/ or community for alleged or perceived breaches of the family and/or community's code of behaviour. These data are accurate only to the extent that the flag is accurately applied.

Management information is available from 2010 which shows the number of prosecuted defendants flagged with the so-called honour-based abuse monitoring flag. The number of prosecuted defendants last year were at their highest level for seven years.

Table 1 (below) shows this information from 1^st April 2010 to 30^th September 2025, and Table 2 provides the same information by the Principal Offence Category allocated to the defendant at the conclusion of the prosecution proceeding.

Table 1 – Prosecuted defendants charged with ‘honour’ based abuse monitoring flag

Table 2 – Prosecuted defendants by principal offence category and flagged with the ‘honour’ based abuse monitoring flag

Data source: CPS Case Management Information System

The CPS collects data to assist in the effective management of its prosecution functions through its Case Management System (CMS). The CPS does not collect data that constitutes official statistics as defined in the Statistics and Registration Act 2007.