Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether has had discussions with British Transport Police on the adequacy of the training available to help officers (a) identify and (b) respond to county lines exploitation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police (BTP) have a comprehensive training programme in place. All new police officers and police community support officers receive input from the County Lines Taskforce safeguarding team in their initial training and the team provide training to other teams within the force when required.
BTP’s County Lines safeguarding team also deliver the national County Lines coordination centre hydra training which is open to all BTP officers. They also invite partners from children’s services to attend and take part alongside them. The force also provide resources and guidance to officers on how to identify exploitation and make effective referrals.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the British Transport Police on the adequacy of its procedures for (a) identifying victims of (i) modern slavery and (ii) county lines and (b) referring them for support.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no place for modern slavery or county lines in our society and the British Transport Police (BTP) work to make the railway a hostile environment for criminals committing these offences and a place of safety for victims of exploitation.
The BTP are having much success in their programmes to address these issues. In 2024/25 there were over 230 children safeguarded and 14 modern slavery charges secured by BTP.
The BTP are one of five Police forces with a dedicated County Lines Task Force funded by the Home Office. The taskforce is an intelligence-led proactive unit focused on tackling drug supply and criminal child exploitation, working across the whole rail network in England, Scotland and Wales.
I can reassure you that safeguarding and identifying victims is at the heart of the taskforce’s operations and they have dedicated safeguarding professionals embedded in the team to put support in place for vulnerable individuals.
Whilst this vital work takes place year round, I would like to highlight the work the force did recently, during the national County Lines week of action which ran from 23 June – 29 June 2025. BTP’s County Lines Taskforce ran 48 operations across England, Scotland and Wales which saw 38 people offered support after being identified as victims of exploitation by drugs gangs.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the British Transport Police on tackling county lines.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers and officials at the Department meet with the British Transport Police on a regular basis to discuss the work the force are doing to ensure the railway remains a safe environment for the public and rail staff.
The BTP’s County Lines taskforce are undertaking excellent work to tackle County Lines activity on the railway. The taskforce is an intelligence-led proactive unit, focused on tackling drug supply and child exploitation, working across the whole rail network in England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) insurers, (b) technology developers, (c) investigators and (d) other key stakeholders can access essential AV data for (a) real-world performance monitoring and (b) post-collision analysis.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is working to implement the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024, which includes provisions to enable appropriate access to AV data.
As part of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles’ AV Act Implementation Programme, work is ongoing to ensure that key stakeholders can access the data they need to support the safe deployment of self-driving technologies. This includes a recent call for evidence on the Statement of Safety Principles and consultation on protecting marketing terms, with the aim of delivering the regulatory framework in the second half of 2027.
At the international level, the UK continues to contribute to the work underway at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on harmonised rules for automated driving systems. This includes provisions for a regulation on a data storage system for AVs, which will ensure that AVs record and store the key data points required for performance monitoring and post-collision analysis.
The AV Act allows for conditions to be set in secondary legislation to require the sharing of data and information (including with public bodies and insurers) where it is necessary to support the safe operation of AVs. It requires arrangements to be made for monitoring and assessing the general performance of AVs, with an annual report produced. The Act also makes provisions for the investigation of incidents, ensuring that incident inspectors have the powers to access all data needed.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help (a) prevent and (b) disrupt modern slavery.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The DfT works collaboratively with delivery bodies to tackle modern slavery in supply chains. A DfT modern slavery working group has been in place since 2020, to help embed modern slavery commercial policies, including Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Notes and share best practice.
DfT has invited a number of suppliers to complete the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT), including its strategic suppliers. This seeks assurances from our suppliers on the policies and procedures they have in place to help protect their workforce.
The Commercial Function within DfT continues to raise awareness and build knowledge of modern slavery, through training opportunities and events. The Group Commercial Director is the DfT Anti-Slavery Advocate and is committed to developing and promoting policies and programmes to address modern slavery in commercial activity.
DfT also continues to highlight the importance of this work with its suppliers, using events as a platform to remind suppliers of the government’s commitment to mitigate modern slavery in supply chains, examples of this are through supply chain management meetings and supplier engagement opportunities.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is considering to help tackle potential transnational repression of (a) Hong Kong, (b) Uyghur and (c) Tibetan diaspora communities in the UK, in the context of the proposed Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Freedom of speech and other fundamental rights are protected under domestic law for everyone within the UK, regardless of nationality. Any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated.
All material planning considerations will be taken into account in reaching a decision on the planning application in question. As the application in question is before ministers in MHCLG to determine, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific elements of it.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to publish an Outcome Delivery Plan for 2025 to 2026.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Outcome Delivery Plans are co-ordinated through the Cabinet Office and we are awaiting confirmation on whether they will be published for this year and the process and timing of this.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) receive and (b) are eligible under existing rules for free school meals in Wimbledon.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department holds free school meals data, which can be found in this publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to require transport authorities to integrate reporting tools for (a) gendered violence and (b) anti-social behaviour into transport apps.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes. The Department for Transport is working with partners across government and the transport industry to play its part in achieve this mission.
We know that consistency of reporting is an important issue and we intend to look at this in more detail. However, we would always encourage victims of violence and anti-social behaviour to report these incidents to the police in the usual way.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to expand public awareness campaigns that encourage reporting of sexual harassment on public transport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes.
The Department for Transport is working with partners across government and the transport industry to play its part in achieve this mission.
This includes working with the British Transport Police to encourage reporting via the 61016 text reporting number. We are also supportive of the Rail Delivery Group’s ‘Zero Tolerance Campaign’ which raises awareness of sexual harassment and encourages reporting and bystander interventions when safe to do so.
We are also bringing forward measures in the Bus Services (No. 2) mandating training for staff in the bus industry on how to recognise and respond to incidents of violence against women and girls, as well as anti-social behaviour (ASB).