Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to support police forces to develop drone-as-first-responder programmes, including through funding, shared operational standards and the evaluation and expansion of pilot schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to support police forces to develop drone-as-first-responder programmes, including through funding, shared operational standards and the evaluation and expansion of pilot schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential for drone technology to improve police response times and public safety in rural and geographically dispersed communities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the operational benefits of using drones to provide police officers with real time aerial intelligence when responding to road traffic collisions, searches for criminal suspects and other emergency incidents.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of how Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations could improve police response times, operational efficiency, and public safety.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the value of drone technology in supporting police forces to prevent and investigate rural crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the benefits that drone technology can provide to policing operations. The Home Office has supported police forces to develop Drone as First Responders (DFR) through funding of the NPCC Drones Programme since 2022. This programme aims to trial and better understand the benefits of these innovative drone capabilities for future police aviation, as well as standardise and professionalise the use of drones across all 43 forces in England and Wales to develop a safe and effective national drone capability for policing.
To date, the Home Office has allocated over £11m to the NPCC Drones programme, and through this, six forces are now operating DFR, all of which are extending into multi-city operations, and an additional eight forces will be coming online this year. The programme will contribute towards a better understanding of the role that future and current drone technology can play as part of police air support, including rural areas.
Though the department has not undertaken its own separate assessment on the operational benefits of drones to policing, we support and oversee the funding for the NPCC Drones programme, who are investigating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight, analysing results, and mapping benefits to policing. Therefore, the Home Office has considered evidence provided by policing partners on the operational benefits of drone technology, which indicate improved response times, positive public safety outcomes, and efficient use of police resources. The Government will continue to monitor emerging evidence from the programme and operational deployments to inform future policy development and funding decisions.
Regarding rural crime, this year the programme is focussing on developing a longer-endurance fixed-wing capability, which will provide a more rapid response in large rural areas than current drone capabilities, which are either shorter range or still need to travel to the scene by car. All the benefits drones provide to police operations generally will apply to rural crime, and developing a safe and effective drone capability will strengthen rural policing, improve response times and support enforcement in harder-to-reach areas. However, the programme is proactively working on getting them to rural countryside locations more quickly and ensuring they have the right equipment on board to allow a positive outcome. The programme is also working with the National Rural Crime Unit to ensure that rural crime is appropriately considered when implementing national police use of drone capabilities.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to reinstate the Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting time data for audiology services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to make the change described.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how does procurement within the Home Office’s current funding opportunity, entitled 'Violence against women and girls advocacy support fund', align with the Government's commitment to specialist by-and-for services.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We understand the importance of specialist and ‘by and for’ services in providing the tailored support that victims and survivors of VAWG need to survive and thrive.
As part of the ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls', the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally. The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published.
The Strategy committed to reforming the commissioning landscape to improve the provision of specialist and ‘by and for’ services for victims. As part of this, we will publish a new cross-government commissioning statement on VAWG. This statement will provide clear definitions of ‘by-and-for’ and specialist services, helping commissioners allocate funding more effectively and clarify the responsibilities and best practice for local commissioners in commissioning ‘by and for’ and specialist services.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has policy papers, impact assessments or other documents setting out (a) the original policy aims, (b) the anticipated merits, risks or cost savings and (c) the operational reasons for not including serving members of the Armed Forces, but not their family members, from the provision of NHS Patient Choice (Right to Choose).
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
The NHS Patient Choice (Right to Choose) was legislated for by the Department of Health and Social Care and provides a legal entitlement in England for patients to select their hospital or mental health service provider for a first routine outpatient referral. This right applies when your GP refers you to see a specialist for a physical or mental health condition.
For Armed Forces personnel, Defence Medical Command (DMedC) provides primary healthcare, dental care, rehabilitation, occupational medicine, mental healthcare to ensure service personnel are medically fit, deployable globally, and ready for operations. DMedC works in partnership with the NHS to meet the healthcare needs of Armed Forces personnel and ensure Armed Forces personnel have appropriate access to NHS pathways.
The department recognises concerns about access to the ‘Right to Choose’ pathway for Armed Forces personnel and will continue to work with the NHS to ensure Armed Forces personnel have appropriate access to NHS pathways, including those provided for by the ‘Right to Choose.’
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress his Department has made on implementing the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace; and what steps his Department is taking to support Israeli and Palestinian civil society organisations working to advance (a) a just peace, (b) an end to occupation, and (c) self-determination, equality and security for all.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK, alongside Australia and Canada, launched the International Peace Fund in June 2026 to support practical, grassroots initiatives that bring Israelis and Palestinians together, rebuild trust and support a sustainable two-state solution. The UK, Australia and Canada have each committed £1 million to launch the Fund. Funding will go to a range of projects, particularly those that include youth groups, civil society organisations and women, with an emphasis on relationship building and creating opportunities for engagement that can underpin future peace negotiations.