Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2026 to Question 11755, what circumstances have previously been regarded as constituting a justifiable business requirement for making reference to a candidate's protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 in employer input on suitability for military appointments or promotions; and, for each such circumstance, what protected characteristic was considered.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
Military appointments and promotions are based on merit, and protected characteristics are not used as selection criteria. Consequently, there is no centrally held record linking appointment or promotion decisions to candidates' protected characteristics.
All appointment and promotion decisions are made in accordance with relevant legislation and departmental policy.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what dates vessels of the a) British Army b) Royal Navy c) Royal Air Force visited New Zealand since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Vessels from the Royal Navy visited New Zealand on the below dates.
Date | Place | Vessel |
10–19 May 2023 | Auckland | HMS SPEY |
20–23 May 2023 | Wellington | HMS SPEY |
19–22 Feb 2024 | Auckland | HMS TAMAR |
25–29 Feb 2024 | Devonport | HMS TAMAR |
7–11 Mar 2024 | Auckland | HMS TAMAR |
22–28 Aug 2024 | Wellington | HMS TAMAR |
30 Aug–2 Sep 2024 | Devonport | HMS TAMAR |
12–28 Sep 2024 | Devonport | HMS TAMAR |
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2026, to Question 13237, on Department for Transport: Public Relations, and with reference to the answer of 30 January 2025, to Question 25857, on Written Questions: Government Responses, if she will provide relevant hyperlinks to each of the live contracts in this area of spending.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Details of all live contracts in this area of spending for the Department and its arm’s length bodies (that are above the relevant thresholds) are published on the Government’s Contracts Finder service and/or Find a Tender Service.
Links to these sites are below.
Contract Finder - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he made of requiring the structural steel used in the Net Zero Teesside carbon capture, utilisation and storage project to be (a) produced and (b) fabricated in the UK.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government knows it is important to communities across the country that we use UK-made steel. We are ambitious about increasing the use of UK made steel in UK energy and infrastructure projects where possible.
Net Zero Teesside is not a public procurement (so public procurement guidelines do not apply) but we have spoken to the project developer to understand more about the use of UK and non-UK steel, as well as the wider use of UK local content, in the project. They confirmed their voluntary commitment to achieve more than 50% UK content across the value chain, with around £1.5 billion UK-based sub-contracts already awarded.
We want to champion UK steelmaking and our steel communities now and for generations to come and my colleagues at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are looking at how greater UK content will be used in future projects.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with the Government of New Zealand to ensure the UK Armed Forces play a present and active role in the Indo-Pacific region over the next 20 years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK and New Zealand maintain a strong defence partnership and are committed to working together to enhance security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Through the Joint Statement on Enhanced Defence Cooperation, signed in September 2025 between UK-New Zealand Defence Ministers, the UK and New Zealand have committed to cooperate on regional security challenges, enhance interoperability, and strengthen defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and Pacific.
The UK and New Zealand continue to exercise and train together through multinational activity, including the Five Power Defence Arrangements, exercises, and through bilateral engagement with the New Zealand Defence Force. Between April and June 2026, the UK Armed Forces also recently conducted joint training activities in New Zealand alongside New Zealand Defence Force counterparts.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether (a) Transport for London, (b) the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and (c) the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames have, individually or jointly, submitted (i) an expression of interest and (ii) an application to the Structures Fund in relation to Hammersmith Bridge; and whether officials in her Department have held discussions with any of those bodies on a potential Structures Fund application for Hammersmith Bridge in advance of any formal submission.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the asset owner and project lead, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is responsible for submitting any application to the Structures Fund. Local highway authorities have until 3 August 2026 to put forward proposals for investment.
My Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks, including the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The technical advisory body to the Structures Fund is also having conversations on behalf of my Department about projects that local highway authorities may put forward to the fund; including Hammersmith Bridge.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on how much revenue each local authority in England received from traffic enforcement in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This information is not held by central government.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HMRC's policy paper entitled Salary sacrifice reform for pension contributions, published on 4 December 2025, if she will publish the calculation underpinning the estimate that the mean average additional employee National Insurance contributions liability will be £84 in the first year.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
Further detail on the methodology and assumptions used to produce the fiscal impact of the measure can be found in the OBR’s “Supplementary forecast information on salary-sacrifice pension contributions” publication, which includes breakdowns of the costing pre- and post-behaviour and by employer/employee National Insurance.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on what the twenty most common offences dealt with by (a) community resolutions and (b) out of court conditional cautions were in the most recent year for which data is available; and how many cases there were for each offence.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences and their outcomes including community resolutions and cautions recorded by the police in England and Wales.
This information is published as official statistics each quarter. The latest information by force and offence type to the year ending December 2025, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables
Statistics to the year ending March 2026 will be published on July 23.
Information on out of court conditional cautions is not separately identifiable from Adult/Youth Cautions.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many offences recorded by police in England and Wales were dealt with by (a) a community resolution and (b) an out of court conditional caution in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences and their outcomes including community resolutions and cautions recorded by the police in England and Wales.
This information is published as official statistics each quarter. The latest information by force and offence type to the year ending December 2025, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables
Statistics to the year ending March 2026 will be published on July 23.
Information on out of court conditional cautions is not separately identifiable from Adult/Youth Cautions.