Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals identified as members of organised grooming gangs have been charged with and convicted of rape offences in the United Kingdom in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold the information requested. Information on criminal offences and criminal justice outcomes is not routinely recorded or published in a way that identifies whether an offender was a member of an organised grooming gang.
Data on the total number of charges for rape offences, not specifically those relating to grooming gangs, recorded in England and Wales for each of the last ten years is shown below. As policing is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Home Office does not hold equivalent data for those jurisdictions.
Financial year ending | Number of charges for rape offences |
March 2017 | 4,543 |
March 2018 | 3,775 |
March 2019 | 2,596 |
March 2020 | 2,404 |
March 2021 | 3,159 |
March 2022 | 3,158 |
March 2023 | 3,954 |
March 2024 | 4,965 |
March 2025 | 5,486 |
March 2026 | 6,976 |
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for rape offences in its Criminal Justice System statistics. These data do not identify whether offenders were members of organised grooming gangs. Ministry of Justice date is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-march-2026
The Government is committed to improving its understanding of, and response to, group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes investing in specialist policing capabilities through the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) Programme and the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce to improve the identification of offenders, support victims and bring perpetrators to justice. The Government is also implementing all of Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to review VAT on school uniforms.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Biodiversity Net Gain and peatland restoration funding on land subsequently developed for onshore wind.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra's peatland funding includes grants to address different challenges across England's peatlands.
Protections for peatland include the National Policy Statements for major renewable energy developments, guiding developers to avoid peatland, and where not possible, mitigate or compensate for impacts.
The National Planning Policy Framework states relevant development proposals should contribute to creation or restoration of habitats which can act as carbon stores, and contribute positively to the natural environment, and supporting nature’s recovery.
Normal biodiversity net gain (BNG) processes apply to onshore wind development. For large schemes consented through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project route, mandatory BNG applies from November.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of restrictions on the mowing, burning and grazing of vegetation on (i) its volume, (ii) its age structure, (iii) its moisture content and (iv) its flammability.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restrictions on burning through The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021 aim to reduce the impacts of unnecessary repeated burning on peatlands. Repeated burning can alter species composition and hydrology, resulting in peatlands that are often dominated by heather or Molinia.
As part of its delivery of the Third National Adaptation Programme, Defra has commissioned a wildfire and peatland study, which includes looking at the effectiveness of a range of peatland land management systems and practices in creating wildfire resilience including practices such as grazing, mowing and controlled burning. Defra will continue to monitor these results and engage with key stakeholders.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in developing her Department’s peatland calculator for carbon losses, whether the Government will include peat destruction caused by (i) wind farm developments and (ii) wildfires caused by excess vegetation.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with the Scottish Government on the development of an updated carbon calculator tool for England, similar to that used in Scotland. This will assess for the carbon impacts of peatland disturbance associated with onshore wind developments.
Peatland damaged through wildfire is not a factor being assessed through the peatland carbon calculator.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the Gambling Commission’s licensing checks in identifying whether gambling software providers supply unlicensed gambling websites.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Commission, as the independent regulator for gambling, has responsibility for making decisions around licensing.
As part of its regulatory approach, the Gambling Commission assesses applicants against the statutory licensing objectives and may take compliance and enforcement action where it identifies evidence of breaches of licence conditions or other regulatory requirements. This includes where operators or gambling software licensees are found to be supplying the illegal gambling market.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will work with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that low-carbon and sustainable heating technologies other than heat pumps are included within the final capital support framework for the proposed Warm Homes Plan.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is committed to working collaboratively with the Northern Ireland Executive on the delivery of the Warm Homes Plan (WHP), recognising the distinct housing stock and energy needs across the UK. The WHP supports a range of low‑carbon heating solutions beyond hydronic heat pumps including heat networks, biomass boilers, air-to-air heat pumps, and heat batteries to ensure the upgrades are right for the context of the household. We will continue to keep under review the range of technologies that are supported by the WHP schemes.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Modern Service Framework for Palliative and End of Life Care will include condition specific measures to address the palliative and end of life care needs of people living with dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We are working closely with a range of stakeholders, including Dementia UK, on the development of the Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care. We recently published an interim update on the MSF, which is available at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88
The MSF will provide a clinically led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvement in patient and carer outcomes, including for those with dementia, by reducing both inequality and unwarranted variation.
We recognise that high-quality palliative care and end-of-life care should include the opportunity for individuals to discuss their wishes and preferences so that these can be taken fully into account in the provision of their future care, also known as advance care planning (ACP).
In order to facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP, NHS England has published Universal Principles for ACP, which are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on dementia includes recommendations on ACP and involving people living with dementia in decisions about their care. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97
Timely and equitable identification of palliative care and end-of-life care needs will be a key element of the MSF. NHS England and the Department are working closely with other teams who developing MSFs, including on Frailty and Dementia, alongside a wide range of stakeholders on the development of the MSF, looking at how we can enable more proactive assessment of palliative care need and subsequent access to services and personalised care and support, including ACP.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commit to the Modern Service Framework for Palliative and End of Life Care including guidance on ensuring reviewed advance care planning for people living with dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We are working closely with a range of stakeholders, including Dementia UK, on the development of the Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care. We recently published an interim update on the MSF, which is available at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88
The MSF will provide a clinically led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvement in patient and carer outcomes, including for those with dementia, by reducing both inequality and unwarranted variation.
We recognise that high-quality palliative care and end-of-life care should include the opportunity for individuals to discuss their wishes and preferences so that these can be taken fully into account in the provision of their future care, also known as advance care planning (ACP).
In order to facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP, NHS England has published Universal Principles for ACP, which are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on dementia includes recommendations on ACP and involving people living with dementia in decisions about their care. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97
Timely and equitable identification of palliative care and end-of-life care needs will be a key element of the MSF. NHS England and the Department are working closely with other teams who developing MSFs, including on Frailty and Dementia, alongside a wide range of stakeholders on the development of the MSF, looking at how we can enable more proactive assessment of palliative care need and subsequent access to services and personalised care and support, including ACP.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her Armenian counterpart on access to alternative civilian service for religious conscientious objectors.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Decisions about exemptions and other issues relating to military service in Armenia are the responsibility of the government of Armenia.