Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Victim Liaison Officers will make recommendations regarding victim safety prior to the early release of any prisoner convicted of (a) sexual offences, (b) child sexual offences and (c) domestic abuse-related offences under the Earned Progression Model; and whether those recommended safety measures will be fully implemented ahead of any such release.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Sections 35 to 45 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provide eligible victims with statutory rights under the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, including the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions and to receive relevant information about an offender's release. These arrangements apply equally to releases under the Earned Progression Model. This includes eligible sexual, child sexual and domestic abuse-related offences where the victim falls within the scope of the Victim Contact Scheme.

In line with policy, there is engagement between the Probation Practitioner responsible for supervising the offender on licence and the Victim Liaison Officer, to ensure that victims' views on licence conditions are sought and considered prior to any release subject to licence. In cases involving eligible violent or sexual offences where an offender has received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, Victim Liaison Officers engage with victims regarding proposed licence conditions and any conditions they wish to request. These may include measures such as exclusion zones and non-contact conditions.

The role of the Victim Liaison Officer is to ensure that victims’ views and concerns are heard throughout the offender management process, including prior to release. Their role is to obtain and communicate victims’ views to the Probation Practitioner.

Victims are then informed of the outcome of decisions relating to licence conditions, including any agreed exclusion zones. Arrangements are made before release to ensure that approved licence conditions take effect from the point of release including implementing electronic monitoring or GPS exclusion zones. Where victim representations are not reflected in the final licence conditions, the reasons for the decision will be communicated to the victim. There is no formal appeal process for victims in relation to licence conditions, although concerns may be raised through existing HMPPS complaints procedures.

The Department keeps operational resource requirements under review and works closely with probation regions to ensure that statutory obligations to victims continue to be met, including those delivered through the Victim Contact Scheme.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether there is a requirement to ensure that a Victim Liaison Officer is formally consulted regarding victim safety and geographic exclusion zones prior to the early release of any prisoner convicted of (a) sexual offences, (b) child sexual offences and (c) domestic abuse-related offences.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Sections 35 to 45 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provide eligible victims with statutory rights under the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, including the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions and to receive relevant information about an offender's release. These arrangements apply equally to releases under the Earned Progression Model. This includes eligible sexual, child sexual and domestic abuse-related offences where the victim falls within the scope of the Victim Contact Scheme.

In line with policy, there is engagement between the Probation Practitioner responsible for supervising the offender on licence and the Victim Liaison Officer, to ensure that victims' views on licence conditions are sought and considered prior to any release subject to licence. In cases involving eligible violent or sexual offences where an offender has received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, Victim Liaison Officers engage with victims regarding proposed licence conditions and any conditions they wish to request. These may include measures such as exclusion zones and non-contact conditions.

The role of the Victim Liaison Officer is to ensure that victims’ views and concerns are heard throughout the offender management process, including prior to release. Their role is to obtain and communicate victims’ views to the Probation Practitioner.

Victims are then informed of the outcome of decisions relating to licence conditions, including any agreed exclusion zones. Arrangements are made before release to ensure that approved licence conditions take effect from the point of release including implementing electronic monitoring or GPS exclusion zones. Where victim representations are not reflected in the final licence conditions, the reasons for the decision will be communicated to the victim. There is no formal appeal process for victims in relation to licence conditions, although concerns may be raised through existing HMPPS complaints procedures.

The Department keeps operational resource requirements under review and works closely with probation regions to ensure that statutory obligations to victims continue to be met, including those delivered through the Victim Contact Scheme.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what policy protocol is in place under the Earned Progression Model when a releasing authority declines to implement a safety or geographic exclusion zone recommendation made by a Victim Liaison Officer; and what the formal appeal or review mechanism is for a victim if such a recommendation is rejected.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Sections 35 to 45 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provide eligible victims with statutory rights under the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, including the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions and to receive relevant information about an offender's release. These arrangements apply equally to releases under the Earned Progression Model. This includes eligible sexual, child sexual and domestic abuse-related offences where the victim falls within the scope of the Victim Contact Scheme.

In line with policy, there is engagement between the Probation Practitioner responsible for supervising the offender on licence and the Victim Liaison Officer, to ensure that victims' views on licence conditions are sought and considered prior to any release subject to licence. In cases involving eligible violent or sexual offences where an offender has received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, Victim Liaison Officers engage with victims regarding proposed licence conditions and any conditions they wish to request. These may include measures such as exclusion zones and non-contact conditions.

The role of the Victim Liaison Officer is to ensure that victims’ views and concerns are heard throughout the offender management process, including prior to release. Their role is to obtain and communicate victims’ views to the Probation Practitioner.

Victims are then informed of the outcome of decisions relating to licence conditions, including any agreed exclusion zones. Arrangements are made before release to ensure that approved licence conditions take effect from the point of release including implementing electronic monitoring or GPS exclusion zones. Where victim representations are not reflected in the final licence conditions, the reasons for the decision will be communicated to the victim. There is no formal appeal process for victims in relation to licence conditions, although concerns may be raised through existing HMPPS complaints procedures.

The Department keeps operational resource requirements under review and works closely with probation regions to ensure that statutory obligations to victims continue to be met, including those delivered through the Victim Contact Scheme.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department takes to verify that all protective licence conditions and GPS exclusion zones recommended by a Victim Liaison Officer are (a) fully active and (b) communicated to the victim before an offender is released under the intensive supervision stage of the Earned Progression Model.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Sections 35 to 45 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provide eligible victims with statutory rights under the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, including the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions and to receive relevant information about an offender's release. These arrangements apply equally to releases under the Earned Progression Model. This includes eligible sexual, child sexual and domestic abuse-related offences where the victim falls within the scope of the Victim Contact Scheme.

In line with policy, there is engagement between the Probation Practitioner responsible for supervising the offender on licence and the Victim Liaison Officer, to ensure that victims' views on licence conditions are sought and considered prior to any release subject to licence. In cases involving eligible violent or sexual offences where an offender has received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, Victim Liaison Officers engage with victims regarding proposed licence conditions and any conditions they wish to request. These may include measures such as exclusion zones and non-contact conditions.

The role of the Victim Liaison Officer is to ensure that victims’ views and concerns are heard throughout the offender management process, including prior to release. Their role is to obtain and communicate victims’ views to the Probation Practitioner.

Victims are then informed of the outcome of decisions relating to licence conditions, including any agreed exclusion zones. Arrangements are made before release to ensure that approved licence conditions take effect from the point of release including implementing electronic monitoring or GPS exclusion zones. Where victim representations are not reflected in the final licence conditions, the reasons for the decision will be communicated to the victim. There is no formal appeal process for victims in relation to licence conditions, although concerns may be raised through existing HMPPS complaints procedures.

The Department keeps operational resource requirements under review and works closely with probation regions to ensure that statutory obligations to victims continue to be met, including those delivered through the Victim Contact Scheme.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the administrative and casework capacity of Victim Liaison Officers to manage the increased volume of statutory consultations required under the early release provisions of the Earned Progression Model.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Sections 35 to 45 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provide eligible victims with statutory rights under the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, including the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions and to receive relevant information about an offender's release. These arrangements apply equally to releases under the Earned Progression Model. This includes eligible sexual, child sexual and domestic abuse-related offences where the victim falls within the scope of the Victim Contact Scheme.

In line with policy, there is engagement between the Probation Practitioner responsible for supervising the offender on licence and the Victim Liaison Officer, to ensure that victims' views on licence conditions are sought and considered prior to any release subject to licence. In cases involving eligible violent or sexual offences where an offender has received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, Victim Liaison Officers engage with victims regarding proposed licence conditions and any conditions they wish to request. These may include measures such as exclusion zones and non-contact conditions.

The role of the Victim Liaison Officer is to ensure that victims’ views and concerns are heard throughout the offender management process, including prior to release. Their role is to obtain and communicate victims’ views to the Probation Practitioner.

Victims are then informed of the outcome of decisions relating to licence conditions, including any agreed exclusion zones. Arrangements are made before release to ensure that approved licence conditions take effect from the point of release including implementing electronic monitoring or GPS exclusion zones. Where victim representations are not reflected in the final licence conditions, the reasons for the decision will be communicated to the victim. There is no formal appeal process for victims in relation to licence conditions, although concerns may be raised through existing HMPPS complaints procedures.

The Department keeps operational resource requirements under review and works closely with probation regions to ensure that statutory obligations to victims continue to be met, including those delivered through the Victim Contact Scheme.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department last reviewed the 2009 technical advice document on the labelling of produce originating from the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and whether she plans to update the guidance.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK aims to maintain high standards on the information provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. The UK expects food originating from Israeli settlements located in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 to be accurately labelled to prevent consumers being misled. All food sold on the UK market, including imported food, must comply with food labelling rules.

Defra continues to consider food labelling issues of importance to consumers and businesses, including the provision of guidance, and will provide further updates as this work progresses.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, with reference to the press release entitled Patients to benefit from faster access to medicines as UK moves away from animal testing in science, published on 12 August 2026, if he will provide a breakdown of that funding, including the (a) name of each project, (b) recipient organisation and (c) amount awarded to each project.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Innovate UK awarded funding to the following projects: VivoSphere CardioSafe Platform for Reproducible, Regulatory-Ready In Vitro Cardiotoxicity Screening (VivoSphere UK, £200,000); RITMO (BiomimX Srl, £199,991); a cardiovascular safety framework (University of Nottingham, £198,464); Integrated MPS-PBPK Platform for Non Animal Human PK Prediction (CN Bio Innovations, £180,980); chemically expanded hepatocytes for pharmacokinetic studies (University of Edinburgh, £194,563); Human Representative In Vitro Models for Ear Therapeutics (CamGene Therapeutics, £196,194); CANVAS (Biofoundry Energy, £197,092); a cardiovascular safety platform (InoCardia, £188,966); computational prediction of lipid nanoparticle pharmacokinetics (Nanograb, £199,390); and PKBridge (IOTeach, £197,500).

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, when HM Revenue and Customs last updated the non-eligible postcode list published under the Notice to Importers: imports from Israel into the United Kingdom; and whether that data is shared with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to support labelling enforcement.

Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The non-eligible postcode list was last updated on 22 August 2025 and HMRC work in cooperation with the relevant government departments on enforcement. However, as of 8 September the Foreign Secretary has announced an import ban on goods from Israeli Settlements. This ban will subsume our existing measures and by design is aimed at being disruptive to the economic drivers that help illegal settlements grow. Detailed guidance for businesses on the implications of this will be published alongside the legislation, and we will work closely with colleagues across government on the design and enforcement of these new measures.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the fur working group established by her Department will consider the potential public health risks associated with overseas fur farming; and when she plans to publish her Department's policy position on the UK fur trade.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, Defra has established a working group on fur, involving both industry experts and those who support restrictions on the trade in fur. The primary focus of the group will be to explore animal welfare concerns relating to the fur trade and the different ways in which they could be addressed. The department will seek appropriate input from relevant experts as needed as part of this.

Along with the previous government’s call for evidence and the Animal Welfare Committee’s opinion on fur, outputs from this working group will be used to inform future policy decisions on this issue.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with local authority Trading Standards services regarding the resourcing and enforcement of retail country-of-origin labelling compliance.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Under consumer protection legislation enforced locally by Trading Standards, it is illegal to mislead consumers as to the nature of a product through labelling or other marketing.

With respect to food labelling, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Food Standards Agency work closely with Local Authority Enforcement Officers who enforce food labelling rules in the UK, including country-of-origin labelling requirements.

Resourcing of Trading Standards is a matter for the relevant local authority. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26.

The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Treasury has made an assessment of (a) the potential revenue that could be raised from extending the higher rate of Air Passenger Duty to all private jet flights and (b) the impact of using any additional revenue raised to support households facing higher living costs.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

At present, only 36 per cent of private jet passengers pay the higher APD rate, while most pay the same as those on commercial flights, despite private jets offering a more premium service with far fewer passengers and significantly higher emissions per person than commercial flights.

The Government does not believe this to be fair, which is why at Budget 2024 we announced that from April 2027, the Government will extend the scope of the higher rate of APD to cover all private jets over 5.7 tonnes. This change will mean that private jet passengers always pay higher rates of APD compared to commercial flyers and ensures fair and consistent taxation across private aviation.

The measure is expected to raise £10m per year. These figures have been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility and were published alongside Budget 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-passenger-duty-and-private-jets/air-passenger-duty-extension-of-the-higher-rate

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what guidance her Department provides to social housing providers on the (a) disposal, (b) replacement and (c) recycling of legacy solar photovoltaic panels that have reached the end of their operational lifecycle.

Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Legislation is in place to control the disposal of solar equipment at the end of its life for the collection and recycling of old PV panels with some companies globally and in the UK able to take the materials from the panels to use in different industries.

Whilst no formal guidance is provided to social housing providers, they should ensure they have familiarised themselves with the disposal obligations under UK regulations before installing solar panel on homes. If they are unsure of how to comply with these regulations they can speak with the supplier and installer of the panels, or with specialist panel recycling companies.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that the scope of the proposed ban on social media companies for children under 16 can respond to changes in (a) the services used by children, (b) the risks posed by those services and (c) the safety measures implemented by service providers.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The government announced in June that we would ban social media companies from offering their services to under 16s. This means capturing user to user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction, and which allow users to post material alongside algorithms. The department is currently working through the details and the final scope criteria will be set out in the regulations that will be laid in Parliament.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his department has made of the UK’s obligations under (a) pillar two and (b) pillar three of the UN Responsibility to Protect framework in relation to the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK continues to stand firm on human rights in China, including in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities continue to face persecution and arbitrary detention. We raise our concerns directly at the highest levels, and in international fora such as at the UN Human Rights Council. In a statement on 8 September, the UK's Human Rights Ambassador noted that "China has yet to implement the recommendations of the Office of the High Commissioner's Xinjiang Assessment" and that "evidence of violations in Xinjiang and Tibet persists".

Found: Current membership Sarah Champion (Labour; Rotherham) (Chair) Janet Daby (Labour; Lewisham East) Tracy

Found: Current membership Sarah Champion (Labour; Rotherham) (Chair) Janet Daby (Labour; Lewisham East) Tracy

Found: Current membership Sarah Champion (Labour; Rotherham) (Chair) Janet Daby (Labour; Lewisham East) Tracy

Found: Current membership Sarah Champion (Labour; Rotherham) (Chair) Janet Daby (Labour; Lewisham East) Tracy

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sarah Champion (Chair); Janet Daby; Tracy Gilbert; Monica Harding

Found: of State for International Development and Africa King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH Sarah Champion

Found: Yours sincerely, Sarah Champion MP Chair of the International Development Committee

Found: for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH Sarah Champion

Found: Yours sincerely, Sarah Champion MP Chair of the International Development Committee

Found: State for International Development and Africa King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH Sarah Champion

Found: Yours sincerely, Sarah Champion MP Chair of the International Development Committee

Found: Yours sincerely, Sarah Champion MP Chair, International Development Committee

Found: the meeting Members present: Lord Sedwill (in the Chair), Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom; Liam Byrne; Sarah Champion