Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that end-to-end encryption continues to protect personal privacy while enabling law enforcement to detect serious criminal activity.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government supports strong encryption, which protects our citizens online. However, this must not and need not be at the expense of public safety, which is this Government’s first priority.
Targeted investigatory powers allow the authorities to investigate terrorists, paedophiles and the most serious criminals and are subject to robust safeguards, including judicial authorisations and oversight to protect people’s privacy.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Reports and footage of the chaos at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites are horrifying. It is appalling that at least 2,294 people have been killed and over 16,839 injured at or near the distribution sites. This further illustrates why humanitarian partners such as the UN and humanitarian non-governmental organisations must be allowed to operate in line with their principles. We have repeatedly urged Israel to remove restrictions on aid and ensure that aid can be delivered across the Gaza strip safely.
The UK has been clear that we will not support any aid mechanism that seeks to deliver political or military objectives or puts vulnerable civilians at risk while retrieving aid.
On 11 July, I called for an independent investigation into the killing of women and children while collecting aid in central Gaza. Indications that Israel's Military Advocate General may open an investigation into allegations of deliberate targeting of civilians at aid distribution sites are a step in the right direction. We expect those responsible to be held to account.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason the aluminium sector was not included in the Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Industrial Strategy focusses on the eight sectors with the highest economic potential, while supporting the Government's strategic objectives of resilient, environmentally sustainable, and regionally balanced growth. It also identifies foundational inputs for those sectors, including aluminium.
The aluminium sector will benefit from wider growth policies. The latest UK criticality assessment includes aluminium within its critical minerals list, to be used as the basis for the upcoming Critical Minerals Strategy. Some aluminium businesses will benefit from the increased network charge compensation.
We will also consult on eligibility for the new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, which will cut electricity bills for electricity-intensive industries by up to 25%.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of waiting times for cardiac care in the North West.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling the waiting list is a top priority for the Government. This includes decreasing wait times for those accessing cardiac care. We have exceeded our pledge to deliver over two million more elective care appointments. More than double that number, or 5.2 million more appointments, have now been delivered in England.
On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan. This sets out a whole system approach to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the National Health Service constitutional standard, by March 2029.
As of the end of July 2025, compared with the end of June 2024, the overall number of people waiting for cardiac treatment in the North West has fallen by 7,536. However, performance against the 18-week target has decreased by 0.3 percentage points over the same period, namely 56.2% in June 2024 and 55.9% in July 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the new NHS workforce plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve access to mental health services for veterans in the North West.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who have served our country. In the North West and across the United Kingdom, the Veterans Welfare Service provides advice and support to veterans and their families. In England, Op COURAGE and Op RESTORE provide a broad range of specialist mental health, physical and wellbeing care services to veterans.
Additionally, with the North West Thrive Together programme, it is building and improving the veteran self-help referral process and reducing the stigma of asking for help by those that need it the most.
The Reducing Veteran Homelessness ‘Homes at Ease’ programme in the North West provides mental health support for housing applications. In 2024-25, it delivered 267 psychotherapy sessions to 54 beneficiaries to provide a bridge to highly stretched services in the region.
In May this year, we also announced VALOUR, our new commitment, backed by £50 million, to establish the first-ever UK-wide approach to veteran support, which will ensure easier access to essential care and support for veterans across the country.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests for biometric deferral have been received from Palestinian students in Gaza since October 2023; and how many have been approved.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently publish data regarding the number of biometric deferral requests submitted or approved.
The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival in the UK for all Chevening scholars from Gaza. We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students in Gaza who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025. The Government is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK. The situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to include primates in the scope of the proposed ban on the import of hunting trophies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to engage with relevant stakeholders to help determine the most appropriate scope for the ban on the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern. Species of conservation concern are listed primarily on Appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) according to the level of threat international trade has on their conservation status. This includes a large number of primate species.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of measures to protect women and girls from harassment, abuse and intimidation.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Everyone has the right to both feel safe and be safe going about their day-to-day lives and the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable.
We recognise that public sexual harassment is a crime that often leaves victims, who are disproportionately likely to be women, feeling very unsafe. That is why tackling it is very much an important part of our ambition to halve VAWG in a decade.
Once in force, the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act 2023 will help tackle this issue and ensure women both feel and are safer on our streets.
We are also working tirelessly across Government to deliver a new VAWG Strategy, which will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver the Government’s objectives on VAWG.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to local authorities to support rough sleepers during winter 2025–26; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for rough sleeping.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant (RSPARG) is providing a total of £185.6 million to local authorities across England in 2025/26. The RSPARG gives local authorities the flexibility to determine the most suitable rough sleeping services required to meet local need, this includes providing support over the winter period.