Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to support veterans to access (a) housing, (b) healthcare services and (c) employment support in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is fully committed to ensuring that all veterans, including those living in Runcorn and Helsby, have easy access to support in these essential areas, when and where it is needed.
For housing support in England, Op FORTITUDE is the support referral pathway to connect veterans at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. The Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme funds housing organisations to deliver wraparound care and support services to veterans across the UK.
Veterans can also access specialist mental and physical health support through Op COURAGE and Op RESTORE, which provide a broad range of specialist mental health, physical and wellbeing care services to veterans in England, with similar services available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
For employment support, the MOD-hosted Career Transition Partnership (CTP) is the initial point of employment support provision for veterans for up to two years before and after leaving military service. Op ASCEND is available two years after discharge and connects veterans and their families with employers and supports them into sustainable careers in strategic sectors.
This Government has also announced VALOUR, a new programme giving veterans across the UK easier access to the essential care and support available to them. VALOUR support centres will facilitate access to multiple services for veterans, and will connect local, regional, and national services. A network of regional field officers will bring together charities, service providers, and local government to improve collaboration and coordination, enabling data-driven policy and service development. VALOUR HQ, within the MOD, will gather data and insight, working with policy and research teams to ensure services are designed to meet local needs.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with Cheshire West and Chester Council on (a) road maintenance and (b) pothole repairs in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly engages with local highway authorities and their representative bodies, such as the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) and the Local Government Association (LGA) on matters relating to highway maintenance.
The Secretary of State for Transport has not had direct discussions with Halton Borough Council on road maintenance or pothole repairs in Runcorn, or with Cheshire West and Chester Council on road maintenance or pothole repairs in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
In March, the Prime Minister announced that in order to receive their full share of this year's £500m uplift in highways maintenance funding, local highway authorities have to publish a report on their maintenance plans and demonstrate how they are complying with best practice in highways maintenance. Both councils have published these reports, which can be found on their websites.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with Halton Borough Council on (a) road maintenance and (b) pothole repairs in Runcorn.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly engages with local highway authorities and their representative bodies, such as the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) and the Local Government Association (LGA) on matters relating to highway maintenance.
The Secretary of State for Transport has not had direct discussions with Halton Borough Council on road maintenance or pothole repairs in Runcorn, or with Cheshire West and Chester Council on road maintenance or pothole repairs in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
In March, the Prime Minister announced that in order to receive their full share of this year's £500m uplift in highways maintenance funding, local highway authorities have to publish a report on their maintenance plans and demonstrate how they are complying with best practice in highways maintenance. Both councils have published these reports, which can be found on their websites.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department has taken assess (a) novel and (b) potentially inexpensive solutions for improving (i) pothole repair and (ii) other road maintenance.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to enabling local highway authorities to maintain and renew their local highway networks effectively.
For this financial year, the Department has already announced a funding uplift of £500 million compared to the last financial year for local authorities to spend on highway maintenance. 25% of this funding uplift is subject to local highway authorities demonstrating how they are complying with best practice, for example in relation to the adoption of innovative technologies to repair potholes and undertaking preventative maintenance to prevent potholes from forming in the first place.
The Department also encourages and supports innovation through its update to the Code of Practice for Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure, which will include guidance on matters such as innovative surface treatments.
The is also supporting the £30 million Live Labs 2 innovation programme which is supporting the local highway sector to demonstrate innovative low-carbon ways of maintaining local highways. It includes projects that are testing and evaluating novel surfacing materials for the benefit of the whole highways sector.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have reached the further submissions stage and have been under consideration at that stage for (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) nine months, (d) 12 months, (e) 18 months and (f) 24 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Cabinet Office's Guide to Parliamentary Work states that: "There is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current disproportionate cost threshold is £850."
I regret that the information she has requested is not currently available from published statistics, and would require a manual trawl of case files to identify and collate, something that could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many irregular migrants who have (a) been refused asylum and (b) are undergoing the further submissions process were living in accommodation paid for by her Department on 3 June 2025; and what the total cost of providing accommodation to those irregular migrants was in each of the last four years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I welcome the Hon Member to her new role, and I wish her well representing the great people of Runcorn and Helsby.
The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Parliamentary Work states that: “There is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current disproportionate cost threshold is £850.”
I regret that the information she has requested is not currently available from published statistics, and would require a manual trawl of case files to identify and collate, something that could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many irregular migrants who have (a) been refused asylum and (b) are at the further submissions stage were in receipt of legal aid on 3 June 2025; and what the total cost was for the provision of legal aid for such irregular migrants in each of the last four years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I welcome the Hon Member to her new role, and I wish her well representing the great people of Runcorn and Helsby.
The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Parliamentary Work states that: “There is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current disproportionate cost threshold is £850.”
I regret that the information she has requested is not currently available from published statistics, and would require a manual trawl of case files to identify and collate, something that could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many irregular mirgrants (a) have been convicted of criminal offences and (b) were awaiting sentencing on 3 June 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I welcome the Hon Member to her new role, and I wish her well representing the great people of Runcorn and Helsby.
The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Parliamentary Work states that: “There is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current disproportionate cost threshold is £850.”
I regret that the information she has requested is not currently available from published statistics, and would require a manual trawl of case files to identify and collate, something that could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many irregular migrants are housed in hotels in (a) Runcorn and Helsby constituency and (b) Cheshire county.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The requested data is not available at constituency level, but data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, broken down by local authority, is routinely published within the Asy_D11 tab of our regular immigration system statistical release, the latest version of which can be found here: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Police National Computer checks have been carried out on all asylum applicants in the last 10 years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
When an individual claims asylum, the Home Office conducts mandatory identity, criminality and security checks. Biographic and biometric data are routinely checked against relevant Home Office systems and police criminality databases including domestic and international data.