Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking with international counterparts to ensure Doctors Without Borders are able to access Gaza to provide aid to Palestinians.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the statement to the House I made on 5 January, and to the joint statement issued by the Foreign Secretary and several of her counterparts on 30 December, available on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jointstatementon-the-gaza-humanitarian-response. My officials continue to engage closely with Médecins Sans Frontières on this issue.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has considered international policy frameworks that distribute responsibility for emissions reductions to account for historic and present inequalities between high-emitting and low-emitting nations.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under the Paris Agreement, 194 parties have committed to act to limit global warming.
It is right that developed countries should take the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets.
However, every country must accelerate action to tackle climate change this decade, recognising different national circumstances and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.
Countries on the front lines of the climate crisis face barriers to investment and increasing costs of dealing with the current and future impacts. The UK is committed to supporting them build resilience to current and future climate impacts.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the road safety strategy on deaths and serious injuries from cycling and walking.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Road Safety Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035. This target will focus the efforts of road safety partners across Britain, with measures to protect vulnerable road users, update vehicle safety technologies and review motoring offences.
One of the Safety Performance Indicators which will be monitored alongside delivery of the Strategy is: the rate of cyclists/pedestrians killed or seriously injured on England’s roads, measured as the number of fatalities and serious injuries per billion miles walked and cycled. Monitoring this should enable government to understand the impact that the Strategy is having on deaths and serious injuries of those cycling or walking.
Our roads aren’t just for motorists; it is vitally important that everyone using our roads is kept safe. With that in mind on the 10 December 2025 we announced that we are allocating £626 million for local authorities from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling schemes.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what will be the remit of the new Road Safety Investigation Branch in relation to cycling and e-bikes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Improving road safety is a key priority. Injuries and fatalities from road collisions caused by driving are unacceptable, and this Government is working hard to prevent these tragedies for all road users including cyclists.
The detailed remit of the Road Safety Investigation Branch is still to be determined, but it will be built around the core objectives of the Data-led Road Safety Investigation Branch, namely using large cross-sector datasets and connected vehicle data to identify risks and thematic priorities, and providing insights and recommendations to support continuous safety learning and decision-making.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK consumption and supply chains do not indirectly contribute to (a) deprivation and (b) exploitative conditions in lower-income countries.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government is committed to rooting out human rights and labour abuses from global supply chains. We support responsible business conduct standards to accelerate the positive contribution of companies to sustainable development and help businesses avoid and address any direct or indirect adverse impacts.
In the Trade Strategy, we launched the Responsible Business Conduct review, to evaluate the UK’s current approach, and assess the merits of alternative policy options to support responsible business. Ministers will update Parliament when the review is complete.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timetable is for taking legislative steps to develop a regulatory framework for low and zero emission vehicles, following the commitment in the Road Safety Strategy.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As stated in the Road Safety Strategy, the Government has made a commitment to pursue legislative reform for micromobility vehicles when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of compensating victims of collisions involving illegal e-scooters and e-bikes on (a) the cost of motor insurance premiums for other motorists and (b) costs to the Motor Insurers' Bureau in the last 12 months.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We regularly engage with the Motor Insurer’s Bureau and are working with them to understand the impact of private e-scooters and illegal e-bikes on car drivers’ insurance premiums.
It is clear the law on e-scooters needs to change, which is why the Government has committed to pursuing legislative reform for micromobility vehicles when parliamentary time allows. Any future regulations, including potential insurance requirements, will be publicly consulted on before they come into force.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the data opportunities of connected and autonomous vehicles to reduce uninsured driving.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 sets out the regulations for insurance requirements of automated vehicles. The operator or owner of an automated vehicle must hold a policy of insurance that satisfies the conditions in section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
The recent call for evidence, launched in December 2025, seeks views on various aspects of the automated vehicles regulatory framework, including insurance. Responses received will support future consultation on the proposed regulations, with full implementation of the Act anticipated by the second half of 2027.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the replacement of the Shared Prosperity Fund with the Local Growth Fund on child poverty.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
With the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) ending in 2026, the Government is changing how local growth is funded, as part of a wider approach comprising targeted interventions to drive growth and strengthen communities.
Across these new interventions, Scotland will receive the same annual funding in cash terms over the next three years as it would have received under the UKSPF this year to support economic growth, community cohesion, regeneration and public realm improvements - around £76 million a year and £228 million over the Spending Review period.
As part of this approach MHCLG and the Scotland Office are working together to design and deliver a new Local Growth Fund for Scotland. The programme will fund regional projects which will drive economic growth. That might mean projects like infrastructure investment, business support, or skills development - projects which will make a real difference in terms of skilled jobs and people’s prosperity. We will share the full investment and interventions framework in due course.
Further, the Pride in Place Programme is providing support to Scottish communities, helping build strong, resilient and integrated communities in areas that experience the most entrenched social and economic challenges.
By investing in local areas, reducing child poverty, and bringing down inflation, the Government is focused on delivering material change to people across the country – boosting living standards and improving public services. This sits alongside substantial increases to devolved budgets through the Barnett formula as a result of greater funding for English local authorities, giving devolved governments additional flexibility to target resource spending to their priorities, including tackling child poverty.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of unlawful number plates on (a) the ability of the police to trace hit-and-run drivers and (b) efforts to reduce the proportion of untraced driver claims handled by the Motor Insurers' Bureau.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
While those specific assessments have not been made, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime. On-road enforcement of number plate and insurance offences is a matter for the police.
The Government published its Road Safety Strategy on 7 January, setting out its vision for a safer future on our roads for all. As part of this, the Department for Transport is reviewing motoring offences and has published a consultation which seeks views on the introduction of penalty points and vehicle seizure for the offence of being in charge of a motor vehicle with an incorrect/altered/false number plate. The consultation can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-penalties-for-motoring-offences.