Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has any plans to make (a) Universal Credit, (b) Employment and Support Allowance, and (c) Housing Benefit taxable state benefits.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Means-tested benefits that are designed to meet specific costs, such as Universal Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Pension Credit, are not taxable, and the government has no current plans to alter this.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department is taking steps to help reduce the rate of Air Passenger Duty for (a) domestic flights and (b) flights to European destinations.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to securing the long-term future of the aviation sector in the UK and recognises the benefits of the connectivity it creates between the UK and the rest of the world.
The rate of Air Passenger Duty (APD) in part depends on destination. There are four destination bands, including a domestic band (for destinations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), and Band A (which includes all destinations in the EU and EEA and other European destinations). From 1 April 2026, the reduced rates for domestic and Band A flights will be £8 and £15 respectively. This compares with rates of £102 and £106 for Bands B and C respectively (which apply to destinations further away from London).
Following recent increases to APD rates to account for higher-than-expected levels of inflation, at Budget 2025, the government announced it will uprate APD rates in line with RPI from 1 April 2027 and round to the nearest penny. This constitutes a real terms freeze.
This will ensure that airlines continue to make a fair contribution to the public finances, particularly given that tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals convicted of sexual offences have been sentenced to immediate custody during the current Parliament; and what percentage of all individuals convicted of sexual offences received an immediate custodial sentence during that same period.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions and sentences for a variety of offences, including sexual offences, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. The tool can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK. The data can be filtered by ‘month’ and ‘year’.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that estate agents comply with existing consumer protection law; to help support effective enforcement action against rogue operators who mislead consumers; and to help ensure regulations on responsible businesses are not burdensome.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), protects consumers from unfair trading practices and prohibits traders, including estate agents, from omitting (or providing unclear, untimely or obscure) material information to consumers in any ‘invitation to purchase’.
The DMCCA strengthens consumer law enforcement by giving the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new administrative powers, and the CMA and courts the ability to impose significant monetary penalties of up to 10% of turnover.
The CMA has published updated guidance on price transparency and unfair commercial practices to help businesses comply.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support her Department provides to increase participation in grassroots sport in (a) Leicester and (b) Leicestershire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
That is why we provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million of National Lottery and exchequer funding. The City of Leicester received a total of £971,350 of Sport England funding in 2024/25. The County of Leicestershire received a total of £1,937,467 million of Sport England funding in 2024/25.
In addition, on 27 January, the Government announced that £85 million of the £400 million package for grassroots sport facilities will be invested in during 2026/27, funding the continuation of the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. This funding is designed to increase participation opportunities and benefit the areas most in need, with 50% investment going to the 30% most deprived areas in the UK.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance her department provides on ensuring that sports facilities and stadia in (a) Leicester, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK are safe and welcoming environments for women and girls.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all sports facilities and stadia are welcoming and safe for women and girls.
We’ve launched the Women’s Sport Taskforce to tackle challenges and barriers facing women and girls in sport, from grassroots to elite, and are harnessing the power of hosting major sporting events, such as investing £6.7 million into the Impact 25’ programme for the Women’s Rugby World Cup to make facilities more accessible for women.
We are also investing £80.3 million in high-quality grassroots sports facilities through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities (MSGF) Programme in England in 2025/26, and will also invest £68.35 million in 26/27. We will more than double priority access to grassroots football pitches for women and girls over the next four years. MSGF funded facilities should reserve at least 20% of priority use slots for women and girls teams. Our delivery partner in England, the Football Foundation, has recently announced the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund which will help to ensure grassroots sports facilities across England are welcoming, safe and accessible for a new generation of women and girls.
Our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has also worked with ukactive, CIMSPA and Women’s Aid to publish new guidance to help fitness and leisure facilities continue to create safer spaces for women and girls to be active.
In addition, the safety of all those who attend sporting fixtures is a priority for the Government. The Government funds the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) whose purpose is to ensure sports grounds are safe for everyone, including women and girls. The SGSA continues to support world class standards of physical supporter safety for all attendees.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands benefit from national investment in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is putting technology at the heart of our mission to grow the UK economy.
We are launching a £250 million procurement to expand the AI Research Resource, giving UK researchers and businesses free access to cutting‑edge compute so every region can benefit from nationwide innovation.
The Government is also expanding access to free AI skills training, available to all adults across the UK, that aims to equip 10 million workers with practical AI skills by 2030, ensuring people and businesses in every region can take advantage of new technologies.
Alone, Leicester City Council received £35,391.97 from the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund for its ‘Let’s Get Digital’ project, which will help 150 peoples, this will build digital confidence for social inclusion, reducing service dependency and improving economic outcomes.
The Government is also supporting UK medicine and med‑tech manufacturing through the £520 million Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, bringing high‑value jobs to regions like the East Midlands, strengthening supply chains, and securing over £30 million of new investment.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of reducing NHS-funded activity delivered by independent sector providers on local waiting times in (a) Leicester, (b) The East Midlands and (c) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and we are committed to putting patients first by ensuring that they are seen on time and that they have the best possible experience of care. Since the Government came into office, the waiting list for routine appointments, operations, and procedures in England has now been cut by 312,369. This is despite 30.1 million referrals onto the waiting list.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to expand or reform teacher training programmes to help improve access to the teaching profession.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to putting education back at the forefront of national life. The aim is to deliver better life chances for all, through a system which works for all.
In September 2025 we introduced the early career teacher entitlement (ECTE). The ECTE revised and improved the delivery of what we formerly referred to as the early career framework programme, maintaining the grounding in evidence, to ensure the highest standards of professional development for new teachers.
The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential in order to transform the training and support for all new teachers, and we have committed to a full review of the delivery of the ECTE, including the content of the initial teacher training and early career framework in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs based on the most up to date evidence. This review will focus on increasing support for mentors, as well as for teaching pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve ambulance response times in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.
We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26, is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, and commits to reducing category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average this year. The East Midlands Ambulance Service is investing over £4 million for additional clinicians in its control rooms to help patients with urgent care needs who call 999 to get signposted to the right care at the right time in the right place.
The latest data from December 2025 for ambulance response times for East Midlands Ambulance Service shows progress, with category 2 incidents responded to in 44 minutes 19 seconds on average, which is 21 minutes and 56 seconds faster than the same period last year.