Alicia Kearns MP: written questions
507 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Gambling: CompensationDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24942More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of authorising the Gambling Commission to offer redress for losses following the collapse of a gambling operator.
Answer: The Government strongly sympathises with all customers who are impacted by the collapse of a gambling operator and appreciates the difficulties caused where significant sums of money are lost in such a scenario. However, there is no compensation scheme fo...
Answered 27 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordFire and Rescue Services: Business RatesTreasuryTabled 17 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24697More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting fire services from business rates at the next fiscal event.
Answer: Certain properties are exempt from business rates. Details on exemptions can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/exempt-properties. Any decisions on future tax policy will be announced by the Chancellor at a fiscal event.
Answered 22 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordRepublika Srpska and Serbia: Politics and GovernmentForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24486More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government considers joint committees between the legislatures of the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska as being compatible with the Dayton Agreement.
Answer: The UK remains committed to the Dayton Peace Agreement. I raised the importance of maintaining peace and stability in BiH on my visit to Serbia with senior government figures this week, alongside the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for the Western Balkans,...
Answered 31 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordT-levels: FinanceDepartment for EducationTabled 15 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24240More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department plans to provide for T-Level qualifications in each of the next three financial years.
Answer: This government is committed to driving economic growth and supporting opportunity for all. To help achieve these missions, we announced an additional £300 million of funding in the 2025/26 financial year for further education at the Autumn Budget 2024.T ...
Answered 28 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: ConstituenciesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 15 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24239More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposals within the English Devolution White Paper on the (a) borders and (b) status of ceremonial counties.
Answer: The proposals within the English Devolution White Paper will not directly impact the borders or status of ceremonial counties which do not exist for the purposes of local government administration. Where areas develop proposals for local government reorga...
Answered 20 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: ReorganisationMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 14 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24126More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 22092 on Local Government: Reform, whether local council mergers will be required under the English Devolution White Paper.
Answer: On 16 December, I wrote to all councils in two-tier areas and to neighbouring small unitaries alongside the English Devolution White Paper, to set out our plans. I intend to formally invite unitary proposals in January 2025 from all these councils and I w...
Answered 21 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against ChildrenHome OfficeTabled 14 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23881More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department will publish the ethnicity data on grooming gangs collected by the police.
Answer: I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January 2025, in which she announced the appointment of Baroness Louise Casey to lead a rapid three-month audit into these issues. The audit will examine all the currently available da...
Answered 17 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against ChildrenHome OfficeTabled 14 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23880More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21677 on Offences Against Children, whether her Department plans to reform the collection of data on grooming gangs.
Answer: I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January 2025, in which she announced the appointment of Baroness Louise Casey to lead a rapid three-month audit into these issues. The audit will examine all the currently available da...
Answered 21 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPolice: Workplace PensionsHome OfficeTabled 14 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23879More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether all immediate choice officer pensions will be remedied by 1 April 2025.
Answer: While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the police pension regulations, the police pension scheme is locally administered by individual police forces.It is for each Chief Constable, in their role as schem...
Answered 22 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: Prisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 14 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23878More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any offenders who were convicted of child sexual abuse have been released early from prison since 5 July 2024.
Answer: Sex offences were automatically excluded from both the End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme which ceased on 9 September 2024 and from the current SDS40 scheme.
Answered 17 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAnimal Experiments: PrimatesHome OfficeTabled 13 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23465More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent neglect of monkeys used for medical research.
Answer: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) provides protections for animals in the UK used in scientific procedures. All establishments licensed to breed or supply animals, or to carry out regulated procedures on animals, in Great Britain under A...
Answered 21 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordMuslim BrotherhoodHome OfficeTabled 13 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23464More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department considers the Muslim Brotherhood and its international offshoots to be extremist entities.
Answer: The Government does not routinely comment on individual groups or cases and Home Office officials continually seek to build and refresh their knowledge of the threat from extremism, as the landscape is constantly evolving. This includes disrupting the act...
Answered 16 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordMuslim Association of BritainHome OfficeTabled 13 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23463More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department considers the Muslim Association of Britain an extremist entity.
Answer: The Government does not routinely comment on individual groups or cases and Home Office officials continually seek to build and refresh their knowledge of the threat from extremism, as the landscape is constantly evolving. This includes disrupting the act...
Answered 16 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordTerrorismHome OfficeTabled 13 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23462More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the United Arab Emirates proscribing (a) Cambridge Education and Training Centre Ltd, (b) IMA6INE Ltd, (c) Wembley Tree L
Answer: The Government does not routinely comment on individual groups or cases and Home Office officials continually seek to build and refresh their knowledge of the threat from extremism, as the landscape is constantly evolving. This includes disrupting the act...
Answered 16 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordFoot and Mouth Disease: Disease ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23461More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) protect the livestock sector from the confirmed outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Germany and (b) prevent the disease entering the UK.
Answer: The UK is currently free from foot and mouth disease (FMD) and has a robust contingency plan in place to manage risk as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain. Controls include strict prohibitions on the imports of animal...
Answered 16 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordSexual Offences: Prisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 13 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 23460More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any offenders convicted of gang rape have been released early from prison in the last six months.
Answer: There is no single offence for gang rape defined in legislation.All sex offences are automatically excluded from the SDS40 scheme.
Answered 16 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPlants: Import ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 8 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22700More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve border infrastructure for importing (a) large plants and (b) trees.
Answer: Defra continues to work with port operators to ensure that there are effective import inspections of large plants and trees to maintain the UK’s high biosecurity standards, including ensuring equipment is available to handle goods. Defra has laid legislat...
Answered 15 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPlants: Import ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 8 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22699More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on developing an improved plant health alert system; and whether the new system will include real time updates on border holds.
Answer: For goods that are detained at the border, there are already measures in place to inform the persons responsible for the loads that corrective action may be required or that in the event of a pest finding, certain processes need to be followed. Any non-co...
Answered 24 Apr 2026
Original Parliament recordHorticulture: Import ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 8 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22698More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to provide more data to horticulture businesses on (a) sanitary and phytosanitary border movements and (b) inspection rates generated from the Impor
Answer: Our checks are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk. To protect the integrity of this approach, we cannot share granular data on movements and inspections. Traders should continue to follow the published guidance which sets out Border Target Ope...
Answered 20 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAllergies: SchoolsDepartment for EducationTabled 8 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22697More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the new Neffy treatment for severe allergic reactions to schools when available on the NHS.
Answer: Needle-free epinephrine nasal spray is not currently licensed for use in the United Kingdom. Consideration as to whether this could be used in schools would have to be taken once the medicine receives a marketing authorisation. Since October 2017, the Hum...
Answered 15 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAllergies: Medical TreatmentsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 8 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22696More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the new Neffy treatment for severe allergic reactions will be available on the NHS.
Answer: It is critical that medicines used in the United Kingdom are safe and effective. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) assesses all medicines before they can be used in the UK. Neffy (epinephrine nasal spray) has not been licenced...
Answered 14 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordSolar Power: Supply ChainsDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 6 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22099More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will publish a plan to help tackle the use of Uyghur slave labour in solar supply chains.
Answer: The Government opposes all forms of slave labour. The Government is clear UK businesses should monitor their supply chains and do everything in their power to remove any instances of forced labour they may find.Through the reconvened Solar Taskforce, the ...
Answered 9 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordHostage TakingForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 6 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22098More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to appoint the (a) special envoy for hostage affairs and (b) special envoy for arbitrary detention.
Answer: The FCDO is committed to strengthening support for British Nationals overseas, including through the appointment of an Envoy. Further details will be announced in due course.William Middleton has succeeded Charles Hay as Director for Gaza Hostages.
Answered 15 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordDrugs: Organised CrimeHome OfficeTabled 6 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22097More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of making cuckooing a crime.
Answer: Cuckooing is an appalling practice associated with violence, exploitation and anti-social behaviour.The Government’s Safer Streets Mission aims to tackle these issues and we will make further announcements in the normal way in due course.
Answered 14 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordCommunity Ownership FundMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 6 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22096More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the next round of the Community Ownership Fund will open for applications.
Answer: Following the announcement of Round 4 Window 1 outcomes on 23 December 2024, the Community Ownership Fund (COF) is now closed.There will be no further application windows on the COF programme.
Answered 14 Jan 2025
Original Parliament record
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