Matt Vickers MP: written questions
783 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Juries: Hearing ImpairmentMinistry of JusticeTabled 12 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76847More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of interpreter absence on the ability of deaf jurors to fully participate in court proceedings.
Answer: The Government is committed to ensuring that all jurors are able to participate effectively in the Criminal Justice System. Since new legislative provisions came into force in 2022, deaf jurors may be granted the assistance of British Sign Language (BSL) ...
Answered 22 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordJuries: Hearing ImpairmentMinistry of JusticeTabled 12 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76846More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints has HM Courts and Tribunals Service received from deaf jurors regarding interpreter provision in the last five years.
Answer: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 placed the right to British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting in the jury deliberation room on a statutory footing (now section 9C of the Juries Act 1974). The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring t...
Answered 22 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordJuries: Hearing ImpairmentMinistry of JusticeTabled 12 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76845More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Deaprtment is taking to ensure that cost does not prevent deaf people from serving as jurors.
Answer: The Government is committed to opening up jury service to as many eligible people as possible and ensuring disability is never a barrier. No juror is expected to meet the cost of interpreting. HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) arranges and funds B...
Answered 22 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordJuries: Hearing ImpairmentMinistry of JusticeTabled 12 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 76844More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of British Sign Language interpreters for deaf jurors.
Answer: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 placed the right to British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting in the jury deliberation room on a statutory footing (now section 9C of the Juries Act 1974). The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring t...
Answered 22 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordPeople Smuggling: Buoyancy AidsHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74023More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the use of recovered life jackets on investigations into people smuggling networks.
Answer: Due to sensitivities, we cannot go into detail on operational methods regarding investigations into people smuggling networks.
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUndocumented Migrants: English ChannelHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74022More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of life jackets recovered from small boat crossings since 4 July 2024; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of their disposal.
Answer: The information requested is not centrally held, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.The majority of life jackets seized arrive in very poor condition and may be damaged during the r...
Answered 12 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordUndocumented Migrants: English ChannelHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74021More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the process for the (a) collection, (b) storage and (c) disposal of life jackets recovered from small boat crossings.
Answer: The majority of life jackets seized arrive in very poor condition and may be damaged during the recovery process, and are disposed of by Border Force’s approved contractors and, where appropriate, any suitable materials are recycled.
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: InternetHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74019More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support law enforcement agencies with the technical capability to (a) detect and (b) disrupt livestreamed child sexual abuse in real time.
Answer: The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes ensuring that we are working to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: InternetHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74017More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that people in the UK who pay to direct livestreamed sexual abuse of children overseas are (a) identified and (b) prosecuted.
Answer: The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes ensuring that we are working to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: InternetHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74016More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on tackling (a) livestreamed child abuse and (b) other online sexual exploitation and abuse of children.
Answer: The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes ensuring that we are working to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Age AssuranceHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74015More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of defaulting to a claimant’s self-declared age where no independent verification is available on the provision of effective (a) safegua
Answer: The age of a person arriving in the UK is normally established from the documents with which they have travelled, but many do not have any definitive documentary evidence to support their claimed age.There are clear safeguarding issues which arise if a ch...
Answered 17 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Age AssuranceHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74014More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards are in place to ensure that recording an asylum claimant’s self-declared age does not place adults at risk of being accommodated with children.
Answer: The age of a person arriving in the UK is normally established from the documents with which they have travelled, but many do not have any definitive documentary evidence to support their claimed age.There are clear safeguarding issues which arise if a ch...
Answered 17 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Age AssuranceHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74013More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times her Department has recorded an asylum claimant’s self-declared age as their official age in circumstances where their age could not be independently verified since June 2024.
Answer: The requested information is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Syste...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Age AssuranceHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74012More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether trends in levels of age-dispute cases have increased or decreased since June 2024.
Answer: The requested information is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Syste...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordMotor Neurone Disease: Clinical TrialsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73972More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of limited trial site locations on the ability of motor neurone disease patients to participate in research; and what support his Department prov
Answer: The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), funded by the Department, supports patients and the public to take part in high-quality research. In 2024/25, the NIHR Research Delivery Network supported 35 motor neurone disease (MND) studies a...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordMotor Neurone Disease: ResearchDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73971More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to support MND Care Centres to participate in (a) research studies and (b) MND-SMART.
Answer: The Department is committed to funding health and care research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) across England, to ensure that the research we support is inclusive and representative of the populations we serve. Government r...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordMotor Neurone Disease: ResearchDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73970More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has allocated to support the (a) development and (b) expansion of MND clinical trial infrastructure.
Answer: The Department funds health and care research infrastructure through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). This provides world-class research expertise, specialist facilities, a dedicated research delivery workforce, and support serv...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordMotor Neurone Disease: ResearchDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73968More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with (a) NHS England and (b) the National Institute for Health and Care Research on (i) expanding the number of recruiting sites for and (ii) including James
Answer: Decisions on site selection for clinical trials rest with the study sponsor, shaped by the design and requirements of the trial.No discussions about the MND-SMART trial have been held with the Department. However, while we are not directly involved in the...
Answered 19 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordMotor Neurone Disease: ResearchDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73967More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of regional variation in patient access to motor neurone disease clinical trials; and what steps he is taking to ensure equitable access across al
Answer: The Department is committed to ensuring equitable access to health and care research, including motor neurone disease (MND) studies, across all National Health Service regions. National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) infrastructure has nati...
Answered 10 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAirgunsHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73707More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to improve (a) awareness and (b) enforcement of legislation on air weapon (i) safety and (ii) responsible ownership.
Answer: The possession and use of air weapons is subject to statutory controls and regulation to guard against misuse and to ensure safe handling. In England and Wales, higher powered air rifles can only be held on a firearm certificate and higher powered air pis...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordAirguns: MisuseHome OfficeTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73706More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve public (a) awareness and (b) education on the (i) dangers of misusing air weapons and (ii) impact of that misuse on (A) animals and (B) communities.
Answer: The possession and use of air weapons is subject to statutory controls and regulation to guard against misuse and to ensure safe handling. In England and Wales, higher powered air rifles can only be held on a firearm certificate and higher powered air pis...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordRenewable Energy: TrainingDepartment for EducationTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73705More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has a budget for retraining programmes for adult workers transitioning from oil and gas to renewable energy.
Answer: Green skills are essential to driving economic growth and achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050. Clean energy and advanced manufacturing have been identified as priority sectors in the Industrial Strategy.To support this, the government will invest a...
Answered 16 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOffshore Industry: EmploymentDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73704More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions his Department has had with employers in the oil and gas sector in England on (a) skills transition and (b) workforce retention.
Answer: The Department (DESNZ) established the Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) to engage industry and employers on skills needs and challenges. In partnership with Skills England, it leads workforce planning by identifying skills gaps and supporting reskillin...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOil and Gas Transition Training FundDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73703More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, for what reason the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund is restricted to Scottish residents; and whether he plans to extend that scheme to workers in England.
Answer: The Office for Clean Energy Jobs is funding targeted Regional Skills Pilots across the UK which will address skill gaps in a limited number of places which have been identified as priority areas for clean energy, including Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. The ...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordOffshore Industry: EmploymentDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 73702More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what (a) funding and (b) retraining support is available for oil and gas workers in England impacted by the transition to renewable energy.
Answer: We will shortly be publishing a Clean Energy Workforce Strategy which will set out our approach to upskilling and reskilling the workforce into clean energy roles through initiatives including the Energy Skills Passport, in collaboration with industry, wh...
Answered 9 Sept 2025
Original Parliament record
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