Neil Shastri-Hurst MP: written questions 2024
45 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Buses: FaresDepartment for TransportTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 902026More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing bus fares on customers.
Answer: The previous bus fare cap was unfunded beyond 2024. The Government is stepping in and investing over £150 million to ensure single bus fares in England outside London remain capped at £3 throughout 2025. The cap ensures that millions can continue to trave...
Answered 9 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Sexual HarassmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20873More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training her Department provides to investigators handling sexual harassment cases to ensure investigations are (a) trauma-informed and (b) compliant with best practices.
Answer: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ensures that its investigators handling sexual harassment cases are accredited and equipped with the necessary skills to conduct trauma-informed investigations, compliant with best practice. All DWP investigators...
Answered 31 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordEmployment: Sexual HarassmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20872More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) encourage victims of sexual harassment in the workplace to come forward and (b) ensure their protection during the reporting process.
Answer: DWP internal guidance encourages those experiencing sexual harassment to come forward via their choice of several available routes: Line ManagersDWP colleagues can speak to their own or a trusted alternative manager. Ambassadors for Fair Treatment DWP has...
Answered 31 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Sexual HarassmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20868More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific (a) care, (b) counselling and (c) support services are made available to staff who have been victims of sexual harassment within her Department.
Answer: DWP offers the provision and delivery of a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme delivered by People Asset Management (PAM). The provision is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can be accessed either via telephone or email for in the moment...
Answered 31 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordChild Arrangements Orders: JudgesMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19154More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing specialist family judges to determine all child arrangement orders.
Answer: The Ministry of Justice and HMCTS do not collect data on the number or outcome of applications for Child Arrangement Orders heard by magistrates in the family courts.When sitting in the family courts, magistrates are supported by legal advisers who are qu...
Answered 18 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordChild Arrangements Orders: MagistratesMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19153More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of magistrates determining Child Arrangement Orders.
Answer: The Ministry of Justice and HMCTS do not collect data on the number or outcome of applications for Child Arrangement Orders heard by magistrates in the family courts.When sitting in the family courts, magistrates are supported by legal advisers who are qu...
Answered 18 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordChild Arrangements Orders: AppealsMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19152More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Child Arrangement Orders determined by a bench of lay magistrates have been appealed; and how many of those appeals were successful.
Answer: The Ministry of Justice and HMCTS do not collect data on the number or outcome of applications for Child Arrangement Orders heard by magistrates in the family courts.When sitting in the family courts, magistrates are supported by legal advisers who are qu...
Answered 18 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordMalariaDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19151More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of of climate change on instances of malaria in the United Kingdom.
Answer: Malaria is not currently transmitted in the United Kingdom, but travel-associated cases occur in those who have returned to, or arrived in, the UK from malaria-endemic areas. Modelling has investigated the impact of different climate change scenarios on t...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordTropical DiseasesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19150More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to improve the study of tropical diseases in medical school curricula.
Answer: It is the responsibility of individual UK medical schools to determine the content of their own curricula. The delivery of these undergraduate curricula has to meet the standards set by the medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), who monitor...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordGeneral Practitioners: Employers' ContributionsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19149More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to National Insurance contributions on the retention and recruitment of non-clinical staff in GP surgeries.
Answer: We have made the necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year i...
Answered 13 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordGeneral Practitioners: Employers' ContributionsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19148More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases to employers National Insurance contributions on the (a) retention and (b) recruitment of nurses in GP surgeries.
Answer: We have made the necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year i...
Answered 13 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordGeneral Practitioners: Employers' ContributionsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19147More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in employers' National Insurance contributions on the (a) retention and (b) recruitment of salaried GPs.
Answer: We have made the necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year i...
Answered 13 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAir Ambulance Services: Employers' ContributionsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 19146More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in employers National Insurance contributions on the (a) provision and (b) resilience of air ambulance services.
Answer: No such assessment has been made. The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance, by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 em...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordUkraine: ReconstructionForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 9 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18765More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to authorise the use of frozen Russian state assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Answer: This Government is clear that Russia must be held responsible for its illegal war. That includes its obligations under international law to pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine. Working with allies, we continue to pursue all possible lawful avenues...
Answered 17 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordPrisons: SecurityMinistry of JusticeTabled 5 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 18278More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when her Department was informed that former employees of (a) ISG and (b) ESS had access to the layout of prison estates; for what reason former employees were able to access the plans following the cessation of
Answer: When ISG Construction Limited entered administration on 20 September 2024, the Ministry of Justice took the necessary measures to immediately secure its data. Access to the Department’s software platform was immediately revoked to former employees of ISG ...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordUK Space Command: FinanceMinistry of DefenceTabled 2 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17387More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to ensure that the Strategic Defence Review contains adequate funding for UK Space Command to deliver (a) on procurement and (b) operationally.
Answer: The Strategic Defence Review is considering all aspects of Defence, including the major features of the force structure needed to create the necessary multi-domain integrated Defence capability of the future, of which space is a key part. Space is recogni...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordNational Space CouncilMinistry of DefenceTabled 2 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 17386More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the next meeting is of the Space Council.
Answer: Along with colleagues from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and others across Government, the Ministry of Defence is developing plans for space activities to be coordinated and led across relevant Departments. These efforts will align...
Answered 10 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordCourts: FinanceMinistry of JusticeTabled 29 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 17041More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the unit of measurement for court funding to judicial working days from sitting days.
Answer: The funding of HM Courts and Tribunals Service is agreed annually between the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals, via the Concordat process. Sitting days are an important metric used in this process, because they ...
Answered 16 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Sexual HarassmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 26 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16327More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time is in her Department to conclude investigations into reports of sexual harassment; and what steps her Department takes to ensure that this process is conducted (a) prompt
Answer: To identify the time taken to investigate all cases specifically alleging sexual harassment would require gathering information from across DWP managers and would therefore incur disproportionate cost. For cases investigated by our expert HR Investigation...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Sexual HarassmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 26 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 16326More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many incidents of sexual harassment have been formally reported in her Department in each of the last five years; and what steps her Department is taking to estimate the number of such cases that ar
Answer: All formal cases of harassment, bullying and discrimination are required to be flagged with the DWP’s expert HR Investigation Service. In the past year (Dec 23 - Nov 24) the HR Investigation Service has investigated 24 cases of alleged sexual harassment. ...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordFuture Combat Air SystemMinistry of DefenceTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12149More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the future of the Tempest programme.
Answer: Tempest is the name used in the UK for the next generation combat aircraft being jointly developed with Japan and Italy under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). GCAP is an important programme, as the Prime Minister has stated, which is why the Defenc...
Answered 7 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordPharmacyDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 28 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 11510More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help community pharmacies with (a) funding, (b) workforce and (c) supply of medicines.
Answer: The Government is committed to expanding the pharmacy workforce and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists, as we shift care from the ho...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordHousing: HeatingMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 28 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 11484More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to ban the use of direct emission heating systems in new build homes.
Answer: Future standards will set our new homes and building on a path that moves away from relying on volatile fossil fuels and towards more clean, secure energy. The future is likely to see a mix of low carbon technologies used for heating, including heat pumps...
Answered 5 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordMagistrates' Courts: SentencingMinistry of JusticeTabled 14 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9116More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the unduly lenient sentence scheme to cases sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court.
Answer: The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme operates in respect of qualifying sentences passed in the Crown Court, where the offender has been convicted of: (a) an indictable only offence (such as murder, manslaughter and rape); and/or (b) certain either-way...
Answered 21 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordArmed Forces: TrainingMinistry of DefenceTabled 14 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9115More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department plans to provide for training in the (a) Royal Navy, (b) British Army and (c) Royal Air Force in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answer: The Department has interpreted funding for training to mean funding for direct training exercises only. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs. The final outturn for FY2023-24 is below and the equivalent for the curren...
Answered 22 Oct 2024
Original Parliament record
Published records only — not a full account of an MP’s work. How we work →