Richard Holden MP: written questions 2025
1652 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Gender Based ViolenceHome OfficeTabled 31 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 27910More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on the potential merits of expanding the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023 to help tack
Answer: Tackling VAWG in all of its forms, including when it takes place online, is a top priority for this Government, and that's why we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve VAWG within a decade.The misuse of technology to abuse or harm others (includi...
Answered 10 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordGender Based Violence: Youth ServicesHome OfficeTabled 31 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 27909More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential contribution of youth services to the prevention of violence against women and girls.
Answer: The Government has set an ambitious target to halve VAWG in a decade. To achieve this, we must reduce the current levels of offending and reoffending but also prevent abuse from happening all together.The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy w...
Answered 10 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordMarriage: RelativesMinistry of JusticeTabled 30 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 902578More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to tackle first cousin marriage.
Answer: The new Government will consider existing marriage law, including the Law Commission’s 2022 wedding report, before publicly setting out a position on this important issue.
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Appointments and Special AdvisersCabinet OfficeTabled 30 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 27698More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 26089 on Ministers and Public Appointments, whether that legal advice was sought.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 30 January in response to PQ 26089.
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisons: ConstructionMinistry of JusticeTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26918More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new prison places were built between (a) May 1997-May 2010 and (b) May 2010 and July 2024.
Answer: Available records do not provide a complete breakdown of how many new prison places were built between May 1997 and May 2010. However, during this timeframe, the total operational capacity of the prison system increased from 61,927 to 89,757, a net increa...
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordCrown Court: TrialsMinistry of JusticeTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26915More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the (a) maximum amount of possible court time and (b) actual court time used for each Crown Court in each of the last 12 months.
Answer: The information requested can be found in the table attached which provides a monthly breakdown per Crown Court location showing the maximum available court time (verified session hours) and the actual court time (hours used). A ‘session’ represents the t...
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordCrown Court: TrialsMinistry of JusticeTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26914More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were awaiting a crown court date on (a) 4 July 2024 and (b) 28 January 2025.
Answer: The information requested for January is a subset of future official accredited statistics on the Crown Court open caseload due to be published according to a pre-announced quarterly timetable as part of the Criminal Court statistics publication. It is no...
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPension Funds: InvestmentTreasuryTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26859More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she is taking steps to encourage pension funds to invest into (a) venture capital and (b) growth equity funds.
Answer: The Government published the Interim Report of the Pensions Investment Review alongside the Chancellor’s Mansion House Speech on 14 November 2024. The proposed reforms in the Interim Report could potentially unlock around £80 billion of productive investm...
Answered 4 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordBritish Patient Capital: FinanceTreasuryTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26858More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will increase the funding available to British Patient Capital's Future Fund: Breakthrough.
Answer: At Autumn Budget 2024 the government announced that it will increase funding for the £425m Future Fund: Breakthrough programme to co-invest in high-growth, innovative firms. The programme, delivered by the Bank’s commercial subsidiary, British Patient Cap...
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordDeath: ChildrenDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26857More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of Child Death Overview Panels cited consanguinity as the (a) primary and (b) secondary cause of death of children in each of the last 30 years.
Answer: The Child Death Review Statutory and Operational Guidance (England) sets out as a statutory requirement that, ‘When a child dies, in any circumstances, it is important for parents and families to understand what has happened and whether there are any less...
Answered 18 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordRecyclingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26852More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support closed loop recycling schemes; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to protect those schemes through regulations.
Answer: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, which reform the UK’s producer responsibility system for packaging came into force on 1 January 2025. Extended Producer Responsibility is a major reform that will be...
Answered 10 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordFloods Resilience TaskforceDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 27 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26581More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times the Flood Resilience Taskforce has met since 4 July 2024.
Answer: The Floods Resilience Taskforce held its first full meeting on 12 September 2024. Following this meeting a series of working level discussions have been held with various Taskforce member organisations on specific issues, which will report back to the ful...
Answered 5 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational NeedsDepartment for EducationTabled 27 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26566More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of school children have required additional support due to special educational needs in each of the last ten years; and if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the trend i
Answer: Information on the number of pupils in England with special educational needs can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The figures for England for each academic year since...
Answered 30 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational NeedsDepartment for EducationTabled 27 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26558More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a table of the proportion of requests for EHCP assessment met within the correct timeframe by local authorities.
Answer: Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, is published as part of the 2024 statistical release, ‘Education, h...
Answered 30 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordMedicine: UniversitiesDepartment for EducationTabled 27 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26550More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds at Education Questions on 27 January 2025, which medical schools are offering (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory redundancy to clinic
Answer: The government acknowledges the significant impact of our world leading higher education (HE) sector. As both educational and research institutions, universities make a vital contribution to our economy, society, and to industry and innovation.Universitie...
Answered 30 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Appointments and Special AdvisersCabinet OfficeTabled 23 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26089More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has received legal advice on the compatibility of (a) Ministerial and (b) special adviser appointments with section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.
Answer: As is a longstanding practice under successive administrations, Civil Service or legal advice on appointments is treated in confidence.
Answered 30 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordCash Dispensing and Payment MethodsTreasuryTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24955More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department is taking steps to help promote (a) payment choice and (b) access to cash.
Answer: It is for individual businesses to decide on the forms of payment it chooses to accept. This decision will be based on a variety of factors, including cost and the needs and preferences of their customers. However, the Government recognises that cash cont...
Answered 27 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoptionDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24954More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) approved families looking to adopt and (b) children ready for adoption there were in each of the last 30 years.
Answer: The department does not hold information centrally on the number of approved families that are looking to adopt.The number of children looked after for whom the local authority has made the decision that they should be placed for adoption is published in ...
Answered 18 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoptionDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24953More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will continue a national approach to recruiting adopters similar to the national recruitment campaign in 2020-21.
Answer: The department has provided £9 million of funding in the 2024/25 financial year for Adoption England to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure consistency of high-quality adoption services across the country. This in...
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoptionDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24952More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish a revised Adoption Strategy.
Answer: The department has provided £9 million of funding in the 2024/25 financial year for Adoption England to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure consistency of high-quality adoption services across the country. This in...
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoption and Special Guardianship Support FundDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24951More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with (a) regional adoption agencies and (b) local authorities to reduce the time taken for initial assessments for the Adoption Support Fund post adoption order.
Answer: Adoption England are working with regional adoption agencies to develop national standards for adoption support. This will help ensure that wherever families live, they can expect the same level of high-quality support. This includes the development of a ...
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoptionDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24950More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that provision of support services for adopters with newly placed children is geographically equitable.
Answer: Adoption England are working with regional adoption agencies to develop national standards for adoption support. This will help ensure that wherever families live, they can expect the same level of high-quality support. This includes the development of a ...
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAdoptionDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24949More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on creating a national matching service for adoption services.
Answer: The department has provided £9 million of funding in the 2024/25 financial year for Adoption England to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure consistency of high-quality adoption services across the country. This in...
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordOffice for StudentsDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24948More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what changes the Office for Students has made to the regulatory framework to (a) ensure value for money and (b) good outcomes for students since January 2024.
Answer: There has been one significant change to the Office for Students (OfS) regulatory framework, which was announced last year. This introduced the registration condition on harassment and sexual misconduct. The main condition will not come into force until 1...
Answered 31 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordHigher Education: FranchisesDepartment for EducationTabled 20 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24947More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Investigation into student finance for study at franchised higher education providers, published by the National Audit Office on 18 January 2024, what discussions she has h
Answer: As set out in the government’s response to the Public Accounts Committee, the government is shortly due to publish a consultation on proposals to strengthen oversight of partnership delivery in higher education, having worked closely with the Office for S...
Answered 31 Jan 2025
Original Parliament record
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