Written questions by Anderson.

What steps she is taking to help prevent crimes relating to arson.

The Government is committed to tackling and preventing arson. We know the serious impact that arson can have on both individuals and the wider community.We are committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their vital work and to keep the public safe from fires, including those caused by arson. We are also delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers are out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make the streets safer. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, £200 million has been allocated to forces for 2025/26 to support this commitment. Nottinghamshire Police has been allocated £3,570,488 and will deliver an increase of 30 police officers, 20 Police Community Support Officers and 20 Special Constables by 31 March 2026.The Home Office is also providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour, including criminal damage caused by arson. Nottinghamshire Police will receive £1,529,097 of this funding.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2025 to Question 60906 on Robin Hood Line: Standards, what proportion of trains on the Robin Hood Line were cancelled in each of the last six periods.

The table below shows that proportion of trains cancelled in the last six rail reporting periods: Rail PeriodAll Robin Hood line services that were Cancelled2024/25 - P103.78%2024/25 - P111.40%2024/25 - P121.92%2024/25 - P131.55%2025/26 - P012.34%2025/26 - P021.31%

What proportion of trains were cancelled in the last six periods.

Information on train cancellations is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and can be found on their data portal.Table 1 presents the proportion of planned services that were either partially or fully cancelled in Great Britain, for each of the last six rail periods and the same periods the previous year. Please note that partial cancellations as counted as 1 service, whilst partial cancellations are counted as 0.5.Table 1. Periodic Cancellations score (Great Britain, Rail Periods1 11 – 3 in 2025 and 2024)Rail period1Proportion of planned trains cancelled in 2025 (%)Proportion of planned trains cancelled in 2024 (%)pp change compared to last year5 Jan - 1 Feb 2025 (period 11)4.13.3+0.82 Feb - 1 Mar 2025 (period 12)3.13.2-0.12 Mar - 31 Mar 2025 (period 13)2.92.90.01 Apr - 26 Apr 2025 (period 01)2.93.2-0.327 Apr - 24 May 2025 (period 02)3.03.2-0.325 May - 21 Jun 2025 (period 03)3.43.8-0.4Source: ORR Table 3124 https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3124-trains-planned-and-cancellations-by-operator-and-cause-periodic/Notes: 1. The rail period dates in this table are for 2025. Dates for rail periods in 2024 differ by a maximum of 2 days but continue to broadly represent the same 4-week periods. More information on rail periods can be seen on the ORR data portal (https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/).

Whether her Department holds data on the number of children leaving private schools since July 2024.

The department does not hold pupil-level data on private school pupils and so does not have information on how many pupils have left private schools.

For what reason the new route to British citizenship for Irish citizens has removed the (a) English language knowledge and (b) Life in the UK test requirements.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

What estimate she has made of the number of Irish citizens who will move to the UK as a result of the new route to British citizenship.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

With reference to the press release entitled New easier British citizenship route for Irish citizens launched, published on 3 July 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of Irish citizens that will apply for British citizenship through this route.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

What steps she is taking to tackle mobile phone theft.

The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft is a key priority. In February, the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.The Home Secretary will reconvene the group shortly to review progress made and determine next steps to ensure that the police, technology companies and the Government continues to work together to tackle this criminality.In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will also place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones.

If she will consider lowering the annual turnover criteria in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for which companies have to produce an annual report on steps taken to prevent modern slavery in (a) operations and (b) supply chains.

The Home Office is currently undertaking a statutory Post-Implementation Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations to assess whether the £36 million total turnover threshold and the definition of total turnover are still appropriate. The conclusion of this review will be published in the Autumn.

What steps she is taking to ensure political (a) neutrality and (b) balance in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.

I refer the hon. Member for Ashfield to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43267.

What data her Department holds on the number of arson incidents (a) in Ashfield constituency and (b) nationwide in each of the last five years.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences, including arson offences, recorded by the police in England and Wales, at the Police Force Area level and the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Area level.This information is published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesThe Home Office does not collect information at the Parliamentary Constituency level.

What steps he is taking to offer more medical specialty training posts.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. The plan also set out that we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.We have made progress over the past year to improve the working lives of resident doctors. This includes: agreeing to an improved exception reporting system which should ensure doctors are working a safe number of hours and are compensated fairly for additional work; reviewing how resident doctors rotate through their training; and reforming and rationalising statutory and mandatory training to reduce unnecessary burden and repetition.We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.

For what reason her Department has created the new route to British citizenship for Irish citizens.

The route was created following a Private Members’ Bill introduced to the House of Commons by the Right Honourable Gavin Robinson MP on 6 December 2023. The new route reflects the unique historical and geographical position of Ireland, and existing Common Travel Area arrangements. The Act received Royal Assent on the 24 May 2024.Irish citizens already enjoy settlement rights upon entry to the UK under the provisions of the Common Travel Area.Irish nationals will not be subject to demonstrating Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK. Irish nationals also are already able to demonstrate the language requirement for naturalisation through being nationals of a majority English-speaking country. We recognise that the UK has a unique relationship with Ireland, and the close historical links, geographical proximity and shared experiences between the two countries mean that those in this group would already have a sufficient knowledge of language and life in the UK. The Home Office receives approximately 300-400 applications per year from Irish citizens on existing routes.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure the adequacy of access to green spaces (a) in Ashfield constituency and (b) nationwide.

Defra does not hold information on the specific steps taken in Ashfield constituency on the adequacy of access to green spaces. However, we have committed that everyone should live within a 15-minute walk of a green or blue space and are working to reduce other barriers which prevent people from accessing green and blue spaces, such as physical challenges, lack of confidence and lack of information. Progress towards meeting the commitment is being made through work already happening across Government to both increase available natural space and make it more accessible, such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government's Green Flag Awards; Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework and Defra's Access for All and Farming in Protected Landscapes programmes. As of May 2025, we have published two new official statistics in development on walkability within England to the nearest green or blue space. We are in the process of developing next steps which will be announced in due course.

If he will take steps to ensure UK graduates are prioritised in applications for specialty medical training spaces.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. The plan also set out that we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.We have made progress over the past year to improve the working lives of resident doctors. This includes: agreeing to an improved exception reporting system which should ensure doctors are working a safe number of hours and are compensated fairly for additional work; reviewing how resident doctors rotate through their training; and reforming and rationalising statutory and mandatory training to reduce unnecessary burden and repetition.We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.

What steps he is taking to ensure UK medical graduates stay in the NHS after completing (a) degrees and (b) foundation training.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. The plan also set out that we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.We have made progress over the past year to improve the working lives of resident doctors. This includes: agreeing to an improved exception reporting system which should ensure doctors are working a safe number of hours and are compensated fairly for additional work; reviewing how resident doctors rotate through their training; and reforming and rationalising statutory and mandatory training to reduce unnecessary burden and repetition.We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.

How many children resident in Ashfield constituency attend (a) private and (b) independent schools.

The department publishes data on the number of pupils that attend an independent school on school census day. This data is published in the annual 'Schools, pupils and their characteristics' accredited official statistics. Constituency level data can be found in the underlying school level data files, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.

What assessment she has made of the risk of foreign terror cells operating in the UK.

As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the detail of security and intelligence matters.The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST provides a comprehensive framework for tackling all forms of terrorism and is kept under constant review to ensure our approach remains fit for purpose.

Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support his Department is providing for people struggling with water bills.

The Government expects companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end Water Poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to this end. We expect water companies to put robust support in place for vulnerable customers and keep current support schemes under review to ensure vulnerable customers are supported. These include bill discount schemes such as WaterSure and Social Tariffs as well as financial support measures to assist households to better manage their budgets and provide flexible payments including payment holidays, payment matching, benefit entitlement checks and money/debt advice referral arrangements.

What steps she is taking to protect access to cash.

The Government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those in vulnerable groups, and is committed to protecting access to cash for individuals and businesses. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 granted the FCA the responsibility and powers to seek to ensure the reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. In September 2024, the FCA introduced regulatory rules for access to cash. Its rules require the reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities, including free services for personal current accounts. In the UK, LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, has committed to protect the broad geographic spread of ATMs. Data on UK ATM coverage can be found on its website. Where a resident, community organisation or other interested party feels access to cash in their community is insufficient, they can submit a request for a cash access assessment to LINK. In circumstances where LINK considers that a community requires additional cash services, the financial services sector will provide a suitable shared solution, such as an ATM, cash deposit service, or shared Banking Hub, for cash users in that community. Further information about submitting a cash access request can be found on LINK’s website.