Written questions by Morton.

What recent discussions she has had with (a) West Midlands Police and (b) the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner on (i) maintaining and (ii) increasing community policing levels in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency, following the closure of (A) Aldridge Police Station and (B) police stations across the West Midlands.

The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing for everyone in England and Wales. The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will ensure that by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities and local communities and businesses will also have ongoing opportunities to engage with neighbourhood teams and raise local concerns and priorities through regular local beat meetings.The Government has also committed to boosting neighbourhood policing by 13,000 more policing personnel by the end of the Parliament and the Government will provide £200 million to police forces in financial year 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering this commitment.West Midlands Police has been allocated £12,210,903 from the £200 million fund for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for West Midlands Police over 2025/26 will be 289 police officers (FTE) and 20 Police Community Support Officers (FTE).

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed Aldridge railway station on the (a) economy, (b) transport links and (c) social mobility of that area.

The Government is providing a City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement of over £1bn for West Midlands Combined Authority to invest in its local transport priorities.The Combined Authority is currently using this funding to develop an Outline Business Case, which will make a detailed assessment of the impacts of the proposed Aldridge railway station.

Whether she has discussions with (a) financial services regulators and (b) the insurance sector on developing risk-mitigation frameworks to support companies operating in Ukraine.

Treasury Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a wide variety of organisations, including insurers and financial regulators, on an ongoing basis. The UK Government has played a leading role in developing solutions that have helped to reopen and rebuild insurance markets in Ukraine. The UK provided a £20 million contribution to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to extend the level of political risk and violence insurance it can provide to investors with projects in Ukraine. Additionally, the UK has also provided £5m to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to develop a complementary initiative that will make war related loss and damage cover available to firms already based in Ukraine.

If she will make it her policy to establish a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.

The Government is committed to getting to the truth of both historical and current group-based child sexual exploitation or grooming gangs offending, to ensure that perpetrators are punished and to deliver justice and accountability for victims and survivors.We will set our next steps to tackle this heinous offending when we publish Baroness Casey’s audit in the coming weeks.

What additional support his Department plans to provide to vulnerable households facing high winter fuel costs in 2025-26.

The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past. The Government recognises that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we delivered the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households last winter. We have recently consulted on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households on a qualifying means-tested benefit into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million. The consultation closed on 24 March and DESNZ is considering the responses received. I have been clear with suppliers that they should do all that they can to support their customers – including vulnerable consumers – who may be struggling with their bills.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve the energy efficiency of older housing stock in the West Midlands.

The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future, including those within the West Midlands. The Government will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan. As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1 billion of this allocated to 2025/2026. Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of levels of (a) political freedom and (b) democratic governance in Tanzania, in the context of recent detentions of (i) opposition figures and (ii) activists.

The UK continuously keeps policies regarding partner countries under review, including the implications of domestic political and governance developments. The Minister for Africa will continue to raise specific concerns with his ministerial counterparts.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of local police station closures on (a) response times and (b) public confidence in policing.

It is for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents) to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need and their experience. Police stations are just one of the ways in which people can access their local police, including reporting online and by phone 24/7 via 999 for emergencies and 101 for non-emergency calls.A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing. As part of this, we have introduced the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which will ensure that by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities. We have also provided £200 million in FY 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament. This increase in neighbourhood policing, alongside the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, will strengthen the connections between the police and the communities they serve.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) the level of funding for and (b) the number of police officers in the West Midlands.

The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to tackle crime effectively and protect the communities they serve. Visible policing is essential to restoring public confidence in the police. West Midlands will receive up to £846.9 million in funding in 2025-26, an increase of up to £56.6 million when compared to the 2024-25 funding settlement under the previous government. This represents a 7.2% cash increase and a 4.7% real terms increase in funding.This includes a total of £30.7m to support the maintenance of 8,086 police officers.The Government has also committed to boosting neighbourhood policing and is providing £200 million to police forces this financial year to support the first steps of delivering this commitment. West Midlands Police has been allocated £12,210,903 from the £200 million fund for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for West Midlands Police over 2025/26 will be 289 police officers (FTE) and 20 Police Community Support Officers (FTE) in neighbourhood policing roles.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in tackling fly-tipping in the West Midlands.

Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment. Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop new guidance to support them to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.  We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool. We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course. In the meantime, Defra continue to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assistance his Department is providing to UK nationals affected by recent arrests in Tanzania.

The UK is committed to its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and consistently provides consular support to British Nationals as required. We have not received reports of arrests of British Nationals in connection with wider political events in Tanzania.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Midlands Rail Hub on (a) journey times, (b) capacity, (c) frequency of services and (d) reliability of services for West Midlands passengers.

Midlands Rail Hub is designed to kickstart economic growth and breakdown barriers to opportunity. It could speed up journey times, provide capacity for hundreds of additional trains into central Birmingham, improve frequency by 50-100% on many corridors, and reliability on trains through New Street, improving journeys across the Midlands and beyond. We are assessing all our investment plans as part of the ongoing Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of penalties for fly-tipping in deterring repeat offences.

This Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of penalties for fly-tipping in deterring repeat offences. We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles involved in fly-tipping and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment. Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) human rights and (b) civil society organisations operating in Tanzania.

The UK has recently launched the Wajibika programme in Tanzania which aims to empower Tanzanian citizens and promote inclusive and effective civic space, political inclusion and address media freedom and access to information.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Commonwealth partners on the potential impact of the situation in Tanzanian on that county's role in the Commonwealth.

The UK continues to engage with members of the international community, including Commonwealth partners, on specific developments in Tanzania, including the detrimental impact a decline in governance would have on mutual growth and prosperity.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the political situation in Tanzania on UK-Tanzania (a) trade, (b) aid, (c) diplomatic engagement and (d) other relations.

The UK continuously keeps bilateral relations and national interests under review with partner countries throughout the world.We are following political developments in Tanzania, and when required, the our High Commission raises specific areas of concern with the Government of Tanzania.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the availability of commercial insurance for UK companies seeking to operate in Ukraine on British trade and investment in the region.

Limited availability of insurance to operate in Ukraine is a market access barrier for businesses to export, invest or operate in Ukraine. The expertise and global reputation of the London Insurance sector has continued to mobilise international support to increase risk coverage for real sector and trade finance under the 2023 London Conference Framework for War Risk Insurance.In March, Minister Doughty and I joined an international roundtable hosted by Lloyds of London to maintain momentum and encourage insurance companies to reconsider the Ukrainian market. UK Export Finance (UKEF) continues to provide risk insurance for UK exporters trading with Ukraine.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution from the Minister of State for Sanctions Implementation and Enforcement on 15 May 2025, Official Report, col 525, when he plans to update the House on how a new joint sanctions intelligence function fit into the existing intelligence framework.

In the conclusions of the sanctions enforcement review, the Government committed to explore options for more effective join up on intelligence, including the merits of a new joint sanctions intelligence function. This scoping will take place during the current financial year. I will keep the House updated on progress in implementing the review conclusions.

With reference to the Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories' Oral Statement of 15 May 2025 on Sanctions Implementation and Enforcement, Official Report, columns 524-526, what role the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation will play in any proposed changes to the sanctions implementation and enforcement framework.

The Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) was established on 10th October 2024 with new powers to strengthen the implementation and enforcement of trade sanctions. OTSI is working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and other relevant departments to take forward the conclusions of the cross-Government review of sanctions implementation and enforcement announced by the Minister for Europe on 15th May 2025.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) the trustees of Chelsea Football Club, (b) his Portuguese counterpart and (c) the European Commission on the proceeds of the sale of that club.

The Government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine, following Russia's illegal full-scale invasion.We are deeply frustrated that it has not been possible to reach agreement on this with Mr Abramovich so far.While the door for negotiations will remain open, we are fully prepared to pursue this matter through the courts if required, to ensure people suffering in Ukraine receive the benefit from these proceeds as soon as possible.