Written questions by Goldsborough.

How many offenders have left prison without an identified (a) employment, (b) education and (c) training outcome in each of the last 10 financial years.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold this information.While we do publish employment on release outcomes, this does not extend over the past 10 financial years. Our employment outcomes data report employment status at six weeks following release and six months following release and cover the period back to 2019-20.The data, which include the unemployed and unavailable for work groups, can be found at the following link: Offender Employment Outcome Statistics - GOV.UK.For education, although we do not hold information on the number of prisoners leaving prison without an identified education or training outcome. We have previously published information on prison education and accredited programme attainment dating back to 2019-20. This can be accessed at the following link: Prison Education and Accredited Programme Statistics - GOV.UK.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce delays in prisoners accessing emergency hospital care.

Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and that prison staff are aware of their own responsibilities and of the local procedures in place to support a streamlined response.Responses to medical emergencies in prisons are undertaken and monitored locally by both prison staff and healthcare staff. Prison staff will secure the attendance of medical staff. During the day, or where a prison has 24-hour healthcare, commissioned healthcare staff will assess what intervention is needed and determine whether hospital treatment is required. Prison staff will arrange for an ambulance to attend, if needed, and escort it to the nearest, safest point of access to the patient, ensuring arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded locally.Any incidents, including the time taken to respond, are discussed between prison and healthcare staff, either as part of a full debrief (in the case of the most serious incidents) or as part of the regular daily reflection on the events of the previous day.

What steps her Department is taking to help reduce incidence of self harm on the secure estate.

We recognise that rates of self-harm across the estate are high, and we are taking action to address this.We provide individualised support through our case management process for people assessed as at risk of self-harm. This approach places a strong emphasis on identifying individual risks, triggers and protective factors and having effective care plans in place to record, address and mitigate risks.All new staff receive suicide and self-harm prevention and mental health awareness training, to increase skills in supporting at-risk prisoners.We fund Samaritans to train prisoners to provide emotional support to other prisoners in crisis (the Listener Scheme).

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure British Sugar agrees the (a) price and (b) terms of future sugar beet contracts with NFU Sugar.

The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production. We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. The NFU has a statutory mandate, under Article 125 of Regulation EU 1308/2013 (Retained EU Law on the common organisation of agricultural markets) to represent the interests of growers in all commercial dealings with the processor. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of confirming NFU Sugar as the UK sugar beet growers’ representative in contract negotiations with British Sugar.

The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production. We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. The NFU has a statutory mandate, under Article 125 of Regulation EU 1308/2013 (Retained EU Law on the common organisation of agricultural markets) to represent the interests of growers in all commercial dealings with the processor. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the sole processor negotiates with the growers’ collective representative in the sugar beet sector.

The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production. We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. The NFU has a statutory mandate, under Article 125 of Regulation EU 1308/2013 (Retained EU Law on the common organisation of agricultural markets) to represent the interests of growers in all commercial dealings with the processor. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the amount of time prisoners spend in their cells.

We recognise the importance of prisoners having access to purposeful activity, including education. We know that this significantly reduces the likelihood of re-offending – by up to nine percentage points.After the previous Government ran the prison estate at over 99% capacity for years, our prison system is on the brink of collapse. It is very difficult to run an effective regime that rehabilitates prisoners and cuts reoffending, when prisons are so full. This Government is beginning to address the capacity crisis we inherited, to ensure that our prisons create better citizens, not better criminals.HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has introduced the National Regime Model, which creates a national infrastructure for planning, reviewing, and measuring purposeful activity. Every prison must now deliver a minimum of 60 minutes each day in the open air, and 120 minutes out of cell. Prisons are also required to set out how they are improving their regime offer year-on-year.All prisons are required to provide physical education (PE). HMPPS promotes participation in PE which it defines as activities supervised and organised as part of an establishment’s agreed PE programme. Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 58/2011 Physical Education for Prisoners specifies the requirement for prisons to offer a range of sport and gym-based activity for a minimum of two and half hours a week.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure prisoners on the secure estate undertake the minimum time for physical exercise.

We recognise the importance of prisoners having access to purposeful activity, including education. We know that this significantly reduces the likelihood of re-offending – by up to nine percentage points.After the previous Government ran the prison estate at over 99% capacity for years, our prison system is on the brink of collapse. It is very difficult to run an effective regime that rehabilitates prisoners and cuts reoffending, when prisons are so full. This Government is beginning to address the capacity crisis we inherited, to ensure that our prisons create better citizens, not better criminals.HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has introduced the National Regime Model, which creates a national infrastructure for planning, reviewing, and measuring purposeful activity. Every prison must now deliver a minimum of 60 minutes each day in the open air, and 120 minutes out of cell. Prisons are also required to set out how they are improving their regime offer year-on-year.All prisons are required to provide physical education (PE). HMPPS promotes participation in PE which it defines as activities supervised and organised as part of an establishment’s agreed PE programme. Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 58/2011 Physical Education for Prisoners specifies the requirement for prisons to offer a range of sport and gym-based activity for a minimum of two and half hours a week.

If he will make an estimate of the number of former armed forces personnel living in South Norfolk constituency.

The House of Commons Library has an online data dashboard for constituencies which includes data on Veterans taken from the most recent censuses in Great Britain. This is available here:https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-uk-armed-forces-veterans-2021-census/England and Wales Census 2021 data showed that 3,537 people in South Norfolk constituency reported that they had previously served in the UK armed forces. This represents 4.7% of this constituency’s population aged 16 and over. This compares with 3.8% of the population in the East of England region and 3.8% in Great Britain.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure prisoners on the secure estate have access to a careers mentor.

From April 2025, new Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG) contracts will launch which will set consistent high standards for providers. Providers will be working on a national specification, and this will be mandated in all prisons. The CIAG Service will be supported by a new digital Learning & Work Progress Service that will capture prisoner goals throughout the life of their sentence. This means that prisoners will have access to CIAG that is relevant to their needs.

What steps her Department is taking to help improve highway safety on rural lanes.

We have awarded local authorities £185.8 million of funding between 2017 and 2024 through the Safer Roads Fund to improve the safety of England's most high risk 'A' roads. To date, it has funded 445.3 miles of rural roads which make up 62.4% of all funded routes.We acknowledge there is more that can be done; therefore, my Department is developing a road safety strategy, the first in over ten years, and we will set out more details in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to improve the rural road network.

The Government takes the condition of both rural and urban roads very seriously and is determined to help local authorities tackle the maintenance backlog that results from years of underinvestment by the previous Government. The Department for Transport has allocated Norfolk County Council over £56 million for the 2025/26 financial year to help it carry out its highway maintenance responsibilities, an increase of over 36%. It is up to Norfolk County Council to decide how much of this it spends on its rural roads, based on local needs and priorities, but the additional funding should allow it to deliver real improvements in both rural and urban areas.

What steps her Department is taking to improve access to electric vehicle charging points in rural communities.

A widespread, easy-to-use and reliable network of public chargepoints is crucial to support the electric vehicle transition. In 2024, nearly 20,000 public charging devices were added to the network, making it a record year. There was particularly strong growth in rural areas, with chargepoint numbers increasing by 45%. Government investment will continue to support public chargepoint rollout, including the £381m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund which was purposefully designed to better reflect regional disparity. The LEVI Fund, alongside private investment, is estimated to deliver at least 100,000 chargepoints alone.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that all prisoners receive an initial health screening when arriving on the secure estate.

Every prisoner, whether they are new into prison or have been transferred between establishments, undergoes a health screen upon arrival. This is in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance and covers immediate health problems, which includes identifying mental health or substance misuse issues, and is followed by a referral onto the appropriate health team within the prison estate, if necessary.

How many secure mental health beds were available on the secure estate in each of the last ten financial years.

The data requested is not centrally held nor published by NHS England.

Media and Sport, how much money released by the Dormant Assets scheme has been allocated to (a) England, (b) East Anglia and (c) Norfolk in each year since the scheme began.

As of 2023/24, a total of £826 million has been allocated from the Dormant Assets Scheme to England, with DCMS responsible for this portion of funding. This is broken down by year as follows: 2011/12: £39.9 million; 2012/13: £41.6 million; 2013/14: £70 million; 2014/15: £41.1 million; 2015/16: £30.7 million; 2016/17: £79.1 million; 2017/18: £128 million; 2018/19: £59.8 million; 2019/20: £57.6 million; 2020/21: £75.6 million; 2021/22: £44.8 million; 2022/23: £77.9 million; and 2023/24: £79.9 million.To date, this has been distributed by four independent, expert organisations set up with the explicit purpose of delivering dormant assets funding: Youth Futures Foundation, Fair4All Finance, Better Society Capital, and Access: The Foundation for Social Investment. Dormant assets funding seeks to address entrenched societal challenges through long-term, innovative programmes at a national scale, and is not allocated on a regional basis.Examples of how dormant assets funding has benefited East Anglia and Norfolk include Fair4All Finance investing £88,240 in community finance organisations in Norwich to support people in vulnerable circumstances by improving their access to fair and affordable financial products and services. Additionally, Asperger East Anglia received a £35,000 loan from Access’s Growth Fund, funded by dormant assets.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce crime in rural villages.

Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities.That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas.Under our Safer Streets Mission, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will deliver thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers, across England and Wales, including in rural areas, to speed up response times and build public confidence. This Government is clear that when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith that justice will be delivered, and criminals will be punished – no matter where you live.We are also committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 to fend off the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce shoplifting in rural convenience stores.

In the last year of the previous government, shop theft soared to a twenty-year high, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.No matter where you live, we are clear that when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith justice will be delivered and criminals will face meaningful consequences.We will introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We will also end the effective immunity, introduced by the last government, granted to shop theft of goods of and under £200. This will remove any perception that offenders will escape punishment.We will also provide over £7 million over the next three financial years to support the police tackling retail crime.

If she will make an assessment of the potential economic impact of trains operating on the proposed Oxford to Cambridge rail line continuing their journey to Norwich via the Breckland line.

There are currently no plans to extend East-West Rail services beyond its core scope, but through services may be an option in the future – and doing so would not be precluded by any scope being delivered as part of East-West Rail.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce speeding on rural lanes and highways.

Excess speed is still a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads. Anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face sanction.Enforcement of speeding offences in rural lanes and highways and the deployment of available resources and capabilities is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to determine, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.