Written questions by Thomas.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of online appointment bookings for GP surgeries on the elderly population and those who experience digital exclusion.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring equitable access to general practice (GP) services for all patients, including elderly individuals and those who may experience digital exclusion. Since 1 October, GPs have been required to offer access to online services throughout core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, bringing online access in line with walk-in and phone access. This change aims to improve convenience for many patients and reduce long phone queues for those who prefer to contact their practice by telephone.The GP Contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person, and all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a GP. Practice receptions should be open so that patients without access to telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.

What steps he is taking to support farmers who are victims of agricultural crime.

The Government is committed to ensuring all victims, including victims of agricultural crimes, get the information and support they need to navigate the criminal justice system. Under the Victims’ Code, victims of agricultural crimes are entitled to be given information about and be referred to victim support services by the police to help them cope and recover from the impact of a crime. A consultation on a new Victims’ Code will take place in due course to ensure it gets the foundations right for all victims. The Ministry of Justice continues to provide all 42 Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas in England and Wales with annual grant funding to commission local support services for victims of all crimes, including those affected by agricultural crime. PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support to meet the need of victims in their area.

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of theft in rural areas.

Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas. The Home Office works in partnership with DEFRA to improve the response to rural crime. Together, we supported the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy for 2025-28. The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling rural crimes.We are improving the safety of rural communities with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its aims to tackle the theft and resale of ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when Parliamentary time allows.We are also introducing, through the Crime and Policing Bill, a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court. This will provide a valuable tool for police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee means there will be an additional 3000 officers in neighbourhood policing teams in England and Wales by March 2026, whilst also ensuring each community, including rural communities, has a named, contactable officer to turn to.This financial year the Home Office has provided the first funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). This funding boost of over £800,000 will help these specialist policing units tackle those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of crime solving rates in rural areas.

Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas. The Home Office works in partnership with DEFRA to improve the response to rural crime. Together, we supported the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy for 2025-28. The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling rural crimes.We are improving the safety of rural communities with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its aims to tackle the theft and resale of ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when Parliamentary time allows.We are also introducing, through the Crime and Policing Bill, a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court. This will provide a valuable tool for police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee means there will be an additional 3000 officers in neighbourhood policing teams in England and Wales by March 2026, whilst also ensuring each community, including rural communities, has a named, contactable officer to turn to.This financial year the Home Office has provided the first funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). This funding boost of over £800,000 will help these specialist policing units tackle those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of agricultural crime.

Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas. The Home Office works in partnership with DEFRA to improve the response to rural crime. Together, we supported the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy for 2025-28. The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling rural crimes.We are improving the safety of rural communities with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its aims to tackle the theft and resale of ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when Parliamentary time allows.We are also introducing, through the Crime and Policing Bill, a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court. This will provide a valuable tool for police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee means there will be an additional 3000 officers in neighbourhood policing teams in England and Wales by March 2026, whilst also ensuring each community, including rural communities, has a named, contactable officer to turn to.This financial year the Home Office has provided the first funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). This funding boost of over £800,000 will help these specialist policing units tackle those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.

What steps her Department is taking to help tackle rural crime.

Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas. The Home Office works in partnership with DEFRA to improve the response to rural crime. Together, we supported the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy for 2025-28. The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling rural crimes.We are improving the safety of rural communities with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its aims to tackle the theft and resale of ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when Parliamentary time allows.We are also introducing, through the Crime and Policing Bill, a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court. This will provide a valuable tool for police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee means there will be an additional 3000 officers in neighbourhood policing teams in England and Wales by March 2026, whilst also ensuring each community, including rural communities, has a named, contactable officer to turn to.This financial year the Home Office has provided the first funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). This funding boost of over £800,000 will help these specialist policing units tackle those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.

What steps she is taking to increase funding for police forces in rural areas.

Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas. The Home Office works in partnership with DEFRA to improve the response to rural crime. Together, we supported the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy for 2025-28. The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling rural crimes.We are improving the safety of rural communities with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully support its aims to tackle the theft and resale of ATVs, quad bikes and GPS systems. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation when Parliamentary time allows.We are also introducing, through the Crime and Policing Bill, a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, where the items are reasonably believed to have been stolen and are on those premises, and where it has not been reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court. This will provide a valuable tool for police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.Our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee means there will be an additional 3000 officers in neighbourhood policing teams in England and Wales by March 2026, whilst also ensuring each community, including rural communities, has a named, contactable officer to turn to.This financial year the Home Office has provided the first funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). This funding boost of over £800,000 will help these specialist policing units tackle those crimes that predominantly affect our rural communities.

What steps he will take in the forthcoming National Cancer Plan to improve diagnosis times for myeloma.

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes.To tackle the late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, and research and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years. This will benefit all cancer patients, including leukaemia and myeloma patients.

What steps he will take in the forthcoming National Cancer Plan to improve diagnosis and treatment for penile cancer.

Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer, including penile cancer, is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan. The plan will be published early this year. It will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for patients with cancer, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates. This will benefit all cancer patients, including penile cancer patients.The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers which will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, including penile cancer patients, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. This will ensure that the National Health Service will remain at the forefront of medical innovation and is able to provide patients with the newest, most effective treatment options, and ultimately boost survival rates.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has her Department made of the potential merits of amending the Hunting Act 2004 to allow only for the retrieval of a dead or wounded animal by a single dog.

The Department has not made any such assessment of the potential merits.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department made of the potential impact of deer populations on rural environments.

Defra supports survey programmes that assess the ecological condition of woodlands in England. This includes the National Forest Inventory woodland ecological condition assessment, which indicated in 2020 that 40% of woodland habitat in unfavourable condition due to herbivore damage, including from deer. A further large-scale woodland survey, known as the Bunce survey, reported in 2024 that 33% of English woodlands are impacted by deer. Defra funded an assessment of the cost of invasive non-native species to Great Britain in 2023 as part of the GB Invasive Non-native Species Strategy. This included invasive non-native species of deer and indicated that their impacts result in costs to society of around £47.7 million annually. Defra provides a range of support to help manage deer impacts on woodlands. This includes grants for deer management, projects and capital items such as fencing, and funding a dedicated team of Deer Officers within the Forestry Commission to provide advice.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent modelling has her Department made of the impact of the Hunting Act 2004 on fox populations and welfare.

The Department has not undertaken any recent modelling of the impact of the Hunting Act 2004 on fox populations or welfare.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the expenditure of policing and prosecuting public order offences and assaults between trail hunt groups and saboteurs.

The Home Office does not hold figures on the cost of policing and prosecuting public order offences and assaults arising between trail hunt groups and saboteurs.Policing is operationally independent, and it is for local Chief Constables to determine how best to deploy their officers and resources to meet the needs of their communities.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increasing deer populations on drivers in rural communities.

My Department has made no assessment of deer populations and road safety. We recognise that drivers are at risk of collisions with wild animals. Traffic signs warning that wild animals, including deer, may be in the road ahead are available for local authorities to install where they consider it appropriate. Advice on their use is given in Chapter 4 of the Traffic Signs Manual, available at:www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that rural police forces are additionally resourced to prosecute newly proscribed rural crimes.

I refer the Hon. Member to UIN 97588 answered on 15th December 2025.

What assessment she has made of the compatibility of the US National Security Strategy with the UK's Strategic Defence Review.

It is for the US to answer questions about the specifics of their own National Security Strategy. The UK shares the US’s objectives of bringing the war in Ukraine to an end, strengthening Euro-Atlantic security, burden sharing through NATO and increased defence spending, which are all set out in our Strategic Defence Review. The Defence Secretary discussed this when he met with US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, in December. Our commitment to NATO and to European security is ironclad.

What recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of community energy networking.

The Government is ambitious about the role of local and community energy in delivering our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower. We will publish our Local Power Plan soon which will set out how we will work with communities to deliver significant growth in community energy. Ministers and officials in the department, have visited community energy projects and attended events held by community energy affiliated organisations throughout this year, such as Community Energy England's Annual conference on 1st July 2025. In March 2025, the department also hosted the DESNZ ‘Community Energy Day’, bringing together over 100 representatives from community energy groups and around 40 civil servants from across Government departments. The event provided a platform to showcase innovative projects, foster collaboration, and was widely regarded as a highly successful and energising day, with both ministerial and official attendance. We also fund the Net Zero Hubs. The Net Zero Hubs also organise events, conferences and webinars across England to increase collaboration between local authorities and community groups, showcase funding opportunities, and increase the pipeline of community energy projects, like Northumberland Community Energy’s planned further rollout of rooftop solar panels.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she had with her French counterpart on nuclear support to NATO.

The Foreign Secretary regularly speaks to her French counterpart, including on matters relating to NATO defence. The NATO Strategic Concept states that the independent strategic nuclear forces of the United Kingdom and France have a deterrent role of their own and contribute significantly to the overall security of the Alliance. The UK and French separate centres of decision-making contribute to deterrence by complicating the calculations of potential adversaries.

What assessment he has made of the viability of the purchase of F-35As as an expansion of the UK nuclear deterrent in the context of the US National Security Strategy.

The United Kingdom is purchasing at least 12 F-35A aircraft. The aircraft will allow the UK to participate in NATO's Dual Capable Aircraft (DCA) nuclear mission. The nuclear weapons allocated to the NATO DCA nuclear mission are United States (US) nuclear weapons and the US retains control and custody over them. NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept states that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance, particularly those of the US, are the supreme guarantee of the security of the Alliance. The Government has no plans to expand the UK nuclear deterrent beyond our existing submarine-based system but continues to keep its nuclear posture under constant review in light of the international security environment and the actions of potential adversaries.

What recent steps she has taken to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to resource Ukraine.

The Government remains determined to ensure Russia is held accountable for the damage it has caused, and continues to cause, in Ukraine. We will continue work and coordinate with G7 and EU partners to ensure that Ukraine gets the funding it needs, ensuring any options developed by the Government are in line with international law. We continue to pledge that Russia's sovereign assets will remain immobilised until they cease the war and pay compensation to Ukraine.