Written questions by Morris.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of improving parliamentary scrutiny procedures for international trade agreements.

Effective parliamentary scrutiny of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) is vital. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG) gives Parliament the statutory right to scrutinise treaties prior to ratification, and includes the power to block ratification. Parliament must also pass legislation that may be necessary to implement a treaty.In addition, the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee plays an important role in scrutinising the Government’s trade policy.Taken together, the current framework facilitates robust parliamentary scrutiny of FTAs.

What assessment the Department has made of the potential merits of continuing the use of Education, Health and Care Plans to support children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities with a guaranteed right to support in the North East.

This government inherited a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system that has failed to meet the needs of families for too long.The department’s priority is improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND so they get every chance to achieve and thrive in their education, no matter where they are in the country.We are continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children and young people get the outcomes and life chances they deserve. The government's approach to SEND reform will be set out in a Schools White Paper, which will be published in the new year.There will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has also set out our principles for SEND reform in her letter to the Chair of the Education Select Committee.

What steps his Department is taking to improve support for veterans in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.

This Government is fully committed to ensuring that veterans in Hexham, Northumberland, the North East, and across the whole country have easy access to support when and where it is needed. At the 2021 census, 3,997 people in Hexham reported that they had previously served in the UK Armed Forces, representing 5.2% of the population aged 16 and over. The Ministry of Defence runs the Veterans Welfare Service, who provide advice and support to veterans and their families. In England Op RESTORE and Op COURAGE provide physical and mental health specialist services. Housing support is available across the United Kingdom via Op FORTITUDE, a single referral pathway connecting veterans with support. For support with employment, the Career Transition Partnership is the initial point of provision for those leaving military Service and Op ASCEND is the employment pathway for veterans. In May we announced VALOUR, a new commitment to establish the first-ever UK-wide approach to veteran support, which will ensure easier access to essential care and support for veterans across the country. A new regional approach, based on a network of VALOUR support centres and VALOUR field officers, will help to ensure that services are designed to meet the needs of their local communities.

Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders to improve tennis facilities in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this. The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.

What steps his Department has taken to improve parental rights for workers in the North East.

Through the Employment Rights Bill, we are strengthening rights for parents by making Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights for qualifying employees, removing restrictions on taking Paternity Leave after Shared Parental Leave, strengthening flexible working rights, and bolstering protections for new and expectant mothers. On 1 July we launched the Parental Leave Review which will consider how parental leave can better reflect modern work and childcare realities and support working families.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reform estate adoption in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, and (d) the North East.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement published on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 85401 on Public Houses: Rural Areas, what his planned timeframe is for publishing the outcome from the Call for Evidence on Reforming the licensing system.

The Government is inviting views and evidence to inform the development of a modern, proportionate and enabling licensing system. A Call for Evidence ran for four weeks until 6 November. This attracted a significant number of responses and work is now underway to analyse these. We are working at pace and aim to share findings as soon as possible.

What discussions her Department has had with Northumberland County Council on the adequacy of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Hexham constituency.

Departmental officials meet with Northumberland County Council regularly, both individually and as part of North East regional meetings to discuss the delivery of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services both strategically and operationally across the local area partnership. In July 2025, departmental officials met Northumberland County Council following the publication of education, health and care plan statistics. Officials discussed the published data and the support for children with SEND in Northumberland including in Hexham constituency. In December 2025, officials will meet with Northumberland County Council to discuss the local authority’s high needs place planning, the use of their capital allocation and how this will improve services and support children and young people with SEND. The department will continue to work with Northumberland County Council to monitor the delivery of SEND services and offer support when required.

What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of suicide prevention training for staff working in police custody suites in the North East.

The Government is committed to preventing deaths in or following police custody, including suicides both in custody and following release.The College of Policing sets the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s 'Vulnerability in Custody' training package, launched in 2022, seeks to improve the consistency and quality of custody training, focusing on identifying vulnerability and managing risk.In addition, the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework teaches officers to assess vulnerability and amend their approach as required, incorporating autism, learning disabilities and mental health.Policing is operationally independent, and it is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake.The Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, in co-operation with the National Police Chief’s Council and College of Policing have recently produced guidance on preventing suicides in and following police custody. Chief Constables, custody officers and other policing leaders should carefully consider this guidance and implement its recommendations where appropriate.

Media and Sport, what steps the Department is taking to support public libraries in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.

Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources. The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils' Core Spending Power on 2024-25. The Secretary of State announced in February 2025 a further £5.5 million of the Libraries Improvement Fund for 2025-26 to enable library services across England to invest in a range of projects to upgrade buildings and technology. Upper tier local local authorities in the North East have received a total of almost £2 million from previous rounds of the Fund.

What discussions he has had with the Sentencing Council on the use of community sentences (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.

The Sentencing Council for England and Wales is a non-departmental body, established by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing. The primary role of the Council is to issue guidelines on sentencing, which the Courts must follow, unless it is in the interests of justice not to.The Council’s ‘Imposition of Community and Custodial Sentences’ guideline sets out the guidance that sentencers must follow when imposing community orders and custodial sentences, including deciding whether a custodial sentence can be suspended. It provides more detail as to the sorts of community requirements available under community orders and suspended sentence orders. This overarching guideline applies across England and Wales – the Council does not produce guidelines that are specific to a geographic location. The guideline can be found online at the Council’s website: https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences/.

What discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the North East on developments to Active Travel England.

Active Travel England has a key role in the planning system as a statutory consultee for development management via Schedule 4 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015. As part of this statutory role, Active Travel England officials regularly offer to hold discussions with local planning authorities, developers and local highway authorities.

What steps the Department is taking to support victims of rape and sexual violence through the court system in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring that victims of rape and sexual violence are supported throughout their engagement with the criminal justice system, regardless of where they live. Across the country, every Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) area now has at least two dedicated Victim Liaison Officer in its rape and serious sexual offences unit. Pre-trial meetings are offered to all adult victims of these crimes, and the CPS have also delivered trauma-informed training to staff as part of their Victims’ Programme. The Ministry of Justice funded Witness Service also provides on-the-day emotional and practical support to victims who are witnesses. This year, we have protected dedicated Ministry of Justice Violence Against Women and Girls victims spending, maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support services in every Police and Crime Commissioner area. This also includes the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which provides funding to over 60 specialist support organisations, including in the North East.

What estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of foreign direct investment projects on economic growth in the North East in the last (a) five years and (b) ten years.

DBT’s Official Statistics on inward investment at Inward investment results - GOV.UK show the number of Foreign Direct Investment projects and new jobs created in the North East as per the tables below. 2015-162016-172017-182018-192019-20FDI projects7769695973New jobs2,9914,6092,3792,1882,979 2020-212021-222022-232023-242024-25FDI projects5171616763New jobs1,3735,8433,0474,2962,064 The estimated economic impact is only published for DBT-supported projects at a UK level. This has been published since 2019-20 and is shown below. 2019-202020-212021-222022-232023-242024-25Estimated economic impact (£m)3,0913,8757,0345,7695,7576,041

How many Sure Start centres have closed in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England since May 2010.

Data on children’s centres is supplied by local authorities via the department’s ‘Get Information about Schools’ database portal, which is available at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.The figures are based on information supplied by local authorities as of 4 November 2025. These figures could change again in future, since local authorities may update the database at any time.Since May 2010, no children’s centres have closed in Hexham constituency but 2 have been converted into children’s centre linked sites. In Northumberland, 5 children’s centres have closed, and the local authority has converted a further 3 into children’s centre linked sites. In the North East, 50 children’s centres have closed and local authorities have converted a further 50 into children’s centre linked sites. In England, 779 children’s centres have closed and a further 686 have been converted into children’s centre linked sites.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders in the North East on the protection children and young people from harmful content online.

This Government is committed to keeping people safe online, so that they can seize all the opportunities that the internet brings.Is it essential that policy is shaped by people with lived experience and we engage regularly with a range of stakeholders to understand how best to protect children and young people from harmful online content. Ofcom, the independent regulator for online safety, also engaged with children across the country in developing its safety codes.Details of ministerial engagement are published quarterly on GOV.UK.

How many police stations have closed in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East since May 2010.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of police stations or public front counters in use across all police forces, nor the number of closures. Decisions regarding the management of local police resourcing and estates is a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need, experience, and in line with their existing budget.A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing, and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing, The commitments set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee are now making a considerable difference to the service communities receive from their neighbourhood policing teams.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.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support tech innovation in (a) Hexham constituency and (b) the North East.

As set out in the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan, part of the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy, the department is committed to supporting the UK’s city regions and clusters.UKRI invested £355 million in the North East in 2023-24. UKRI’s funding is supporting projects such as the North East Digital Technologies Launchpad that has funded innovative technology businesses such as RareCan in Hexham, who are using AI to support recruitment for rare cancer clinical trials.Building on this we have earmarked at least £30 million for the North East through our new Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. This will empower local leaders to grow high-potential innovation clusters and unlock their potential to create the businesses and jobs of the future.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment the her Department has made of the potential impact of the AI Growth Zone in the North East on economic growth in the Hexham constituency.

I refer my Hon. friend to the answer given on 2nd October 2025 to Question UIN HL10718.

Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help tackle digital exclusion in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.

We know that digital exclusion is a complex issue and the evidence base is significant but fragmented. Ofcom data from 2025 reports that 5% of households in the UK do not have access to the internet and that, in the North East of England, 10% of households do not have access to the internet. That is why we launched the Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February, which sets out our immediate actions to boost digital inclusion across the UK, including the North East of England.Alongside our actions to widen access to devices, drive digital upskilling, break down barriers to participation and get support to people in their own communities, we are also developing robust headline indicators to monitor progress and inform future digital inclusion interventions.