Every parliamentary written question tabled by John Cooper this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 21–40 of 151 · this parliament
How many personnel in the (a) military, (b) police and (c) intelligence services who were charged and prosecuted in Northern Ireland for any criminal offence connected to the Troubles during the period of Operati
The Ministry of Defence does not hold comprehensive records of personnel charged or prosecuted in Northern Ireland for Troubles-related offences between 1969 and 1998, or equivalent figures for police, security or intelligence personnel.
How many cases have been referred to the police in Northern Ireland for investigation relating to alleged Troubles’ related crimes.
The Ministry of Defence does not record or hold information on referrals to the police for investigation, either in Northern Ireland or in any part of the UK, including allegations of crimes relating to the Troubles.
How many security service personnel have been investigated by (a) the police and (b) the Historic Enquiries Team for allegations of criminal misconduct during the Troubles.
The Ministry of Defence does not hold records relating to Security Service personnel.
Whether his Department is taking steps to reduce UK dependency on Chinese supply chains for clean energy technologies.
The Government is taking steps to strengthen the resilience and diversity of supply chains for clean energy technologies; including through measures to increase UK domestic capability to unlock the economic potential of the UK's energy transition. The UK'...
Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of public accountability mechanisms for the BBC in the event of it being granted a permanent Charter.
The Culture Secretary has set out that while the structures and the funding for the BBC will continue to be negotiated every several years, she will seek to end the bizarre situation where if the Charter isn’t agreed in time, the BBC ceases to exist. More...
Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that a range of commercial media stakeholders are consulted during the BBC Charter Review process.
The Charter Review was officially launched on 16 December with the publication of the Terms of Reference and Green Paper. The Charter Review is looking at a range of issues to make sure the BBC truly represents and delivers for every person in this countr...
Whether his Department has assessed the potential impact of a lack of long-term demand certainty on the ability of defence companies to raise external finance.
Delivering on the commitments made in the Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy, we are developing a dedicated Defence Finance and Investment Strategy (DFIS). This is supported by a Defence Investors’ Advisory Group, bringing together s...
What steps his Department is taking to help prevent misconceptions about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainable finance rules from affecting access to finance for companies involved in lawful
As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, the Defence Finance and Investment Strategy (DFIS) is set to be published later in 2026. The DFIS will address barriers to financing and investment in the sector – including supporting businesses access finan...
What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access of defence SMEs to basic banking services.
The government is committed to increasing direct spend with SMEs and are committed to ensuring they have a fair opportunity to win public contracts. As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, Ministry of Defence is backing British jobs, British indust...
What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that compliance requirements relating to sanctions, export controls and anti-money-laundering rules do not have a disproportionate effect on defence S
DBT operates a clear, proportionate, and robust system of export controls and sanctions, promoting both UK prosperity and national and global security. DBT supports all exporters with their compliance obligations through a suite of regularly updated guida...
What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on reducing complexity in export-control processes for defence SMEs.
Export control processes are designed carefully to facilitate responsible exports, balancing appropriate levels of control over defence-related exports with compliance requirements for business. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) will work with the Department ...
Food and Rural Affairs, whether a carve-out for precision bred organisms from dynamic alignment under the proposed UK-EU SPS agreement has been agreed with the EU.
The Government remains committed to implementing the Precision Breeding Act and enabling the safe development of innovative genetic technologies. Under the UK‑EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The detail of those is subject to ongoing negotiations, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that the UK's approach to crop protection authorisation is safeguarded under the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
The UK-EU SPS agreement is under negotiation and pesticides regulations are in scope. The Common Understanding sets out that the United Kingdom, acting in respect of Great Britain, will dynamically align with all the relevant European Union rules. The Common Understanding further sets out that the UK will be involved at an early stage to contribute to the decision-shaping process on areas within scope of the Agreement.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to secure assurances from the European Union on a permanent carve-out for products authorised under the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 in any new Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
The Government remains committed to implementing the Precision Breeding Act and enabling the safe development of innovative genetic technologies. Under the UK‑EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The detail of those is subject to ongoing negotiations, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.
If she will make an assessment of the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact, on the contribution of universities to economic growth and innovation; and what steps her Department is taking to support that contribution across the UK.
The UK Government recognises the important contribution that universities across the UK make to our economic growth, innovation and international standing. Our recently published International Education Strategy supports strong and sustainable long-term international partnerships for UK universities by promoting the whole of the UK’s education offer overseas, including research collaboration and driving growth through high quality UK transitional education.The department will continue to work with the UK’s education sector, devolved governments and key partners such as the British Council to support the contribution of British universities, including in Scotland, to growth, innovation and international partnerships. Steps to strengthen this collaboration include the ministerially-chaired Education Sector Action Group, which brings together stakeholders to identify opportunities and remove barriers to growth, and the recent publication of the sector-led brochure ‘Advancing Talent with UK Education – Building Global Partnerships’.
Innovation and Technology, what consideration he has given to the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact on the importance of international collaboration in university research; and what steps his Department is taking to support such collaboration.
The Department acknowledges the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, which presents the globally competitive strength of Scotland’s higher education system and its importance in tackling shared global challenges. The Department supports international research collaboration through UK wide activity, including the promotion of universities and the wider research and innovation sector through the UK’s Science & Technology Network, through access to funding support such as Horizon Europe, the International Science Partnerships Fund and our core support to UK research institutions, and through bilateral and multilateral science and technology cooperation. These measures support research excellence and knowledge exchange across the UK, including in Scotland.
Whether the priorities set out in the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact have informed the Government’s approach to the International Education Strategy; and what steps she is taking to strengthen international partnerships with UK universities.
The UK Government recognises the important contribution that universities across the UK make to our economic growth, innovation and international standing. Our recently published International Education Strategy supports strong and sustainable long-term international partnerships for UK universities by promoting the whole of the UK’s education offer overseas, including research collaboration and driving growth through high quality UK transitional education.The department will continue to work with the UK’s education sector, devolved governments and key partners such as the British Council to support the contribution of British universities, including in Scotland, to growth, innovation and international partnerships. Steps to strengthen this collaboration include the ministerially-chaired Education Sector Action Group, which brings together stakeholders to identify opportunities and remove barriers to growth, and the recent publication of the sector-led brochure ‘Advancing Talent with UK Education – Building Global Partnerships’.
Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential impact of upcoming changes to the subscription contracts regime on local and regional news publishers and their ability to adopt digital first and sustainable business models, as referenced in the recent Local Media Strategy.
The Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK. We have launched a Local Media Action Plan to help local newsrooms across the country innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news.Local media already has a strong propensity to innovate and many local publishers are shifting towards digital subscription models in an effort to secure their financial sustainability. This is an understandable response to the financial pressures faced by the industry and a reflection of the significant costs involved in provision of high quality journalism.The purpose of the subscriptions regime set out in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act is to protect consumers from being trapped in unwanted subscriptions. Government has consulted on how the regime will be implemented, and I have engaged alongside the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection with representatives from the news media sector and other DCMS stakeholders on this consultation. More broadly, DCMS continues to work closely with the Department for Business and Trade to reflect on the issues raised during the consultation and a Government Response will be published in due course.
With reference to the Policy paper entitled Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan of 17 March 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a 14-day cooling-off period on the effectiveness of local and regional news publishers in adopting a digital-first and sustainable future.
The government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK. We have launched a Local Media Action Plan to help local newsrooms across the country innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news.We have consulted on how the subscriptions regime will be implemented and Ministers and officials have engaged with representatives from the news media sector. We are working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to reflect on the issues raised and a Government Response will be published in due course.The impact assessment for the subscriptions chapter in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act can be found here: Subscription traps: annex 2 impact assessment. Together, the subscription measures are anticipated to provide £400m of consumer benefits per year and the estimated net direct cost to businesses is £171m per year.Sector-specific analysis has not been conducted.
When his Department plans to engage with stakeholders on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime.
This government is committed to protecting consumers who enter subscription contracts. We have consulted on the implementation of the new subscriptions regime (Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime - GOV.UK) which included meeting with interested stakeholders. After carefully analysing responses a full Government Response is to be published in due course.We have engaged with consumer advocacy groups, enforcers and business representatives from across the economy and will continue to do so in advance of the regime’s commencement.