Written questions by Vickers.

What support is available to police forces tackling rural crime in (a) County Durham and (b) North Yorkshire.

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. Under our Safer Streets Mission reforms, 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. This financial year we are providing the first Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit, a national policing unit which help forces tackle rural crime priorities and is a great example of farmers and police working together at national and local level. We are also working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver the next iteration of their Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy, to ensure the Government’s Safer Streets Mission benefits every community. The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will ensure that every community in England and Wales will have named and contactable officers dealing with local issues, and that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses. This will be supported by the delivery of up to an additional 3000 officers into neighbourhood teams by Spring next year, as part of our ambition to deliver 13,000 neighbourhood officers into police forces across England and Wales by the end of this parliament.

What support is available to victims of domestic abuse on navigating the civil court system.

Victims of domestic abuse in both the civil and family court systems have the protection of special measures such as giving evidence via a video link or from behind a screen, and prohibition of direct cross examination of a victim by a perpetrator.The Government recognises that victims of domestic abuse may need help to understand their legal rights and navigate the courts systems in civil and family proceedings. Legal aid is available for private family matters, such as child arrangements, financial remedy proceedings and divorce if an individual is a victim of domestic abuse or at risk of being abused. Legal aid is also available for domestic abuse victims for certain urgent protection applications – for example, non-molestation orders and occupation orders.In addition, the Ministry of Justice is providing funding to support litigants in person, including domestic abuse victims, to help them navigate the civil justice system effectively, including preparation for court and support at court. In 2025/26, over £6 million of funding will be provided to 60 organisations to support the delivery of free legal support and information, both in-person and online. This includes some Citizens Advice and Law Centres, Rights of Women and AdviceNow, as well as organisations that specifically focus on supporting victims of domestic abuse.Support is also provided via a specialist service FLOWS (Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors), delivered by RCJ Advice, to support victims of domestic abuse to apply for protective orders in the family courts. The service can help all survivors, whether or not they are eligible for legal aid.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of Operation Soteria on the prosecution of sexual offences.

The new Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, which launched in April 2025, has brought together three existing victim orientated policing programmes, including Operation Soteria, to oversee the response to all forms of VAWG and child sexual abuse. This will ensure that this expertise can be harnessed and put into practice in forces across the country, intensify cooperation and enhance intelligence sharing.Through Operation Soteria, we are supporting police and prosecutors to deliver a step-change in how they investigate rape. The Home Office invested £9.4 million to develop a new National Operating Model (NOM) for the investigation of rape. This model was developed through Operation Soteria, which brought together frontline policing from across 19 forces and academics from a range of disciplines to test new tools and techniques. All police forces in England and Wales are now implementing this new approach to rape investigations.It is not possible to link changes in metrics solely to Operation Soteria, as they are likely to be the result of various changes introduced to improve outcomes in adult rape cases however, there have been positive improvements in some key metrics since forces began implementing Operation Soteria – such as prosecution volumes.

What progress she has made on expanding multi-agency safeguarding hubs across police forces in the North East.

Multi-agency working is critical to safeguarding children, and multi-agency safeguarding hubs (or ‘multi-agency front doors’) play an important role in the safeguarding system. However, the Government is going further to better protect children, including through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is establishing multi-agency child protection teams and improving information sharing, including through a single unique identifier.

What recent steps she has taken to improve road safety outside schools in high-traffic areas.

Local authorities also have a range of traffic management measures available to them to help improve safety outside schools including reducing speed limits, traffic calming, and introduction of a School Street where appropriate.  On 19 November 2024 Active Travel England and the Department for Transport published joint School Streets Guidance. The guidance is available at School Streets: how to set up and manage a scheme - GOV.UK The Government treats road safety with the utmost seriousness and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Department for Transport is developing our road safety strategy, the first in over a decade and we will set out more details in due course.

What funding she is providing for youth justice services in areas of high need.

For 2025/26, this Government is providing c.£94 million in funding to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) to support the operation and provision of youth justice services across England and Wales. This funding enables YOTs to provide interventions and support tailored to the needs of children in their local area. Despite the challenging fiscal environment this Government inherited, this is an increase on the previous year.In addition, c.£15 million has been allocated to the Turnaround Programme, which provides funding to all YOTs to intervene earlier and address the reasons that lead to children offending. Since the programme launched in 2022 this has enabled YOTs to reach up to 20,500 additional children not currently on their statutory caseloads.

What support is available for reservists to help them balance defence service with civilian employment.

The Ministry of Defence works closely with Reservist employers to maximise the support Defence provides to Reservists. As part of this, Defence encourages employers to provide a minimum of 10 days additional paid leave to allow Reservists to complete their training throughout the year.

What support her Department provides to employers in Stockton West constituency to increase disability confidence in recruitment.

Nationally, in our Get Britain Working White Paper, published November 2024, we committed support for employers to recruit, retain, and develop staff. As part of that, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead ‘Keep Britain Working’, an independent review to consider how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver a final report with recommendations in the autumn. In addition, in January this year, we launched an expert academic panel to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations later this autumn. The Disability Confident (DC) Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face. At my request, officials have been discussing with stakeholders options for making the DC scheme criteria more robust. The Government is working towards announcing next steps for improving the scheme later this autumn. DWP also has a digital information service for employers, (www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk), which provides tailored guidance to businesses to support employees to remain in work. This includes guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, plus guidance on legal obligations, including statutory sick pay and making reasonable adjustments. Access to Work aims to support the recruitment and retention of disabled people into employment. It is a personalised discretionary grant that provides support with workplace adjustments beyond an employer’s obligation as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. As part of our Plan for Change, and as set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published in March, we are consulting on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the programme to help more disabled people into work and support employers ensuring value for money for taxpayers. We will review all aspects of Access to Work after evaluating the findings of the Pathways to Work consultation. In the area of Stockton DWP talks to employers about the diverse range of customers available for work, which includes those with a disability. The benefits of being a DC employer is promoted, including referencing Stockton Borough Council as a DC leader. Employers are signposted to the DC website and follow up conversations are held to offer support in becoming a DC employer. DWP has also contacted employers who have received an award for being dementia friendly to consider being DC. To support jobseekers who have disabilities DWP actively seeks placements with DC employers to aid them in their journey back into work. Work is about to start with Sainsburys, which is a DC employer, on recruitment for a new store in the area and will involve supporting customers with disabilities to consider and apply for roles.

What steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for military medical appointments.

A new appointment management approach adopted by Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) medical centres across the UK, has resulted in a 26% reduction in waiting times for patients accessing doctor appointments in primary healthcare. Total Triage, introduced by DHPC, is designed to reduce unnecessary face-to-face appointments and enable greater and quicker access to medical care for those in need. Under the new arrangements patients submit a request through the online form, or phone the medical centre where the request is triaged and allocated to a suitable qualified clinician. This ensures the patient gets to see the right healthcare worker at the right time. This has resulted in an end to the usual morning rush of phone calls to book appointments, reducing pressure on reception staff, and in patients being treated more quickly. Total Triage is part of wider programme of primary healthcare to deliver better healthcare to Armed Forces personnel, including the introduction of SMS appointment reminders and combining practices to increase access to medical services and resources.

What recent steps he has taken to strengthen recruitment to the armed forces from underrepresented communities.

The Defence Diversity and Inclusion strategy sets out a goal to be an organisation that, at all levels, appropriately represents UK society by increasing representation of underrepresented groups such as Ethnic Minorities, Women and LGBT. To that end, Levels of Ambition were created in 2018 and are regularly reviewed to monitor progress. Programmes are in place to achieve increased representation including building a more inclusive culture, improving terms and conditions of Service (including flexible working), improving engagement and outreach with underrepresented communities, improving and streamlining recruiting (including targeted inclusive advertising) and candidate nurturing programmes (including focus on underrepresented groups).

If she will meet with (a) the Hon. Member for Stockton West and (b) a delegation of medically discharged police officers to discuss the case for a medal recognising their (i) service and (ii) sacrifice.

Any official award is a gift from the Government, on behalf of His Majesty The King to recognise individuals within policing and emergency services personnel. The creation of a new award requires cross Government consensus and approval from the Committee on The Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals, before advice is put to HM The King to make his final decision.The Home Office will continue to consider proposals for new awards for members of the emergency services. It is only right that we recognise the sacrifices made by the emergency services, and it is important to make sure this is considering fully and carefully to ensure any changes are proportionate and effective.

What her planned timetable is for introducing a medal for police officers medically discharged as a result of service-related injuries.

Any official award is a gift from the Government, on behalf of His Majesty The King to recognise individuals within policing and emergency services personnel. The creation of a new award requires cross Government consensus and approval from the Committee on The Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals, before advice is put to HM The King to make his final decision.The Home Office will continue to consider proposals for new awards for members of the emergency services. It is only right that we recognise the sacrifices made by the emergency services, and it is important to make sure this is considering fully and carefully to ensure any changes are proportionate and effective.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of prison safety in Category (a) B and (b) C prisons.

Safety in prisons is a key priority, and we are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible for staff and prisoners.We have specialist staff and equipment to stop the smuggling of contraband in prisons, such as drugs, weapons and mobile phones, which can fuel violence and create instability.Prisons face a range of factors which impact on their safety, and these often vary between types of prisons, which is why it is important that all prisons have local safety strategies that address the local drivers of safety, whilst operating within the approach set out in the national Prison Safety Policy Framework.

What steps he is taking to increase training placements for (a) nurses and (b) allied health professionals in the North East.

Clinical practice placements are mandatory for healthcare education and training, in order to support and embed the skills, values, and behaviours for the future National Health Service workforce. Financial support is currently available to placement providers in the form of a placement tariff for nurses and allied health professionals.As part of our 10-Yeah Health Plan, we have committed to reforming the clinical placement tariff system to ensure it drives clinical placement activity in the right professions and settings.The Professional Strategy for Nursing and Midwifery, being developed by the Chief Nursing Officer for England, will build on this to ensure that every nursing student spends sufficient time across a range of clinical settings, and will include a requirement for all students to have a high-quality experience in neighbourhood and community settings and social care.

If she will publish a list of police forces without a named officer assigned to each ward.

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee set out commitments for police forces to implement by July 2025. These foundation commitments have now been achieved. The public can now expect forces to be delivering on the guarantee across England and Wales to ensure consistent and high-quality neighbourhood policing.As part of the Guarantee, all forces across England and Wales now have a named, contactable officer for each of their neighbourhood areas, and details of neighbourhood officers can be found on police force websites.

What support she is providing to legal aid providers in (a) rural and (b) semi-rural areas.

Citizens in England and Wales meeting the eligibility criteria should be able to access legal aid services regardless of where they live.The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services, and it monitors the numbers of providers in each procurement area and across all categories of law. It takes operational action where it can, to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.The Ministry of Justice has undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and recently published its response: Civil legal aid: Towards a sustainable future, consultation response - GOV.UK. We have confirmed that we are increasing fees for all housing & debt, and immigration & asylum legal aid work. This is a significant investment of £20 million a year– the first increase since 1996. In addition, the Department is looking at other potential changes that could support providers, for example, (civil) contractual requirements regarding provider offices and limits to the provision of remote legal aid that providers say are burdensome. Any changes would aim to give providers more autonomy in meeting client need, while maintaining effective in-person provision for clients who need this.As part of the £24 million increase for criminal solicitors implemented in 2024, the Ministry of Justice is paying for travel time for solicitors who work or commute to work in a small number of scheme areas with fewer than two legal aid providers.

What steps her Department is taking to support hydrogen-powered transport solutions in the Tees Valley.

The Department for Transport (DfT) considers that hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives could play an important role in decarbonising the transport sector, particularly in heavier transport such as aviation and maritime. We are supporting research, development and deployment of hydrogen-powered transport including through the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrators (ZEHID), the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE), the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) and the Civil Aviation Authority’s Hydrogen in Aviation Regulatory Challenge. The Tees Valley Hydrogen Hub Demonstration also provided dedicated funding to support the development of hydrogen refuelling stations and a range of hydrogen powered vehicles. The Government will continue to assess support for hydrogen-powered transport as evidence continues to emerge and will publish a new UK Hydrogen Strategy later this year, outlining government's vision for hydrogen. The Strategy will be grounded in evidence and set out clear priorities for collaboration with industry.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Police Uplift Programme in high-crime areas.

The Police Uplift Programme supported forces in England and Wales to deliver the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023.The deployment of police officers is a matter for operationally independent Chief Constable and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Mayors with PCC functions.An evaluation of the impact of the Police Uplift Programme, which focuses on the impact of the programme on policing as a service, policing as an employer, and longer-term policing and crime outcomes is expected to be published later this year.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of workforce shortages on ambulance response times in rural areas of the North East.

North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) is fully staffed at present across their patient-facing roles in emergency care. When vacancies arise, recruitment is targeted in those areas. The NEAS works closely with universities to support the 3-year education programme for paramedics so when jobs are available, they are encouraged to apply. NEAS will also, if required, use overtime, additional hours, bank shifts or local third-party providers should they have any short-term or unplanned shifts not covered to ensure response times and therefore patient care is not affected.The latest figures show that Category 2 response times in the North East were 20 minutes 51 seconds on average, the fastest in the country.

What steps she is taking to improve emergency call handling times by forces.

The process handling of emergency and non-emergency calls to the Police is determined by operationally independent local forces, however The Home Office and Policing have undertaken work in support of national consistency and to reduce wait times for the public.Average wait time data for 999 emergency calls to policing is publicly available at: 999 performance data | Police.uk. While average wait time data for 101 non-emergency calls is publicly available at: 101 performance data | Police.uk. Both datasets demonstrate overall improvement in reducing wait times for the public, achieved through force collaboration at national level to agree on key performance metrics and share best practices.The Home Office is also funding work to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into force control rooms to triage non-policing demand to the correct service, support forces in better understanding type and volume of calls and support call handlers in administrative tasks during and after calls and in completing rapid risk assessments.The Home Office and Policing are committed to delivering greater channel choice for the public when reporting crimes or concerns, this includes funding the availability of online crime reporting and pilots of a national Victim’s Portal where the public can communicate with officers via direct messaging rather than telephone should they prefer.