Written questions by Kohler.

Whether her Department is taking to steps with (a) transport and (b) safety regulators to ensure (i) public awareness campaigns, (ii) regulation and (iii) other preventative measures are in place to help reduce the incidence of injuries associated with (A) hire and (B) e-bikes.

The Government fully supports the safe and legal use of Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (“E-bikes”), whether privately owned or rented. E-bikes must comply with the UK's product safety framework and be safe before they are placed on the market. In October 2024 the Department for Business and Trade launched the “Buy Safe, Be Safe” campaign which informs the public about e-bike safety. In July this year the Product Regulation and Metrology Act received Royal Assent. It contains new powers to address product safety challenges including e-bikes. In addition, the English Devolution and Community Powers Bill includes provisions to regulate on-street micromobility services such as shared e-bike schemes. This measure will empower local leaders to have greater influence over the management of these services.

What guidance her Department provides to schools on promoting road safety awareness among pupils who use (a) hire and (b) electric bikes.

Primary and secondary schools are free to teach about road safety awareness as part of their duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, and many do so through their personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) provision alongside the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) content. This can also include teaching about general road safety when using bikes in different situations. The statutory RSHE guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondaryThe updated RSHE guidance, published in July 2025, has a new section on personal safety which includes how to recognise risk and keep safe around roads.Schools can draw on resources available from many providers including, the THINK! campaign, developed by the Department for Transport. The campaign can be accessed here: https://www.think.gov.uk/.Schools also use Bikeability, the Department for Transport’s flagship national cycle training programme for pupils in England, which teaches core skills that enable pupils to cycle confidently and safely on roads.

Whether any dedicated funding has been provided to the Metropolitan Police to support the Ninja Sword Surrender Scheme.

The Ninja Sword Surrender Scheme ran for four weeks between 1 to 31 July 2025. The scheme allowed owners of ninja swords to surrender them at designated police stations in England and Wales and, if they wished, submit a claim for compensation, which was forwarded to the Home Office for consideration.The scheme was directly funded by the Home Office, and no specific funding was given to police forces including the Metropolitan Police.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that e-bikes on the UK market meet product (a) safety and (b) compliance standards.

Businesses have legal responsibilities to ensure e-bikes are safe and comply with product safety laws before they place them on the market. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and Local Authority Trading Standards (LATS) have enforcement powers. OPSS uses data and intelligence, working alongside LATS, to identify and target unsafe e-bikes entering the UK. OPSS has assessed the compliance of more than 80 UK-based businesses involved in the supply chain for e-bikes, e-scooters or conversion kits, and has published 23 product recalls and 43 other product safety alerts for e-bikes and associated products since 2022.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of (a) severe trauma and (b) other injuries cause by e-bikes on the NHS; and what steps his Department is taking to help support the NHS to treat those injuries.

The information requested is not held centrally and no assessment has been made by the Department.More broadly, the Government is supporting National Health Service urgent and emergency care services through our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, which is backed by nearly £450 million.

Whether her Department has issued guidance to (a) hospitals and (b) local health authorities on collecting consistent data on injuries linked to (i) hire and (ii) electric bikes.

The Department collects data from police forces on road casualties, including in relation to cyclists, and publishes statistics twice a year. There are no plans to extend this to include hospitals or local health authorities.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that (a) hire and (b) e-bike operators comply with safety standards.

All e-cycles used on the road, including those in shared schemes, must comply with regulatory requirements. However, while they can bring real benefits, we know that shared schemes can present safety challenges in terms of poor parking and antisocial behaviour. That’s why we are empowering our local leaders to tackle these issues through licensing.

What criteria will be used in the Home Office English Language Test procurement process to help ensure the (a) integrity, (b) reliability and (c) independent validation of English language assessments, in the context of (i) AI and (ii) remote delivery models.

The Home Office is currently undertaking market engagement to inform the development of contractual requirements for the English Language Test procurement, and will ensure the continued integrity, reliability and independent validation of English language assessments, including considerations for both AI-enabled and remote delivery model.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help (a) prevent and (b) disrupt modern slavery.

The DfT works collaboratively with delivery bodies to tackle modern slavery in supply chains. A DfT modern slavery working group has been in place since 2020, to help embed modern slavery commercial policies, including Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Notes and share best practice. DfT has invited a number of suppliers to complete the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT), including its strategic suppliers.  This seeks assurances from our suppliers on the policies and procedures they have in place to help protect their workforce.The Commercial Function within DfT continues to raise awareness and build knowledge of modern slavery, through training opportunities and events.  The Group Commercial Director is the DfT Anti-Slavery Advocate and is committed to developing and promoting policies and programmes to address modern slavery in commercial activity.DfT also continues to highlight the importance of this work with its suppliers, using events as a platform to remind suppliers of the government’s commitment to mitigate modern slavery in supply chains, examples of this are through supply chain management meetings and supplier engagement opportunities.

What steps she is taking to ensure that (a) insurers, (b) technology developers, (c) investigators and (d) other key stakeholders can access essential AV data for (a) real-world performance monitoring and (b) post-collision analysis.

The Department for Transport is working to implement the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024, which includes provisions to enable appropriate access to AV data. As part of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles’ AV Act Implementation Programme, work is ongoing to ensure that key stakeholders can access the data they need to support the safe deployment of self-driving technologies. This includes a recent call for evidence on the Statement of Safety Principles and consultation on protecting marketing terms, with the aim of delivering the regulatory framework in the second half of 2027. At the international level, the UK continues to contribute to the work underway at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on harmonised rules for automated driving systems. This includes provisions for a regulation on a data storage system for AVs, which will ensure that AVs record and store the key data points required for performance monitoring and post-collision analysis. The AV Act allows for conditions to be set in secondary legislation to require the sharing of data and information (including with public bodies and insurers) where it is necessary to support the safe operation of AVs. It requires arrangements to be made for monitoring and assessing the general performance of AVs, with an annual report produced. The Act also makes provisions for the investigation of incidents, ensuring that incident inspectors have the powers to access all data needed.

What discussions she has had with the British Transport Police on tackling county lines.

Ministers and officials at the Department meet with the British Transport Police on a regular basis to discuss the work the force are doing to ensure the railway remains a safe environment for the public and rail staff. The BTP’s County Lines taskforce are undertaking excellent work to tackle County Lines activity on the railway. The taskforce is an intelligence-led proactive unit, focused on tackling drug supply and child exploitation, working across the whole rail network in England, Scotland and Wales.

Whether has had discussions with British Transport Police on the adequacy of the training available to help officers (a) identify and (b) respond to county lines exploitation.

The British Transport Police (BTP) have a comprehensive training programme in place. All new police officers and police community support officers receive input from the County Lines Taskforce safeguarding team in their initial training and the team provide training to other teams within the force when required. BTP’s County Lines safeguarding team also deliver the national County Lines coordination centre hydra training which is open to all BTP officers. They also invite partners from children’s services to attend and take part alongside them. The force also provide resources and guidance to officers on how to identify exploitation and make effective referrals.

What discussions she has had with the British Transport Police on the adequacy of its procedures for (a) identifying victims of (i) modern slavery and (ii) county lines and (b) referring them for support.

There is no place for modern slavery or county lines in our society and the British Transport Police (BTP) work to make the railway a hostile environment for criminals committing these offences and a place of safety for victims of exploitation. The BTP are having much success in their programmes to address these issues. In 2024/25 there were over 230 children safeguarded and 14 modern slavery charges secured by BTP. The BTP are one of five Police forces with a dedicated County Lines Task Force funded by the Home Office. The taskforce is an intelligence-led proactive unit focused on tackling drug supply and criminal child exploitation, working across the whole rail network in England, Scotland and Wales. I can reassure you that safeguarding and identifying victims is at the heart of the taskforce’s operations and they have dedicated safeguarding professionals embedded in the team to put support in place for vulnerable individuals. Whilst this vital work takes place year round, I would like to highlight the work the force did recently, during the national County Lines week of action which ran from 23 June – 29 June 2025. BTP’s County Lines Taskforce ran 48 operations across England, Scotland and Wales which saw 38 people offered support after being identified as victims of exploitation by drugs gangs.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is considering to help tackle potential transnational repression of (a) Hong Kong, (b) Uyghur and (c) Tibetan diaspora communities in the UK, in the context of the proposed Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.

Freedom of speech and other fundamental rights are protected under domestic law for everyone within the UK, regardless of nationality. Any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated. All material planning considerations will be taken into account in reaching a decision on the planning application in question. As the application in question is before ministers in MHCLG to determine, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific elements of it.

If she will make it her policy to publish an Outcome Delivery Plan for 2025 to 2026.

The Outcome Delivery Plans are co-ordinated through the Cabinet Office and we are awaiting confirmation on whether they will be published for this year and the process and timing of this.

Whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to require transport authorities to integrate reporting tools for (a) gendered violence and (b) anti-social behaviour into transport apps.

This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes. The Department for Transport is working with partners across government and the transport industry to play its part in achieve this mission. We know that consistency of reporting is an important issue and we intend to look at this in more detail. However, we would always encourage victims of violence and anti-social behaviour to report these incidents to the police in the usual way.

Whether she plans to expand public awareness campaigns that encourage reporting of sexual harassment on public transport.

This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes.The Department for Transport is working with partners across government and the transport industry to play its part in achieve this mission.This includes working with the British Transport Police to encourage reporting via the 61016 text reporting number. We are also supportive of the Rail Delivery Group’s ‘Zero Tolerance Campaign’ which raises awareness of sexual harassment and encourages reporting and bystander interventions when safe to do so.We are also bringing forward measures in the Bus Services (No. 2) mandating training for staff in the bus industry on how to recognise and respond to incidents of violence against women and girls, as well as anti-social behaviour (ASB).

What estimate her Department has made of the number of fraudulent insurance claims that have been made by people who stage road traffic collisions to gain compensation there have been in the last 12 months.

The Government recognises the harm caused by these types of fraudulent claims. This is why we have launched an Insurance Fraud Charter with key insurance firms to agree a series of voluntary measures to reduce fraud against the sector and consumers.The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau reports that there has been 118 reports of Insurance related Fraud in the past 13 months.

What assessment the Car Insurance Taskforce made of the potential impact of fraudulent insurance claims made by people who stage road traffic collisions to gain compensation on levels of car insurance premiums.

This Government committed in its manifesto to tackle the high costs of motor insurance. To deliver on this commitment, the UK Government formed a cross-government Taskforce on motor insurance, co-chaired by the Department for Transport and His Majesty’s Treasury. The Taskforce which met most recently on 28 April has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums. It will look at the increased insurance costs on consumers and the insurance industry. The Government will provide updates on the Taskforce in due course. Regarding fraudulent insurance claims, the Government is committed to tackling this threat and has worked in collaboration with the UK insurance sector to publish an insurance fraud charter. This is a voluntary agreement which aims to raise the visibility of insurance fraud, improve victim support and better detect and prevent scams, such as crash-for cash.

With reference to the data release entitled Number of children in Universal Credit households, by School Year and 2024 Parliamentary Constituency, November 2024, published on 5 June 2025, if she will publish this data by local authority.

The requested data was published here on 6 June 2025, as an additional sheet in the spreadsheet entitled “Number of children in Universal Credit households, by School Year and 2024 Parliamentary Constituency, November 2024”. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-expansion-impact-on-poverty-levels