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Daily Report Friday, 21 February 2020

This report shows written answers and statements provided on 21 February 2020 and the

information is correct at the time of publication (03:32 P.M., 21 February 2020). For the latest

information on written questions and answers, ministerial corrections, and written statements,

please visit: http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers/

CONTENTS

ANSWERS 7

ATTORNEY GENERAL 7

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions 7

BUSINESS, ENERGY AND

INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY 7

[Subject Heading to be

Assigned] 7

Climate Change Convention 8

Department for Business,

Energy and Industrial Strategy:

Work Experience 8

Greenhouse Gas Emissions 8

Innovate UK: Finance 9

Paternity Leave 10

Visas: Research 11

DEFENCE 11


Assigned] 11

Defence: Innovation 11

Porton Down: Animal

Experiments 12

DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND

SPORT 13

Broadband 13

Broadband and Mobile

Phones: Banff and Buchan 13

Bus Services: Rural Areas 14

Department for Digital,

Culture, Media and Sport:

Offshore Funds 15

Department for Digital,

Culture, Media and Sport:

Work Experience 15

Gambling: Video Games 15

Greyhound Racing 17

Huawei 17

Huawei: 5G 17

Loneliness 18

Telecommunications: Foreign

Companies 18

Television: Licensing 19

EDUCATION 20


Assigned] 20

Apprentices 21

Apprentices: Degrees 22

Food Poverty: Academic Year 22

Social Services 23

Special Educational Needs 23

Special Educational Needs:

Finance 24

http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers

http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND

RURAL AFFAIRS 24


Assigned] 24

Agriculture: Import Duties 26

Agriculture: Subsidies 26

Air Pollution 26

Air Pollution: Health Hazards 27

Air Pollution: Urban Areas 28

Animals: Imports 28

Cats: Tagging 28

Chemicals 29

Chemicals: Regulation 29

Chemicals: Seas and Oceans 30

Clean Air Zones 31

Department for Environment,

Food and Rural Affairs:

Procurement 31

Dogs: Animal Breeding 32

Dogs: Pet Travel Scheme 32

Energy: Waste 33

Environment Protection 34

Farmers: Government

Assistance 35

Fish: Sales 36

Flood Control: Finance 37

Fly-tipping: Bosworth 37

Horses: Animal Welfare 38

Incinerators: Fires 39

Livestock: Transport 39

Microplastics: Seas and

Oceans 40

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust

Emissions 40

Plastic Bags: Fees and

Charges 41

Sharks: Conservation 42

Tobacco: Litter 42

Trees: Imports 43

Viridor 44

Waste Disposal: Environment

Protection 45

Waste: Landfill 45

Wildlife and Countryside Act

1981 45

FOREIGN AND

COMMONWEALTH OFFICE 46

Anoosheh Ashoori 46

Coronavirus 47

Hong Kong: Embassies 47

Middle East: Peace

Negotiations 47

Occupied Territories:

Demolition 48

Philippines: Human Rights 48

Somalia and Somaliland:

Travel Information 48

UN Mission in Darfur 49

UN Mission in South Sudan 49

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 50


Assigned] 50

Accident and Emergency

Departments: Mental Illness 51

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs:

Health Services 52

Aortic Dissection: Diagnosis 53

Blood: Contamination 53

Cancer: Buckinghamshire 54

Cancer: Health Services 54

Carers: Older People 55

Carers: Young People 56

Coronavirus 56

Coronavirus: Disease Control 58

Department of Health and

Social Care: Offshore Funds 58

Diabetes: Health Education 59

Diabetes: Medical Equipment 59

Diabetes: Skin Diseases 60

Eating Disorders: Children 60

Electronic Cigarettes: Children 60

Electronic Cigarettes: Safety 61

Genito-urinary Medicine 61

Hinckley Hospital: X-rays 61

HIV Infection: Drugs 62

Hospitals: Discharges 63

Learning Disability: Diagnosis 64

Mental Health Services:

Waiting Lists 64

Prescription Drugs 65

Prostate Cancer: Screening 65

HOME OFFICE 66


Assigned] 66

Asylum 66

Asylum: Deportation 66

Domestic Violence: LGBT

People 67

Firearms and Knives:

Liverpool 68

Free Movement of People:

Musicians 69

Home Office: Work Experience 69

Immigrants: Health Services 70

Immigration: EU Nationals 70

Knives: South Leicestershire 71

Lancashire Constabulary: Stop

and Search 72

Offences Against Children 72

Special Constables:

Conditions of Employment 73

Special Constables: Equality 73

Special Constables:

Recruitment 74

Special Constables: Training 75

Visas: Research 75

HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND

LOCAL GOVERNMENT 76


Assigned] 76

Clarion Housing Group 77

Disabled Facilities Grants 77

Economic Growth 77

Flats: Insulation 78

Freehold: Fees and Charges 78

Fuel Poverty: Older People 79

Housing: Construction 80

Housing: Domestic Abuse 81

Housing: Multiple Occupation 82

Housing: Romford 82

Local Plans 83

Planning Permission 83

Private Rented Housing:

Liverpool 83

Private Rented Housing:

Reform 84

Temporary Accommodation:

Children 84

INTERNATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT 85


Assigned] 85

Department for International

Development: Offshore Funds 85

Developing Countries:

Children 86

Developing Countries: Fossil

Fuels 87

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance 87

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance:

Finance 88

Overseas Aid 88

Private Infrastructure

Development Group: Fossil

Fuels 89

Sub-Saharan Africa:

Renewable Energy 90

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 90

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia 90

Trade Agreements: Mexico 91

Trade Agreements: Tanzania 91

JUSTICE 91


Assigned] 91

Coroners 92

Counter-terrorism 93

Courts: Digital Technology 94

Crimes against the Person:

Prosecutions 94

Crimes of Violence:

Sentencing 95

Debts: VAT 95

Driving: Disqualification 96

Fraud 96

Grandparents: Access 96

HM Courts and Tribunals

Service: Sick Leave 97

Homicide: Reoffenders 98

Knives: Crime 98

Legal Systems: Islam 99

Life Imprisonment 99

Offences Against Children:

Convictions 100

Offences against Children:

Sentencing 100

Offensive Weapons:

Sentencing 101

Open Prisons 103

Pregnancy: Alcoholic Drinks 103

Pre-sentence Reports 104

Prison Service: Staff 105

Prisoners 105

Prisoners' Release 106

Prisoners' Release: Christmas 108

Prisoners' Release: Curfews 108

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals 109

Prisoners: Homosexuality 109

Prisoners: Parole 110

Prisons: Crimes of Violence 111

Rape: Convictions 112

Reoffenders 113

Reoffenders: Alternatives to

Prosecution 113

Reoffenders: Community

Orders 114

Reoffenders: Sentencing 115

Sentencing 115

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions 116

Tenants' Associations:

Tribunals 116

Terrorism: Prisoners' Release 117

Young Offenders: Reoffenders 118

Young Offenders: Sentencing 118

LEADER OF THE HOUSE 118

Voting Rights: Scotland 118

NORTHERN IRELAND 119

Brexit: Northern Ireland 119

Equality Commission for

Northern Ireland 119

Northern Ireland Office: Work

Experience 119

Terrorism: Northern Ireland 119

SCOTLAND 120

Scotland Office: Work

Experience 120

TRANSPORT 120


Assigned] 120

Aviation: Emergencies 121

Bus Lanes: Ambulance

Services 121

Bus Services: Kirklees 122

Bus Services: Passengers 122

Department of Transport:

Work Experience 122

Electric Vehicles 123

Electric Vehicles: Batteries 124

Electric Vehicles: Charging

Points 125

Heathrow Airport: Railways 125

High Speed 2 Railway Line:

Iron and Steel 126

High Speed 2 Railway Line:

Wendover 127

High Speed Two 128

Pedestrian Crossings 128

Private Roads 129

Railways: North West 129

Roads: Capital Investment 129

Traffic Lights 130

TREASURY 130


Assigned] 130

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties 131

Average Earnings: North East 132

Beer: Excise Duties 132

Bridges: Irish Sea 132

Child Benefit 133

Dementia: Social Services 133

Digital Technology: North East 133

Employment: Taxation 134

Farmers: VAT 135

Funerals: Children 135

Gambling 136

High Speed 2 Railway Line 136

National Insurance 136

Ports: Infrastructure 137

Revenue and Customs:

Offshore Funds 137

Social Services: Children 138

Tax Avoidance 138

Temporary Employment:

Taxation 140

WALES 140

Infrastructure: Wales 140

WORK AND PENSIONS 140

Department for Work and

Pensions: Work Experience 140

Housing Benefit: Older People 141

Local Housing Allowance 141

Personal Independence

Payment: Medical

Examinations 141

Universal Credit 143

Universal Credit: Vulnerable

Adults 146

Universal Credit: Wales 146

MINISTERIAL CORRECTIONS 148

HOUSE OF COMMONS

COMMISSION 148

Big Ben: Festivals and Special

Occasions 148

Notes:

Questions marked thus [R] indicate that a relevant interest has been declared.

Questions with identification numbers of 900000 or greater indicate that the question was originally tabled as an

oral question and has since been unstarred.

ANSWERS

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions

Taiwo Owatemi: [14803]

To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions he has had with the Director of

Public Prosecutions on ensuring more effective prosecutions of cases involving rape and

other sexual offences.

Michael Ellis:

I regularly engage with the Director of Public Prosecutions on all criminal justice

issues, including rape. Rape and sexual offences are devastating crimes that can

have a significant and profound impact on victims. All cases are dealt with by

specially trained CPS Rape and Serious Sexual Offences lawyers, and the CPS is

committed to bringing perpetrators of these horrific crimes to justice.

The CPS has accepted all recommendations made in the HMCPSI Rape Report,

published in December 2019, and a joint action plan with the police is already

underway. This work aims to improve performance in key areas including case

progression, digital capability and disclosure, and supporting victims.

The ongoing cross-Government review into this complex area will offer

comprehensive findings across the whole criminal justice system, and I look forward

to its completion

BUSINESS, ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

[Subject Heading to be Assigned]

Andrew Rosindell: [14977]

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he

is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

Kwasi Kwarteng:

The Clean Growth Strategy set out the aspiration that as many homes as possible

will be EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, cost-effective and affordable.

The current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO3) will upgrade around

a million homes for low income and vulnerable households by March 2022. ECO3

and its successor will drive over £5bn of investment in energy efficiency between now

and 2028. Furthermore, the Manifesto committed to an additional £6.3bn of public

investment to upgrade the energy performance of fuel poor homes and social

housing.

Last year, we launched Simple Energy Advice, a new digital and phoneline service to

provide homeowners with impartial and tailored advice on how to cut their energy bills

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-02-10/14803


and make their homes greener, as well as information on any available financial

support.

We also launched two energy efficiency innovation competitions in summer 2019,

both aimed at investigating ways to make energy efficiency cheaper and more

accessible for householders. The Whole House Retrofit cost reduction trajectory

competition made available £9.4 million of funding for projects which demonstrate the

potential to reduce costs for Whole House Retrofit. The Green Home Finance

Innovation Fund is making nearly £2 million of funding available for a series of

projects to develop innovative green mortgage and other lending products, to improve

householder access to green finance to support energy efficiency retrofit. We have

also committed to consult later this year on requirements for lenders to support

homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

Climate Change Convention

Seema Malhotra: [741]

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a)

civil servants and (b) diplomats are working on COP 26 preparations.

Kwasi Kwarteng:

The COP26 Team in Cabinet Office consists of 140 civil servants (as of 12th

February), including an international engagement team. The unit works closely with

colleagues across Whitehall, and with the FCO’s overseas network, on the successful

delivery of COP26.

The Government is committed to making a success of COP26, working across

Departments.

A key element of this is working towards the UK’s net zero commitment, which is very

important to this Government both domestically and internationally.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Work Experience


To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many

people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in her

Department in each of the last three years.

Nadhim Zahawi:

The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at

disproportionate cost.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions


To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what

assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report




entitled Absolute Zero, published by UK FIRES in November 2019 on eliminating

greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Kwasi Kwarteng:

We are committed to delivering on our world-leading target to achieve net zero

greenhouse gas emissions from across the UK economy by 2050. As announced by

the Prime Minister, 2020 is a Year of Climate Action which aims to inspire positive

action on climate change across the UK in the build-up to COP26.

The Government considers a wide variety of viewpoints on how to reach net zero. We

agree with the advice of the Committee on Climate Change that a full range of

solutions will be needed to meet our targets, including behaviour change, new

technologies to reduce emissions across the economy, as well as greenhouse gas

removal technologies that can capture carbon dioxide from the air.

The UK has cut carbon emissions by more than any similar developed country. In

doing so, we are now the world leader in offshore wind and have many other

strengths in key decarbonisation technologies such as smart energy systems and

electric vehicles. In the next decade, we will work with the market to deliver two

million new high quality jobs in clean growth, creating opportunities across the

country from future export markets.

Innovate UK: Finance

Daniel Zeichner: [14827]


proportion of Innovate UK core funding has been awarded to (a) SMEs, (b) large

companies and (c) academia in each year since 2010, by sector.

Amanda Solloway:

The table below includes grants offered to organisations within the three categories

requested. This does not provide an industry sector breakdown as this information is

not recorded.

10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20

Academic 21% 17% 14% 14% 13% 15% 13% 13% 13% 13%

Large 28% 24% 37% 18% 14% 15% 11% 14% 10% 7%

SME 48% 57% 46% 63% 66% 60% 68% 68% 69% 70%

Totals will not sum to 100% due to organisations outside of these categories. This

also excludes funding for the Knowledge Transfer Network, Knowledge Transfer

Partnerships, Catapults and other Centres, and grants provided through the Industrial

Strategy Challenge Fund, the Newton fund, and through programmes managed by

institutes.


The figures for 2019 to 2020 show funding at the time of the question rather than final

year-end figures. These are subject to change as the current financial year has not

yet concluded.



proportion of project collaborators in Innovate UK core funding grants awarded to Higher

Education Institutions were (a) SMEs and (b) large companies in each sector in each

year since 2010.

Amanda Solloway:

The table below describes the proportion of Innovate UK projects that have an

academic partner with either a large business or SME. As some projects will involve

both large businesses and SMEs, the percentages will not add up to 100%. This does

not provide an industry sector breakdown as this information is not recorded.

The figures for 2019 to 2020 show funding at the time of the question rather than final

year-end figures. These are subject to change as the current financial year has not

yet concluded.

10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20

Proportion

Large

46% 45% 63% 50% 47% 47% 36% 34% 22% 29%

Proportion

SME

80% 76% 68% 86% 86% 83% 89% 85% 85% 79%

Paternity Leave

Darren Jones: [14738]

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps

she is taking to improve access to paternity leave.

Nadhim Zahawi:

The Government is committed to maintaining and enhancing workers’ rights, and to

supporting people to balance their work and caring responsibilities. We recently

consulted on parental leave and pay reform, including Paternity Leave and Pay

through a survey of approximately 3,300 parents, we are also collecting data on

various parental leave and pay policies, including barriers and enablers to take-up.

We will publish the consultation response and survey findings in due course.

The Government is committed to making the UK the best place to work and grow a

business. As announced in the Queen’s Speech, we will bring forward an

Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest reform of workers’ rights in over 20

years.



Visas: Research


To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps

she is taking to ensure that the new visa scheme for international researchers announced

on 27 January 2020 enables science and technology companies in (a) Cambridge and (b)

the UK to access the global talent that they need to innovate and grow.

Amanda Solloway:

The Government is committed to making the UK a global science superpower that

attracts brilliant people and businesses from across the world.

The Global Talent route makes several changes to the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)

route that will make it easier for the UK’s science and research community to recruit

global talent. The route includes a new UKRI Endorsed Funder fast-track route for

scientists, researchers, their teams and dependents. The UK’s digital technology

sector will also benefit from the Global Talent route. Tech Nation will remain an

endorsing body for highly-skilled entrepreneurs and employees working in digital

technology. In addition, there will no longer be a cap on the number of visas

available.

DEFENCE



To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding has been allocated to

helping members of the armed forces transition back to civilian life in each of the last

three years.

Johnny Mercer:

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 February 2020 to Question 13448

to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas).

Attachments:

1. 13448 - MOD Veterans Employment [13448 - MOD Veterans Employment.docx]

Defence: Innovation

Grahame Morris: [14688]

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Defence and Security

Accelerator (DASA) Engagement Day at Cranfield University on 11 February 2020,

whether his Department has plans for further DASA engagement events in the (a) the

North East and (b) UK.

Jeremy Quin:

I am delighted that my predecessor (James Heappey MP) attended the Defence and

Security Accelerator (DASA) engagement day at Cranfield on 11 February, and met




Small and Medium Enterprises and academics attending the event. This was the first

event of this type and needs to be evaluated before a decision is made on staging

further events. In the meantime, DASA has a team of regional Innovation Partners

who regularly attend events across the UK, including in the North East of England.

The Innovation Partners will continue to look for the right opportunities to engage with

suppliers who could support innovation for the defence and security of the UK.

Porton Down: Animal Experiments

Cat Smith: [723]

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2020 to

Question 9721, on Porton Down: Animal Experiments, on which species of animal were

scientific procedures conducted in each year from 2009 to 2018; and how many scientific

procedures were conducted on each species.

Jeremy Quin:

The information requested is shown in the table below.

Number of scientific procedures, by species, for the years 2009 to 2018

YEAR DOG

DOMESTIC

FOWL

GUINEA

PIG HAMSTER

MACAQUE

(PRIMATE)

MARMOSET

(PRIMATE) MOUSE PIG RABBIT RAT TOTAL

2009 0 0 190 0 22 127 7,982 96 30 5 8,452

2010 0 0 308 30 47 197 8,553 140 50 113 9,438

2011 0 0 652 0 0 68 8,801 88 76 37 9,722

2012 3 6 281 0 0 114 8,205 75 16 130 8,830

2013 0 0 447 0 0 193 5,641 108 4 68 6,461

2014 0 0 323 0 0 67 3,411 100 0 223 4,124

2015 0 0 116 0 0 57 2,894 58 0 124 3,249

2016 0 0 236 0 0 118 2,167 27 0 199 2,747

2017 0 0 126 0 0 87 3,400 52 0 240 3,905

2018 0 0 24 0 0 56 1,738 67 0 56 1,941


DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: [14773]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps

his Department is taking to roll out gigabit broadband (a) in Hampshire and (b) throughout

the UK.

Matt Warman:

The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit capable connectivity

as soon as possible. Much progress has already been made, with full fibre coverage

doubling in the past year to reach 10% of UK premises.

This Government will continue to take action to remove barriers to network rollout and

to ensure that those in the hardest to reach areas are not left behind. We have

introduced legislation to make it easier for operators to deploy broadband in blocks of

flats, will be legislating to mandate gigabit connectivity in new builds and will provide

£5 billion of funding to support rollout in hard to reach areas.

Specifically in Hampshire, the government has invested heavily in this county, with

over £15million of government funding allocated. Full fibre coverage stands at 9%,

marginally below the UK figure of c.10%.

Virgin Media switched on full gigabit capability to Southampton in September 2019,

whilst CityFibre, Toob and Trooli have all announced plans to invest in full fibre

networks. Toob is aiming to cover 100,000 premises in Southampton with full fibre by

the end of 2021, while Trooli has been undertaking work in the villages of Ropley and

Bramdean.

The Government is also supporting deployment in Hampshire with projects in

Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight through the Local Full Fibre Networks programme.

Broadband and Mobile Phones: Banff and Buchan

David Duguid: [14767]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what

progress the Department has made on the roll-out of (a) superfast broadband and (b)

mobile data connectivity in Banff and Buchan constituency.

Mr John Whittingdale:

The government has invested heavily in the Rest of Scotland project area, where the

Banff and Buchan constituency sits, with £50 million of central government funding



allocated. Superfast coverage in the constituency stands at 84.8%, up from 1.1% in

2012

Today, there is 84.8% 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile network

operators in the Banff and Buchan constituency, with 99.3% from at least one mobile

network operator.

Bus Services: Rural Areas

Marion Fellows: [13991]


he is taking to increase the availability of broadband for smart ticket machines on buses

in the rural areas of (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.

Matt Warman:

Department for Transport statistics show that in March 2019, 92% of buses in

England outside London were enabled for smart ticketing and 72% offered

contactless payment. The Department for Transport offers bus operators in England

outside London an additional incentive to implement smart ticketing through the Bus

Service Operators Grant. Policy on bus services in Scotland, Wales and Northern

Ireland is a devolved matter.

The Government announced in-principle support in October 2019 for the Mobile

Network Operators’ (MNOs) Shared Rural Network (SRN) proposal. The proposal

would share investment costs between the mobile network operators and government

and increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the United Kingdom to 95% by 2025,

with the biggest improvements seen in the devolved nations. It will be underpinned by

a legally binding coverage commitment from each operator.

The Government's in-principle support is subject to detailed negotiations. While this is

not yet a done deal, the Prime Minister has made improvements to rural mobile

coverage part of his first 100 days pledge. I will continue to work with the sector to

make that happen.

Smart ticketing is dependent on good mobile coverage, so improvements in

geographic coverage, including on major roads will facilitate the option for bus

companies to provide smart ticket machines on buses in the rural areas of each

nation of the UK, if they choose to do so.

This Government is committed to improving digital connectivity overall. It has

committed to investing £5bn to improve broadband connections in the hardest to

reach areas of the UK.


Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Offshore Funds

Tulip Siddiq: [653]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether

his Department monitors the cash held by its subsidiaries in offshore bank accounts; and

how frequently those subsidiaries report those balances to his Department.


DCMS monitors the commercial bank balances of its Arm’s-Length Bodies (ALBs)

held outside of the Government Banking Service (GBS) via quarterly returns and this

is reported to HM Treasury. The returns include any cash held in offshore accounts.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Work Experience


To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many

people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in the

Department in each of the last three years.


The Civil Service aims to increase opportunities for people of all backgrounds and

create a

Civil Service fit for 21st century Britain through work experience, internships and

apprenticeship schemes.

DCMS does not run a central work experience scheme and therefore does not hold

data on work experience placements for people under 16. The figures for people over

16 years old are as follows:

2017: 3 on the Summer Diversity Internship Programme

2018: 2 (1 on the Summer Diversity Internship Programme and 1 on the Autism

Internship Exchange Programme)

2019: 5 (4 on the Summer Diversity Internship Programme and 1 on the Autism

Exchange Internship Programme)

Gambling: Video Games

Alex Sobel: [751]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if his

Department will take steps to (a) close the monetisation loophole in gambling legislation




in regards to loot boxes and (b) empower the Gambling Commission to regulate loot

boxes in video games.

Alex Sobel: [752]


his Department is taking to raise awareness amongst children of the risks of (a) in-game

purchases and loot boxes in video games and (b) other forms of gambling.

Matt Warman:

The Government has committed to review the Gambling Act 2005, and to tackle

issues around loot boxes. Further details will be announced in due course.

From September 2020 it will be mandatory for state-funded secondary schools in

England to teach pupils about risks related to online gambling as part of education

about internet safety and harms. This is in addition to initiatives by third sector

bodies, including the PSHE Association’s resources for teachers, Parentzone’s tools

to help parents educate children about gambling and gambling-like mechanics in

gaming, and the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust’s (YGAM) training

and resources about gambling and digital resilience for teachers, youth workers,

mental health specialists and others who work with children and young people.

We also welcomed the launch in January 2020 of the games industry’s Get Smart

About P.L.A.Y. campaign encouraging parents to use parental controls and take an

active role in their children’s gaming specifically.

Alex Sobel: [753]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if his

Department will take steps to cap the amount of money players can spend on in-game

purchases in video games.


The government is aware of concerns around the potential for excessive spending in

games, particularly by young people. These concerns are discussed in the recent

DCMS Select Committee report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies. We are

currently considering the Report and its recommendations and will respond in due

course.

We continue to work with industry and the age ratings bodies to encourage the use

of parental controls that can disable or limit spending on devices, and welcomed the

launch in January 2020 of the games industry’s Get Smart About P.L.A.Y. campaign

encouraging parents to use parental controls and take an active role in their

children’s gaming.



Greyhound Racing


To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he

is taking steps to promote the sport of greyhound racing; and if he will make a statement.

Matt Warman:

In January 2019, the Government announced that it had secured a new funding

commitment from five of the largest online bookmakers worth an estimated £3 million

annually to ensure the welfare of greyhounds is protected and improved. This is in

addition to the existing voluntary payments made to the British Greyhound Racing

Fund from most betting operators that benefit from greyhound racing, which sit

alongside commercial deals between the betting and racing industries.

We will continue to encourage any remaining bookmakers that have not signed up to

the voluntary arrangements to follow suit and support greyhound racing.

Huawei

Bob Seely: [14013]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with

reference to the oral contribution of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister

for the Cabinet Office, Official Report, 2 May 2019, column 364, what recent assessment

he has made whether Huawei is a private company.

Matt Warman:

The government’s decision to categorise Huawei as a high risk vendor takes into

consideration the potential links between Chinese companies and the Chinese State.

And the limits we have imposed on the presence of all High Risk Vendors constitute

some of the toughest security measures in the telecoms sector in the world.

We have unique insight through the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre

(HCSEC), which was established in 2010. As a result of our work, we know more

about Huawei, and the risks it poses, than any other country in the world. Huawei’s

operations in the UK are subject to the strongest oversight possible. The company’s

presence in the UK has been subject to detailed, formal oversight through the

HCSEC, and the HCSEC Oversight Board which has reported annually since 2014.

Huawei: 5G

Bob Seely: [12974]


assessment he has made of the human rights implications of the decision to use of

Huawei systems in the UK's 5G network.




Matt Warman:

The UK has been vocal in drawing attention to the systematic human rights violations

against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in China. Ministers and senior

officials regularly raise our concerns both directly with the Chinese and multilaterally.

On 29 October, at the UN Third Committee, the UK read out a joint statement, on

behalf of 22 other countries, drawing attention to the human rights violations in

Xinjiang and calling on China to uphold its obligations to respect human rights. The

UK also co-hosted an event on Xinjiang during the UN General Assembly in

September.

The Government has also set out its expectations of businesses in the UK National

Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and continues to encourage all British

businesses to undertake appropriate levels of due diligence before deciding to do

business or invest in foreign companies. The United Nations Guiding Principles on

Business and Human Rights advises UK companies to respect human rights

wherever they operate including adopting appropriate due diligence policies to

identify, prevent and mitigate human rights risks, and commit to monitoring and

evaluating implementation

Loneliness

Bridget Phillipson: [11504]


recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government’s loneliness

strategy in helping to tackle loneliness.

Oliver Dowden:

Government is committed to understanding the impact of its activity on loneliness and

will use this insight to inform future decision-making. The 60 commitments made in

the loneliness strategy vary widely and so learning is captured in different ways.

Many of these commitments are still in progress and findings will emerge over time.

For example, an independent evaluation of the £11.5m Building Connections Fund is

underway, and findings will be published from mid-2020 onwards.

The first annual report on government’s work on tackling loneliness was published on

20th January 2020. It highlighted the progress made so far, including action by

frontline workers across the public sector to recognise and act on loneliness, the

launch of the Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign, the commitment to include measures

in the Public Health Outcomes Framework so we can understand local rates of

loneliness, and the announcement of an additional £2m of grant-funding to help

frontline grassroots organisations that bring people together.

Telecommunications: Foreign Companies

John Nicolson: [13986]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether

the Department makes an assessment of the working practices of overseas companies



from which the Government procures imported telecommunications infrastructure and

technology.

Matt Warman:

The Government conducted a comprehensive, evidence-based review of the

Telecoms Supply Chain to ensure the security and resilience of 5G in the UK. The

Review was published in July 2019 and the final conclusions of the Review in relation

to high risk vendors were announced in January 2020. The Review was informed by

expert technical advice from the NCSC, economic analysis and discussions with

industry and UK’s international partners.

The conclusions from the Review have outlined the Government’s three priorities for

the future of telecommunications: stronger cyber security practices; greater resilience

in telecoms network; and diversity in the market.

The Government has also set out its expectations of businesses in the UK National

Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and continues to encourage all British

businesses to undertake appropriate levels of due diligence before deciding to do

business or invest in foreign companies. The United Nations Guiding Principles on

Business and Human Rights advises UK companies to respect human rights

wherever they operate including adopting appropriate due diligence policies to

identify, prevent and mitigate human rights risks, and commit to monitoring and

evaluating implementation.

Television: Licensing

Rosie Cooper: [571]


his Department is taking with the BBC to ensure the continuation of the provision of free

TV licences for people aged over 75.

Rosie Cooper: [572]


her Department is taking to tackle loneliness among people aged over 75 who cannot

afford a TV licence from June 2020 and are not eligible for pension credit.


The future of the over 75 licence fee concession is the responsibility of the BBC from

June 2020. This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively

during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.

The Government is disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75

licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. We recognise the

value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC.



In 2018 this government published the world's first government loneliness strategy

and appointed the world's first minister with responsibility for tackling loneliness. In

January 2020 we published our first annual report, highlighting the progress made so

far.

Rosie Cooper: [594]

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans

her Department has to support people over 75 to (a) pay for a TV licence and (b) claim a

concessionary rate for a TV licence.


The future of the over 75 licence fee concession is the responsibility of the BBC from

June 2020. It is for the BBC to set out the ways in which people over 75 can pay for a

TV licence or claim the BBC’s concession from this date.

The Government is disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75

licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. We recognise the

value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they

are entitled to and the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be

eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report

a change in their circumstances.

EDUCATION



To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what specialist support is provided in schools

for pupils with mental health problems.

Nick Gibb:

The Department’s nationally representative survey of school and college provision

published in 2017 suggested that the most common types of support offered for

pupils with identified mental health needs were educational psychological support

(61%) and counselling services (61%), with 84% of secondary schools providing their

pupils with access to counselling support. Survey results can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-mental-health-in-schools-

and-colleges.

Since this survey was done, the Department has taken significant steps to improve

access to specialist mental health support in schools and colleges. We are

introducing new Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to provide dedicated support

to schools and colleges and quicker access to an increased range of support and



treatments. These teams will employ new staff who are being recruited and trained

specifically for the programme. The first 25 trailblazer sites delivering 59 new teams

were announced in December 2018. These MHSTs are all expected to complete their

training by early 2020 and will be fully operational following this. The aim is to cover

between a fifth and a quarter of the country by 2023. The teams are part of extensive

wider investment in the NHS which means that by 2023-24, an extra 345,000 children

and young people aged 0-25 years in England will receive mental health support.

To support more schools to provide counselling the Department has provided advice

on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling, which is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.

Apprentices

Mr David Davis: [14615]

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to

promote apprenticeships in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) Yorkshire and

the Humber and (c) the UK.

Nick Gibb:

We have introduced a wide range of reforms to apprenticeships to improve their

quality and to encourage employers across England to increase the number of

apprenticeships they offer.

Since May 2010, there have been 4,392,000 starts in England. Of these, 6,930

apprenticeships starts have been in Haltemprice and Howden and 535,420 in

Yorkshire and the Humber.

We are raising the profile of our apprenticeship programme through wider

communications and marketing activity. The third phase of the Fire it Up campaign

was launched in January, targeting important audience groups that are central to

widening participation in apprenticeships.

Our thirteenth annual National Apprenticeship Week took place this month (3 to 9

February). Nearly 900 events were held across the country to celebrate and promote

the diversity and value that apprenticeships bring to employers, apprentices and

communities across England today.

In addition, in January 2018, we introduced a legal requirement for schools to give

colleges or other organisations providing further education or training, the opportunity

to make pupils aware about technical qualifications and apprenticeships.

We also offer a free service to schools through the Apprenticeship Support and

Knowledge (ASK) project to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and support to

enable them to promote apprenticeships to their students. In the last academic year,

the ASK Programme reached over 300,000 students.

We are investing £2.5 billion in apprenticeships this year (2019-20) so that employers

of all sizes across England can provide apprenticeship opportunities for people of all

ages and backgrounds. We are moving smaller employers onto our award-winning

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools


apprenticeship service to give them a greater choice of where their apprentices are

trained, and so that they can also benefit from transferred funds from levy payers.

Levy transfers can help to support new starts in supply chains and address local skills

needs.

Apprentices: Degrees

Kate Green: [13978]


promote degree apprenticeships as a route to an undergraduate degree.

Nick Gibb:

Degree and degree-level apprenticeships at level 6 and above offer people of all

ages and from all backgrounds the chance to earn while they train and access a

range of professions.

Apprenticeship starts at level 6 and above have increased from 100 in 2014/15 to

22,480 in 2018/19. 120 employer-designed standards are now approved for delivery

at levels 6 and 7, in a wide range of occupations. We are continuing to raise the

profile of these apprenticeships as high-quality alternatives to academic study.

To support employers to raise awareness of opportunities in their businesses, we

worked with the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) to develop an

online higher and degree apprenticeship vacancy listing. The most recent update was

published in National Apprenticeship Week for starts in 2020 and includes over a

thousand vacancies from employers in a range of sectors, from aeronautical

engineering to town planning.

Representatives from the National Apprenticeship Service also attended 30 UCAS

exhibitions in 2019, engaging with around 10,000 young people, their parents and

careers advisers. This work will continue throughout 2020 alongside our wider

communications and marketing activity to raise the profile of apprenticeships,

including the second phase of the ‘Fire It Up’ campaign. A number of the apprentices

who feature in advertising throughout the second phase are undertaking degree or

degree-level apprenticeships.

Food Poverty: Academic Year

Ian Byrne: [620]

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to provide

meals for disadvantaged school children during school holidays in 2020 in (a) Liverpool

West Derby constituency and (b) the UK.

Michelle Donelan:

During the 2018 summer holidays the Department awarded £2 million to 7

organisations to deliver free healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged

children. With this money, the Department were able to support more than 280 clubs

and reach around 18,000 children.



In 2019, this funding was more than quadrupled to explore a model of local

coordination of free holiday provision in 11 local authority areas, reaching around

50,000 children.

In 2020, the Department will again invest £9 million to support children and their

families. Officials are currently processing the bids received and the Department will

announce the outcome and the chosen organisations and locations in due course.

This has been a competitive bidding process and all areas were able to apply for this

funding.

The scheme operates in England only as education is a devolved matter.

Social Services

Dr Matthew Offord: [13963]

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to review

the care system.

Nick Gibb:

We are committed to undertaking a review at the earliest opportunity.The review aims

to better support, protect and improve the outcomes of vulnerable children and young

people. This was confirmed in a written statement made on 12 February 2020, which

is available at the following link:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-

statements/written-

statements/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2Clor

ds&uin=HCWS110.

Special Educational Needs

Carla Lockhart: [668]


increase the level of sensory equipment in primary schools.

Michelle Donelan:

Every school is required to identify and address the special educational needs and

disabilities (SEND) of their pupils. Schools also have duties under the Equality Act

(2010) towards individual disabled children and young people. They must make

reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services, to

ensure that disabled children are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with

their peers.

Local authorities are responsible for meeting the additional support costs for pupils

with SEND up to the value of £6,000 per pupil by providing schools with sufficient

funds to enable them to do so from the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with SEND exceed £6,000,

the local authority should also allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess

costs. This top-up funding, and funding for special schools, comes from the local



authority’s high needs budget. The department recently announced £780 million in

additional high needs funding for the next financial year, bringing total high needs

funding to over £7 billion. Every local authority in England will see an increase in high

needs funding of at least 8% per head of population aged 2 to 18.

The department have also allocated £365 million special provision capital funding to

local authorities in England from 2018 to 2021, to increase the number of places

available locally and enhance facilities for children with the most complex SEND. This

could include re-purposing areas so that they meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Ian Byrne: [615]

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding he has allocated to support (a)

primary and (b) secondary school pupils with special educational needs in Liverpool,

West Derby constituency; and how that allocation compares with the average funding

level across England.

Michelle Donelan:

We recently announced £780 million additional high needs funding for 2020-21, a

12% rise bringing the total to over £7 billion. Every local authority in England will see

an increase in high needs funding of at least 8% per head of population aged 2 to 18.

Liverpool will receive £57.9 million in total high needs funding next year. The

department does not break down high needs funding by constituency.

When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with special educational

needs and disabilities (SEND) exceed £6,000, the local authority should also allocate

additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. This top-up funding, and funding

for special schools, comes from the local authority’s high needs budget.

We have also allocated £365 million special provision capital funding to local

authorities in England from 2018 to 2021, to increase number of places available

locally and enhance facilities for children with the most complex SEND. This could

include re-purposing areas so that they meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS


Jon Cruddas: [14958]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to

paragraph two of the Government Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s

Tenth Report of Session 2017-19, Hand car washes, HC 981, where the Environment

Agency's updated guidance on pollution prevention is located on gov.uk.

Rebecca Pow:

The guidance was updated in May 2019 and can be found on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pollution-prevention-for-businesses.



The Environment Agency has restructured this guide to improve the experience of

users and eliminate duplication.



paragraph two of the Government Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s

Tenth Report of Session 2017-19, Hand car washes, HC 981, if she will publish the

correspondence from the Environment Agency to local planning authorities in England

that directs those authorities to that agency's updated pollution prevention guidance.

Rebecca Pow:

The Environment Agency (EA) has been liaising with the Local Government

Association (LGA) in regards to a draft guidance document and has input to a section

covering environment and drainage. This considers the discharge of effluent from

hand car washes. To ensure that local councils are made aware of such

considerations for this form of car washing, the EA considered that the publication of

the guidance would be made by the LGA as opposed to writing to individual councils.

The EA joined a workshop held by the Responsible Car Wash Scheme on 26

November 2019 in London, where the guidance was discussed. The EA is awaiting

confirmation from the LGA that the guidance has been published and issued to local

authorities.



paragraph three of the Government Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s

Tenth Report of Session 2017-19, Hand car washes, HC 981, if she will publish the (a)

dated correspondence from the Environment Agency to major supermarkets and (b)

replies received.

Rebecca Pow:

A copy of the dated correspondence from the Environment Agency to major

supermarkets will be placed in the Library of the House. Replies were not requested

and have not been recorded centrally.


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government

will take steps to encourage members of the public to adopt more (a) black dogs and (b)

greyhounds, which are reportedly adopted at a slower rate than other types of dog.

Victoria Prentis:

The Government advises anyone looking to acquire a pet dog to consider adopting a

rescue in the first instance. Any dog, including the famous greyhound breed, is

capable of providing owners with love, loyalty and pleasure for its owner and family.

Animal rescue and rehoming charities are aware that black dogs can be harder to

rehome than other colours and encourage people to adopt animals in their care,

regardless of colour.




Agriculture: Import Duties

Jo Stevens: [13505]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment

her Department has made of the potential effect of removing agricultural tariffs on US

imports on the viability of small and medium sized UK farms.

Victoria Prentis:

There has been no specific assessment completed of the impacts of the removal of

tariffs on a bilateral basis on the viability of small and medium sized farms. Defra will

consider the interests of all farmers, producers and consumers in the formulation of

the Government’s future trade policy, including for a future trade agreement with the

United States.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Mr Richard Holden: [14744]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of

payments to farmers will be under the (a) old and (b) new system in each of the seven

years of the introduction of the new payments system for farmers.

Victoria Prentis:

The Government plans to phase out Direct Payments to farmers in England over a

seven year agricultural transition period. For the first year of the transition, 2021, we

will reduce Direct Payments by up to an already announced set of percentages,

which could free up to around £150 million to reinvest into the delivery of public

goods and providing support for farmers during the transition. We will set the

reduction percentages for the later years of the transition taking account of our

detailed plans for future schemes and wider discussions about Government

spending.

The Government’s election manifesto guaranteed the current annual budget in every

year of the new Parliament, giving significant certainty on funding for the coming

years. In England this will enable the Government to provide financial support for the

purposes set out in the Agriculture Bill.

Air Pollution

Elliot Colburn: [646]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent

assessment she has made of trends in the level of air pollution in (a) the UK and (b)

Carshalton and Wallington constituency.

Rebecca Pow:

Air quality is generally improving in the UK, as set out in the annual National Statistics

report at the following URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-quality-

statistics.




There are 171 automatic national monitoring stations producing hourly air quality

measurements in the UK operated by the Environment Agency on behalf of Defra.

Near real-time measurements from these sites and further data tools can be found on

the UK-AIR website ( https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk ).

There are no automatic national monitoring stations in Carshalton and Wallington

constituency. However, the London Borough of Sutton also assesses air quality using

three automatic monitors within the constituency boundary: two are industrial

monitoring stations at Beddington Lane, and the other site is a roadside site in central

Wallington. Near real-time measurements from these sites can be found on the

London Air website which is managed by King’s College London (

http://londonair.org.uk ). Air quality is improving at all three sites, with only the

Wallington site providing an exceedance of the annual mean limit value for nitrogen

dioxide (NO 2 ) in 2019 (based on provisional data).

The Borough also uses 15 passive monitors to measure NO 2 within the constituency

boundaries; measurements are made available through Annual Status Reports (

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/info/200497/pollution/1232/air_pollution/3 ). Only two

exceedances of the annual mean limit value for NO 2 were observed in 2018 (at

Rosehill Roundabout and London Road, Hackbridge) with levels at most sites either

showing a lower or similar value compared with 2017 levels.

Air Pollution: Health Hazards

Alex Sobel: [750]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her

Department is taking to prevent health complications caused by PM2.5 particles.

Rebecca Pow:

Short term exposure to elevated levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can impact

the health of vulnerable groups. That is why we provide alerts and advice during air

pollution episodes to ensure people can access the information and the health advice

they need in order to minimise impacts. During episodes of elevated air pollution

Defra works closely with Public Health England and a network of health charities to

ensure that key health messages are communicated to those who are vulnerable to

the effects of air pollution.

However, the biggest impact of particulate air pollution on public health is understood

to be from long-term exposure to PM2.5, which increases the age-specific mortality

risk, particularly from cardiovascular causes. The Clean Air Strategy, published in

January 2019, sets out the comprehensive action required across all parts of

Government to improve air quality, and reduce public exposure to particulate matter

pollution. Through the Environment Bill, re-introduced to Parliament on 30 th January,

we are also establishing a duty to set a legally-binding target for PM2.5. This target

will drive action to reduce long term exposure to PM2.5 and its associated health

impacts.

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/

http://londonair.org.uk/

http://londonair.org.uk/

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/info/200497/pollution/1232/air_pollution/3

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/info/200497/pollution/1232/air_pollution/3


Air Pollution: Urban Areas

Ian Byrne: [619]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is

taking to reduce air pollution in (a) Liverpool and (b) other cities.

Rebecca Pow:

As a result of the 2017 NO2 Plan and 2018 supplement, 61 local authorities including

Liverpool have been required to assess what action is needed to address NO2

exceedances in their area and develop local plans. The Government is committed to

improving air quality in the UK and have provided £572 million to support the

development and implementation of required measures by these local authorities.

Liverpool City Council submitted a final plan to deliver compliance with legal limits for

NO 2 in the form of an Outline Business Case in October last year. We continue to

work with the Council to ensure their final plan delivers compliance with legal NO 2

limit levels in the shortest possible time.

Our Clean Air Strategy (CAS) sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce

air pollutant emissions from a wide range of sources. The World Health Organization

has recognised the CAS as an example for the rest of the world to follow. Our

Environment Bill was reintroduced to Parliament on 30 January 2020 and makes a

clear commitment to set an ambitious target for fine particulate matter, the pollutant of

most concern for human health. It also ensures that local authorities have a clear

framework and simple to use powers to tackle air pollution in their areas, and will

provide the Government with new powers to enforce environmental standards for

vehicles. All this action will improve air quality across the UK, including in the most

affected areas

Animals: Imports


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many

animals of each species have been imported to the UK as rescue animals in each of the

last 10 years.

Victoria Prentis:

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) does not capture whether imported

animals are rescue animals and so is unable to provide this data.

Furthermore, APHA’s data retention period for import data is 3 years and so we can

only provide data for the last 3 years on matters relating to imports.

Cats: Tagging


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the

Government plans to publish the outcome of the call for evidence on cat microchipping

which closed on 4 January 2020.




Victoria Prentis:

In line with guidance on Government consultations we plan to publish the summary of

responses to the call for evidence within three months of the consultation closing.

Chemicals


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his

Department has made on the development of a national chemicals strategy.

Rebecca Pow:

Work on the Chemicals Strategy (CS) started in the summer of 2019. A broad

programme of stakeholder engagement is underway to help shape the vision and

scope of the CS. To date, we have engaged with interested stakeholders from

industry representatives to academia to voluntary organisations.

We will publish a Call for Evidence in the spring to seek views on the safe and

effective management of chemicals. This will be published on Defra’s website. It will

help inform the development of a draft CS for consultation.


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold

discussions with his international counterparts on classifying per- and polyfluorinated

alkyl substances as a group of chemicals in the Stockholm Convention.

Rebecca Pow:

There is a growing global awareness of the adverse effects on human health and the

environment of polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS); the widespread occurrence

of it in products and the environment make it a complex challenge.

The UK is a signatory to the Stockholm Convention which bans and/or restricts the

production, use and emissions of substances listed as Persistent Organic Pollutants

(POPs). We will continue to engage with the Stockholm process on the management

PFAS as a group of chemicals.

The UK participated in recent discussions on PFAS at the Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD), where we offered our scientific expertise to

support work on new PFAS assessments and life cycle approaches. We will continue

to work with partners around the world to develop our approach domestically and

internationally.

Chemicals: Regulation


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he bring forward

legislative proposals to tighten the regulations on the (a) control and (b) use of highly

persistent chemicals.




Rebecca Pow:

The production, use, and disposal of Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) chemicals

is managed in order to protect human health and the environment. Substances that

fulfil the criteria for a POP are banned or restricted under the international Stockholm

Convention and we regulate to enforce those restrictions.

The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan has specific targets to reduce

emissions of POPs to the environment and we produce a triannual National

Implementation Plan. It sets out our ambitions for the next three years and reports on

previous actions and targets.

We will also consider whether further action is needed to reduce the impact of these

chemicals in the forthcoming Chemicals Strategy.


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an

assessment of the potential merits of banning the use of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl

substances in consumer products.

Rebecca Pow:

Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) constitute a group of thousands of

chemicals that are widely used in consumer and industrial products. There are

existing restrictions on the use of certain PFAS under the Stockholm Convention, to

which the UK is a signatory, and under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation

and restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.

My department is working with regulators to improve the understanding of the

emissions and risks of PFAS in the UK and how we manage these chemicals will be

considered in our forthcoming Chemicals Strategy.

Chemicals: Seas and Oceans



assessment of the potential merits of monitoring levels of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl

substances in the sea as part of the Marine Strategy.

Rebecca Pow:

The Environment Agency and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Science will carry out field studies in 2020 to estimate levels of per- and

polyfluorinated alkyl substances in sediments in selected English estuaries and

coastal waters. The results will be used to inform assessments of the risks posed by

these chemicals to humans and sea life as part of the UK Marine Strategy.



Clean Air Zones

Jeff Smith: [14786]


discussions she has had with Chancellor of the Exchequer on allocating funding in the

forthcoming Budget to support the implementation of clean air zones.

Rebecca Pow:

The Government is committed to improving air quality. That is why £572 million is

already available to support local authorities implement a range of clean air measures

to deliver compliance with NO2 levels, including Clean Air Zones. I am considering

what future support is needed to deliver Government priorities via a range of clean air

measures. I will discuss Defra’s Budget proposals with the Chancellor in due course.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Procurement

Luke Pollard: [763]


Department is taking to develop a system for a full range of public goods; what steps her

Department is taking to ensure that system is (a) equitable and (b) transparent; and

whether decisions taken under that system will be open to appeal.

Victoria Prentis:

The Agriculture Bill will introduce ambitious new schemes in England, based on the

principle of “public money for public goods”, which will allow us to reward farmers and

land managers who protect our environment, improve animal welfare and produce

high quality food in a more sustainable way.

Our Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme is the cornerstone of our new

agricultural policy. Founded on the principle of “public money for public goods”, ELM

is intended to provide a powerful contribution to achieving the goals of the 25 Year

Environment Plan and commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, while

supporting our rural economy.

We are working closely with a range of environmental and agricultural stakeholders to

collaboratively design the new ELM scheme so that it is fit for purpose. We are

currently running a programme of Tests and Trials, the priorities for which are the

building blocks we will need for the National Pilot, due to commence in late 2021 and

run to 2024. The National Pilot will provide a critical opportunity to test and refine the

scheme design prior to full roll out of the ELM scheme in late 2024 across England.

Clause 3 of the Agriculture Bill provides the Secretary of State with the power to

make regulations to check, enforce and monitor the conditions of financial assistance

provided under the Bill. This includes the power to establish a mechanism for

appealing against decisions. Clauses 4 to 6 of the Bill also require the publication of

multi-annual financial assistance plans, annual financial reports and impact and

effectiveness reports. This transparency will enable public scrutiny of our future



spending plans and the extent to which Government funding for agriculture,

horticulture and forestry activities has been delivered on a value for money basis.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Dr Luke Evans: [640]


Department is taking to tackle the farming of puppies.

Victoria Prentis:

In October 2018, The Animal Welfare (licensing of Activities Involving Animals)

(England) Regulations 2018 came into force which updated and improved the laws

on the breeding and selling of dogs in England.

The new regulations require dog breeders and sellers to adhere to strict statutory

minimum welfare standards linked to the welfare needs set out in the Animal Welfare

Act 2006. This includes prohibiting the sale of puppies below the age of 8 weeks;

preventing licensed breeders from selling dogs not bred by them and preventing

breeders from breeding dogs if it can be reasonably expected on the basis of their

genotype, phenotype or health that this would lead to welfare problems for the mother

or the puppies. In addition, licensed breeders must show puppies to purchasers in the

presence of the mother and licensed pet sellers must complete the sale of a dog in

the presence of the purchaser on the licensed premises. This prevents online sales of

puppies.

Any licensed breeder advertising puppies for sale must include their licence number

in the advert to improve traceability. In addition, from 6 April 2020, the regulations will

prohibit the commercial third party sale of puppies and kittens to directly tackle low

welfare, high volume breeding, known as puppy farms. In advance of this ban coming

into force, the Government will launch a public awareness campaign on the

responsible sourcing of puppies and kittens.

Dogs: Pet Travel Scheme

Kenny MacAskill: [13018]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs

were imported through the Pet Travel Scheme in 2019; and from which countries those

dogs were so imported.

Victoria Prentis:

The number of dogs that were imported to Great Britain via the Pet Travel Scheme

(PTS) in 2019 was 307,263.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is unable to provide a breakdown of the

number of dogs travelling under the scheme by country of origin as it does not hold

that information.



The data regarding the PTS is taken from the APHA system for recording pets

throughput based on information provided by checkers employed by approved

carriers of pet animals.

The information that APHA has provided is a true reflection of the information that is

held. APHA cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as it can only rely on the

information that has been entered into the pets returns by a third party.

Energy: Waste

Ian Lavery: [549]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her

Department has made of the amount of household recycling that went to landfill in each

of the last 10 years.

Ian Lavery: [550]


Department has made of the amount of household recycling that became refuse derived

fuel in each of the last 10 years.

Ian Lavery: [551]


Department has made of the amount of household recycling that became solid recovered

fuel in each of the last 10 years.

Ian Lavery: [552]


Department has made of the amount of household recycling that was repurposed in each

of the last 10 years.

Rebecca Pow:

Consistent data at this level of detail for the treatment of material collected for

recycling is only available for the last four years when a new more detailed data

reporting structure was introduced. Table 1 below shows the tonnages of all local

authority waste collected in England for recycling as source segregated or comingled

material that is sent to landfill, incineration and recycling.

All local authority waste will primarily relate to household waste (approximately 90 per

cent) but will include a proportion of non-household waste. The data does not

distinguish between material that became refuse derived fuel and solid recovered

fuel; a total for material sent for incineration has been provided. Repurposing has

been interpreted to mean recycling (including preparation for reuse); detailed

information on the specific end uses is not collected.

Due to the complexity of the data and the multiple treatment stages that the material

may go through, any consequent slight differences in data recording or cases of

unknown treatments, it is possible that there are tonnages that are not fully captured





in the landfill and incineration figures but these will be small (a combined maximum

20-40 thousand tonnes in total in any of these years).

Table 1 Treatment of non-residual local authority collected municipal waste in

England

FIGURES ARE IN THOUSAND TONNES

Treatment

of Non

residual

waste

2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19

Sent to

Landfill

146 148 103 78

Sent to

Incineration

268 284 357 429

Recycled

or Reused

10,473 10,627 10,249 10,215

Notes:-

1. Figures relate to all (“Household” and “non-household”) local authority waste from

non-residual waste streams.

2. Incineration includes material reported as refuse derived fuel (RDF), incineration

with energy recovery, incineration without energy recovery and other heat

treatments. Outputs from incineration which are subsequently landfilled are not

included in the landfill figures to avoid double counting.

3. The “Recycled” total does not include material recycled from the residual waste

stream and so will not agree with published totals for recycling.

Environment Protection

Mr Barry Sheerman: [14622]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions

she is having with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that environmental organisations are

given priority for the allocation of funding raised from environmental charges and levies.

Rebecca Pow:

Across the Defra group, for many environmental services provided, HM Treasury

requires that we seek to charge for those services through full cost recovery, levies or

in some cases taxes. For these services, the revenue received from these charges

can only support the services specified. The retention of revenue from levies or taxes

is usually in agreement with HM Treasury.


Farmers: Government Assistance

Jane Hunt: [13540]


discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting farmers to (a) maintain

existing and (b) develop new routes to market after the transition period.

Victoria Prentis:

Food and drink exports are a success story. Exports have increased by 24% in real

terms since 2010. The Government is determined to help maintain existing and

develop new export opportunities. This includes through ongoing market access and

via showcasing and promoting our excellent food and drink even more in the years to

come.

Exports are an important driver of growth in the food and drink sector, allowing it to

become more resilient, competitive and profitable. The UK’s growing reputation for

high quality food and drink, with high standards of food safety, animal welfare and

sustainability, is an excellent platform to increase overseas demand for our products

further. Defra’s ‘Food is GREAT’ campaign is raising the profile and reputation of

British food and drink overseas by building global demand and increasing positive

perceptions of the UK’s food and drink products, as demonstrated by recent

campaign activity in Japan to promote beef and lamb exports from the UK, following

opening up of market access last year.

Defra, in collaboration with the Department for International Trade and

representatives of the food and drink sector, is developing a replacement for the

existing International Action Plan for Food and Drink, which will set out the future

export ambitions for the sector. This includes reviewing the support we offer in

market, building on the success of Defra’s first agriculture counsellor in Beijing.

As set out in the Government’s election manifesto, we have ambitious goals for

British trade. As of 31 January 2020, when the UK left the EU, we had successfully

concluded and signed trade continuity agreements with 48 countries. This accounts

for £110 billion of UK trade in 2018. We will be continuing our programme to replicate

existing EU trade agreements with trading partners to ensure continuity for UK

businesses following the transition period. An up-to-date list of trade continuity

agreements, signed and in discussion, is available on the GOV.UK website at:

www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-trade-agreements-with-non-eu-countries.

We aim to have 80 per cent of UK trade with countries covered by free trade

agreements within the next three years, starting with the USA, Australia, New

Zealand and Japan. This will further present new routes to market for British farmers.

We are also working hard to secure a free trade agreement with the EU that will

provide tariff-free access to the EU market for UK goods, and facilitative customs

arrangements that will ensure smooth trade.


http://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-trade-agreements-with-non-eu-countries

http://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-trade-agreements-with-non-eu-countries

Fish: Sales

Luke Pollard: [13558]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she

has made of the average percentage variation between the live weight (a) shown on

logbooks for fishing vessels of 10m and over registered in England and (b) derived from

sales notes for (i) cod, (ii) monkfish, (iii) brill, (iv) whiting, (v) gurnard, (vi) lemon sole, (vii)

squid, (viii) megrim, (ix) plaice, (x) red mullet and (xi) John Dory in 2019.

Victoria Prentis:

The following data shows the percentage change between the live weight of landed

catch as recorded in logbooks, landing declarations and sales notes, for the species

referred to, as reported by English administered over-10 metre vessels landed into

UK ports in 2019. This information is based on data currently held by the Marine

Management Organisation.

It should be noted that this data is yet to go through full validation checks, undertaken

each year in advance of publication of the UK Annual Sea Fisheries Statistics. In

addition, whilst valuable for initial cross-checking, the logbook is essentially a diary

record of fishing activity maintained by skippers and not the formal landing

declaration which documents the precise weight of landed catch.

LOGBOOK, LANDING DECLARATION AND SALES NOTE LIVE WEIGHTS FOR SELECTED SPECIES

REPORTED BY ENGLISH ADMINISTERED OVER 10 M VESSELS LANDED IN TO UK PORTS:

UNVALIDATED DATA 2019 NEI = NOT ELSEWHERE INCLUDED

Species Name Logbook Live

Weight

(tonnes)

Sales Note

Live Weight

(tonnes)

Landing

Declaration

Live Weight

(tonnes)

Logbook to

Sales Note

Percentage

Change

Logbook to

Landing

Declaration

Percentage

Change

Anglerfishes

nei

4,092 2,907 4,167 -29% 2%

Atlantic cod 5,750 2,660 5,652 -54% -2%

Brill 228 251 255 10% 12%

Common

squids nei

122 264 185 116% 51%

European

plaice

1,484 1,515 1,542 2% 4%

Gurnard 853 872 970 2% 14%

John dory 106 138 137 30% 29%


LOGBOOK, LANDING DECLARATION AND SALES NOTE LIVE WEIGHTS FOR SELECTED SPECIES

REPORTED BY ENGLISH ADMINISTERED OVER 10 M VESSELS LANDED IN TO UK PORTS:

UNVALIDATED DATA 2019 NEI = NOT ELSEWHERE INCLUDED

Lemon sole 594 644 728 8% 23%

Megrims nei 840 795 841 -5% 0%

Red mullets 36 46 47 28% 30%

Whiting 2,206 2,258 2,379 2% 8%

Source: UK Fisheries Administrations

Flood Control: Finance

Andrew Percy: [542]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions

she has had with representatives from the Environment Agency on additional resources

for the maintenance of flood and drainage systems.

Andrew Percy: [543]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is

taking to ensure the adequacy of resources available to the Environment Agency for the

maintenance of (a) flood defences and (b) drainage systems.

Rebecca Pow:

The Government is investing £2.6 billion between 2015 and 2021 to deliver more

than 1,000 flood defence projects to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.This is on

top of £1 billion to maintain flood defence assets between 2015 and 2020. This

includes investing in developing technology and direct maintenance work such as

managing drainage systems, inspecting assets and carrying out repairs. This is a

real-terms increase when compared with the average annual capital investment of

£812 million over the previous five years. Defra will continue to work with the

Environment Agency to consider future investment needs ahead of the Budget

announcement on future floods funding on 11 March 2020.

Fly-tipping: Bosworth



Department is taking to tackle fly tipping in Bosworth constituency.

Rebecca Pow:

Fly-tipping is an unacceptable blight on local communities, wherever it occurs, and a

crime that the Government is committed to tackling. In recent years we have

bolstered local authorities’ powers to tackle fly-tipping.




Local authorities, such as Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, have a range of

powers available to tackle fly-tipping. This includes the power to take those accused

of fly-tipping to court. If a fly-tipper is convicted in a Magistrates’ Court, the offence is

punishable by a fine of up to £50,000 or 12 months’ imprisonment. If they are

convicted in a Crown Court, the offence can attract an unlimited fine and up to five

years’ imprisonment.

We have cracked down on offenders by working with the Sentencing Council to

strengthen the guidance for environmental offences. We will keep this guidance

under review as we deliver on our manifesto commitment to secure tougher

penalties. We will continue to work with magistrates and the Judicial Office to ensure

magistrates are effectively trained in the use of the guidance and are aware of the

prevalence of waste crime and the significance of its impact on local communities.

This will help to ensure that fly-tippers receive appropriate sentences for the offence

they have committed.

Local authorities have powers to search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers,

and the power to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £400 for fly-tipping offences and

for those who breach their duty of care by passing their waste to a fly-tipper. In

August 2019 we published publicity materials aimed at helping householders better

understand their responsibilities under the waste duty of care. The materials have

been provided to the Local Government Association to circulate to local authorities

and published on the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group’s website.

Powers to tackle fly-tipping are also being enhanced through the newly introduced

Environment Bill, in particular through amendments to the powers to search for and

seize evidence, as well as amendments to the powers of entry in the Environment Act

1995, to make it easier for enforcing authorities to use them. In addition to the

measures in the Environment Bill, Defra is developing proposals to fundamentally

reform the waste carrier, broker, dealer regime and introduce electronic waste

tracking which will ensure those transporting waste can be better regulated, and that

we are able to track waste through the system at all points.

Defra is also developing a fly-tipping toolkit, which will be a web-based tool to help

local authorities and others work in partnership to tackle fly-tipping. It will cover the

use of new technology to report fly-tipping, the presentation of cases to court, the

sharing of intelligence within and between partnerships and will promote the duty of

care to individuals and businesses.

Horses: Animal Welfare

Dr Lisa Cameron: [13984]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an

assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals for the

licensing of equine (a) sanctuaries, (b) rescue centres and (c) re-homing centres.


Victoria Prentis:

Animal sanctuaries and rescue and rehoming centres carry out important work to

ensure that unwanted and abandoned animals are offered the opportunity of finding a

permanent home. This includes those organisations caring for equines. Concerns

have been raised by the sector about variations in welfare standards across the

sector, and that some individuals prioritise commercial gain over the welfare needs of

animals.

In England, Defra has been working closely with organisations such as World Horse

Welfare and the National Equine Welfare Council and its members, to better

understand the benefits and impacts, particularly on smaller rescue centres, if

licensing or other regulation was introduced on the sector.

We continue to engage with the sector on these questions. Any proposal to bring

forward such regulation will be subject to a full public consultation.

Incinerators: Fires



she has made of trends in the number of fires being reported at waste incinerator sites

since 2015.



Department has taken to help prevent the occurrence of fire incidents at waste incinerator

sites.

Rebecca Pow:

No assessment has been made of trends in the number of fires being reported at

waste incinerator sites since 2015.

In England all incinerators that are regulated by the Environment Agency (such as

energy from waste plants that burn municipal waste) are required to have a

management system which identifies and minimises the risk of pollution due to

accidents, which will include fires. All new incinerators must also have an approved

fire prevention plan before they are allowed to start operating.

Livestock: Transport

Dr Lisa Cameron: [13985]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to

issue the public consultation on welfare in transport and minimum journey times for

animals for slaughter.

Victoria Prentis:

We have a manifesto commitment to end excessively long journeys for live animals

going for slaughter and fattening, which is an opportunity we have gained through




leaving the EU. We intend to issue a consultation on how we deliver on that

commitment shortly.

Microplastics: Seas and Oceans



Department is taking to prevent micro plastics from entering the sea.

Rebecca Pow:

Microplastics, pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm, can fragment from larger items or

be intentionally produced. Our aim is to prevent plastic pollution at its source and

develop a circular economy approach to plastic.

In 2018, we launched one of the world’s toughest bans on the sale and manufacture

of microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, helping to prevent billions of tiny

plastic pieces from entering the ocean every year.

Pre-production plastic pellets are a major source of microplastics. Current estimates

put the number of pellets lost during the production of plastic in the UK between 5

billion and 53 billion. We have been engaging with industry to encourage businesses

to do more, including signing up to Operation Clean Sweep, to prevent plastic pellet

loss.

To address evidence gaps from other sources of microplastics we have

commissioned:

1. A study from the University of Plymouth to investigate the sources and pathways of

microplastics from tyres and textiles into the marine environment.

2. A Rapid Evidence Assessment by Defra on “Analysis, Prevalence and Impact of

Microplastics in Freshwater and Estuarine Environment”.

These reports will be published this year and the evidence will help us continue to

develop policies to tackle the problem.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Jeff Smith: [14785]


the proposal in Greater Manchester's Clean Air Plan that non-compliant vehicles are

subject to a daily penalty payment, whether funding will be allocated by the Government

to support (a) people and (a) businesses to purchase compliant vehicles.

Afzal Khan: [14845]


Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Plan proposals, what plans the Government has for

financial support for (a) local businesses and (b) sole traders to upgrade to cleaner

vehicles.




Rebecca Pow:

The Government is committed to improving air quality in the UK and has provided

£572 million to support the development and implementation of required measures by

local authorities. This includes a Clean Air Fund that is aimed at mitigating the impact

of local plans on individuals and businesses including sole traders.

We are mindful of the challenges of delivering a clean air plan across Greater

Manchester and the need to support individuals and businesses that may be affected

by the resulting charging Clean Air Zone (CAZ). We have provided at this stage a first

tranche of £36 million towards implementing the CAZ and intend to provide further

funding, both for implementation and for mitigating the impacts of the CAZ, from the

Clean Air Fund, once we have a clearer picture of the scale of need based on our

assessment of additional evidence being provided by Greater Manchester.

Plastic Bags: Fees and Charges



Department is taking to increase the (a) accountability and (b) transparency of the

allocation by retailers of revenue raised for environmental causes from the five pence

plastic bag charge.



she has made of the reliability of retailers to allocate revenue raised from the five pence

plastic bag charge towards environmental projects.


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her

Department has to increase regulatory oversight of the allocation by retailers of revenues

raised from the five pence plastic bag charge.



her Department has made of the adequacy of oversight arrangements of the spending by

retailers of revenue raised from the five pence plastic bag charge.

Rebecca Pow:

The introduction of the 5p charge on single use carrier bags has reduced sales by

90% by the main supermarket retailers. The regulations require retailers with more

than 250 staff to charge a minimum of 5p and report data on their annual sales of

single use carrier bags, including what they did with the proceeds from the charge.

The Department publishes a summary of the data reported in line with the regulations

by 31st July each reporting year on the GOV.UK site.

As this is not a tax, the Government does not determine where the proceeds of the

charge are redistributed. There is no legal requirement for businesses to donate the





proceeds from the charge to charities. Businesses are, however, encouraged to

donate the proceeds of the charge (after deducting VAT and reasonable costs) to

good causes such as charities or community groups in accordance with guidance

published on GOV.UK ( https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-

responsibilities#dealing-with-the-proceeds ).

Around 55% of retailers, who accounted for 57% of all bags reported for 2018 to

2019, voluntarily provided information on donations they had made to good causes.

Over the last three reporting years the charge has raised nearly £140 million.

Sharks: Conservation



assessment of the potential merits of establishing a limit on the number of each shark

species caught in UK territorial waters.

Victoria Prentis:

The UK strongly supports the need to ensure scientifically robust catch limits are in

place for all shark species exploited commercially within and outside of UK territorial

waters.

The Common Fisheries Policy, which we will continue to follow during the transition

period, already provides a framework for the protection and management of sharks

within UK waters. Beyond this, the UK will continue to use the most recent scientific

advice when setting Total Allowable Catches and Quotas. Landing prohibitions

remain in place for angel shark, basking shark, white shark, spurdog and porbeagle

shark.

Owing to the often highly migratory nature of elasmobranchs, as they move across

national and international boundaries regularly, it is important that management is

implemented throughout the range of the species rather than in isolation. Therefore,

the UK continues to press for the establishment of scientifically justified catch limits

for commercially exploited sharks within international Regional Fisheries

Management Organisations.

Tobacco: Litter



assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the contribution of the tobacco industry

in tackling litter from its products.


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has

made an assessment of the potential (a) merits of the EU proposal to introduce a

producer responsibility scheme for the tobacco industry on litter and (b) effect on

environmental protection of not introducing that scheme in the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities#dealing-with-the-proceeds






Rebecca Pow:

The Government has made no specific recent assessment of the UK tobacco

industry’s contribution to tackling smoking-related litter. We would like to see the

tobacco industry delivering on the commitment given by the Tobacco Manufacturers'

Association to tackle the litter created by its products and their users, but this must be

achieved without breaching the UK’s international obligations.

Tobacco packaging is covered by the current Producer Responsibility Regulations,

which require companies to recycle a proportion of the packaging waste they place

on the market. Our forthcoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for

packaging, including relevant tobacco packaging, will require producers to cover the

full net costs of managing packaging at its end of life, including litter. This will be

introduced in 2023.

In the Resources and Waste Strategy (RWS), we committed to looking into and

consulting on EPR for five new waste-streams by 2025, and consulting on two of

these by 2022. We have currently identified our five priority waste-streams as:

textiles, fishing gear, certain products in construction and demolition, bulky waste and

vehicle tyres. This list is not fixed and does not exclude the potential to review and

consult on EPR for other waste streams if these are identified as being of equal or

higher priority.

The EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive includes measures to implement an EPR

scheme for tobacco products with filters, and filters marketed for use in combination

with tobacco products, which should cover the costs of awareness raising, data

gathering and litter clean-up of these products.

Now that the UK has left the EU, the Government will use this opportunity to refresh

and renew our environmental policy. In the RWS, we committed to meeting or

exceeding the ambition of the EU Directive, and we will do this in a way that works

best for the UK’s aspirations in this policy area.

Trees: Imports

Caroline Lucas: [13453]

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what procedures

are in place to ensure that invasive tree pests and diseases are not imported on trees for

plantation; whether additional steps will be taken to improve biosecurity after the

transition period; and what biosecurity standards to prevent the import of invasive tree

pests and diseases will be applied to new free trade deals that the UK agrees with (a) the

US and (b) other countries.

Victoria Prentis:

The UK has robust controls in place to protect against tree pest and disease threats.

These include being the most prolific user of the EU Protected Zone system,

comprehensive official inspections and surveillance, and a statutory notification

scheme for certain tree species imported from the EU. The UK operates under WTO

obligations and will apply the EU Plant Health Regulation (which came into force in


December 2019) until the end of the Transition Period. This risk-based regime

prohibits or controls the import of high risk plants and planting material from third

countries. The UK frequently uses national measures to enhance these biosecurity

provisions. Horizon scanning for any new and emerging threats associated with tree

imports is carried out continuously and the results are considered monthly by all UK

Plant Health Authorities, facilitated by the Defra chaired UK Plant Health Risk Group.

The UK Plant Health Risk Register (UKPHRR) is the principal screening tool used for

this purpose and all outputs are published. The UKPHRR now has over 1000 entries

(300 of which can impact trees), informing decision making and prioritisation in

relation to tree health threats. UK legislation is updated on a frequent basis to protect

against new and revised threats.

After the Transition Period, the UK will continue with our risk based approach to

maintain strong biosecurity protections. We will maintain our own autonomous

sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regime to protect plant health and the environment,

reflecting our existing high standards. The UK will introduce import controls on EU

goods at the border and will continue to have controls on other third country goods.

This will allow the UK to keep our borders safe and bio-secure.

The UK is proud of its world-leading biosecurity standards. We will not lower our

standards nor put the UK’s biosecurity at risk as we negotiate new trade deals. We

are already considering what additional measures it might now be appropriate to

introduce against key threats such as Xylella fastidiosa and the Emerald ash borer. In

planning for all scenarios, we have always had three key objectives: to maintain

current high levels of UK plant health biosecurity; to maintain the flow of goods at the

border; and to minimise impacts on businesses.

Viridor



assessment she has made of trends in the level of air pollutants generated by the Viridor

energy recovery facility incinerator on Beddington Lane in South London.



she has made of the level of carbon monoxide emissions from the Viridor energy

recovery facility incinerator on Beddington Lane in South London during January 2020.

Rebecca Pow:

The Environment Agency (EA) regulates the Energy Recovery Facility (Erf) in

Beddington Lane, Sutton through an Environmental Permit under the Environmental

Permitting Regulations 2010. The permit has strict conditions relating to acceptable

levels of emissions of substances. The ErF operator (Viridor) is required to

continuously and periodically monitor the emissions from the Erf stacks and submit

the monitoring data quarterly to the EA.



The EA assesses all data submitted including breaches in emission limits for trends

and requires the operator to investigate issues and take actions to rectify them.

The quarterly monitoring data that covers January 2020 is due to be submitted to the

EA before end of April 2020. The EA have not received any notifications for breaches

in emission limits during January 2020.

Waste Disposal: Environment Protection


To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative

assessment she has made of the environmental effects of mechanical biological

treatment waste processes and waste incineration processes.

Rebecca Pow:

Defra has not made such an assessment. Residual waste should be treated in

accordance with the waste hierarchy.

To assist decision makers, the department published information on the mechanical

biological treatment of waste in 2013. This can be found on the GOV.UK website at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/mechanical-biological-treatment-of-municipal-

solid-waste.

Information on energy from waste (incineration with energy recovery) was published

in 2014 at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-from-waste-a-guide-to-the-

debate.

Waste: Landfill

Ian Lavery: [553]


Department has made of the amount of commercial recycling waste that went to landfill in

each of the last 10 years.

Rebecca Pow:

The information requested is not available. It is not specifically collected from the

commercial sector and cannot be routinely or reliably estimated from other available

data.

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981



section 24 (3) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, when the Government laid before

Parliament a copy of the (a) 6th Quinquennial Review advice received from the Joint

Nature Conservation Committee and (b) Government’s formal response to that review

and any accompanying statements; where those documents can be located online; and if

she will make a statement.


http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mechanical-biological-treatment-of-municipal-solid-waste



http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-from-waste-a-guide-to-the-debate





Rebecca Pow:

The Government has not laid these documents before Parliament. In tandem with its

advice to the governments of all GB administrations on species listing following the

6th Quinquennial review of Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act

1981 (as amended), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) noted

concerns from stakeholders that the selection criteria needed to be reviewed. The

Government concluded that we should not consult upon species or amend legislation,

based on criteria which were likely to be modified. Defra will arrange to lay these

documents before Parliament as soon as possible.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

Anoosheh Ashoori

Janet Daby: [13590]

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent

representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on the jailed British national

Anoosheh Ashoori.

James Cleverly:

The Foreign Secretary raised his concerns about dual national detentions with Iranian

Foreign Minister Zarif on 6 January. The Prime Minister raised his concerns with

Iranian President Rouhani on 9 January. The former Minister for the Middle East and

North Africa, Dr Murrison, raised dual-national cases with the Iranian ambassador on

13 January. We remain extremely concerned about the welfare of all British-Iranian

dual nationals detained in Iran, including Mr Anoosheh Ashoori. We have made clear

to Iran that we expect them to ensure he is treated humanely and in line with

international standards. We are committed to ensuring that we do everything we can,

including continuing to press the Iranian authorities for consular access.

Janet Daby: [13592]

To ask the Prime Minister, what plans he has to meet the family of Anoosheh Ashoori to

discuss progress the Government has made on securing the release of that person from

prison in Iran; and if he will make a statement.

James Cleverly:

The Government remains extremely concerned about the welfare of British-Iranian

dual nationals detained in Iran, including Anoosheh Ashoori. Iran does not recognize

dual nationality and therefore does not permit access to British-Iranian detainees. We

are committed to ensuring that we do everything we can, including continuing to

press the Iranian authorities for consular access to ensure that they are treated in

accordance with international standards and that their welfare needs are met.

The Foreign Secretary raised his concerns over dual nationals most recently in his

call with Foreign Minister Zarif on 9 January. The Prime Minister also raised his

concerns in a recent telephone call with President Rouhani. The former Minister for



the Middle East and North Africa, Dr Murrison, raised dual-national cases with the

Iranian Ambassador on 13 January.

Coronavirus


To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has

met (a) the Commonwealth Secretariat and (b) other Commonwealth institutions to

discuss health system strengthening as a response to the recent outbreak of coronavirus.

Nigel Adams:

The Secretary of State has not met with the Commonwealth Secretariat or affiliated

institutions on this matter. However, the UK recognises that strong health systems

are vital to ensuring health security and we support the Commonwealth's ambition to

move towards achieving Universal Health Coverage, enabling countries to prevent,

detect and respond to global outbreaks like Coronavirus. Commonwealth Health

Ministers will next meet in the margins of the World Health Assembly to discuss a

range of health matters, including Universal Healthcare Coverage. Separately, the

UK is providing £5 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help prevent

the spread of this outbreak by helping rapidly identify and care for patients with

symptoms, as well as £40 million for research into the virus.

Hong Kong: Embassies

Sarah Champion: [12893]

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to Written

Question 8308, whether support has been offered to the 15-year-old girl arrested on UK

consulate land in Hong Kong on 11 January 2020; and what representations have been

made on the behalf of that girl to the relevant Hong Kong authorities.

Nigel Adams:

The UK has repeatedly made clear that we support the right to peaceful and lawful

protest. As in all overseas missions, we maintain regular contact with the police,

including discussing the case in question. As Lord Ahmad stated on 15 January, any

arrests and judicial processes should be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.

We have made clear that we expect the Hong Kong authorities to abide by

international human rights laws and practices.

Middle East: Peace Negotiations

Jim Shannon: [14711]


discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the US Administration's Middle

East peace plan proposal.

James Cleverly:

The Prime Minister discussed the United States' proposal with Israeli Prime Minister,

Benjamin Netanyahu, on 6 February. The former Minister for the Middle East and




North Africa also met with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, on 4

February. They discussed a range of issues, including the US proposal.

Occupied Territories: Demolition

James Murray: [13563]


assessment his Department has made of trends in the (a) number and (b) frequency of (i)

demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures and (ii) forced displacement of

Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

James Cleverly:

As we made clear in our statement at the UN Security Council on 21 January, we are

deeply concerned by the increase in demolitions of Palestinian property by the Israeli

authorities. Demolitions and evictions of Palestinians from their homes cause

unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians; call into question Israel's commitment

to a viable two-state solution; and, in all but the most exceptional of cases, are

contrary to International Humanitarian Law. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv

have repeatedly made clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concern at the

increase in demolitions of Palestinian properties in Area C of the West Bank and in

East Jerusalem, most recently on 17 December 2019. We will continue to call for

Israel to abandon demolition plans entirely, and instead provide a clear, transparent

route to construction for Palestinians in Area C.

Philippines: Human Rights


To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has

had recent discussions with his Filipino counterpart on the potential effect on human

rights of revoking the broadcast licence of ABS-CBN; and if he will make a statement.

Nigel Adams:

We are concerned by any actions that seek to curtail freedom of expression or

freedom of speech in the Philippines, or elsewhere. Senior UK officials discussed

media freedom in the Philippines with Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Enrique

Manalo, during High Level Talks in London in November 2019. Our Embassy in

Manila continues to follow developments in the case of ABS-CBN closely.

Somalia and Somaliland: Travel Information


To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will decouple

Somalia from Somaliland in relation to his foreign travel advice.

James Duddridge:

Travel advice takes account of local/regional differences and is kept regularly under

review. As the UK does not recognise Somaliland as an independent state, it is

presented as part of the travel advice for Somalia.




UN Mission in Darfur

Harriett Baldwin: [12882]

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the

UK is providing to the UNAMID peacekeeping mandate in Sudan; and what assessment

his Department has made of the effectiveness of that mandate.

James Duddridge:

As a member of the UN Security Council the UK has a long-standing role in

supporting sustainable peace in those areas of Sudan where UN peacekeeping

missions are in place (Darfur and Abyei). This includes the UK's commitment to

funding peacekeeping missions globally through the "assessed contribution" system

and our role as the penholder, alongside Germany, on the mandate for the

UN/African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). This work has

helped to ensure that the peacekeeping presence addresses the needs on the

ground. We also welcomed the UN Security Council decision to extend the UNAMID

mandate until 31 October while options for any future presence are developed. We

continue to work with the UN, AU and the Government of Sudan to consider the

appropriate scope of UN support to Darfur and Sudan.

We commend the role that UNAMID has played in the protection of civilians in Darfur

since its creation in 2007 and its work to assist in bringing stability to the region. One

of the largest factors influencing the effectiveness of the UNAMID mandate and its

implementation has been the approach of the Government of Sudan. This has seen

significant shifts since the revolution of 2019, including progress in peace talks on

Darfur. We are encouraged by the recently appointed civilian-led government's

pledge to facilitate unfettered access across Sudan, including in Darfur, for the UN.

We remain concerned of reports that this has not been consistently implemented and

continue to make clear the importance of unfettered access across Sudan for

humanitarian actors and the UN at the highest levels.

We welcome the priority the civilian-led government of Sudan has given to securing a

peace deal for Darfur, and the progress made in talks in Juba with armed opposition

groups. Addressing the long-term drivers of conflict will contribute to the success of

Sudan's transition to democracy and economic recovery. As a leading donor the UK

is working closely with the civilian-led government and international partners to

support implementation of the reforms needed to ensure that transition benefits all

Sudanese.

UN Mission in South Sudan

Harriett Baldwin: [12884]

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affiars, what support his

Department provides to the UNMISS peacekeeping mandate in South Sudan; and what

assessment his department has made of the effectiveness of that mandate.



James Duddridge:

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) mandate is due for renewal by 15 March.

We will continue to work with UN Security Council members to ensure this is

extended and that the mission continues to have a mandate that focuses on:

protection of civilians; human rights; peace process support; and humanitarian aid

delivery. We continue to assess that these core tasks remain relevant and important,

including as the peace process moves into the next phase if a government of national

unity forms by the 22 February deadline.

As a member of the UN Security Council, the UK has a long-standing role in

supporting the peace process in South Sudan and supporting UNMISS. This includes

the UK's commitment to funding peacekeeping missions globally through contributed

funds of £51.45m (in FY 2018/19) and circa 300 UK peacekeepers who have

provided medical and engineering support to UNMISS since 2016.

Successes of the UK military contribution includes the building of a UN hospital in

Bentiu, the upgrading of 15km of road used to deliver vital food and aid, as well as

making a wider contribution to UN peacekeeping reform. In particular we commend

the role that UNMISS and its leadership have played in the protection of civilians in

South Sudan, and supporting both to human rights work and the peace process.

One of the largest factors influencing the effectiveness of the UNMISS mandate and

its implementation has been the approach and the political will of the Government of

South Sudan and opposition groups. The number of access issues has reduced since

the signing of the 2018 peace agreement, but we are concerned by continued denials

of access and hope this will improve as the peace agreement is implemented in full.

Through our bilateral engagement we continue to make clear at the highest levels the

importance of unfettered access across South Sudan for humanitarian actors and the

UN.

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE


Hilary Benn: [14956]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to

improve early intervention and treatment in cases of eating disorder among young

people.

Ms Nadine Dorries:

We know the difference that early intervention can make and recognise that the

earlier treatment is provided, the greater the chance of recovery. It is vital that

everyone with an eating disorder can access quick, specialist help when necessary.

The Government set up the first waiting times to improve access to eating disorder

services for children and young people. The standard we are working towards is that

by 2020/21, 95% of children with an eating disorder will receive treatment within one

week for urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases. Data from January to


March 2019 shows 80.6% of all patients started urgent treatment within one week

and 82.4% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks.

Bill Wiggin: [14966]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has include

people with life-long debilitating medical conditions in the categories of people eligible for

free medication.

Jo Churchill:

The Department has no plans to review or amend of the list of medical conditions that

provide entitlement to exemption from prescription charges. Extensive arrangements

are already in place to help people access National Health Service prescriptions.

These include a broad range of exemptions from the prescription charge for which

someone with a long-term condition may qualify, including for people on low incomes

through receipt of specific benefits and through the NHS Low Income Scheme.

To support those with the greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption,

prescription pre-payment certificates are available for three months or 12 month

periods. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for

just £2 per week.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has

made an assessment of the long-term effects of video game addiction on primary school-

aged children.

Jo Churchill:

No assessment has been made. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England

has made provision for children and young people who are seriously addicted to

computer games to be treated in a new Centre for Internet and Gaming Disorders.

The NHS National Gaming Disorder Clinic provides treatment for problem gamers,

aged 13-25, living in England and Wales.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Mental Illness

Preet Kaur Gill: [698]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11

February 2020 to Question 13559 and with reference to the Answer of 23 October 2018

to Question 181292 on Mental Illness: Children and Young People, for what reasons his

Department was able to provide the data requested to Question 181292 but not to

Question 13559.

Ms Nadine Dorries:

Data is held by number of attendances rather than the number of patients.

Attendances do not represent the number of patients, as a person may attend a

National Health Service hospital on more than one occasion within the period.




Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Health Services


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent from the

public purse by (a) NHS bodies and (b) local authorities on (i) drug and (ii) alcohol abuse

(A) prevention and (B) treatment in (1) 2016-17, (2) 2017-18, (3) 2018-19 and (4) 2019-

2020 to date.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent from the

public purse by the NHS on alcohol-related hospital admissions in (a) 2018-2019, (b)

2017-2018, (c) 2016-2017 and (d) 2015-2016.

Jo Churchill:

Data on spending on drug and alcohol abuse prevention and treatment (including

alcohol related hospital admissions) by National Health Service bodies and providers

is not collected centrally. Local authorities report their spending on drug and alcohol

treatment and prevention to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local

Government. This information is published by the Office for National Statistics and is

known as the local authority outrun. Local authority spend for 2016/17, 2017/18 and

2018/19 is shown in the following table. Figures for 2019/20 have not yet been

published.

SERVICE PROVISION 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19

Treatment for alcohol

misuse

£202,777,000 £186,803,000 £182,384,000

Preventing and

reducing harm from

alcohol misuse

£38,073,000 £45,478,000 £43,682,000

Treatment for drug

misuse

£425,345,000 £393,017,000 £365,488,000

Preventing and

reducing harm from

drug misuse

£67,584,000 £67,009,000 £67,805,000

Drug and alcohol

misuse services for

children and young

people

£49,400,000 £44,239,000 £40,066,000

Overall spend £783,179,000 £736,546,000 £699,425,000



The annual local authority outruns can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-

financing-england-2018-to-2019-individual-local-authority-data-outturn

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, up to 50 hospitals will establish Alcohol Care

Teams, which could prevent 50,000 admissions over five years.

Aortic Dissection: Diagnosis

Mrs Pauline Latham: [14724]


ensure the adequate diagnosis of Aortic Dissection at A&E departments.

Jo Churchill:

We recognise that accurate and rapid assessment of suspected acute aortic

dissection is crucial. Computerised tomography plays a central role in the diagnosis

to allow expedited management and all acute hospitals with emergency departments

have the capacity to make the diagnosis.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are aware of the findings of the Healthcare

Safety Investigation Branch’s recent investigation into delayed recognition of acute

Aortic Dissection, and these recommendations have been included in the actions

being taken forward with hospitals.

NHS England and NHS Improvement Specialised Commissioning is progressing the

Thoracic Aortic Dissection service specification and have identified resource to

support this as one of the priorities within the Specialised Vascular Clinical Group

work programme.

It should also be noted that the NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Getting It

Right First Time Cardiothoracic Review recommended that acute aortic syndrome

patients are only operated on by rotas of acute aortic syndrome specialist teams. This

is being actioned across cardiac and vascular teams. The NHS England and NHS

Improvement Specialised Cardiac Improvement Programme has developed a guide

and toolkit to support implementation with the first Region rolling out from April 2020.

Blood: Contamination


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s policy is

on short-term financial support for people affected by the contaminated blood scandal

before the conclusion of the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Ms Nadine Dorries:

Since 1988, successive Governments have voluntarily provided ex-gratia financial

and non-financial support for people affected by HIV and/or hepatitis C through

historic treatment with National Health Service-supplied blood or blood products in

the 1970s and 1980s.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2018-to-2019-individual-local-authority-data-outturn





In 2017, country specific support schemes were set up in England, Northern Ireland,

Scotland and Wales, responsibility for these is devolved to the four nations.

We are working with our partners in the devolved nations and other relevant

Government departments to improve parity of support across the United Kingdom.

Cancer: Buckinghamshire

Greg Smith: [14745]


improve waiting times for cancer treatment in Buckinghamshire.

Jo Churchill:

Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to improving survival rates for cancer and

we have committed to the new 28-day faster diagnosis waiting times standard.

Implementation in all trusts including Buckinghamshire, subject to Government

approval, is planned from spring 2020.

Buckinghamshire is included in plans to develop Rapid Diagnostic Service models as

part of the Long Term Plan for Thames Valley to improve and speed up cancer

diagnostics and patient experience. During 2019, they established a non-site specific

(also referred to as vague symptom) pathway for general practitioners (GPs) with

Buckinghamshire NHS Trust to fast track such patients.

Cancer is a priority for this Government and in October 2018 we announced a

package of measures that will be rolled out across the country with the aim of seeing

three quarters of all cancers detected at an early stage by 2028 (currently just over

half). This is part of the Long Term Plan for the National Health Service and forms

part of how the Government will achieve its ambition to see 55,000 more people

surviving cancer for five years in England each year from 2028.

The Long Term Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/

Cancer: Health Services


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is

taking improve cancer treatment in the (a) Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS

Trust and (b) Royal Marsden NHS Trust.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his

Department has made of cancer treatment outcomes in the (a) Epsom and St Helier

University Hospitals and (b) Royal Marsden NHS Trusts.

Jo Churchill:

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has a strong track record of

providing high quality care to people with suspected or confirmed cases of cancer in






a timely manner. Last year, the Trust met all of the waiting time standards we expect

for cancer patients, including seeing 97.2% of patients with a suspected cancer within

two weeks of their general practitioners (GPs) referral, 99.1% of patients began

treatment with 31 days of diagnosis, and 89% of patients began treatment within 62

days of their initial referral.

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust is working on plans to improve

the patient’s experience through their cancer journey. This includes access to a

clinical nurse specialist or key worker, and they have recently appointed three

Advanced Nurse Practitioners and funding approved to increase number of clinical

nurse specialists. The Trust is introducing ‘Living With and Beyond Cancer’ – a new

work stream to improve patient experience and care beyond their diagnosis and initial

treatment and improving quality of life for those living with cancer. This includes NHS

England and NHS Improvement data collection on long term quality of life metrics,

stratified follow up pathways, reducing and managing long term outcomes of

treatment, and Holistic Needs Assessments.

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a research active organisation, with an

academic partnership with The Institute of Cancer Research, and, together, are

ranked third in the world for impact of their research. The Royal Marsden is

continually looking to improve the treatment options and facilities they offer to

patients, including the first linear accelerators (LINAC) in the country and third in the

world, which is now treating patients across six tumour types as part of clinical trials.

The Royal Marsden is also the host of RM Partners, the only cancer alliance in

England to achieve the 62 day target consistently during 2018/19 and which was

awarded a further £10 million in funding from NHS England to continue to improve

cancer outcomes for the population across west London.

Carers: Older People

Rosie Cooper: [564]


taking to support carers who are over 80 years old.

Helen Whately:

In June 2018 we published the cross-Government Carers Action Plan 2018-2020

which includes commitments from across Government to support the health and

wellbeing of all carers, including those over 80.

We have also commissioned a piece of work through the Health and Wellbeing

Alliance which looks at supporting carers to make plans for a future where they may

be less able to care. A report and resources will be published in the spring.


Carers: Young People

Chris Evans: [500]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his

Department has made of the number of GP practices who have adopted the care for

young carers package launched by NHS England.

Helen Whately:

I refer the hon. Member to the answer the then Minister of State for Care (Caroline

Dinenage MP) gave to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon MP) on 4

February 2020 to Question 8280.

Coronavirus

Munira Wilson: [12334]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Government (a)

Departments and (b) non-departmental public bodies are involved in formulating the

response to the Coronavirus.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has

requested assistance from the EU to fly UK citizens back from China since the outbreak

of the Coronavirus.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had

with his EU counterparts on the management of the Coronavirus.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has

taken to raise public awareness of how to prevent the transmission of the Coronavirus in

the UK.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his

Department has made of the number of (a) staff and (b) equipment required to respond to

the Coronavirus.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his

Department has made of the additional funding required by the NHS to respond to the

Coronavirus.



taking to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus in the UK.










To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of

the cost to the public purse of the Government's Coronavirus public health campaign,

launched on 1 February 2020.

Jo Churchill:

We have launched a public information campaign, setting out how every member of

the public can help to prevent the transmission of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom by

taking simple steps to minimise the risk to themselves and their families: washing

hands and using tissues when they sneeze, just as they would with flu.

We also have posters up at every international airport advising travellers on what to

do should they develop symptoms, and we provide regularly updated guidance for

the public at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public

The Department works closely with Public Health England and NHS England in all

aspects of our response. We have also been working across government and with

our partners in the devolved administrations since the beginning of the outbreak. We

have coordinated cross governmental Ministerial and officials’ meetings to ensure

and formulate a coherent response. These include the Ministry of Housing,

Communities and Local Government, the Department for Transport, Foreign Office

and Home Office amongst many others.

We have collaborated with European Union partners on repatriation flights. 11 UK

entitled persons were repatriated on a French flight and we have helped to bring a

number of Spanish nationals out of Wuhan on the first of our two repatriation flights.

We are also in regular contact with colleagues in the EU through meetings such as

the Global Health Security Initiative and the Early Warning and Response System

(EWRS).

Public Health England ensure that someone with coronavirus does not put others at

risk by treating them in isolation and carefully investigating who they had close

contact with.

The Department has made £40 million available to fund Covid-19 related research

and speed up the development of a vaccine. However, as the incident remains

ongoing it is too early to state the total cost to the public purse and more broadly the

number of staff and or equipment required to respond to the incident.

Mr Toby Perkins: [14699]


Department has made of NHS preparedness for an outbreak of the coronavirus in the

UK.

Jo Churchill:

The United Kingdom is extremely well prepared for these types of outbreaks – we are

one of the first countries in the world to develop a test for the new virus. The National





Health Service is always ready to provide world class care to patients whether they

have a common illness, or an infectious disease never seen here before.

The NHS has expert teams in every ambulance service and a number of specialist

hospital units with highly trained staff and equipment ready to receive and care for

patients with any highly infectious disease. Since April 2013, NHS England has

commissioned a total of 15 adult respiratory extra corporeal membrane oxygenation

beds from five providers in England, with further provision in Scotland. In periods of

high demand, capacity can be increased.

Coronavirus: Disease Control


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether additional funding is

being allocated to NHS trusts in preparation for a potential outbreak of the coronavirus.

Jo Churchill:

We are investing £40 million in vaccine research, are working with international

efforts on therapeutics, as well as the immediate launch of a capital facility to support

any urgent works the National Health Service needs for the coronavirus response,

such as the creation of further isolation areas and other necessary facilities. The

United Kingdom is also ramping up efforts to fund ground-breaking research into

vaccines, diagnostics and cures to fight against the threat of future viruses.

Department of Health and Social Care: Offshore Funds

Tulip Siddiq: [654]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department

monitors the cash held by its subsidiaries in offshore bank accounts; and how frequently

those subsidiaries report those balances to his Department.

Edward Argar:

The majority of subsidiaries in the Department are owned by NHS Providers, while

Porton Biopharma Ltd (PBL) is a private limited company wholly owned by the United

Kingdom Secretary of State for Health.

Public Health England oversees the management of Porton Biopharma Ltd and

monitors the cash held by PBL at its monthly Board meetings. The only bank account

used by PBL is held with the Government Banking Service.

NHS England and NHS Improvement collect monthly information from NHS

Providers, including cash held by subsidiaries which are consolidated into the

Provider Group accounts. Subsidiaries are not shown separately, and do not contain

analysis of offshore bank accounts.



Diabetes: Health Education



taking to raise awareness of diabetes among (a) young people and (b) the general public.

Jo Churchill:

The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) is a partnership between NHS

England and NHS Improvement, Diabetes UK and Public Health England and works

closely together to raise awareness of diabetes with patients, public and healthcare

professionals.

Diabetes UK provide the ‘patient voice’ for the programme by leading on user

involvement activities and ensuring the programme is tailored to service users’

needs.

One output of the NDPP has been an annual Diabetes Prevention Week, which NHS

England and NHS Improvement, Diabetes UK and Public Health England run as a

joint campaign, undertaking a range of targeted activity to raise awareness of type 2

diabetes, the complications associated with the condition and how to prevent it.

In March 2016, Public Health England (PHE) launched One You, a campaign

targeted at men and women aged 40-60 to encourage them to make healthy changes

such as increasing physical activity, improving diet, stopping smoking and reducing

alcohol consumption, to reduce the risk of conditions such as diabetes.

Additionally, PHE’s Change4Life campaign encourages families across England to

‘eat well, move more’. Type 2 diabetes is highlighted in the campaign as a potential

health consequence of poor diet and inactivity.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Paul Girvan: [745]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made

of the effect on people with diabetes of the slow-down in production and shipping of

Freestyle Libre glucose monitoring sensors from Abbott; and if he will make statement.

Jo Churchill:

The Department is aware of current supply issues with the Freestyle Libre glucose

monitoring sensors and it is maintaining regular contact with the supplier Abbott to re-

establish the reliable supply of this product.

This is a temporary disruption caused by increases in demand and we have already

seen steady progress to improve the situation over the recent weeks.

The information provided refers to the National Health Service in England only.



Diabetes: Skin Diseases


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have a

diagnosis of diabetic bullous.

Jo Churchill:

This information is not held centrally.

Eating Disorders: Children

Jonathan Ashworth: [14710]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children aged 17

and under accessed community mental health treatment for eating disorders in (a) 2015,

(b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) 2019.

Ms Nadine Dorries:

The data is not available in the format requested.

Electronic Cigarettes: Children



Department has made of whether vaping shops are fulfilling their legal requirements to

verify age and not sell to children.

Jo Churchill:

E-cigarettes in the United Kingdom are tightly regulated by the Tobacco and Related

Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) and the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale

and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 (NIP). These regulations include preventing

sale to under 18s, restrictions on mainstream TV and radio advertising, and limit both

tank sizes and nicotine content.

Local trading standards have powers for enforcement of both regulations. The

Government has also funded the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to undertake

a review of compliance of nicotine vaping products. The latest report, ‘The Tobacco

Control Survey for England 2018/19: A Report of Trading Standards Service Activity’

reports that 34 councils were able to report the number of visits with volunteer young

people where sales had occurred. 90 test purchase attempts resulted in an underage

sale being made. This results in a 40% test-purchase-to-sale rate.

We are monitoring youth use closely and will take action, if necessary, to ensure that

regular use among children and young people does not increase, and that e-

cigarettes do not become a gateway to tobacco use. We continue to keep the

evidence base on e-cigarettes under review and the next Public Health England

annual review is due to be published next month.




Electronic Cigarettes: Safety


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department (a) is

aware of all substances used in vaping liquids and (b) has assessed the safety of all such

substances.

Jo Churchill:

Electronic cigarettes and nicotine-containing refill containers (e-liquids) are regulated

under the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016. A notification must be

submitted to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for

each product prior to launch. This must include a list of ingredients and information

on their toxicology and emissions.

The regulations prohibit ingredients that cause harm to human health, including

respiratory sensitisers and substances known to cause cancer, cause mutation in

cells or are toxic to reproduction. The notifier bears full responsibility for the quality

and safety of their product and the MHRA checks all notifications to ensure the

absence of prohibited substances.

Genito-urinary Medicine


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to

publish its national sexual health and reproductive health strategy.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to

hold its stakeholder roundtable events on the national sexual health and reproductive

health strategy.

Jo Churchill:

Work on the development of a new national sexual and reproductive health strategy

is underway with the Department working with Public Health England, NHS England

and Improvement, local government and other partners. Some initial engagement

with stakeholders has already taken place and we are also considering the responses

to the Green Paper ‘Advancing our Health’ and the suggestions for priority areas for

the new strategy we received through the consultation process. Details of the

strategy’s scope, plans for more formal engagement with external organisations,

including roundtables, timing of publication and implementation will be announced in

due course.

Hinckley Hospital: X-rays


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made

on returning X-ray facilities to Hinckley hospital.





Edward Argar:

X-ray facilities will be returning to Hinckley and District Hospital to provide much

needed services to the local population, after funding was secured from University

Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

In addition, the local area will benefit from the Government’s £7 million sustainability

and transformation partnerships capital investment to refurbish Hinckley Health

Centre, which includes works to accommodate diagnostics (x-ray and ultrasound)

machines.

HIV Infection: Drugs



taking to ensure access for all to PrEP prior to routine commissioning starting in April

2020.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish

further information on how (a) routine commissioning of PrEP will be (i) implemented and

(ii) funded and (b) local health commissioners will be supported during the rollout of that

routine commissioning.

Jo Churchill:

Anyone requesting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through the Impact Trial must

meet the agreed eligibility criteria. A core function of the trial’s Community Advisory

Board (CAB) is to raise awareness and uptake of PrEP in key populations. Further

information about PrEP Impact Trial CAB activities and participating community

groups can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/blood-and-

infection-group-f/f03/prep-trial-updates/

The Impact Trial website includes a map showing the distribution of the 154 clinics

level 3 Sexual Health Services participating in the trial at the following link:

www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk

The Department is continuing to work closely with NHS England and NHS

Improvement, Public Health England and local authorities to plan for routine

commissioning of PrEP from April 2020. NHS England and NHS Improvement have

already agreed to fund the on-going costs of drugs for PrEP going forward. We will

provide information on how other elements of the programme will be funded and how

commissioners will be supported very shortly.


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the oral contribution

of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, of 28 January

2020, Official Report column 658, what steps he is taking to ensure that PReP is



https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/blood-and-infection-group-f/f03/prep-trial-updates/



http://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/

http://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/


accessible to women; and how the roll-out of PReP to women is monitored by his

Department.

Jo Churchill:

A core function of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact Trial Community

Advisory Board (CAB) is to raise awareness and uptake of PrEP in key populations,

including women. Further information about PrEP Impact Trial CAB activities and

participating community groups can be found at the following links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/blood-and-

infection-group-f/f03/prep-trial-updates/

https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/faqs

A subgroup of the PrEP CAB aims to specifically address PrEP Impact Trial access

for women. The subgroup has developed a questionnaire to use with women

attending sexual health clinics in order to increase knowledge and awareness among

women and to aid discussions about PrEP with health workers. More information can

be found at the following link:

https://sophiaforum.net/index.php/women-and-prep/

In addition, Public Health England’s Innovation Fund has supported a number of

community based projects aimed at increasing PrEP awareness in women;

information on the projects funded in 2018 can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-

170000-people-in-2018

As at October 2019, places filled by women and other groups account for over 4% of

total trial participants. As of 12 February 2020, all participating Trial clinics were open

to recruitment for women, trans men and heterosexual men. Information on the

enrolment status of participating clinics is regularly updated on the PrEP Impact Trial

website at the following link:

https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/join-the-trial

Hospitals: Discharges

Rosie Cooper: [565]


taking to ensure that patients have timely access the care require to leave hospital in

order to ease pressure on the NHS from delayed discharge from hospital.

Edward Argar:

The Department is clear that no one should stay in a hospital bed longer than

necessary. The jointly set Better Care Fund (BCF) plans focus on reducing delayed

transfers of care (DToCs). All local health and care systems must adopt the centrally-

set expectations for reducing or maintaining rates of DToC during 2019-20 in their

BCF plans.








https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018






The Government provided £240 million in 2019-20, pooled in the BCF, to support

local health and care systems to manage demand pressures on the National Health

Service. This includes interventions that support people to be discharged from

hospital to access the appropriate social care to help promote their independence.

The last available published figures for delayed transfers are for December

performance. These show that since the peak in February 2017, there has been a

reduction in the average number of delayed days per day of over 1,800.

Learning Disability: Diagnosis



ensure that people with intellectual disability are not wrongly diagnosed as having

dementia.

Helen Whately:

Diagnosis for dementia is only undertaken by clinical professionals. For example, a

general practitioner (GP) in the first instance. If the GP is unsure about the diagnosis,

they will refer the individual to a specialist for further tests.

To help promote and maintain best practice for diagnosing dementia, and ensure

accurate diagnoses, NHS England has developed and published guidance aimed at

GPs and practice nurses, as well as guidance on what good quality assessment and

dementia diagnosis looks like. The guidance is available at the following links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/dementia-revealed-

toolkit.pdf

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/implementation-guide-and-

resource-pack-dementia-guide.pdf

Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists

Jonathan Ashworth: [14709]


taking to implement maximum waiting times for adult inpatient mental health care; and

what progress he has made on the maximum waiting time pilots.

Ms Nadine Dorries:

NHS England has committed in the interim report of the Clinically-Led Review of

Access Standards to testing a range of new access standards for mental health,

including for crisis services in the community and liaison psychiatry services, four

week waiting times for children and young people who need specialist community

mental health services and four week waiting times for adults and older adults to

access community mental health teams.

Testing of these new access standards are underway in pilot areas. An update on the

testing of the new mental health access standards will be set out in the final report of

the Clinically-Led Review of Access Standards to be published later this year. Once


https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/dementia-revealed-toolkit.pdf



https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/implementation-guide-and-resource-pack-dementia-guide.pdf




recommendations are made, following field-testing of the proposals within the

National Health Service, the Government has committed to studying them carefully.

Prescription Drugs


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a)

tackle the over-prescribing of medicines and (b) ensure reviews of prescriptions are

carried out for people who have been on medication for prolonged periods of time.

Jo Churchill:

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has asked Dr Keith Ridge, the

Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, to carry out a review into overprescribing of

medicines.

The review is due to report in spring 2020. It will align with and build on the emerging

Medicine Safety Programme and Public Health England’s independent review into

‘dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines’, published

in September 2019, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prescribed-medicines-review-report

To support appropriate prescribing, the 2020/21 GP contract will introduce new

requirements for primary care networks (PCNs) to undertake Structured Medication

Reviews (SMRs), which will help to address overprescribing of medicines. From 1

April 2020, each PCN will use appropriate tools to identify and prioritise patients who

would benefit from an SMR.

Prostate Cancer: Screening


To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has

made of the potential merits on introducing routine prostate cancer screening.

Jo Churchill:

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has commenced work

to review the evidence to offer population screening for prostate cancer as per its

three-yearly cycle. A three-month public consultation will take place in summer 2020

where a recommendation will be made.

Further information and how to participate in the consultation will be available at the

following link:

https://legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/screening-recommendations.php







HOME OFFICE



To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many drug-related crimes

were reported in Havering in each year since 2010.

Kit Malthouse:

The Home Office collects and publishes data on crimes recorded by the police in

England and Wales, including drug possession and drug trafficking-related offences.

Figures for offences recorded within the Havering Community Service Partnership

Area can be found in the published tables found at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

Asylum

Scott Benton: [699]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department

has made of the number of failed asylum seekers still living in the UK.

Kevin Foster:

Information regarding the number of failed asylum seekers still living in the UK can be

found on tables OLCU_01, OLCU_04 and ASY_03 of the most recently published

Asylum, UK Visa & Immigration Transparency Data:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-august-2019

Asylum: Deportation

Scott Benton: [681]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of

the number of failed asylum seekers who have absconded before deportation in each of

the last five years.

Kevin Foster:

The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested.

Scott Benton: [682]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many failed asylum seekers

have been deported in each of the last 10 years.

Kevin Foster:

The Home Office publishes data on returns from the UK in the ‘.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

Data on the number of returns, by year, type of return and asylum and non-asylum

related returns are published in table Ret_05.









Asylum-related returns relate to cases where there has been an asylum claim at

some stage prior to the return. This will include asylum seekers whose asylum claims

have been refused, and who have exhausted any rights of appeal, those returned

under third country provisions, as well as those granted asylum/protection, but

removed for other reasons (such as criminality). Therefore not all ‘asylum’ cases will

relate to failed asylum seekers.

The term 'deportations' refers to a legally-defined subset of returns which are

enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged a person’s removal

from the UK is conducive to the public good. Information on those deported is not

separately available and therefore the published statistics refer to all enforced

returns.

The latest data relates to the year ending September 2019.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the.

https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-

statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5

D=home-office&order=release-date-oldest

Scott Benton: [683]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is

taking to locate failed asylum seekers who have absconded prior to deportation.

Kevin Foster:

The Home Office takes a number of steps to re-establish contact with Failed Asylum

Seekers (FAS) who have absconded. Our dedicated tracing team conducts a full

range of checks which cannot be detailed for security reasons.

Domestic Violence: LGBT People


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was allocated

to the specialist LGBT+ sector for the provision of domestic abuse services in each year

between 2016 and 2020.

Victoria Atkins:

The Home Office has provided over £980,000 of funding to specialist LGBT+

organisations for the provision of domestic abuse services between 2016 and 2020.

The financial year breakdown spend is as follows:

FY 2016-2017 – £120,000

FY 2017-2018 – £120,000

FY 2018-2019 – £370,000

FY 2019-2020 – £370,000

https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=home-office&order=release-date-oldest






This includes £120,000 of funding each year since 2016 for the National LGBT

Domestic Abuse helpline, which provides emotional and practical support for LGBT+

people who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse.

It also includes £500,000 funding provided to Galop, a specialist LGBT+ domestic

abuse service. This funding includes the provision of training and consultancy to

deliver knowledge and understanding of the needs and experiences of LGBT+

victims of domestic abuse to statutory organisations that work with victims of

domestic abuse.

Firearms and Knives: Liverpool

Ian Byrne: [618]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to

reduce the rates of (a) gun and (b) knife offences in Liverpool.

Kit Malthouse:

The Government is committed to tackling gun crime and knife crime across England

and Wales. Through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we have introduced a ban on

certain rapid-firing rifles and we are also introducing greater regulation of antique

firearms to prevent their misuse by criminals.

We have also consulted on statutory guidance on firearms licensing to improve

standards and the consistency of police licensing decisions, and we have established

a multi-agency national firearms threat assessment centre to improve our capability

to disrupt the supply and use of illegal firearms by criminals and Organised Crime

Groups. This unit works closely with Merseyside police and the North West Regional

Organised Crime Unit.

The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 will also give the police with more powers to tackle

knife crime and make it more difficult for young people to get hold of knives in the first

place. The Act also introduces Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will give the

police an important new tool to help them to help to steer those most at risk away

from serious violence and knife crime.

Funding for Merseyside Police increased by £18.3 million last year and the

Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner has set out her plans to use this funding

to recruit 80 more police officers. In addition, the Home Office has provided £100

million in 2019/2020 through the Serious Violence Fund. Of this, Merseyside Police

has been allocated and additional £4.2 million this year from the Home Office Serious

Violence Fund to pay for a surge in police operational activity against serious

violence, and a further £3.37 million to develop Merseyside’s Violence Reduction

Unit. This is a non-statutory partnership which offers leadership and strategic

coordination of the local response to serious violence by bringing together police,

local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other

keypartners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency

response. The Government has announced a further £35 million to continue funding


Violence Reduction Units next year, and Merseyside has been allocated a further

£3.37 million for 2020/21 as part of this.

The Government has also provided Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner with

£700,000 over two years through our £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund for an

early interventions programme targeting young people aged 8-19, to tackle serious

violence and criminal exploitation. Under year 3 of the anti-knife crime Community

Fund (2019-20), we have funded 5 community-based projects in Liverpool and

Merseyside totalling £132,550.

We are also providing a targeted £25million to tackle county lines drugs gangs, given

the links between drugs, county lines and serious violence.

Free Movement of People: Musicians

Kate Osamor: [721]


taking to maintain freedom of movement for live performing and touring musicians after

the end of the transition period.

Kate Osamor: [722]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her

Department has made of the potential merits of a musicians’ passport for live performing

and touring musicians after the end of the transition period.

Kevin Foster:

Free Movement will end on 31 December 2020 with the end of the Transition Period.

Following the end of the Transition Period EEA and Swiss nationals will be able to

continue to travel to the UK for holidays or short-term trips, without needing a visa.

The current Immigration Rules, including those for visitors, contain a wide range of

provisions to cater for artists, entertainers and musicians.

The Home Office is currently engaging with other government departments, including

DCMS, to ensure the future immigration system continues to support the thriving

cultural sector in the UK.

Home Office: Work Experience


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people aged (a) 16

and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in

each of the last three years.

Victoria Atkins:

The Department does not offer any formal work experience opportunities to

individuals aged 16 and under.

The Department participates in a number of programmes open to individuals over 16

years old.




The Summer Diversity Internship Programme is a six to nine-week paid internship for

individuals in their last year of undergraduate study, organised by Cabinet Office. The

Early Diversity Internship Programme is a one-week shadowing opportunity for first

year undergraduates, organised by Cabinet Office.

There is also a shorter Work Experience programme for individuals aged 17 to 18,

organised by Cabinet Office. We also participate in Movement to Work, a work

experience programme for young people (18-30 years old) who are not in education,

employment or training.

In 2019 we also ran a Smart Futures programme for young people (16-17 years old).

Placements numbers for the last three years are detailed in the below table:

PROGRAMME 2019 2018 2017

Summer Diversity

Internship Programme

24 23 22

Early Diversity

Internship Programme

12 8 8

Work experience

programme

2 0 2

Movement to Work 5 5 0

Smart Futures 10 0 0

Immigrants: Health Services

Alun Cairns: [582]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration health

surcharges have been paid by overseas (a) doctors and (b) nurses.

Kevin Foster:

The Home Office does not collate or publish the information requested.

Immigration: EU Nationals


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for

Indefinite Leave to Remain on the grounds of long residency her Department received in

each month over the last two years; and how many of those applications submitted prior

to 30 June 2019 are yet to be processed.

Kevin Foster:

We do not publish this data for this specific group of applicants but as per the In-

Country migration statistics published in August 2019, 98.2% of settlement

applications were decided within the six-month service standard.



This figure will include applications made by those seeking Indefinite Leave to

Remain on the grounds of long residency.

The data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-

migration-data-august-2019.

Knives: South Leicestershire



taking to tackle knife crime in (a) Hinckley and (b) Bosworth; and what progress has been

in the last 12 months.

Kit Malthouse:

This Government is determined to turn the tide on knife crime in all areas, wherever it

occurs. Across England and Wales, we are recruiting 20,000 more police officers

over the next three years and increasing sentences for violent criminals. We have

made it easier for the police to use enhanced stop and search powers and we will

introduce a new court order to make it easier for the police to stop and search those

who have been convicted of knife crime.

We will also ensure that anyone charged with knife possession will appear before

magistrates within days and we are also making £10 million available to the police to

equip more officers with tasers. In addition, we have legislated through the Offensive

Weapons Act 2019 to give the police more powers and to ensure knives are less

likely to make their way on to the streets and we will also be introducing the Serious

Violence Bill to place a duty on the police, councils and health authorities to work

together to prevent and tackle serious violence.

Over the last 12 months, we have increased police funding, by £1 billion this year and

announced that the amount of funding available to the policing system in 2020 to

2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion. We have also announced a targeted £25

million to tackle county lines drug gangs, given the links between drugs, county lines

and serious violence and we have provided the £100 million Serious Violence Fund

to provide support to the 18 police force areas most affected by serious violence.

This has seen an extra £1.4 million provided to Leicestershire Police for operational,

surge activity against serious violence, and £880,000 this year to the Leicestershire

Police and Crime Commissioner, with a similar amount next year, to develop a

Violence Reduction Unit to help build capacity across the area to tackle serious

violence. In addition, the first grant round of the Youth Endowment Fund has also

taken place, with 23 successful projects across England and Wales are sharing

£17.1m over 2 years for work to support children and young people most vulnerable

from becoming involved in crime and violence.

This includes £486,000 to Leicestershire County Council for an Advanced Lifeskills

project across schools in Leicestershire. In addition, through our Early Intervention

Youth Fund, the Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner has received

£347,272 to help fund a project in the most deprived areas of Leicester and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-migration-data-august-2019




Leicestershire where serious violence is most prevalent, and under year 3 of the anti-

knife crime Community Fund two community based projects in Leicester have

received funding support.

Lancashire Constabulary: Stop and Search

Scott Benton: [701]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her

Department has made of trends in the level of the usage of stop and search powers by

Lancashire Police; and if her Department will take steps to encourage that police force to

increase its use of stop and search powers to help tackle crime in that area.

Kit Malthouse:

The police have the government's full support in the fair and targeted use of stop and

search to crack down on criminality and violent crime. That is why, last year, we

started a national pilot to test a relaxation of voluntary restrictions on "no suspicion"

Section 60 powers, used when the police anticipate serious violence.

Stop and search in Lancashire increased 39% in 2018/19 compared with 2017/18,

the first year-on-year increase since 2010/11. This is similar to the national trend.

The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of stop and

searches conducted by each police force in England and Wales on an annual basis.

Results are published in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’

statistical bulletin, the latest of which can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-

and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019

Offences Against Children

Jim Shannon: [502]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made

of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins:

The Home Office collects and publishes data on crimes recorded by the police,

including crimes related to child sexual abuse. These are published quarterly in the

Office for National Statistics bulletin “Crime in England and Wales”. The latest data

are available here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/cri

meinenglandandwales/yearendingseptember2019

The ONS have recently published additional statistics and commentary on child sex

abuse. There are available here

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/child

sexualabuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019. The most recent survey

estimates that in the year ending March 2019, approximately 3.1 million adults aged

18 to 74 years experienced child sexual abuse before the age of 16 years. This is

equivalent to 7.5% of the population aged 18 to 74 years.


https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019




https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/childsexualabuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019



Lucy Allan: [695]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department

has made on its research on the profiling of the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation.

Victoria Atkins:

The Home Office has considered evidence from a range of sources including existing

research, published and unpublished data, and insight from investigators and

safeguarding professionals to better understand the characteristics of group-based

child sexual offending. These include the nature and modus operandi of the networks

involved, the backgrounds and motivations of individual offenders, and the

characteristics of victims. Emerging findings have been shared with relevant partners

in law enforcement agencies.

In early 2020 the Government will publish a national strategy, the first of its kind, to

tackle all forms of child sexual abuse.

Our new strategy will set out our whole system response to tackling child sexual

abuse, including group-based sexual offending drawing on this internal work. It will

set out how we will work across government, law enforcement, safeguarding partners

and industry to root out offending, protect victims and help victims and survivors

rebuild their lives. We will work tirelessly to tackle all forms of sexual abuse; there will

be no no-go areas.

Special Constables: Conditions of Employment

Robert Halfon: [580]

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has

made of the adequacy of the level of benefits and compensation for special constables.



made of the potential merits of special constables being paid.

Kit Malthouse:

Special constables are not paid for their duties but receive out-of-pocket expenses

and forces may work with local partners to provide discretionary benefits such as free

local travel or council tax rebates.

Many special constables, like volunteers in other parts of society, are not motivated

by financial reward.

It is important that we recognise the contribution of special constables and we

continue to work with policing partners to ensure they feel valued and supported.

Special Constables: Equality



made of trends in the rate of diversity in relation to special constables.





Kit Malthouse:

Police forces that reflect the communities they serve are crucial to tackling crime in a

modern diverse society. The police have worked hard to improve equality and

diversity in policing and the workforce is more representative than ever before.

The Special Constabulary are currently the most ethnically diverse part of the police

workforce. As of 31 March 2019, approximately 11 per cent of all special constables

who have stated their ethnicity identified as black and minority ethnic background.

This compared with 6.9 per cent of regular police officers who have stated their

ethnicity in the same period. Females accounted for 29 per cent of all special

constables, slightly lower than for full-time police officers where 30.4 per cent are

female.

Special Constables: Recruitment


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to

increase the number of special constables.


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has

had with Cabinet colleagues on increasing the number of special constables in England.



of the adequacy of the application process to increase the number of special constables.



of the potential (a) merits of increasing the number of special constables and (b) effect of

such an increase on levels of crime.

Kit Malthouse:

Special constables bring diverse and valuable skills to police forces that strengthen

policing and help forces to develop important links with communities. Recruitment

and eligibility criteria of special constables are set locally at the discretion of Chief

Officers.

The Home Office Employer Supported Policing (ESP) scheme is a partnership

between employers and the police service aimed at encouraging employers to enable

their staff to volunteer as special constables in the communities they serve. The

Home Office will continue to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s

Citizens in Policing Programme and the College of Policing to support the

development of a national approach to the attraction and training of special

constables.





Special Constables: Training



made of the potential merits of online modules in the teaching of the Special

Constabulary curriculum.



made of the potential merits of using online education for training special constables.


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has

had with the Secretary of State for Education on improving educational opportunities for

special constables.

Kit Malthouse:

We continue to work closely with National Policing leads to ensure consistency

across forces in order to strengthen the national approach to special constables,

including their development.

It is the responsibility of individual police forces to ensure that special constables

receive the training required to carry out the role and decisions on how to train

Special constables are taken locally by the Chief Constable.

The College of Policing provides bespoke training programmes for special constables

as well as national guidance on police standards, including training, which forces can

access.

Visas: Research


To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to create new

endorsing bodies for the new global talent visa to enable science and technology

companies in (a) Cambridge and (b) the UK to access the global talent that they need to

innovate and grow.

Kevin Foster:

On 27 January, the Government announced details of the reformed Global Talent

visa, including a new fast-track scheme for top scientists, researchers and

mathematicians, which would be managed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

These changes are part of an initial phase of wider reforms to enable those with

world-class specialist skills to come to the UK.

The Government will continue to work closely with the existing Endorsing Bodies,

including UKRI, and the wider scientific community. As part of this development we

will discuss the inclusion of additional endorsing bodies.





HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT



To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to assess the

viability of flat-pack housing as a means of tackling housing shortages.

Luke Hall:

This Government is committed to supporting modern methods of construction (MMC),

including modular and panellised systems. It is well recognised that new technology

and innovation have improved productivity, quality and choice across a range of

sectors and we are keen to see the same happen in housing.

Homes England provide development finance to developers using MMC and have

also invested directly into an MMC factory using the £4.5 billion Home Building Fund.

Our Local Authority Accelerated Construction programme aims to increase the speed

of build out and encourage widespread use of MMC. Homes England currently has

contracts in place with local authorities for over 7,400 units, all of which include some

aspects of MMC.


To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what

steps his Department is taking to help ensure that new council housing is of adequate

quality.

Luke Hall:

All new housing, including council housing, must meet the requirements of the

building regulations and any development plan policies on design quality through the

planning system.



steps his Department is taking to enforce building regulation inspections to help ensure

the quality of housing builds.

Luke Hall:

Building Regulations set standards for the design and construction of new homes and

the primary responsibility for compliance with these requirements rests with the

person carrying out the building work, such as the developer or builder. The Building

Act 1984 provides local authorities with a general duty to enforce compliance with

building regulations and formal enforcement powers for dealing with breaches of the

Building Regulations.

The Government agreed with the recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s

independent review of the building regulations and fire safety system and is

committed to putting stronger accountability at the heart of a more effective system.




As part of our reforms to building safety, we are establishing a new Building Safety

Regulator which will provide enhanced oversight of the building safety regulatory

system - driving competence amongst professions and trades working on buildings,

as well as leading oversight of the tougher regime for high risk buildings.

Clarion Housing Group

Rushanara Ali: [538]

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how

many complaints about poor services by Clarion Housing Group were received by the

Housing Ombudsman Service in (a) 2018-19 and (b) the first three financial quarters of

2019-20; and how many of those complaints (i) have been determined, (ii) are under

investigation and (iii) are awaiting allocation to an adjudicator for an investigation.

Christopher Pincher:

In relation to Clarion, the Housing Ombudsman Service received; a) in 2018-19; 444

complaints b) in the first three financial quarters of 2019-20; 347 complaints Of these,

84 and 43 respectively entered their formal remit, 127 in total.

Of these formal complaints, i) 95 have been determined, ii) 6 are under investigation

and iii) 26 are awaiting allocation.

Disabled Facilities Grants

Rosie Cooper: [567]


steps his Department is taking to ensure access to the Disabled Facilities Grant for older

tenants and their landlords in the private rented sector.

Luke Hall:

Anyone can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant, including people living in private

rented accommodation, subject to a means test and an assessment of need. Tenure

should not impact a person’s ability to access the home adaptations they need. The

Government also funds Foundations, the national body for home improvement

agencies. Foundations works closely with local authorities to promote best practice in

the delivery of home adaptations, including providing information and advice to older

people living in private rented accommodation and their landlords.

Economic Growth

Henry Smith: [570]


steps he is taking to encourage local growth in (a) Crawley and (b) the UK.

Luke Hall:

The Government is committed to levelling up the entire country and giving towns,

cities and communities across the UK real power and investment to drive the growth

of the future and unleash their full potential.




We have taken action to encourage local growth in Crawley that includes:

• The opportunity to receive up to £25 million from the Towns Fund as one of the 100

places selected to develop a Town Deal with Government;

• £24 million from the Local Growth Fund, supporting infrastructure, regeneration

and skills projects;

• Advice and support to 40 Crawley small businesses in the last financial year from

Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership’s Growth Hub.

Across the UK the Government is supporting local partners to deliver local economic

growth and prosperity through:

• £12 billion of investment by 2021 through the Local Growth Fund in England in

infrastructure, skills and innovation projects;

• Devolving powers and funding to eight Metro Mayors, with ongoing negotiations for

new devolution deals across the North;

• Commitments to the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine and Oxford-

Cambridge Arc, as well as local industrial strategies being developed by Local

Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across England to drive growth across their areas;

• Town Deals from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund and investment in our High Streets;

• City and Growth Deals worth £10 billion in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;

• Developing a UK Shared Prosperity Fund to tackle inequality and deprivation in

each of our four nations.

Flats: Insulation

Steve Reed: [14698]


recent progress his Department has made on the release of funds to cover the cost of the

remediation of unsafe aluminium composite material cladding on privately owned blocks

of flats in London.


Information on the progress of applications to the Private Sector ACM Cladding

Remediation Fund is reported in the monthly building safety programme data

releases, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-

cladding#acm-remediation-data.

Freehold: Fees and Charges

John Healey: [14608]

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he

plans to bring forward legislative proposals to protect freeholders against service charges

and other fees and charges.




The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for

homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor

service. The Government is aware that homeowners could be subject to a

possession order or the granting of a lease of their home by the rentcharge owner

over rentcharge arrears. As part of our leasehold reform work, we are moving forward

with legislation to repeal Section 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925 to ensure

homeowners are not subjected to unfair possession orders.

Furthermore, where people pay estate rentcharges, it is not right that these

homeowners have limited rights to challenge these costs. That is why the

Government intends to legislate to give freeholders on private and mixed-tenure

estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of estate

rent charges.

The Government also asked the Regulation of Property Agents working group,

chaired by Lord Best, to look at how service charges for leaseholders - and estate

rent charges for resident freehold homeowners - could be made more transparent.

The group also considered in what circumstances other fees and charges, such as

administration charges or permission fees which affect both leaseholders and

freeholders, are justified or whether they should be capped or banned. The working

group published its final report to in July 2019 (

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulation-of-property-agents-working-

group-report ). We are considering the report’s recommendations and will announce

next steps in due course.

Fuel Poverty: Older People

Rosie Cooper: [569]


steps his Department is taking to (a) support people aged over 60 who live in fuel poor

households and (b) improve the energy efficiency of those households.


We believe everyone should be protected against the cold in their home and the best

long-term solution to addressing fuel poverty is to improve household energy

efficiency. The Energy Efficiency Regulations 2015 sets a minimum energy efficiency

standard of Energy Performance Certificate Band E for private rented properties.

Pensioners also receive financial support to ensure they can keep their homes warm.

Winter Fuel Payments provide pensioners with between £100 and £300 to keep their

homes warm during the winter. Those on Pension Credit also receive a £140 Warm

Home Discount rebate.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulation-of-property-agents-working-group-report




Housing: Construction

John Redwood: [13934]


guidance is Department issues to local authorities on building proposals for new homes

on flood plains.


The National Planning Policy Framework states that inappropriate development in

areas at risk of flooding should be directed away from areas at highest risk, including

floodplains. If new homes are necessary in a flood risk area, and no suitable sites at

lower risk are available, the local authority should ensure that the development will be

safe and will not increase flood risk elsewhere. Where those tests are not met,

development should not be allowed.



steps he is taking to ensure an equitable distribution of investment in new housing

between the north and the South East of England.


We are committed to building more of the right homes, in the right places across the

country, and ensuring the housing market works for everyone. The Government has

so far allocated circa £3 billion from the Housing Infrastructure Fund across every

English region, to unlock the development up to 272,862 homes across the country.

Furthermore, the Government has allocated £3.4 billion in Growth Deals to areas in

the Northern Powerhouse - supporting locally determined projects to unlock

economic growth.



assessment he has made of the effect of Government proposal on migration on the

required level of new home builds in the next five year.


There is a consensus that housing supply needs to be significantly higher than its

historical average, which is why it is this Government’s ambition to deliver 300,000

homes a year by the mid-2020s.

Craig Tracey: [14771]

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether

local authorities are able to use the New Homes Bonus to fund refuse services; and how

many local authorities use the New Homes Bonus for revenue spending.


The New Homes Bonus is an unringfenced grant, this allows local authorities to use

the funding as they see fit, as the Government recognises that authorities are in the

best position to make decisions about local priorities. Authorities are expected to





engage with their local community to decide how the money is spent. The

Department does not monitor how individual authorities spend their allocations.

Rosie Cooper: [568]


steps his Department is taking to ensure that new homes are built to the lifetime homes

standard.


Part M (Access to and Use of Buildings) of the Building Regulations sets minimum

access standards for all new buildings. The M4(2) standard for accessible and

adaptable homes, set out in statutory guidance, is broadly equivalent to the

independent Lifetime Homes standard. Planning guidance on housing for older and

disabled people published last summer strengthened the link between plan making

and requirement M4(2) for new homes. Government will also consult shortly on

raising accessibility standards, recognising the importance of suitable homes for older

and disabled people.



assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the joint-venture approach to housing

development and regeneration; and if he will visit the Genesis Project in North West

Durham constituency.


The Government’s estate regeneration national strategy published in 2016 outlined

the various ways in which the public and private sectors might work together to

implement property development and regeneration projects.

It is important that each of the options, and any variations, are properly considered

and tested for a given opportunity. Each route will have implications for financing,

procurement and project management. In many cases, the challenge of how to

structure delivery is likely to be addressed by a combination of different approaches.

Housing: Domestic Abuse

Stella Creasy: [14678]


steps he is taking to extend automatic priority need for housing to survivors of domestic

abuse in need of a safe and permanent home.

Luke Hall:

This Government believes it is vitally important that domestic abuse victims who are

homeless, or are at risk of homelessness, are supported to find an accommodation

solution that meets their needs and reflects their individual circumstances.

In April 2018, the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force, which puts

prevention at the heart of the local authorities’ response to homelessness,

irrespective of whether they are a family or single person, what has put them at risk,




or if they have a local connection to the area. This means that all victims of domestic

abuse who are at risk of homelessness should be provided with an offer of support

from their local authority to find appropriate accommodation.

Under homelessness legislation a person who is pregnant, has dependent children,

or is vulnerable as a result of having to leave accommodation due to domestic abuse

already has priority need for accommodation. These duties, alongside new duties

under the Domestic Abuse Bill, will ensure that all victims of domestic abuse are

supported to find accommodation that meets their needs.

Housing: Multiple Occupation

Paul Bristow: [14747]


powers are available to local authorities to prevent family homes being turned into houses

of multiple occupation.


Change of use to a larger House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) housing more than

six people always requires an application for planning permission. Such larger HMOs

also require a license in order to operate.

For houses up to six people who share facilities, nationally set permitted development

rights allow a dwellinghouse (C3) to change use to a House in Multiple Occupation

(C4) without the need for a planning application. This enables the change of use

without placing unnecessary burdens on landlords and local planning authorities.

Where there is sufficient evidence that it is necessary to protect local amenity or the

well-being of the area, a local planning authority may withdraw a permitted

development right in a specific area using an Article 4 direction, after consultation

with the local community.

Housing: Romford



many families were recorded as living in overcrowded conditions in Romford constituency

in (a) 2015 and (b) the most recent date for which data is available.

Luke Hall:

The Government does not hold this data. The 2018-19 English Housing Survey does

estimate levels of overcrowding, based on three-year averages, but not at a

constituency level.

The local authority or local authorities who cover the Romford constituency may be

able to provide this information. Local authorities have a legal duty to keep housing

conditions in their area under review.



Local Plans



many and what proportion of local authorities have an up-to-date local plan.



deadline he has set for all local authorities to have an up-to-date local plan.


It is essential for Local Planning Authorities to have up to date plan policies in place

to plan for our housing needs and to provide clarity to communities and developers

about where new homes should be built. It also helps ensure that development is

planned for and is sustainable rather than the result of speculative applications.

There are 9 Local Planning Authorities (3 per cent) without an Local Plan adopted

under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 Act that have not yet

submitted their first plan for Examination. Once plans have been adopted, it is down

to Local Planning Authorities to determine if these are up to date. This is to ensure

that policies remain relevant and effectively address the needs of the local

community.

The Planning Inspectorate publishes Local Plan progress information at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-plans#monitoring-local-plan-progress.

Planning Permission

Anthony Browne: [14758]


many planning applications have been granted through the Permission in Principle

application route to date.


We do not currently collect data on Permission in Principle applications. However,

from April 2020 local planning authorities will be required to provide data on

Permission in Principle applications which will be published as part of the national

planning quarterly statistical release.

Private Rented Housing: Liverpool

Ian Byrne: [622]

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what

reason his Department did not extend the landlord licensing scheme in Liverpool; and

what steps his Department is taking to ensure the protection of tenants in the private

rental sector in (a) Liverpool West Derby constituency and (b) Liverpool.



https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fguidance%2Flocal-plans%23monitoring-local-plan-progress&data=02%7C01%7CChristopher.Mountain%40communities.gov.uk%7C30b9a48290804bccf62f08d7afaf6031%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637171040068463070&sdata=FI2uVTkFCkq1VUoFFSnBB0y4W%2BePavikr4fLUlnRoKU%3D&reserved=0

https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fguidance%2Flocal-plans%23monitoring-local-plan-progress&data=02%7C01%7CChristopher.Mountain%40communities.gov.uk%7C30b9a48290804bccf62f08d7afaf6031%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637171040068463070&sdata=FI2uVTkFCkq1VUoFFSnBB0y4W%2BePavikr4fLUlnRoKU%3D&reserved=0




Liverpool City Council made an application for selective licensing under the condition

of low housing demand across the whole city.

The evidence provided by the local authority was carefully considered against all the

relevant statutory conditions, including those contained within section 80(4) of the

Housing Act 2004. The application did not meet the statutory tests because it did not

sufficiently evidence the existence of low housing demand in every ward in the city,

nor that every ward in the city would become an area of low housing demand.

Selective licensing is part of wider robust enforcement powers available to councils to

protect vulnerable tenants, tackle rogue landlords and support responsible landlords

in the private rented sector, including civil penalties and banning orders for the most

serious offences.

Private Rented Housing: Reform

Rosie Cooper: [566]

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the

timeframe is for bringing forward legislative proposals for a Renters Reform Bill.

Luke Hall:

The Government is committed to enhancing renters’ security and improving

protections for short-term tenants. We will bring forward a Renters’ Reform Bill as

soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Temporary Accommodation: Children

Rachel Hopkins: [737]


assessment he has made of trends in the level of children living in temporary

accommodation in Luton.

Luke Hall:

Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it

ensures no family is without a roof over their head. However, the Government is also

committed to reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation and

has already invested over £1.2 billion in tackling homelessness. This includes

supporting Local Authorities in the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction

Act, increasing access to the private rented sector for families in temporary

accommodation and supporting London boroughs to procure temporary

accommodation more efficiently.

In December 2019 the Government announced a further £263 million in funding to

Local Authorities to support them to deliver services to tackle homelessness and help

households into accommodation. This is an increase in overall funding for

homelessness of £23 million on the previous financial year.

Nationally, the number of children living in temporary accommodation is down from its

peak in June 2006 at 134,470, with 127,370 in June 2019.



The figures for children living in temporary accommodation in Luton are in the

published local authority level tables available here from 2018 onwards:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

Prior to 2018, the figures for children living in temporary accommodation in Luton can

be found in the individual LA level tables (listed under discontinued tables):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-

homelessness#discontinued-tables

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT



To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions his

Department has had with representatives of the Government of Tanzania on aid to that

country.

James Duddridge:

The UK Government engages regularly on overseas development assistance with

representatives of the Government of Tanzania. These discussions take place at all

levels of government, from national to local. This is to ensure that our aid is targeted,

impactful and in line with national priorities.


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department

is taking to help developing countries tackle tax avoidance and evasion.

James Duddridge:

DFID’s support is helping developing countries to collect more taxes from where they

are due. The aim is to build self-sustaining economies that can generate their own

financing through increased tax revenue and private investment. In addition to

providing capacity building support in-country through bilateral support programmes,

this includes providing £10.3 million to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD) to assist developing countries to implement international

tax standards to tackle international tax evasion and avoidance. For example,

through this funding we are supporting the ‘Tax Inspectors Without Borders’ initiative,

which assists developing countries with issues such as complex international audits.

This programme has generated an additional $100 in revenue for every $1 spent on

operating costs.

Department for International Development: Offshore Funds

Tulip Siddiq: [14002]

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether his Department’s

(a) anti-fraud and (b) anti-money laundering procedures review (i) payments by his



https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness#discontinued-tables






Department to offshore accounts and (ii) the use of offshore accounts by his

Department's (A) suppliers and (B) senior staff.

James Duddridge:

There are robust anti-fraud and anti-money laundering measures in place for all DFID

expenditure. The following controls are in place:

(A) For suppliers, relevant corporate assurance assessments and due diligence

checks are completed by programme teams before new suppliers are added to the

system, and the Treasury and Banking team are required to select the destination

country for bank templates. In addition, the team check that the final destination

account does not differ from that in the payment request.

(B) All our staff are governed by DFID’s Standards of Behaviour and Conduct

including the Civil Service Code for staff and the seven Principles of Public life for

office holders. As part of this, both staff and office holders are required to declare any

conflicts of interest including private investments.


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much money his

Department paid into offshore bank accounts in financial year 2018-19.

James Duddridge:

The information requested is not easily accessible and the cost to extract would be

disproportionate.


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether (a) members of his

Departmental Board and (b) senior executives in his Department are required to disclose

their offshore bank accounts and holdings.

James Duddridge:

All DFID staff are governed by the Civil Service Code and core values, the 7

Principles of Public life, and DFID’s staff code of practice. These require that both

staff and office holders declare any conflicts of interest, including those involving

private or personal business and financial concerns.

Developing Countries: Children

Rosie Cooper: [530]

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment he has

made of the effect of funding replenishment for (a) Gavi, (b) the Vaccine Alliance and (c)

Nutrition for Growth on ending preventable child deaths by 2030.

Wendy Morton:

The UK’s ambition to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children

by 2030 is supported by our commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and

addressing malnutrition through Nutrition for Growth.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code/the-civil-service-code

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code/the-civil-service-code

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life




The UK’s £1.44 billion of support to Gavi between 2016-2020 has saved 1.4 million

lives from vaccine-preventable diseases in 68 of the world’s poorest countries. The

UK-hosted pledging conference for Gavi on 3-4 th June 2020 is an opportunity for the

UK to use its global leadership to secure Gavi the funds it needs to immunise 300

million more children and save at least 7 million lives between 2021 and 2025.

The 2020 Nutrition for Growth Summit will be an important opportunity to secure new

commitments to nutrition, to set the world on a better track to achieve the Global

Goals and to help achieve our ambition of ending preventable deaths by 2030.

Developing Countries: Fossil Fuels


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment his

Department has made of the effect of trends in the level of fossil fuel usage in developing

countries on levels of poverty in those countries.

James Duddridge:

Energy is essential for development and poverty reduction, and there are many

assessments that show that poor countries will need to increase investments in

energy in the coming years to increase economic growth and improve the lives of

poor people. Two recent examples of such assessments include the 2019

Sustainable Development Goal 7 Energy Progress Report, and Sustainable Energy

for All’s ‘Energising Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2018’.

The science is clear that the world must reduce its emissions if we are to avoid

dangerous climate change, which risks undermining development gains and pushing

more people into poverty. This will need to be a collective global effort, from all

countries, and the UK is leading by example, setting a target to reach net zero by

2050.

The UK is providing support to developing countries to think about their choices and

how to best to secure the energy they need.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Rosie Cooper: [14628]

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has

had with his international counterparts on ensuring that universal health coverage is

central to the replenishment period and strategy review with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Wendy Morton:

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) is a UK priority and an overarching goal

for DFID’s contribution to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The UK’s £1.44 billion of

support to Gavi between 2016-2020 has saved 1.4 million lives from vaccine-

preventable diseases in 68 of the world’s poorest countries.

The UK is proud to be hosting the Gavi Replenishment Conference on 3-4 th June, to

secure Gavi the funds it needs to immunise 300 million more children and save at



least 7 million lives between 2021 and 2025. The UK’s commitment to Gavi is central

to our work to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by 2030.

In its next strategic period, Gavi is committed to reaching every child with essential

vaccines, to improve intra-country equity and coverage. Immunisation is often a

child’s first point of contact with their health service. By extending routine

immunisation to reach the underserved, particularly zero-dose children who have

never been vaccinated, Gavi is building a foundation for UHC.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: Finance

Rosie Cooper: [14627]

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if he will allocate an

adequate level of funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to provide for stronger health

systems.

Wendy Morton:

The UK is proud to be hosting the Gavi Replenishment Conference on 3-4th June, to

secure Gavi the funds it needs to immunise 300 million more children and save at

least 7 million lives between 2021 and 2025.

We recognise the importance of the UK’s funding to Gavi; our £1.44 billion of support

to Gavi between 2016-2020 has saved 1.4 million lives from vaccine-preventable

diseases in 68 of the world’s poorest countries. The UK’s commitment to Gavi is also

central to our work to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by

2030.

Gavi’s next strategic period is critically important for the UK as we work together to

improve intra-country equity and coverage. Immunisation is often a child’s first point

of contact with their health service. By extending routine immunisation to reach the

underserved, particularly zero-dose children who have never been vaccinated, Gavi

is building a foundation for stronger national health systems. The UK will also

prioritise ensuring our investment in Gavi is sustainable by supporting countries to

effectively transition from Gavi support to increased domestic funding.

Overseas Aid


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the

October 2019 report of The Independent Commission for Aid Impact on mutual

prosperity, what steps he is taking to ensure that Official Development Assistance

spending across all Departments (a) remains focused on (i) poverty alleviation, (ii)

developing and least developed countries and (iii) and leaving no one behind and (b) is

fully transparent and accountable.

James Duddridge:

The UK is a global champion for aid spending and humanitarian relief. As the

Independent Commission for Aid Impact report highlights, this Government is building

mutually beneficial partnerships that go wider than aid, towards the trade and



business relationships that can deliver quality investment, drive growth and create the

jobs that developing countries need to lift millions out of poverty. The aim is to build

self-sustaining economies that can generate their own financing through increased

tax revenue and private investment.

This approach to international development is a key example of how the government

is bringing together all our capabilities to end extreme poverty. To support this, DFID

is working with other government departments to ensure all Official Development

Assistance meets the requirements of the International Development Act and the

Government’s transparency commitment.

Private Infrastructure Development Group: Fossil Fuels


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when his Department last

made an assessment of the environmental effect of fossil fuel projects financed by his

Department through the Private Infrastructure Development Group.

James Duddridge:

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) prioritises investments in

renewables wherever possible. PIDG does not have any active fossil fuel extraction

projects, and PIDG’s strategy rules out any investments in coal.

PIDG conducts an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment on all projects

before approving any investment. Each investment must comply with PIDG’s

Environment, Social, Health and Safety standards, which are based on the

internationally recognised International Finance Corporation Environment and Social

Performance Standards. This includes minimum requirements in areas such as use

of natural resources, biodiversity, labour standards and land resettlement.


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what environmental impact

assessments his Department has made in relation to fossil fuel extraction projects

financed by the Private Infrastructure Development Group.

James Duddridge:

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) does not have any active fossil

fuel extraction projects, and PIDG’s strategy rules out any investing in coal. In 2004,

PIDG did provide one-off funding of $500,000 (£273,000) for technical assistance to

the Government of Mozambique on the feasibility of establishing a coal mine in the

town of Moatize in Mozambique. However, no follow-on funding was provided to

support this project. PIDG is also not able to invest in the exploration, extraction or

refining of oil, natural gas or liquid petroleum gas.

PIDG conducts an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment on all projects

before approving any investment. Each investment must comply with PIDG’s

Environment, Social, Health and Safety standards, which are based on the

internationally recognised International Finance Corporation Environment and Social



Performance Standards. DFID monitors compliance with these policies as part of its

ongoing role as a PIDG Owner.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Renewable Energy


To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what official development

assistance his Department is allocating to the production of sustainable energy in sub-

Saharan Africa.

James Duddridge:

DFID has a substantial and growing portfolio of programmes supporting sustainable

energy in Africa.

This includes providing finance for off-grid energy systems to reach the rural poor in

Africa, technical assistance to improve African countries’ renewable energy policies,

and investing in clean energy research and innovation such as the Faraday Battery

Challenge and the Ayrton Fund.

CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, also invests in sustainable energy

companies, for example in the world’s largest pay-as-you-go solar company, Kenya’s

M-Kopa Solar, as well as Mettle Solar in South Africa, and PEG in Ghana.

The commitment that the UK will double its spend on international climate finance to

£11.6 billion by 2026 will lead to increased UK commitment to the provision of

sustainable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia


To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the letter dated 26

January 2018 from the Panel of Experts on Yemen mandated by Security Council

resolution 2342 (2017) addressed to the President of the Security Council, what steps

she has taken to retake the decision to grant the licences for the transfer of components

manufactured by EDO MBM Technology Limited UK as required by the Court of Appeal

judgment of 20 June 2019.

Greg Hands:

The Government continues to carefully consider the implications of the Court of

Appeal Judgment for decision making and is progressing the work to enable the re-

taking of decisions on the correct legal basis. No specific timetable has been set for

this work to be concluded. We disagree with the judgment and have submitted a

Notice of Appeal to the Supreme Court.



Trade Agreements: Mexico


To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has

had with Cabinet colleagues on the publication of negotiation objectives for trade deals

with Mexico.

Conor Burns:

The UK is committed to seeking to ensure trade continuity with Mexico after the

Transition Period ends on 31 December 2020. We continue to discuss with Mexico

how to transition the EU-Mexico Global Agreement so that it functions in a bilateral

context from 1 January 2021. In August 2019 my Rt Hon Friend the Foreign

Secretary (Dominic Raab) visited Mexico to sign the UK-Mexico Partnership for

Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. This Partnership Agreement underlines an

intention on behalf of the UK and Mexico to seek an even more ambitious trading

relationship in the future.

Trade Agreements: Tanzania


To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions her

Department has had with the Government of Tanzania on a bilateral trade deal.

Conor Burns:

The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade

preferences scheme for developing countries. This will grant duty-free quota-free

access to UK markets for Least Developed Countries, including Tanzania.

The UK hopes to discuss the possibility of a trade agreement in East Africa with

Tanzanian partners in the near future.

JUSTICE



To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans undertake a review the cases

of prisoners serving sentences for imprisonment for public protection.

Lucy Frazer:

Our primary responsibility is to protect the public. Prisoners serving IPP sentences

will be released only when the independent Parole Board concludes that the risk to

the public is capable of being safely managed in the community under probation

supervision.

Many of these prisoners pose a high risk of committing further violent or sexual

offences, and it would be wrong to simply release them en masse. For that reason,

we have no plans to abolish IPP sentences or make other legislative changes.




We are committed to providing IPP prisoners with opportunities to progress to the

point at which they are safe to release. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service

(HMPPS) continue to review the cases of post tariff IPP prisoners who have failed to

achieve release or progression to open prison conditions, despite two or more parole

reviews, as well as those who received a tariff of 2 years or under. These Case File

Reviews (CFRs) enable HMPPS Psychology Services to consult with Offender

Managers in order to shape their pathway towards progression. To date, over 1,500

CFRs have taken place, with 284 IPP prisoners from this cohort having achieved

release, and a further 355 a progressive move to open conditions.

The CFRs are one of the actions in the HMPPS and Parole Board Joint Action Plan,

which aims to support prisoners serving IPP sentences. Through the joint Action

Plan, HMPPS prioritise post-tariff prisoners in accessing rehabilitative interventions,

and deliver a number of initiatives, including the establishment of Progression

Regimes at four prisons across the country. Progression Regimes work with

prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, who are struggling to achieve release

through the usual routes.

There is clear evidence that these measures are working. IPP prisoners are being

released in large numbers, and have a high chance of a positive outcome from

Parole Board hearings. As of 31 December 2019, the number of unreleased IPP

prisoners who have completed their minimum tariff was 1,985. This is down from

2,255 on 31 December 2018.

Coroners


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to create a national

oversight body to ensure recommendations from inquests and Prevention of Future

Death reports made by coroners are collated, monitored and implemented; and if he will

make a statement.

Lucy Frazer:

A person (or body) who receives a coroner’s report to prevent future deaths has a

statutory duty to give a written response with details of any action that has been

taken or proposed, along with a timescale for implementing this; or an explanation as

to why no action is proposed.

For deaths in state custody, the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody brings

together the relevant government departments, agencies and stakeholders to

improve policies and processes for keeping those in custody safe.

There are currently no plans to create a wider national oversight body along the lines

suggested for all prevention of future death notifications.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Prevention of Future Death reports

his Department has received from coroners relating to deaths in prison in the last three



years; and what assessment he has made of whether the recommendations from those

reports were collated, reviewed and implemented; and if he will make a statement.

Lucy Frazer:

Since January 2017 85 Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports have been

addressed to my Department by Coroners following inquests held into deaths

occurring in prison custody.

We are committed to learning from the findings of inquests into deaths in custody,

and I am grateful to Coroners who make PFD reports after them. All such reports

addressed to my Department are collected centrally in HMPPS, and careful

consideration is given to the matters of concern raised in them.

The Director General for Prisons responds personally to the Coroner in each case,

explaining how the concerns raised have been, or will be, addressed, locally in the

establishment, and at national level where there is wider learning to be shared or a

policy issue has been raised. Any local actions are taken by the Governor and

monitored by the Prison Group Director, and wider learning is disseminated nationally

by the central prison safety team and incorporated into the relevant guidance and

policy at the earliest opportunity.

Counter-terrorism

Andrew Bowie: [14000]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to restructure

the counter-terrorism programme.

Lucy Frazer:

Following the two recent attacks at Fishmongers’ Hall and HMP Whitemoor, the

Government announced a package of funding and legislative changes, including

major investment in counter terrorism resources in prisons and probation, which is

overseen by the Joint Extremism Unit (JEXU) a joint Home Office and Her Majesty’s

Prison and Probation (HMPPS) unit.

The package of measures include:

• Tougher sentences for the most serious terrorist offenders, which will mean

dangerous terrorist offenders who receive extended determinate sentences serve

their entire sentence

• Doubling the number of Counter-Terrorism specialist probation staff. These

specially trained staff will deliver a set of new, intensive national standards for

managing terrorists on licence;

• These new standards will mean terrorists are subjected to closer monitoring and

reporting requirements.

• An increase in the resources dedicated to training front-line prison and probation

staff and;

• The introduction of polygraph testing.


• An independent review of our Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements

(MAPPA).

Following the attack on 2 February in Streatham, the government announced

emergency legislation to ensure an end to terrorist offenders getting released

automatically, having served half of their sentence with no check or review.

Courts: Digital Technology

Yasmin Qureshi: [14653]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what risk assessments took place to ensure that

workplaces were suitable and safe for the introduction of digital working in court rooms

using the (a) Digital Markup Service and (b) common platform.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court rooms have been assessed for

(a) general health and safety standards and (b) their suitability for digital working in the

last 12 months.

Lucy Frazer:

I am answering these questions together.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s Health and Safety policy requires that a trained

general risk assessor inspects each court room on a quarterly basis to ensure it is

compliant with health and safety standards, and to report any non-compliance so that

remedial work can be undertaken.

Where Display Screen Equipment is used, including courtrooms across the estate

into which we are continuing to introduce digital ways of working as part of our

Reform Programme, the policy requires that workstations must comply with the

Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (as amended).

Accordingly, the designated Senior Person on Site at all of our court and tribunal

buildings is required to ensure that each workstation is routinely assessed; any non-

compliance is reported and remedied; and any risk is appropriately mitigated.

We do not collate centrally details of the numbers of courtroom assessments that

have taken place over particular periods. Instead, the HMCTS Corporate Safety &

Security team seeks and receives regular assurance from senior managers about

compliance with these and wider requirements.

Crimes against the Person: Prosecutions


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many third parties have been prosecuted

under Section 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1961 in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c)

2017, (d) 2018, and (e) 2019.




Chris Philp:

Data on the number of prosecutions that have occurred in England and Wales for

offences under section 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 is available in

the Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data

tool (select table entitled HO code (principal offence), then select Offence Code filter

– 01402).

Annual statistics for the year ending 31 December 2019, will be available in May

2020.

Crimes of Violence: Sentencing

Philip Davies: [512]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people

convicted of violent offences did not receive an immediate custodial sentence in each of

the last two years.

Lucy Frazer:

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on convictions and sentencing in

England and Wales, up to December 2018. This information, relating to specific

offences, can be found using the Outcomes by Offence data tool.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm

ent_data/file/802314/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2018.xlsx

Filter by offence group to ’01: Violence against the person’. The number of individuals

a) convicted, b) sentenced and c) received a sentence other than immediate custody

are shown in rows 25, 26 and 27-35.

The rate for each disposal can be calculated by dividing the number of individuals

sentenced to that disposal by the number sentenced.

Debts: VAT


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2020 to

Question 9643 on Debts: VAT, when his Department plans to publish guidance on the

circumstances and manner in which a cost equivalent to VAT may be recovered from the

debtor under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) 2014.

Lucy Frazer:

As Chris Philip set out in his Answer of 6 February 2020 to Question 9643, the

Ministry of Justice intends to publish guidance on the circumstances and manner in

which a cost equivalent to VAT may be recovered from a debtor under the Taking

Control of Goods legislation, as soon as possible.


https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802314/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2018.xlsx




Driving: Disqualification


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of previous offences

was for driving when disqualified for a person convicted of a further driving when

disqualified offence in each of the last three years; how many of those people were not

given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence was for the most recent

such offence in each such case.

Lucy Frazer:

Data on the highest number of previous cautions and convictions for driving when

disqualified for a person convicted of a further driving when disqualified offence; how

many people convicted of a further driving when disqualified offence were not given a

sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence was for their most recent

such offence, year ending March 2017 to year ending March 2019, can be viewed in

the attached table.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of PQ 13959 table.xlsx]

Fraud

Kevin Hollinrake: [14816]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on bringing forward

legislative proposals to introduce a corporate offence of failure to prevent fraud and

money laundering.

Lucy Frazer:

The Government is considering the case for reforming the law on CCL and will

publish a response to the Call for Evidence in due course.

Grandparents: Access

Darren Jones: [613]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans the Government has to bring

forward legislative proposals to introduce statutory access rights for grandparents to their

grandchildren.

Lucy Frazer:

The Government understands the difficulties that some grandparents face in

continuing relationships with their grandchildren following disputes arising from

parental separation. We also recognise the importance of ensuring that the child’s

welfare is paramount in court decisions regarding future arrangements for them

following parental separation.

We wish to understand the outcome of the President of the Family Division’s

consultation – which concluded last year - on recommendations for reforming how

child arrangements cases are dealt with by the family court before deciding whether




any specific proposals are needed in respect of child arrangements and

grandparents.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Sick Leave


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many days off sick HM Courts & Tribunals

staff took in each month of (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.

Lucy Frazer:

We have provided the number of working days lost due to sickness, however, this

figure does not take into consideration those who work part time, so we have also

included the Working Days Lost by Full Time Equivalent (FTE), which takes this into

account and is a more accurate reflection.

As well as short absences, this includes those on long term sickness and any other

unplanned, unavoidable leave such as family bereavements etc.

The table below provides the sick leave per calendar year for 2018 and 2019.

2018

Jan-18 Feb-

18

Mar-

18

Apr-18 May-

18

Jun-18 Jul-18 Aug-

18

Sep-

18

Oct-18 Nov-

18

Dec-

18

Worki

ng

Days

Lost

15150 12935 12673 10920 10846 9612 10228 10283 9666 12330 12381 11245

WDs

Lost x

FTE

13064.

17

11127.

27

10974.

75

9387.9

6

9403.4

7

8342.4

8

8959.8

6

8980.1

3

8268.1

9

10559.

87

10639.

77

9663.1

4

2019

Jan-19 Feb-

19

Mar-

19

Apr-19 May-

19

Jun-19 Jul-19 Aug-

19

Sep-

19

Oct-19 Nov-

19

Dec-

19

Worki

ng

Days

Lost

13226 11099 10817 9976 9669 9719 11019 9705 10519 10280 12163 11942

WDs

Lost x

FTE

11409.

74

9601.4

79

9222.9

49

8589.9

58

8256.5

05

8337.5

92

9493.5

36

8485.6

07

9050.3

86

8814.9

63

10446.

83

10336.

58


Homicide: Reoffenders


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been murdered since

2017 by people who were previously convicted of murder and then released having

served their prison sentences.

Lucy Frazer:

Serious further offences are very rare. Fewer than 0.5% of offenders under statutory

supervision are charged with a serious further offence.

Anyone convicted of murder is sentenced to a mandatory life sentence. The

convicted murderer is eligible for release on life licence only once he has completed

the minimum term (tariff) specified by the Court at the point of sentence. It falls to the

independent Parole Board to determine whether to release a life sentence prisoner

who has completed his minimum term and the Board will direct release only where it

is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the purposes of public protection for the

prisoner to remain confined.

Section 21 of Criminal Justice Act 2003 sets out the starting point for the sentencing

Judge to impose a whole life tariff in cases where an offender has been previously

convicted of murder. Whole life orders are the most severe form of punishment, such

sentences have no tariff and no possibility of parole board release.

Since 2017, three 1 2 people have been murdered by offenders subject to supervision

on a life licence for murder at the time.

This figure includes two victims who were included in the data provided to answer PQ

140689 from the last session.

1. This figure only includes convictions for murder by life sentence prisoners on

supervision that have been notified to HMPPS.

2. Data Sources and Quality. We have drawn these figures from administrative IT

systems which, as with some large-scale recording system, are subject to possible

errors with data entry and processing.

Knives: Crime


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of all sentences

for (a) possession of and (b) threatening with a knife were custodial sentences in the last

12 months for which figures are available.

Lucy Frazer:

The Ministry of Justice has published information on offenders sentenced to custody

for possession of and threatening with a knife, up to December 2018, which is

available in the detailed offences ‘HO Code data tool’, available here:


ent_data/file/804510/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2018.xlsx



https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804510/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2018.xlsx



In each case, in the field labelled ‘Detailed Offence’, filter by:

1. ‘Having an article with a blade or point in a public place’, ‘Having an article with a

blade or point on school premises’ and ‘Unauthorised possession in prison of knife

or offensive weapon’

2. ‘Threaten with a blade or sharply pointed article on school premises’ and ‘Threaten

with blade/sharply pointed article in a public place’

The proportion of those sentenced who received a custodial sentence can be found

by dividing ‘Immediate Custody’ (Row 41) by ‘Sentenced’ (Row 33).

Legal Systems: Islam


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has allocated funding

from the public purse to sharia councils in each of the last three years; and if he will make

a statement.

Lucy Frazer:

The Ministry of Justice has not funded the operation of sharia councils in the last

three years, as these organisations are not part of the justice system. Community

organisations may apply to various Government Departments for a range of grants

for particular purposes. A list of grant schemes run by government departments can

be found at gov.uk.

Life Imprisonment


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to

ensure that prisoners released on parole from life sentences are ineligible for parole

again in the event that they re-offend.

Lucy Frazer:

Where a life sentence prisoner receives a further sentence for offences committed

having been released on life licence, they must serve the custodial part of any new

sentence that is imposed by the courts. Where the offender is assessed to be a risk

to the public, they will also be recalled to custody on their life sentence and will

remain in prison for as long as the independent Parole Board considers their

detention necessary for the protection of the public. The Board will take into account

any further offending that was committed in their determination.

Where an offender receives a second murder conviction, Schedule 21 to the Criminal

Justice Act 2003 provides for a starting point of a ‘Whole-life Order’. That is the most

severe punishment available to the courts and means the offender will never be

released on licence. It is also open to the courts to impose a whole-life order in other

circumstances if they decide that it is warranted by the seriousness of the offence.

The Government has brought forward measures to make sure that serious and

dangerous offenders, including terrorists, will serve longer in prison to help keep the



public safe. We intend to publish a White Paper on sentencing reform that will include

further measures to ensure that the most serious violent and sexual offenders spend

the time in prison that matches the severity of their crimes.

Offences Against Children: Convictions


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders

convicted of cruelty to children in the last 12 months for which information is available

were (a) men and (b) women.

Lucy Frazer:



offences and defendant characteristics, can be found using the Home Office code

principal offence data tool.


ent_data/file/804510/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2018.xlsx

(then filter by offence ’11 Cruelty to or Neglect of Children’. Then drag the ‘Sex’ filter

into the rows field. The number of a) males, b) females and c) individuals of unknown

sex convicted of this offence are shown in rows 36, 37 and 38, respectively).

The proportion of male and female convictions can be calculated by dividing the

number of a) males and b) females by the total number of convictions (shown in row

156).

Offences against Children: Sentencing


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) men and

(b) women convicted of sexual activity with a child received a prison sentence in each of

the last five years; and what the average prison sentence was for (i) men and (ii) women.

Chris Philp


England and Wales. This information, relating to specific offences, can be found

using the Outcomes by Offence data tool.


• Filter by offence to include the following offences:

21.1 Sexual activity with a child under 13 - indictable only

21.2 Sexual activity with a child under 13 - offender aged under 18 - triable either way

21.3 Sexual activity with a child under 13 - offender aged 18 or over or age of offender unspecified - triable either way








22.1 Sexual activity involving a child under 16 - indictable only

22.2 Sexual activity involving a child under 16 - offender aged under 18 - triable either way

22.3 Sexual activity involving a child under 16 - offender aged 18 or over - triable either way

22A.1 Causing sexual activity without consent - penetration

22A.2 Causing sexual activity without consent - no penetration

• Add the ‘Sex’ filter to the rows field below ‘Values’

The number of males, females and defendants where sex is not known who were a) convicted, b) sentenced, c) sentenced to custody and d) their average custodial sentence length will then be shown in rows a) 32-34, b) 36-38, c) 76-78, and d) 152-154. The proportion of those sentenced who received a custodial sentence can be found by dividing ‘Total Immediate Custody’ by ‘Sentenced’.

Offensive Weapons: Sentencing


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of previous offences of

theft from a shop or stall was for people convicted of that offence and not given a

sentence of immediate custody in each of the last three years; and what the sentence

was for the most recent offence in each of those cases.



was for possession of a (a) blade and (b) point for a person convicted of a further

possession of each weapon offence in each of the last three years who was not given a

sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence was for the most recent such

offence in each such case.



was for assault for a person convicted of a further assault offence in each of the last three

years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence was

for the most recent offence in each case.



for possession of an offensive weapon was for a person convicted of a further possession

of an offensive weapon offence in each of the last three years who was not given a

sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence was for the most recent offence

in such case.



for sexual assault was for a person convicted of a further sexual assault offence in each






of the last three years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the

sentence was for the most recent offence in each case.



for theft was for a person convicted of a further theft offence in each of the last three


for the most recent offence in each case.



relating to the Public Order Act 1986 was for a person convicted of a further offence

under that Act in each of the last three years who was not given a sentence of immediate

custody; and what the sentence was for the most recent offence in each such case.



for robbery was for a person convicted of a further robbery offence in each of the last

three years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence

was for the most recent such offence in each such case.



for burglary was for a person convicted of a further burglary offence in each of the last

three years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the sentence

was for the most recent such offence in each such case.



for fraud was for a person convicted of a further fraud offence in each of the last three


for the most recent such offence in each such case.



relating to drugs was for a person convicted of a further offence relating to drugs in each

of the last three years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the

sentence was for the most recent such offence in each such case



for criminal damage was for a person convicted of a further criminal damage offence in

each of the last three years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and

what the sentence was for the most recent such offence in each such case.








Lucy Frazer:

Data on the highest number of previous cautions and convictions for a specified

offence for offenders convicted of that specified offence and given a sentence other

than immediate custody, and the sentence given for the most recent specified

offence, year ending March 2017 to year ending March 2019, can be viewed in the

attached table.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of PQs 13472 13960 to 13962 13967 to 13969 14632 to 14636 grouped

response table.xlsx]

Open Prisons


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for which offences were prisoners in open

prisons or open wings of closed prisons serving their sentence as at 1 January 2020.

Lucy Frazer:

Re categorisation to security category D and allocation to open prison is not a right or

an automatic progression. Only prisoners who have been risk assessed as

manageable in very low security conditions will be transferred to an open prison. In

cases of life sentenced or indeterminate sentenced prisoners the Parole Board will

make a recommendation as to suitability for open conditions.

The attached document shows a table of Sentenced prison population recorded as

having a Category D individual-level security category as at 31 December 2019,

England & Wales. This includes 'Female Open' and 'YOI Open' categorised

prisoners. It should be noted that whilst the majority of these prisoners would be held

in open conditions (either in open prisons, or on open wings within closed prisons) a

number of these prisoners would be in non-open conditions while awaiting transfer to

open conditions.

Attachments:

1. Attachment [PQ 14640 - Philip Davies - List of offences (1).pdf]

Pregnancy: Alcoholic Drinks


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the findings of the study

published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on 29 January 2020, what

discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the

effect of drinking alcohol during pregnancy on children's (a) intelligence and (b) weight;

and if he will take steps to criminalise excessive drinking of alcohol during a known

pregnancy.

Lucy Frazer:

No discussions have taken place between the Justice Secretary and Health

Secretary on this matter. Any decision on whether to criminalise excessive drinking of



alcohol during a known pregnancy would be a matter for the Department for Health

and Social Care.

Pre-sentence Reports


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of pre-sentence

reports presented to magistrates’ courts contained a sentence recommendation of (a)

immediate custody, (b) suspended custody and (c) a community order in the last year for

which information is available.

Lucy Frazer:

The information requested has been provided in the table below showing the number

and proportion of recommendations in pre-sentence reports prepared for Magistrates

courts between October 2018 and September 2019 where the sentence proposed

was Community order, Immediate custody or Suspended Sentence.

It should be noted that these figures are based on all pre-sentence reports for which

a sentence was given and that the total number of proposed sentences also includes

instances where a fine was the proposed sentence.

COMMUNITY

ORDER

IMMEDIATE

CUSTODY

SUSPENDED

SENTENCE

ALL PROPOSED

SENTENCES

Number 65,908 1,681 320 69,586

Percentage of all

proposed

sentences

95% 2% 0%


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on

trends in the level of sentencing of pre-sentence reports not including the option of a

suspended sentence.

Lucy Frazer:

Following the Sentencing Council’s 2017 guideline on the Imposition of Community

and Custodial Sentences, which noted the status of suspended sentence orders as a

custodial sentence, guidance was issued to National Probation Service staff. The

guidance instructed staff that suspended sentence orders should not be

recommended as a distinct option from custodial sentences, when requested to

deliver a pre-sentence report to the court.

Since the change in guidance, there was a decline in the proportion of suspended

sentences in 2018. However, the determination of the most appropriate sentence for

an offender remains a matter of judicial discretion, based on the offender before the

court and having regard to sentencing guidelines. It is not possible to attribute the

change in guidance to the trends in sentencing outcomes.



Prison Service: Staff

Ian Lavery: [532]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the

adequacy of staffing levels in prisons.

Lucy Frazer:

We recognise the need to recruit and retain staff to keep our prisons secure. We

have invested significantly in increasing staff numbers, recruiting an additional 4,581

(full time equivalent) prison officers between October 2016 and September 2019,

surpassing our original target of 2,500.

Since April 2017, governors have been empowered to manage workforce planning

locally, and set their own staffing arrangements, including the number and grade of

operational prison officers and other staff to be employed within their financial

resource envelope. A ‘detached duty’ scheme is also in place to ensure that those

prisons with urgent staffing needs can be prioritised.

We will continue to recruit officers and we are investing £100 million to bolster

security, to ensure prisons are safe and decent for both staff and prisoners.

Prisoners


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the trends in

the prison population of (a) male and (b) female prisoners over the last 10 years; and if

he will make a statement.

Lucy Frazer:

The table below contains annual male and female prison population as at 30 June

each year since 2010.

DATE MALES FEMALES TOTAL

30-Jun-10 80,735 4,267 85,002

30-Jun-11 81,189 4,185 85,374

30-Jun-12 81,925 4,123 86,048

30-Jun-13 79,989 3,853 83,842

30-Jun-14 81,580 3,929 85,509

30-Jun-15 82,289 3,904 86,193

30-Jun-16 81,272 3,862 85,134

30-Jun-17 81,856 4,007 85,863

30-Jun-18 78,970 3,803 82,773



DATE MALES FEMALES TOTAL

30-Jun-19 78,940 3,770 82,710

The data are based on snapshots and do not provide an indication of all prisoners

who have entered custody within the timescales shown. The data are derived from

the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication by the Ministry of Justice

(MoJ) which is available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

All data shown are based on the prison population at 30 June of each representative

year. This tool has been designed for high level analytical purposes only. The detail

collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.

While the figures shown have been checked as far as practicable, they should be

regarded as approximate and not necessarily accurate to the last whole number

shown in the tables. They are fit to be used for comparing the relative magnitude of

components.

We keep the prison population and capacity under careful review to ensure that there

are always sufficient spaces for those sentenced to custody.

In August the Prime Minister announced an investment of up to £2.5bn to transform

the prison estate and provide 10,000 additional prison places, on top of the 3,360

already being delivered at Wellingborough and Glen Parva.

Prisoners' Release


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offences were committed by

prisoners on temporary release in the last 12 months.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offences were committed by

prisoners released from prison on temporary licence to work in the last 12 months; what

those offences were; and which of those offences were of each type in the violence

against the person category.

Lucy Frazer:

In the year April 2018 to March 2019 (the latest year for which the relevant data is

available) there were 18 recorded temporary release failures where the reason given

was “alleged offending”. These are not necessarily proven offences, prisons are

required to record any instance where a prisoner is arrested for an offence allegedly

committed whist on ROTL.

Of these 18 incidents, only one took place whilst the prisoner was on work-related

temporary release. The alleged offence was “shoplifting”, not a violent offence.





There were 376,343 temporary releases in 2018 and the evidence shows the vast

majority of prisoners given temporary release abide by the conditions attached to the

licence, with the compliance rate standing at well over 99%. Non-compliance is, and

will continue to be, dealt with robustly.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders

sentenced to custody have served less than half their full sentence term due to early

release in the most recent 12 months period for which such information is available.

Lucy Frazer:

Currently, prisoners sentenced to a standard determinate custodial sentence must be

released automatically at the halfway point of their sentence and serve the second

half on licence. Those sentenced to at least 12 weeks but less than four years may

be released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) up to 135 days before the halfway

point, depending on sentence length. They must meet strict eligibility criteria and will

be liable to recall to prison if they fail to comply with strict electronic monitoring and

other conditions attached to their release.

HDC is a robust scheme which allows prisoners to work towards rehabilitation and

resettlement in the community, while remaining subject to strict conditions. If they

breach these, they face being returned to custody. Research on early release with

electronic monitoring has shown no increase in re-offending despite the early release.

Children sentenced to a Detention and Training Order (DTO) serve the first half in

custody, and the second half in the community. Most children serving a DTO of 8

months or more can be released one or two months earlier (depending on the DTO

length) than the normal mid-point of sentence.

In 2018 the number of people released on HDC in England Wales was 14,769, which

is 21 % of all prisoners released that year. The number of people released early from

a DTO was 215, which is 0.3% of the total number of releases that year.

Prisoners may also be released early before having served half the sentence under

the Early Removal Scheme (ERS). Under this scheme offenders liable to removal

from the United Kingdom who have served at least a quarter of the sentence may be

released before the halfway point solely in order to facilitate their deportation.

Prisoners may also be released early on compassionate grounds (ERCG) before they

have served half the sentence. Relevant data on releases under ERS and ERCG are

not collated centrally.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were released on

temporary licence in each month in the last three years.

Lucy Frazer:

The attached table shows the number of individuals who were released on temporary

licence each month in 2016, 2017 and 2018.



All offenders must meet strict criteria and pass a thorough risk assessment before

being considered for release on temporary licence (ROTL). Research published in

2018 indicates that ROTL helps to reduce re-offending. It helps offenders to build and

maintain family ties and find work, which are a critical aspect of reducing the £18

billion annual cost to the taxpayer of reoffending.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of Copy of PQ 519.xlsx]

Prisoners' Release: Christmas


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serving prisoners were not in prison

accommodation over the latest Christmas period for which information is held; what

offences were committed by each such offender; and how many such offences were in

which category of violent offences against the person.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serving prisoners were not in prison

accommodation overnight on the latest New Year's Eve for which information is held;

what offences were committed by each such offender; and how many such offences were

in which category of violent offences against the person.

Lucy Frazer:

The attached tables show the number of individuals who were in the community on

25 December and 31 December 2018, having been released on temporary licence.

The data is broken down into offence groups determined by the main offence for

which the individual was sentenced, with a more detailed offence breakdown for

those with a main offence in the violence against the person group of offences.

By providing opportunities to work, learn and build family ties, temporary release from

prison helps ensure offenders don't return to crime when they leave prison. All

offenders must meet strict criteria and pass a full risk assessment before being

considered for release on temporary licence (ROTL).

Attachments:

1. Table for PQ 14647 [Copy of PQ 14647 final.xlsx]

2. Table for PQ 14648 [Copy of PQ 14648 final.xlsx]

Prisoners' Release: Curfews


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been released from

prison on a Home Detention Curfew in each month in each of the last two years; and

what offence each person released on that curfew had committed.




Lucy Frazer:

The attached table shows the number of people released on Home Detention Curfew

(HDC), in 2017 and 2018, the latest years for which data is available, by offence

group.

HDC is a robust scheme which allows suitable, risk assessed, prisoners to work

towards rehabilitation in the community, while remaining subject to strict monitoring

and other conditions. If they breach these, they can be returned to custody.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of Copy of PQ 13954 final.xlsx]

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners from each

country were convicted of each offence type in the last year for which figures are

available.

Lucy Frazer:

Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by

breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to punish and deport

them. More than 51,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK

since 2010, and in the last financial year more than 5,000 were removed from

prisons, immigration removal centres, and the community.

The table attached provides the information on the offence types for foreign national

prisoners.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of 14639 Philip Davies MP. 001 (002).xlsx]

Prisoners: Homosexuality


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) male

prisoners are gay and (b) female prisoners are lesbian.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals in (a) male and (b) female

prisons are recorded as being transsexual.

Lucy Frazer:

The attached table provides a breakdown of prisoners who have identified as gay or

lesbian.

Data on the number of transgender prisoners is released as part of the Offender

Equalities Report 2018/19. The most recent figures were released in November last

year and noted that there were 163 transgender prisoners as at the end of March

2019, representing less than 0.2% of the total prison population at that time.




Transgender prisoners were defined as those individuals known within prison to be

currently living in, or are presenting in, a gender different to their sex assigned at birth

and who have had a case conference (as defined by PSI 17/2016 The Care and

Management of Transgender Offenders). Further information can be found at the

following link;


ent_data/file/848759/hmpps-offender-equalities-2018-19.pdf

We are committed to ensuring that gay, lesbian and transgender prisoners are

treated fairly, lawfully and decently, with their rights and safety properly respected.

Regardless of where an individual is being held, we expect that they will be

respected.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of PQ14649_Mr Philip Davies_Feb 2020_FINAL.XLSX]

Prisoners: Parole


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to

limit the right of prisoners to be eligible for parole on multiple occasions.

Lucy Frazer:

Once a prisoner has served the custodial part of their sentence ordered by the

sentencing court, their case must be referred to the independent Parole Board to

determine whether their continued detention is necessary for the protection of the

public. If the prisoner is not released by the Board, their case will be reviewed again,

normally within two years.

If the prisoner is serving an indeterminate sentence, they may be held indefinitely

until the Board is satisfied that it would be safe to release them. If they are serving a

fixed term sentence the prisoner will be reviewed at regular intervals by the Board

during their parole eligibility period. If not released during that period, they will be

released when they reach their automatic release date.

The assessment of a prisoner’s risk will change over time and so regular parole

reviews are necessary to determine whether they may be safely released. These

measures ensure detention cannot become arbitrary or disproportionate to the

purpose and aims of sentencing.

The Government made a commitment in its manifesto to conduct a ‘root and branch’

review of parole and the release arrangements for prisoners to improve accountability

and public safety; and to give victims greater access to the process. The nature and

scope of the review is yet to be finalised and no decisions have been made on

whether any legislative changes will be required. The review will aim to build on the

reforms to the parole system introduced in 2019 in the wake of the John Worboys

case.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/848759/hmpps-offender-equalities-2018-19.pdf




Prisons: Crimes of Violence


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people received a (a) custodial and

(b) non-custodial sentence for assaulting a prison officer in each of the last two years;

and what the average custodial sentence was for those offences.

Lucy Frazer:

These offences can be dealt with in the courts, or in many cases, through prisons

themselves. Centrally held court data (including for the new offence of Assaults on

Emergency Workers and broader violent offences) does not identify the location of

the offence or occupation of the victim, so it would only be possible to identify these

from court data with a manual search, incurring disproportionate costs.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many adjudications there were per 100 (a)

male and (b) female prisoners in the last 12 months for which such information is

available; and how many of those adjudications related to incidents of violence.

Lucy Frazer:

The prisoner discipline system upholds justice in prisons and ensures incidents of

prisoner rule-breaking have consequences.

The Ministry of Justice monitors adjudication outcomes by offence, age, gender,

ethnicity, religion and type of adjudication, this data is published quarterly. The

information requested can be found in the table below:

NUMBER OF ADJUDICATION OUTCOMES, BY SEX; PER 100 PRISONERS (USING THE PRISON

POPULATION AVERAGE

for Q4 2018 to Q3 2019); Q4 2018 - Q3 2019, England and

Wales

Male

Female

Adjudication

outcomes

Prison

population

Rate per

100

prisoners

Adjudication

outcomes

Prison

population

Rate per 100

prisoners

Total 202,810 79,033 257 11,423 3,806 300

Violence 35,083 79,033 44 1,715 3,807 45



Data sources and

quality

The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any

large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Source: PQ 518 (Ministry of Justice; DASD-JSAS)

Rape: Convictions


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the conviction rate for rape involving (a)

female and (b) male victims was in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Lucy Frazer:

Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes that can have a long-lasting impact.

We are committed to ensuring that these appalling crimes are tackled effectively and

victims have access to high quality support services that meet their needs.



offences, can be found using the Outcomes by Offence data tool.


ent_data/file/802314/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2018.xlsx

Filter by offence to include the following offences:

1. 19C Rape of a female aged 16 or over.

19D Rape of a female aged under 16.

19E Rape of a female child under 13 by a male.

1. 19F Rape of a male aged 16 or over.

19G Rape of a male aged under 16.

19H Rape of a male child under 13 by a male.

The number of individuals prosecuted will be shown in row 24 and the number of

individuals convicted will be shown in row 25. The conviction ratio can be calculated

by dividing the number of individuals convicted by the number proceeded against –

note that this is a simple ratio of the number of convictions in the year with the

number of prosecutions and so is not ‘matched’, ie. Many convictions in a year will

relate to prosecutions figures that will be counted in earlier years.





Reoffenders

Mr Gregory Campbell: [11459]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who were released from

prison following a decision by the Independent Parole Board were subsequently

convicted and imprisoned for a further offence in the last three years.

Lucy Frazer:

This Government is committed to reducing reoffending by ensuring that all offenders

have the tools they need to turn their backs on crime. Prisons and probation must

provide the opportunity for prisoners to rehabilitate, which will ultimately reduce

reoffending and protect the public.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of offenders released

following a Parole Board decision who were subsequently convicted and imprisoned

for a further offence. However, a breakdown of the total number of reoffences

following release after serving an indeterminate sentence is published. A breakdown

of these is included below:

Table 1: Total number of reoffences following release from custody after

serving an indeterminate sentence

INDETERMINATE SENTENCE REOFFENDING COHORT

April 2015 – March 2016 April 2016 – March 2017 April 2017 – March 2018

Indeterminate sentence for

public protection

141 191 231

Mandatory life prisoner 10 17 27

Other life 1 27 37 21

1. ‘Other life’ category includes discretionary and automatic life sentences

Reoffenders: Alternatives to Prosecution


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of

the effect of participation in out-of-court disposals on re-offending rates.

Lucy Frazer:

The latest statistics for adult re-offending rates following police cautions can be found

at tab C1a


ent_data/file/861981/proven-reoffending-jan18-mar18-3-monthly.ods

Note that reoffending rates are not available on the full range of Out of Court

Disposals (OOCDs).



https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/861981/proven-reoffending-jan18-mar18-3-monthly.ods



The Ministry of Justice supported pilots (2014-2015) by police around greater use of

OOCDs with conditions attached. We published an evaluation of these pilots which

can be found here:


ent_data/file/718947/adult-out-of-court-disposal-pilot-evaluation.pdf and an additional

12-month follow-up proven reoffending analysis report which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/out-of-court-disposals-pilot-cautions-

reoffending-analysis


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to place the offences

committed by offenders who participate in out-of-court disposals on the Police National

Computer and make them available to courts dealing with any future offending.

Lucy Frazer:

Simple and Conditional Cautions and Penalty Notices for Disorder are recorded on

the Police National Computer (PNC).

Police cautions (simple or conditional) issued for recordable offences appear on court

file disclosures.

There is currently no mechanism for recording other out of court disposals (OOCDs)

on the PNC system. However, other OOCDs, including Community Resolutions, are

currently held on the Police National Database (PND).

A new information recording system for police forces, the Law Enforcement Data

Service (LEDS) is being developed which will hold a fuller range of OOCD data

nationally.

Reoffenders: Community Orders


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to commence section 151 of

the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to allow courts to use community orders instead of fines for

repeat offenders of low-level offences.

Lucy Frazer:

There are no current plans to commence Section 151 of the Criminal Justice Act

2003, which allows courts, in certain circumstances, to use community orders for

repeat offenders who might otherwise expect to receive fines.

Section 143(2) of that Act requires courts to treat previous convictions as an

aggravating factor when sentencing. In cases involving significant persistent

offending, the community and custodial thresholds may be crossed even though the

offence otherwise warrants a lesser sentence.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718947/adult-out-of-court-disposal-pilot-evaluation.pdf



https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/out-of-court-disposals-pilot-cautions-reoffending-analysis





Reoffenders: Sentencing


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of previous

convictions was for a (a) man and (b) woman convicted of a further offence in each of the

last three years who was not given a sentence of immediate custody; and what the

sentence was for the most recent offence in each case.

Lucy Frazer:

Data on the highest number of previous cautions and convictions for (a) a man and

(b) a woman convicted and given a sentence other than immediate custody, and the

sentence given for their most recent offence, year ending March 2017 to year ending

March 2019, can be viewed in the attached table.

Sentencing is a matter for our independent courts, who take into account all

circumstances of the case, including any aggravating and mitigating factors. We are

clear that sentencing must match the severity of a crime.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of PQ13958_response table v3DD.XLSX]


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders had the time spent on

tagged curfew deducted from their subsequent prison sentence in the most recent 12

months period for which such information is available.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average amount of time deducted from

an immediate prison sentence was for offenders who had been on a tagged curfew prior

to their sentence being handed down in the most recent 12 months period for which such

information is available.

Lucy Frazer:

Data relating to bail conditions including tagged curfew is not held centrally on court

systems.

Sentencing


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders that

received a (a) first and (b) second or subsequent immediate custodial sentence have

previously served (i) no, (ii) between one and four, (iii) between five and nine and (iv)

more than 10 community sentences in the latest year for which figures are available.

Lucy Frazer:

Data for the year ending March 2019 on the numbers and proportions of offenders

receiving their first, or a second or subsequent, immediate custodial sentence, broken





down by the number of previous community sentences they had previously served,

can be viewed in the attached table.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of PQ 13950 Response Table (002).xlsx]


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent research his Department has

commissioned on the cost implications of increasing magistrates sentencing powers to 12

months for a single offence; and if he will make a statement.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to increase magistrates'

sentencing powers to 12 months for a single offence; and if he will make a statement.

Lucy Frazer:

The Government has no current plans to increase magistrates’ custodial sentencing

powers and has made no recent assessment of the impact of doing so.

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions

Neil Coyle: [14774]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the

Director of Public Prosecutions on ensuring more effective prosecutions of cases

involving (a) rape and (b) other sexual offences.

Lucy Frazer:

The Secretary of State for Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions meet

regularly to discuss a number of joint workstreams in the Criminal Justice System,

including rape prosecutions, and most recently met in January. Both the Secretary of

State for Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions are committed to working

together to ensure rape and other sexual offences are prosecuted more effectively. It

is encouraging that the CPS is working with the police to develop new ways of

working to improve case progression, digital capability and disclosure, expertise,

supporting victims, and stakeholder engagement.

Tenants' Associations: Tribunals

Justin Madders: [14817]

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases resulted in a tribunal hearing

under the Tenants’ Associations (Provisions Relating to Recognition and Provision of

Information) (England) Regulations 2018 in the first 12 months since that statutory

instrument came into force; and in how many of those cases was a tenants' association

recognised by the tribunal.

Lucy Frazer:

The table below shows the number of cases that resulted in a First-tier Tribunal

(Property Chamber) hearing under the Tenants’ Associations Regulations 2018 in the





first 12 months of it coming into force and the number of tenants’ associations

recognised by the Tribunal.

NUMBER OF TRIBUNAL HEARINGS THAT TOOK

PLACE UNDER TENANTS’ ASSOCIATIONS

REGULATIONS 2018

NUMBER OF TENANTS’ ASSOCIATIONS

RECOGNISED BY THE TRIBUNAL

6 5

Data source: Operationally Sourced Case Management Data

The above data was generated on a different date to the information contained in

quarterly published statistics and was produced specifically for this enquiry.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are

subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, and is the best

data that is available at the time of publication.

Terrorism: Prisoners' Release


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners convicted of terrorist-

related offences were released on temporary licence in each of the last three years.

Lucy Frazer:

Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) enables offenders to participate in activities

outside of prison, directly contributing to community resettlement, helping with their

rehabilitation and development of a purposeful, law-abiding life. There is no

entitlement to ROTL. It is discretionary and only allowed following a robust risk

assessment of each offender.

Following the Fishmongers’ Hall attack, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service

(HMPPS) acted quickly to strengthen safeguarding measures around ROTL. No

terrorist or terrorist-risk offender will be released on temporary licence (ROTL) until

their risk has first been assured by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice Joint

Extremism Unit. We will continue to review this policy moving forward.

The requested information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Please find a table showing the number of people in custody for terrorism-related

offences between September 2016 and September 2019.

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN CUSTODY FOR TERRORISM-RELATED OFFENCES (GREAT BRITAIN)

30 Sep 2016 30 Sep 2017 30 Sep 2018 30 Sep 2019

Total 169 213 224 224


Young Offenders: Reoffenders


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of cases of 16

and 17 year olds being convicted of committing a second or subsequent knife offence

resulted in the perpetrator receiving the mandatory four months Detention and Training

Order in each of the last three years.


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of cases in adult

courts of those being convicted of committing a second or subsequent knife offence

resulted in the perpetrator receiving the mandatory six months imprisonment in each of

the last three years.

Lucy Frazer:

Data on the number and proportion of cases of 16 and 17 year olds and adults being

convicted of committing a second or subsequent knife offences who received a 4

months detention and training order and the mandatory six months imprisonment can

be viewed in the attached table.

Attachments:

1. Table [Copy of PQs 15507 and 15508 table.xlsx]

Young Offenders: Sentencing


To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of young

offenders previously sentenced to (a) up to five, (b) from five to 10 and (c) more than 10

Youth Rehabilitation Orders (YRO) were sentenced to another YRO for a further offence

in the most recent year for which information is available; and for which offence that

further YRO was given in each such case.

Lucy Frazer:

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Voting Rights: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: [13002]

To ask the Leader of the House, whether he plans to commemorate the scottish political

martyrs of 1820 for supporting universal suffrage.

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg:

The specific matter raised does not fall within my ministerial responsibilities, however

the Hon member may wish to raise the issue with the House of Commons

Commission directly.





NORTHERN IRELAND

Brexit: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: [13541]

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what meetings (a) he and (b) his

officials have held with representatives of Border Communities against Brexit.

Brandon Lewis:

Neither my officials nor I have met representatives of Border Communities Against

Brexit.

Equality Commission for Northern Ireland


To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the cost has been to the public

purse of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, in each of the last three years.

Mr Robin Walker:

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland does not have a role in the Equality

Commission for Northern Ireland’s budget. The Equality Commission is sponsored by

the Executive Office, which approves its budget.

The Commission’s published annual reports and accounts can be accessed via their

website, at https://www.equalityni.org/Home.

Northern Ireland Office: Work Experience


To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many people aged (a) 16 and

under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of


Mr Robin Walker:

During the last three years there has been no formal work experience undertaken in

the Northern Ireland Office by anyone over 16 years old.

Informal work experience for people below the age of 16 was undertaken on seven

occasions over the last three years.

Terrorism: Northern Ireland


To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much funding will be allocated to

the Troubles-related incident Victims Payment Scheme.

Brandon Lewis:

In 2014, the NI parties agreed further work would be undertaken to seek an

acceptable way forward on the proposal for a pension for severely injured victims in

Northern Ireland.



https://www.equalityni.org/Home

https://www.equalityni.org/Home



The Executive Formation Act required the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to

lay regulations for a Victims Payment Scheme, which he did on Friday 31 January.

The Northern Ireland Civil Service is continuing to work to explore the full costs of the

scheme.

SCOTLAND

Scotland Office: Work Experience


To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many people aged (a) 16 and under and

(b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of the last

three years.

Mr Alister Jack:

In each of the last three years, the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland has

offered a small number of work experience opportunities to people under and over

the age of 16.

Due to the small numbers involved, specific details cannot be provided to protect the

privacy and identity of the individuals concerned.

TRANSPORT


Sir Graham Brady: [14957]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the announcement of 4

February 2020 by the Sustainable Aviation Group on ensuring UK aviation meets a net

zero target by 2050, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending

the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation to a wider range of production methods.

Grant Shapps:

As acknowledged and welcomed in the “Sustainable Aviation Fuels Road-Map”,

announced by the Sustainable Aviation coalition on 4 February, the Government is

encouraging the production and use of sustainable alternative aviation fuels in the UK

by making these eligible for reward under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

(RTFO).

The Department is considering the aviation industry’s request to extend the scope of

the RTFO to include Recycled Carbon Fuels (RCFs), which is repeated in the

“Sustainable Aviation Fuels Road-Map”. RCFs are fuels produced from fossil wastes

that cannot be reused, recycled or avoided.

The Department has commissioned two independent research reports to examine the

potential greenhouse gas savings that RCFs could achieve. These are “Low carbon



fossil fuels sustainability risks and accounting methodology” published in January

2018 and “Work Package 1-743 Waste Disposal Outcomes and Diversion Impacts”

published in August 2019. Further to this research, the Department is developing a

greenhouse gas assessment methodology for RCFs and have engaged on this with

industry representatives. The Department hopes to consult later this year on

legislative proposals.

Aviation: Emergencies


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many flights have declared an

emergency in UK air space in each of the last five years.

Grant Shapps:

In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, safety-related events which

endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its

occupants or any other person have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority

(CAA). The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such

occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to

be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need

for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk/srg1605.

Bus Lanes: Ambulance Services

Alex Chalk: [690]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the

potential merits of bringing forward a nationwide exemption to permit ambulances to use

bus lanes.

Grant Shapps:

The Department has made no such assessment.

Ambulances on emergency business are already generally allowed to use bus lanes

through an exemption in the underlying Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) which creates

a bus lane. Local authorities can extend this to ambulances on non-emergency

business if they wish, but will need to consider whether the vehicles are easily

identifiable for enforcement purposes, and the impact on the operation of the lane for

buses.

Local authorities are best placed to judge how best to operate bus lanes on their road

networks. Bus lanes are provided to give buses priority over other traffic, particularly

at congested times of day, and to provide bus passengers with a more reliable

service. Allowing more vehicle types to use a bus lane may start to erode this priority.



Bus Services: Kirklees


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the

provision of bus services serving Kirklees.

Grant Shapps:

The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service

provision are primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. However, the Bus

Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities need to improve local bus

services and increase passenger numbers.

Of the £30 million of additional funding announced to improve current services and

restoring lost services, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been allocated

£1,086,414 which will be available from April 2020 if the funding requirements are

met.

This is from the £220 million Better Deal for Bus Users package to transform bus

services. The Government’s ambition is to secure a long term, sustained

improvement in bus services underpinned by a National Bus Strategy for England

which will be accompanied by a long-term funding settlement.

Announced last week there will be £5billion of new funding to overhaul bus and cycle

links for every region outside London which may benefit bus services serving

Kirklees.

Bus Services: Passengers


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the

average number of passengers on a public service bus route.

Grant Shapps:

The average bus occupancy on local bus services was 12.5 in England in 2018/19,

an increase from 12.2 in 2017/18 and 11.7 in 2009/10.

Department of Transport: Work Experience


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people aged (a) 16 and under and

(b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of the last

three years.

Grant Shapps:


create a Civil Service fit for 21st century Britain through work experience, internships

and apprenticeship schemes.

For people aged 16 years and over there was the following number of work

experience placements offered through the Summer Diversity (SDIP) and Autism




Exchange (AEP) Internship Programmes, and the Fast Stream Early Talent Work

Experience Social Mobility Programme (FSET).

PERIOD SDIP AEP FSET*

2017 10 2 No data available

2018 14 2 6

2019 11 1 5

*FSET is also open to 15 year olds.

Electric Vehicles

Eddie Hughes: [14808]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that electric

cars have a range equivalent to petrol cars by 2035.

Grant Shapps:

Improving the range of electric vehicles is primarily a matter for vehicle

manufacturers, and this is something that is continuously being improved.

Government will continue to support industry in doing this, we have committed £274m

from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to the Faraday Battery Challenge to

advance electric vehicle battery technology. This funding is supporting battery R&D

from the Faraday Institution’s academic research, through Innovate UK’s programme

of collaborative applied R&D, to scale-up in the cutting-edge UK Battery

Industrialisation Centre. The aims of the Faraday Battery Challenge include

improving the energy density of batteries, improving our understanding of

temperature effects on range, and reducing battery costs which will make longer

range electric vehicles more affordable.


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the level of

(a) accessibility to and (b) affordability of maintenance processes for electric vehicles.

Grant Shapps:

In the Road to Zero strategy, the UK Government committed to working with the

Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) to ensure the UK’s workforce of mechanics are

well trained and have the skills they need to repair electric vehicles safely. Last year

the Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) endorsed IMI’s TechSafe

professional standards and register for electric vehicle technicians. People will be

able to use the register to check the electric vehicle competencies of technicians at

their garage, supporting consumer confidence in this growing market. OLEV has also

endorsed the National Franchised Dealers Association’s Electric Vehicle Approved

scheme to recognise expertise and promote industry standards in electric vehicle

retail and aftersales. Today, owners of electric vehicles can have substantially lower



fuel and maintenance costs compared to those with conventional vehicles. 100%

electric vehicles are designed to be as efficient as possible and there are generally

three main components powering the vehicle: the on board charger, inverter and

motor. This means there is less wear and tear on the vehicle and little stress on the

motor, with fewer moving parts sustainable to damage. This means electric vehicles

have reduced servicing requirements and the running and repair costs are minimal.


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to increase the

affordability of electric cars.

Grant Shapps:

We are currently investing nearly £1.5bn between April 2015 and March 2021, with

grants available for plug in cars, vans, lorries, buses, taxis and motorcycles to reduce

the up-front purchase price of electric vehicles, as well schemes to support charge

point infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets. Purchasers

of electric vehicles also benefit from lower Vehicle Excise Duty and company car tax

rates from April. As part of our consultation on bringing forward the end to the sale of

new petrol and diesel cars and vans, we are asking what the accompanying package

of support will need to be to enable the transition and minimise the impacts on

businesses and consumers across the UK, building on the significant demand and

supply side measures already in place.

Electric Vehicles: Batteries


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the safe

large-scale disposable of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Grant Shapps:

Electric vehicle battery recycling is covered by the Waste Batteries and Accumulators

Regulations 2009, which ban the disposal of automotive and industrial batteries to

landfill and incineration. This also establishes take-back and recycling obligations for

industrial battery producers. The UK’s £274 million Faraday Battery Challenge is

playing a leading role in promoting the reuse and recycling of battery components.

This includes several industry led collaborative R&D projects and the Faraday

Institution’s £10m ‘ReLib’ research project. ReLib is developing the technological,

economic and legal infrastructure to allow high percentages of the materials in lithium

ion batteries at the end of their first life to be reused or recycled. The Faraday

Institution also participate in the Global Battery Alliance – a World Economic Forum

initiative which aims to accelerate action towards a socially responsible,

environmentally sustainable and innovative battery supply chain.



Electric Vehicles: Charging Points


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the

adequate provision of high-kilowatt charging infrastructure for the rapid charging of

electric cars.

Grant Shapps:

In collaboration with industry the Government will invest £1 billion in charging

infrastructure – making sure that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid charging

station for electric vehicles. The first £70 million of the Charging Infrastructure

Investment Fund will create 3,000 new rapid chargepoints, more than doubling the

number of rapid chargepoints across the UK by 2024. Highways England has

commitment of £15m to ensure there are chargepoints (rapid where possible) every

20 miles on 95% of the Strategic Road Network by 2020. We will set out a vision by

Spring 2020 for a core infrastructure network of rapid and high powered chargepoints

along England’s strategic road network.


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the

adequate provision of charging infrastructure for electric cars in towns and villages by

2035.

Grant Shapps:

We are currently investing nearly £1.5bn between April 2015 and March 2021, with

grants available for plug in vehicles, as well schemes to support charge point

infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets. Government and

industry have supported the installation of over 17,000 devices providing over 24,000

publicly available chargepoints. This includes over 2,400 rapid chargepoints – one of

the largest networks in Europe. Our grant schemes and our £400m public-private

Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund will see thousands more electric vehicle

chargepoints installed across the UK. The first £70 million of the Charging

Infrastructure Investment Fund will create 3,000 new rapid chargepoints, more than

doubling the number of rapid chargepoints across the UK by 2024. Along with the

private sector, the Government will invest £1 billion in charging infrastructure –

making sure that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid charging station. On 21

January, we announced that Government has doubled the value of the On-street

Residential Charging Scheme for 2020-2021 to £10 million to support the provision of

up to 3,600 chargepoints for those that don’t have off-street parking.

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Chris Elmore: [14818]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Heathrow Airport Ltd’s

Initial Business Plan, published in December 2019, committing funding to new rail links to

that airport, if the Government will confirm (a) funding from the public purse to and (b)

approve the Western Rail Link to Heathrow Airport.




Grant Shapps:

It is helpful that Heathrow Airport has been clear in its Initial Business Plan that it

sees the Western Rail Link being delivered in all scenarios. Government has always

been clear that its support for the development of the scheme is subject to the

successful agreement of terms with the Heathrow Aviation industry.


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timescales are for the progress of

rail access projects to Heathrow Airport.

Grant Shapps:

Network Rail is finalising work on the Western Rail Link to Heathrow (WRLtH)

Development Consent Order and will be prepared to submit to the Planning

Inspectorate following the agreement of terms between the Government and the

Heathrow Aviation industry on an appropriate financial contribution to the project.

Network Rail has been advised to expect to submit the application for Development

Consent no later than summer 2020, which will mark the next major milestone for the

project.

On Southern Access to Heathrow (SAtH), my Department has been working to

develop an appropriate ‘market involved’ commercial model. Following Ministerial

approval and alignment to the upcoming HM Treasury Infrastructure Finance Review,

the Department intends to provide further guidance regarding the commercial

approach later this year.


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to deliver

the Western Rail Link to Heathrow Airport.

Grant Shapps:

My officials are working closely with Heathrow Airport Limited and the Civil Aviation

Authority to reach agreement on acceptable terms, which are essential to the delivery

of the scheme. Subject to a successful conclusion of these negotiations, Network Rail

will submit the scheme’s application for development consent to the Planning

Inspectorate.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Iron and Steel

Jessica Morden: [559]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will use UK-produced steel for the HS2

project.

Grant Shapps:

The Government’s guidance on the procurement of steel was published in November

2015 and subsequently updated in December 2016. All major government projects

are required to take cognisance of the Crown Commercial Service Procurement

Policy Note 11/16: “Procuring Steel in Major Projects - Revised Guidance”




(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-1116-

procuring-steel-in-major-projects-revised-guidance ).

Whilst HS2 Ltd. does not directly buy steel, it does apply a strategic and transparent

approach to the sourcing of steel for the HS2 Programme through its Tier 1

contractors and their supply chains. HS2 Ltd ensures a fair procurement process

which complies with UK procurement law and the Government policy on the

procurement of steel.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Wendover

Robert Butler: [692]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of

the potential merits of the proposals for a mined tunnel in Wendover; and if he will publish

the results of that assessment.

Grant Shapps:

The Wendover Mined Tunnel was considered in detail during the passage of the

Phase One Bill in both the Commons and Lords committees. Cost comparisons of the

consented scheme and the tunnelled alternatives were considered in evidence to

both committees during the Bill process and the primary conclusion was that the now

consented scheme would be less expensive than the tunnelled alternatives.

Since then, DfT officials and HS2 Ltd have been challenged by Wendover Parish

Council and your predecessor, Sir David Lidington, over these decisions and have

presented further reports by OTB and Michael Byng (mbpc) challenging the

consented scheme.

In each instance, it has been concluded that the Wendover Mined Tunnel would be

harder to construct, is costlier and involves a significantly greater degree of risk to the

consented scheme.

The Department and HS2 Ltd remain convinced that the Select Committee made the

right decision when they accepted that there was a significant difference in cost

between the mined alternative schemes and concluded that the HS2 Ltd scheme

should be retained.

Even if the alternative mined schemes were broadly comparable in these respects,

the subsequent costs of seeking legislative consent for the detailed design change

and the consequential cost of delaying the introduction of HS2 services do not

represent good value for money or an effective use of public money.


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the

hydrological effect of the construction of the green tunnel at Wendover on the potential

risk of flooding in Aylesbury.



Grant Shapps:

The Environmental Statement assessed the impact of the scheme on Water

Resources (Volume 5 WR-002-010) in the Wendover area and specifically the impact

of the green tunnel construction on water receptors.

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140613022805/http://assets.dft.gov.uk/

hs2-environmental-statement/volume-

5/water/vol5_CFA10_Water_resources_and_flood_risk_ass_Water_resources_asses

sment_WR-002-010.pdf

HS2 Ltd advises that the scheme is now entering the detailed design phase. My

officials will respond to you shortly with further details on this matter.

High Speed Two


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that valid

compensation claims by (a) residents and (b) businesses are paid on time and in full by

HS2 Ltd.

Grant Shapps:

The High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) 2017 Act sets out the compensation

arrangements for the compulsory purchase and temporary possession of land and

property on Phase One of the route. The Secretary of State has also introduced a

range of statutory and non-statutory property compensation schemes across the

three phases of HS2 to support people and businesses affected by the programme.

In applying all the property compensation schemes, HS2 Ltd aims to ensure that the

compensation arrangements adhere to the Compensation Code. The Code provides

for the payment of fair compensation to property owners whose land is acquired as

part of HS2.

HS2 Ltd applies the standards set out in the Compensation Code and its own internal

targets for the payment and completion of compensation claims. Their performance is

monitored and overseen by the HS2 Ltd Executive in accordance with the published

HS2 Development Agreement and the HS2 Ltd Framework Document.

However, as the Prime Minister announced earlier this month, going forwards, there

will be changes to the way HS2 is managed. A Minister will be given the full-time job

to oversee the project and I am clear of the need for the Company to continue to

raise its game in how it treats communities affected by the project along its line of

route.

Pedestrian Crossings

Alberto Costa: [14732]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has

made of the adequacy of guidelines for the provision of pedestrian crossings.

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140613022805/http:/assets.dft.gov.uk/hs2-environmental-statement/volume-5/water/vol5_CFA10_Water_resources_and_flood_risk_ass_Water_resources_assessment_WR-002-010.pdf







Grant Shapps:

Provision of pedestrian crossings is a matter for local traffic authorities. In December

2019 the Department published updated guidance on pedestrian crossing

assessment and design, in Chapter 6 of the Traffic Signs Manual. It is available to

download from

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual.

Private Roads


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what schemes are available to help

communities which have a high number of unadopted roads, due to the closure of large

industry, get adopted status for those roads.

Grant Shapps:

The respective owners of private roads are responsible under legislation for ensuring

that these roads are brought up to the required standard before local highway

authorities can ‘adopt’ them and then maintain them at public expense. In cases

where there are large areas of unadopted roads due to the closure of large industries,

these may be improved by new developers as part of their development projects or

the local authority can bid for Government funds through various programmes like the

Local Growth Fund.

Railways: North West

Ian Byrne: [621]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to

establish new rail links (a) in Liverpool West Derby constituency and (b) the North West.

Grant Shapps:

To help communities across the country, we have pledged £500m to start reopening

lines closed following the Beeching report, reconnecting smaller towns, regenerating

local economies and improving accessibility to jobs, homes and education.

I encourage MPs, to work with local authorities and community groups in their

constituency to come forward with proposals to reinstate axed local services and

stations. This funding will help develop these proposals, and accelerate the delivery

of schemes that are already being considered for restoration.

Roads: Capital Investment


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for the next funding

round for improvements to strategic local roads.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual





Grant Shapps:

The most important local roads have been assigned Major Road Network status and

are eligible for a new programme of funding. Scheme proposals for the first five years

of Major Road Network and Large Local Majors funding were submitted in summer

2019.

A second announcement of a further six schemes for development funding, in the

North and South West, was made on 11 February by the Prime Minister.

The timing of further announcements for funding scheme development and

construction will be phased depending on how individual schemes progress.

Traffic Lights


To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect of

traffic lights at four-way junctions where only one light is green at any time on (a) capacity

and (b) flow at those junctions.

Grant Shapps:

The management of traffic light junctions, including operational strategies and

timings, is a matter for local traffic authorities. As such, the Department does not

carry out such assessments.

The Department has always advocated the use of traffic responsive systems, and

junction designs that optimise operation to reduce unnecessary delays and maximise

junction capacity as far as possible.

The Department has recently updated its guidance on the design of traffic light

junctions, in Chapter 6 of the Traffic Signs Manual. This makes clear that the most

efficient way to operate a junction is to adopt sequences and techniques that allow

one or more arms to run at the same time, to keep traffic moving safely. Chapter 6 is

available to download from:


TREASURY


Steve McCabe: [14953]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to (a) tackle high

care costs faced by people affected by dementia and (b) increase investment in dementia

care.

Steve Barclay:

At the 2019 Spending Review, the Government provided an additional £1bn funding

for social care in 2020-21. In addition the Government has committed to urgently





seek a cross-party consensus to bring forward proposals and legislation for long-term

reform of adult social care.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to lower the duty on (a) beer

and (b) cider.

Steve Barclay:

Alcohol duties, and tax rates, are kept under review. The impact of a change in duty

is considered at each fiscal event.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans use household income to

assess payment of the high income child benefit tax charge.

Jesse Norman:

The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from

January 2013 to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it most. It applies

to anyone with an individual income over £50,000, who claims Child Benefit or whose

partner claims it, regardless of the make-up of their household.

Basing HICBC on household incomes would mean finding out the incomes of

everyone in each of the eight million households eligible for child benefit. This would

effectively introduce a new means test, creating significant administrative costs and

placing a disproportionate burden on the majority of families who receive Child

Benefit.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Fiona Bruce: [603]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was of the (a)

freezes and (b) reductions in alcohol duty in each year since 2012.

Steve Barclay:

Based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) published policy costings, we

estimate the cumulative loss to the Exchequer from the successive alcohol duty

freezes and cuts from financial year 2013-14 to the current financial year 2018-19 to

be around £5.2bn.

The annual impacts on the Exchequer are reported in the table below.

(£M) 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20

Exchequer

Impact

-170 -505 -685 -770 -820 -1,059 -1,217




These past decisions will also incur future losses to the Exchequer in years beyond

2019-20. The OBR’s costings of previously announced policies currently extend to

2023-23, and the future impact of these announced freezes and cuts in the alcohol

duties to that year is estimated to be around £5.2bn.

The future annual impacts are set out in the table below.

(£M) 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23

Exchequer Impact -1,246 -1,282 -1,320 -1,361

The OBR’s policy costings are available at the following link:

http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/download/policy-measures-database/

Average Earnings: North East

Chi Onwurah: [599]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trend in the

level of average earnings in the North East.

John Glen:

In 2019, the North East’s median weekly wages grew by 5.1%, the fastest of any

region and nation in the UK in that year.

We are investing in a £3.6 billion Towns Fund to level up our regions and create

places where people want to live and thrive. As part of this, we are supporting towns

across the North East – including Hartlepool, Redcar, and Middlesbrough – which

have already been shortlisted to be eligible for funds targeting economic growth and

regeneration.

Beer: Excise Duties


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the

economic effect of small breweries relief on small brewers.

John Glen:

We are conducting a review of Small Brewers Relief, and further announcements

about this will be made in due course.

Bridges: Irish Sea


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse has been of

assessing the viability of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland to date; and

what funding has been allocated to that work.






Steve Barclay:

The government is committed to upgrading our infrastructure, and we are looking at a

range of options to level up the country and support growth and productivity in every

region. We will set out more details on our plans to increase investment in

infrastructure at the Budget.

Child Benefit


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the

effectiveness of the operation of the high income child benefit charge.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the

potential merits of applying the high income child benefit charge to the higher-earning

parent regardless of which parent takes main caring responsibility.

Jesse Norman:

The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from

January 2013 to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it most. The latest

published figures on the operation of HICBC can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-income-child-benefit-charge-

data/high-income-child-benefit-charge.

Dementia: Social Services

Paul Bristow: [14746]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary

of State for Health and Social Care on the provision of increased funding for dementia

care in Budget 2020.

Steve Barclay:

At the 2019 Spending Review, the Government provided an additional £1bn funding

for social care in 2020-21. In addition the Government has committed to urgently

seek a cross-party consensus to bring forward proposals and legislation for long-term

reform of adult social care. In line with successive administrations, the details of

Ministerial discussions are not normally discussed.

Digital Technology: North East

Chi Onwurah: [601]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the forecasted

growth of the digital sector in the North East.

John Glen:

Since 2010, output of the information and communication sector in the North East

has grown by 55.4%, which is the third fastest growth rate for this sector across all

UK regions and nations.





The Government is taking steps to build on the UK’s highly competitive digital

economy. For example, the government’s commitment since 2016 to invest an

additional £7bn by 2022 in R&D is the largest increase on record. And the £21m

invested in Tech Nation’s regional network is helping tech entrepreneurs across the

UK to scale their businesses.

The Digital Catapult Centre is helping local businesses in the North East boost

productivity by encouraging the adoption of emerging technologies.

Employment: Taxation


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of

the effect of proposed changes to IR35 rules from April 2020 on trends in the level of

employment in the oil and gas sector in Scotland.

Jesse Norman:

The off-payroll working rules (commonly known as IR35) are designed to ensure that

an individual who works like an employee, but through their own limited company,

pays broadly the same Income Tax and National Insurance contributions as other

employees. The rules do not apply to the self-employed or stop anyone working

through their own company.

The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published in July 2019 sets out HMRC’s

assessment that the reform to the off-payroll working rules is expected to affect

170,000 individuals; this is a UK-wide figure. The TIIN can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-

2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020.

Owen Thompson: [687]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what independent research his Department has

commissioned on the administrative costs for SMEs of the roll-out of the off payroll

working rules.

Jesse Norman:

The reform of the off-payroll working rules in April 2020 will apply only to medium and

large-sized businesses, minimising administrative burdens for the vast majority of

engagers. The existing rules will continue to apply to the smallest 1.5m businesses.

The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published in July 2019 sets out HMRC’s

assessment that the reform to the off-payroll working rules is expected to affect

170,000 individuals. The TIIN can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-

2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps the Government has taken to

support the private sector for the roll-out of the IR35 rules.


https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020








Jesse Norman:

The Government is committed to working with organisations to ensure changes to the

rules are implemented correctly. HMRC is undertaking an extensive programme of

education and support to help organisations prepare for the reform. This includes:

• Offering one-to-one support to more than 2,000 of the UK’s biggest employers, and

writing directly to 43,000 medium sized businesses and other organisations.

• Providing large and medium sized businesses, public bodies, and charities with

factsheets to share with their contractors, and publishing this factsheet on gov.uk.

• Holding workshops with small tax agents, recruitment agencies, charities, and

public bodies.

• Holding webinars at least weekly, with small tax agents, recruitment agencies,

charities, public bodies and contractors.

• Publishing an enhanced version of the Check Employment Status for Tax online

tool in November 2019 to help individuals and organisations make the right status

determinations and apply the off-payroll rules correctly.

Farmers: VAT

Paul Girvan: [743]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the judgment of Shields and

Sons Partnership v The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs [2017] UKUT

0504, whether he plans to reinstate farmers that have been excluded from the flat rate

VAT Scheme as a result of obtaining a greater benefit from that scheme than a VAT

registration.

Jesse Norman:

The Agricultural Flat Rate Scheme (AFRS) is intended for use by small agricultural

businesses and was designed to provide relief for those businesses facing

administrative burdens from standard VAT obligations.

Following the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and

the Upper Tribunal, Shields & Sons Partnership was reinstated to the AFRS. Other

agricultural businesses removed from the scheme did not appeal HMRC’s decision

and subsequent appeals are out of time. These businesses will not be automatically

reinstated to the scheme.

Funerals: Children

Jim Shannon: [503]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Ministers in

the Northern Ireland Government on establishment of a child funeral fund to support

bereaved families.



John Glen:

Treasury Ministers and officials have regular discussions with the Northern Ireland

Executive on matters of importance to the economy across the UK, including on

funding for justice issues.

Matters of justice are devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. It is for them to set

their own priorities and determine the allocation of funds to deal with justice issues

from within their own budgets.

Gambling


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2020 to

Question 8391 on Gambling and Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy

of monies raised by gambling duties to meet the costs to the public purse associated with

gambling.

Steve Barclay:

No assessment has been made. The Government has committed an extra £33.9

billion every year by 2023/24 for the NHS as part of its Long-term plan, which has

been enshrined in law.

The NHS Long-term plan includes a commitment to expand the coverage of NHS

services for people with serious gambling problems, which includes plans to open

around 15 clinics by 2023/24.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Scott Mann: [697]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of High Sped Two's construction

costs will be recouped through (a) VAT, (b) corporation tax, (c) income tax and (d)

National Insurance being levied on (i) the bodies contracted to construct the project and

(ii) their employees.

Jesse Norman:

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are unable to provide estimates on how much

will be recouped from High Speed Two's construction costs.

HMRC publish aggregate level statistics on annual and monthly revenue on GOV.UK

here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk

National Insurance

Dr Rupa Huq: [14794]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many children born in the UK have not

been issued with a National Insurance number since 2013.

Jesse Norman:

The requested information is not available.



https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk


In order for a child to be issued a National Insurance Number (NINO) automatically,

the child must be part of a live Child Benefit claim when they are 15 years, 9 months

old.

If a child has been part of a claim, but is not part of a claim when they are 15 years, 9

months old, HMRC can be contacted to request a NINO.

If a child has never been part of a Child Benefit claim (or a claim for a childcare

service administered by HMRC) HMRC will have no record of them. An application

can be made to DWP to obtain a NINO.

Ports: Infrastructure

Kevin Hollinrake: [14814]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to build

infrastructure at ports for undertaking customs checks on (a) vehicles and (b) goods

coming from the EU from 1 January 2021.

Jesse Norman:

HMRC will continue to engage with port authorities at key border locations to

understand the constraints on different sites, and to discuss how to ensure that ports

are operationally ready for the end of the transition period.

HMRC will also continue to keep their plans for additional infrastructure under review,

depending on what is needed as part of the future trading relationship between the

United Kingdom and the European Union.

Revenue and Customs: Offshore Funds


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money HMRC paid into offshore bank

accounts in financial year 2018-19.

Jesse Norman:

This information is not held centrally within government and would involve

disproportionate costs to collect and collate.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) members of HMRC's departmental

Board and (b) senior executives in HMRC are required to disclose offshore bank

accounts and holdings.

Jesse Norman:

HMRC’s departmental Board and senior executives are not required to disclose

offshore bank accounts and holdings.

All Civil Servants must uphold the standards of conduct as set out in the Ministerial

Code and Civil Service Code respectively, as well as the seven principles of public

life. As regards the latter, all Civil Servants regardless of grade are contractually




bound by the terms and conditions of the Civil Service Code of conduct and

associated Civil Service Terms and conditions and Conduct at Work policies.

All employees must take all possible steps to protect themselves and HMRC from

any allegation or perception of impropriety and are legally bound to deal with their

own tax affairs and must comply with personal tax obligations and make returns or

declarations directly in a personal capacity.

HMRC Non-Executive Director (NED) Board members are also contractually bound

to declare to the Lead Non Executive and Chief Executive any personal or business

interest they may have or acquire during the term of their appointment which may, or

may be perceived (by a reasonable member of the public) to influence their

judgement in performing their role as Non-Executive Director. These interests include

(without limitation) personal direct and indirect pecuniary interests, and they are

required to make full disclosure throughout the term of their appointment.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC’s (a) anti-fraud and (b) anti-

money laundering procedures monitor (i) payments made by HMRC to offshore accounts

and (ii) the use of offshore accounts by HMRC's (A) suppliers and (B) senior staff.

Jesse Norman:

HMRC have extensive anti-fraud and anti-money laundering procedures in making

payments, including verifying the identity of suppliers and staff, and the validity of

payment details. HMRC do not, however, make any differentiation between payments

made to onshore and to offshore accounts.

All suppliers and public office holders are expected to comply with the law as it

applies to offshore banking activity.

Social Services: Children

Jim Shannon: [501]

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether has plans to allocate additional funding

to the Department for Education for the provision of children's services.

Steve Barclay:

The government recognises the importance of children’s services. Decisions on

funding for children’s services beyond 2020/21 will be considered in full at the

Comprehensive Spending Review.

Tax Avoidance


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many promoters of loan charge schemes

have been (a) charged and (b) fined in relation to their activities.




Jesse Norman:

A key part of HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) strategy in tackling promoters of

disguised remuneration and other tax avoidance schemes is to change their

behaviour so that they stop this activity altogether.

HMRC have a range of legislative powers to tackle promoters, under three main

regimes: Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS), Promoters of Tax

Avoidance Schemes (POTAS), and the Enablers penalty. Penalties can be charged

for various failures to comply with the requirements of these regimes. HMRC’s

Counter-Avoidance directorate, created in 2013, is responsible for applying these

penalties in cases of marketed tax avoidance.

Fewer than five penalties have been charged under DOTAS by the Counter-

Avoidance team since 2013. Before then a further 11 penalties were charged for

more historic DOTAS failings.

In addition, there are four litigation decisions received since 2017, all in relation to

disguised remuneration (DR) avoidance arrangements, which confirmed HMRC’s

view that the schemes are notifiable under the DOTAS regime. Penalty action is

being considered in each case.

No penalties have to date been issued under the POTAS or Enablers legislation.

These regimes have had a positive impact in changing the behaviour of some

promoters. As a result of HMRC’s concerted action under these regimes, a number of

major promoters have now cooperated with HMRC and have either stopped selling

schemes or ceased business altogether.


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure the

proportionality of his Department's policy on (a) promoters and enablers of loan charge

schemes and (b) people who have been mis-sold a financial arrangement.

Jesse Norman:

The Government is determined to continue to tackle promoters of tax avoidance

schemes.

The Government announced measures to reduce the scope for promoters to market

tax avoidance schemes in its response to the independent Loan Charge Review.

Further detail of the measures will be set out at Budget, and new legislation will be

scrutinised by Parliament during the passage of the 2020/21 Finance Bill.

In 2019/20 HMRC are doubling their resource involved in tackling promoters and

have committed to publish a revised strategy for tackling promoters of tax avoidance

schemes by the end of March 2020.

While the Government empathises with anyone who believes they were misled into

using a disguised remuneration scheme, it is an individual’s responsibility to ensure

the accuracy of their tax return and to understand the consequences of their

decisions. It remains right that the Government takes action to tackle tax avoidance,

which is unfair to the vast majority of taxpayers who pay the correct tax.


The Government does recognise the importance of taxpayers being able to get

reliable tax advice and announced, in response to the Review, a call for evidence on

what steps the Government can take to raise standards in the tax advice market to

give taxpayers more assurance that the advice they are receiving is reliable.

Temporary Employment: Taxation


To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will undertake a review of the

tax system to improve support for contingent workers.

Jesse Norman:

The Government keeps all elements of the tax system under review and aims for the

tax system to support all sections of the workforce effectively.

Specifically, the Government has announced that it will review how it can better

support the self-employed, including by making the tax system easier to navigate as

well as improving access to finance and credit.

WALES

Infrastructure: Wales

Ruth Jones: [642]

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with the Welsh

Government on the resilience of infrastructure in (a) Newport West constituency and (b)

Wales.

Simon Hart:

I have discussed a range of issues with the Welsh Government including how we can

work together on infrastructure in Wales. I reaffirmed the Government’s commitment

and desire to see the M4 relief road go ahead which I know would have a major

impact in the Newport West constituency.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Department for Work and Pensions: Work Experience


To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged (a) 16 and

under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in her Department in each of


Mims Davies:


create a Civil Service fit for 21st century Britain through work experience, internships

and apprenticeship schemes.




This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost due to the time and

the cost to gather this data as it is not collated centrally.

Housing Benefit: Older People

Rosie Cooper: [596]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is

taking to (a) support older renters and (b) increase the uptake of pension age housing

benefit.

Will Quince:

The rates of pensioner benefits, including Housing Benefit (HB), tend to be higher

than some working-age income-related benefits, as pensioners as a group are likely

to be reliant on benefits for a longer period and less able to change their

circumstances or improve their income through work.

Local Authorities are responsible for administering HB and the take up of HB by

pensioners is shown to be higher than the take up of Pension Credit.

The Department publishes an annual report detailing latest available statistics

regarding the estimated take-up of HB and other income-related benefits.

The latest version can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-

up-financial-year-2016-to-2017

The next report containing 2017/18 data will be published in due course.

Local Housing Allowance

Stella Creasy: [14677]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department

has made of the potential merits of uprating local housing allowance in line with inflation

in areas where private rents have risen above CPI.

Will Quince:

From April 2020 Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated by inflation – an

increase of 1.7% in line with wider benefit uprating. This means around 900,000

people across the UK could see their Housing support payments rise from April.

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Marion Fellows: [13966]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6

February 2020 to Question 9726 on Personal Independence Payment: Medical

Examinations, for what reasons information on the number of audited health assessment

reports by audit grade carried out by Capita was not provided in that answer.


https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017





Justin Tomlinson:

Please find below the number of Audited files for Capita and Independent

Assessment Service by audit grade for 2018 and 2019 in raw number format. The

audits are a random selection and are undertaken in order for the department to

measure contractual quality service levels.

Note the numbers are unpublished and rounded to the nearest 10.

ROUNDED

IAS

(L1&3)

Jan-

18

Feb-

18

Mar-

18

Apr-

18

May-

18

Jun-

18

Jul-18 Aug-

18

Sep-

18

Oct-

18

Nov-

18

Dec-

18

A 610 630 680 620 610 630 650 630 630 640 600 590

AF 190 160 160 150 180 170 160 170 150 140 160 220

AA 130 130 100 150 130 130 120 140 160 170 190 150

U 60 50 40 70 70 60 40 30 40 30 30 20

Total 980 980 980 980 990 980 980 970 970 980 980 980

Capita

(Lot 2)

Jan-

18

Feb-

18

Mar-

18

Apr-

18

May-

18

Jun-

18

Jul-18 Aug-

18

Sep-

18

Oct-

18

Nov-

18

Dec-

18

A 290 300 310 310 310 320 330 300 310 320 290 310

AF 80 80 70 70 60 70 70 100 100 80 100 100

AA 90 80 80 80 80 70 70 70 70 70 90 60

U 30 20 20 30 30 20 10 10 10 10 10 10

Total 490 480 480 480 480 490 490 480 480 490 490 480

IAS

(L1&3)

Jan-

19

Feb-

19

Mar-

19

Apr-

19

May-

19

Jun-

19

Jul-19 Aug-

19

Sep-

19

Oct-

19

Nov-

19

Dec-

19

A 640 630 630 640 670 620 610 610 560 640 650 670

AF 180 180 150 160 150 170 150 170 170 150 140 140

AA 130 140 160 160 130 140 190 150 200 150 150 140

U 30 30 40 20 30 50 40 50 50 50 40 30

Total 980 980 980 980 980 980 980 980 980 980 980 980

Capita

(Lot 2)

Jan-

19

Feb-

19

Mar-

19

Apr-

19

May-

19

Jun-

19

Jul-19 Aug-

19

Sep-

19

Oct-

19

Nov-

19

Dec-

19

A 320 300 320 330 320 300 300 310 320 330 340 330

AF 70 80 80 60 80 80 80 90 70 70 70 50

AA 80 90 70 80 70 80 90 80 80 70 60 90

U 20 20 10 20 20 30 20 20 30 20 20 20

Total 480 480 490 490 490 490 490 490 490 490 490 490

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: [733]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of

the potential merits of requiring all personal independence payment assessments to be

recorded.

Justin Tomlinson:

I refer the Rt.Hon Member to the answer I gave on 10 February 2020 to Question UIN

12293.

Universal Credit

Sir Mark Hendrick: [14616]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of

the effect of the quarterly payment schedule of student finance on universal credit

calculations for claimants who are responsible for one or more children; and whether she

plans to halt the reduction of payments for those claimants whilst the fluctuations in

income are adequately assessed.

Will Quince:

Most full-time students in education do not qualify for Universal Credit. Students are

able to access funding to support their education courses through various loans and

grants, which are the responsibility of the Department for Education. It is important

that Universal Credit does not duplicate this support, which is designed for their

needs unlike the social security system. Exceptions are made only where students

have additional needs that are not met through the student support system.

The full year’s award of student’s maintenance loan/grant is averaged out over the

academic year. This average usually covers 10 monthly Assessment Periods as no

student income is taken into account during the summer break. The amount taken

into account is subject to a £110 disregard in each of these Assessment Periods,

which is equivalent to that provided under Legacy Benefits, which includes an amount

to cover the cost of books, travel and equipment.




To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants who

transferred from (a) severe disability premium and (b) enhanced disability premium

payments to universal credit are waiting for their payments to be (i) reinstated and (ii)

backdated.


To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timescale is for all

universal credit claimants who previously received (a) severe disability premium and (b)

enhanced disability premium to (i) have their payments reinstated and (ii) receive

backdated payments.

Justin Tomlinson:

Disabled people are some of the biggest beneficiaries of Universal Credit, with

around 1 million disabled households having on average around £100 a month more

on Universal Credit than they would have had on the legacy benefits. When

designing Universal Credit, a choice was made not to replicate every aspect of the

disability provision in the previous system, including the Enhanced Disability

Premium.

The Severe Disability Premium (SDP) gateway has been in place for over a year to

prevent those claimants entitled to the SDP as part of their legacy benefit from

claiming Universal Credit. We have successfully identified eligible former SDP

claimants who have already moved to Universal Credit due to a change in

circumstances, providing them with monthly payments and a lump sum in arrears,

where appropriate.

As of 17 January 2020, 15,397 claims have been paid an SDP transitional payment.

The median value of the lump sum payments is £2,280. To date, over £51.5m has

been disbursed to support former SDP claimants, including the recurring payments

that have now commenced.

Positive progress has been made and caseload growth has now slowed, however, in

the event a new case is discovered payments will be in place quickly. It is not

possible to estimate when we will have paid everyone who is entitled as some people

become entitled to these payments retrospectively, and therefore the caseload is not

a fixed number.


To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse

was of legal challenges to her Department's policy to remove (a) severe disability

premium and (b) enhanced disability premium payments from claimants transferring to

universal credit.




Justin Tomlinson:

The Government remains committed to ensuring everyone receives the support they

need, which is why we currently spend a record £55 billion a year to support people

with disabilities. Universal Credit is a simpler system than its predecessor. By not

replicating the SDP and other premiums, we have been able to target additional

support to a wider group of claimants and create a more streamlined system. It is

important that the Government can design policy and challenge court decisions,

where appropriate, that seek to change that policy.

As at 13 February 2020, the Department has spent £215,846.89 on legal costs

defending and appealing the cases in relation to people formerly in receipt of Severe

Disability premium that have transferred to Universal Credit. These figures include

Government Legal Department litigation fees, counsel’s fees and other

disbursements, as well as VAT where payable.

Ian Byrne: [614]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for

universal credit lapsed or were withdrawn due to the death of the applicant in (a)

Liverpool West Derby constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) England since the introduction

of universal credit.

Will Quince:

The breakdown requested is not available and to provide it would incur

disproportionate costs. However, in the 12 months to end of 2019, 2,300, or less than

0.07 per cent, applications were made to Universal Credit where the claimant passed

away and the claims closed after the declaration, but prior to receiving the first

payment.

Universal Credit can be claimed by a range of working age people, some of whom

have health conditions or disabilities, which may be degenerative or life limiting. The

decision to claim Universal Credit can be prompted by a range of a factors, including

when someone is terminally ill, so mortality figures should not be viewed in isolation.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: [726]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she will make an

assessment of the potential merits of giving in-work universal credit claimants the option

to move their assessment period to reflect more closely the dates on which they receive

their earnings.

Will Quince:

The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went

live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report earnings to emphasise the

importance of timely reporting via RTI system.

Employers should already record on HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Real Time

Information (RTI) system the date a salary is scheduled to be paid, rather than the

date it is paid, where it is earlier due to a weekend, bank holiday or at Christmas.



HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of

reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary

to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to do this.

Universal Credit takes earnings into account in a way that is fair and transparent. The

amount paid reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household

during each monthly assessment period. This allows Universal Credit awards to be

adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if claimant’s incomes falls, they do not

have to wait several months for a rise in their Universal Credit award. Currently there

are no plans to change assessment periods.

Claimants can discuss queries about how fluctuating income effects Universal Credit

with their case managers and work coaches, who can also signpost to services

appropriate to individual circumstances.

Universal Credit: Vulnerable Adults


To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what additional financial support

his Department provides to vulnerable people that claim universal credit.

Will Quince:

Millions of people who move onto Universal Credit from legacy benefits are better off,

including around a million disabled households who will gain on average around £100

per month.

The Department takes seriously the need to support vulnerable claimants, and wants

the application process for Universal Credit to be as quick and easy as possible,

ensuring that claimants receive money at the earliest opportunity.

Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland have supported over 180,000

individuals through the ‘Help to Claim’ provision since April 2019, offering tailored and

practical support to help people make a Universal Credit claim up to receiving their

first full correct payment on time. ‘Help to Claim’ is available online, on the phone and

face-to-face in multiple locations including Jobcentres and Citizen’s Advice Bureaux.

We have listened to feedback on how we can improve Universal Credit to support our

claimants and acted quickly, making improvements such as extending advances,

removing waiting days, and introducing housing benefit run on. These changes are

giving support to those who need it most, whilst at the same time helping people get

into work faster.

Universal Credit: Wales

Ruth Jones: [644]

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of

the effect on low-income families of the roll-out of universal credit in (a) Newport West

constituency and (b) Wales.



Will Quince:

Universal Credit will provide an extra £2.1bn a year once full rolled out, compared to

the legacy benefits it replaces. Claimants receive better support to prepare for work,

move into work, or to increase earnings. The Universal Credit Work Allowance was

increased by £1,000 in April 2019 and means that 2.4m households will keep an

extra £630 of income each year.

MINISTERIAL CORRECTIONS

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Big Ben: Festivals and Special Occasions

Mr Mark Francois: [2442]

To ask the hon. Member representing the House of Commons Commission, what the

cost was of Big Ben chiming on (a) Remembrance Sunday 2019 and (b) New Year's Eve

2019.

An error has been identified in the written answer given on 16 January 2020. The

correct answer should have been:

Sir Paul Beresford:

The costs associated with striking Big Ben on Remembrance Sunday and New Year's

Eve in 2019 were £14.2k including VAT in total.on each occasion.

The striking of Big Ben on these occasions was coordinated around the planned

works so as to minimise the impact on the project costs and to ensure it did not result

in any delay. If the project team are required to strike the bell with less notice, the

costs would substantially increase due to the unexpected impact on the project

schedule.


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