Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current status of the Dashboard of Retained EU Law, with particular reference to those instruments (1) to be revoked, or (2) subject to sunset, by 31 December 2023.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There are currently 5020 pieces of Retained EU Law (REUL) on the dashboard. This will be updated in January.
At the end of the year around 700 pieces of REUL will be revoked via schedule 1 of the Act (“the revocation schedule”) and subsequent secondary legislation.
Unless it is actively revoked, no REUL will sunset. The Government changed approach from a sunset to the revocation schedule, to provide clarity for business and allow the Government to focus on reform.
Further REUL will be revoked throughout 2024, delivering on our ambition to reduce burdens for business and cut red tape.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the illegal use of privately owned e-scooters driven in public places, and what measures they intend to take to impose penalties for their illegal use.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Private e-scooters remain illegal to use on public roads, cycle lanes and pavements. Those riding illegally are subject to the same road traffic offences and penalties for unlawful use as all other motor vehicles.
Users can face fixed penalty notices, criminal prosecution, points on their driving licence, and having their e-scooter seized. How resources are deployed to tackle illegal riding is a matter for Chief Officers according to local policing plans.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the logistics sector to the economy.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has not made an assessment of the economic impact of the decline in the UK’s ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI).
According to the latest available data published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the Transport and Storage Sector contributed £83.5 billion Gross Value Added to the UK economy in 2021. It should be noted that this figure includes some sub-sectors not specific to logistics. A breakdown by sub-sector is available within the ONS published Annual Business Survey statistics.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the economy of any decline in the UK's ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has not made an assessment of the economic impact of the decline in the UK’s ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI).
According to the latest available data published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the Transport and Storage Sector contributed £83.5 billion Gross Value Added to the UK economy in 2021. It should be noted that this figure includes some sub-sectors not specific to logistics. A breakdown by sub-sector is available within the ONS published Annual Business Survey statistics.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce a zero rate of VAT for repairs of rural churches.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Whilst there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport already administer the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This aims to redress financial shortfalls by providing grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship. With annual funding increased to £42 million per annum, the scheme handles around 7,000 claims per annum and has made grants totalling over £300 million to date.
Going further by zero rating all repairs of rural churches would impose significant additional pressure on the public finances to which VAT makes a significant contribution.
There are no plans to introduce a new VAT relief for the repair of rural churches. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rise in shoplifting; and what steps they will take to reduce these offences.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities and consumers. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.
However, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 25% in the 12 months to June 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 29% in the year ending June 2023.
We have recently made significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting.
In October, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all police forces in England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to further aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.
October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership, which involves retailers providing data, intelligence and evidence to Opal, the national police intelligence unit on organised acquisitive crime, to develop a better strategic picture and help forces crack down on serious offenders.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many fines or other penalties have been imposed for breaches of road traffic laws by (1) e-bikes, and (2) e-scooters, in each of the past six months.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences in England and Wales on an annual basis, as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Other PACE’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data, up to 2021, is available here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118166/fixed-penalty-notices-and-other-motoring-offences-statistics-police-powers-and-procedures-year-ending-31-december-2021.ods
However, the Home Office does not centrally collect data on the type of vehicle involved in the offence.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of farmland in mitigating potential flood damage by retaining excess water on fields in times of floods, and whether they have plans to reward farmers in this regard.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Farmers and land managers can, and do, play a key role in helping to mitigate flood risks, by taking actions which encourage infiltration into the soil, transpiration, slowing the flow of water through a catchment and, in the event of a flood, temporarily storing water away from a watercourse to help protect communities, infrastructure and businesses (including agricultural businesses) downstream.
There will be measures that benefit flood risk mitigation in all three Environmental Land Management schemes: Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship, and Landscape Recovery.
Some areas of land will flood naturally. Anyone farming on a natural flood plain should expect water to enter the flood plain as a result of natural processes. There is no right to compensation or other payments for natural flooding.
In some cases, the Environment Agency will create a temporary flood storage area on private land using its powers under the Water Resources Act 1991. These areas are designed in liaison with land managers and operated by the Environment Agency. Landowners are entitled to compensation to cover the losses and damages they incur when such a scheme is carried out on their land.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage more GPs to practice in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that there are issues with recruitment and retention in certain areas of the country, including some rural locations. We launched the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme in 2016, which has attracted hundreds of doctors to train in hard to recruit locations, including many rural areas, by providing a one-off financial incentive of £20,000. As of 2023/24, there are 782 places available on the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to restore the balance in funding between primary and secondary care to ensure primary care has the resources to train, recruit and retain GPs.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for General Practice and Primary Care Networks has increased to £11.5 billion in 2023/24.
The Government remains committed to growing the general practitioner (GP) workforce and number of doctors in general practice and is determined to deliver this as soon as possible. We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.
NHS England has made available several retention schemes available to boost the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
To boost recruitment, we have increased the number of GP training places. Last year, we saw 4,032 doctors accepting a place on GP training, up from 2,671 in 2014. The number of training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places available from September 2025.