Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make a cost benefit analysis of the introduction of direct democracy.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy whereby, through general elections, voters are entitled to elect an MP to represent them in the House of Commons. Parliament is responsible for making legislation and has, on occasion, made provision for specific issues to be considered by the electorate through referendums.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with his Turkish counterpart on recent Turkish military operations in Sinjar.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK recognises Turkey's right to self-defence, while fully supporting Iraq's territorial integrity. We encourage restraint from activity that could lead to loss of civilian life, or damage to civilian infrastructure. We welcome recent high-level engagement between both countries, including President Erdoğan's visit to Iraq on 22 April. As a close NATO ally, we regularly engage Turkey on regional stability. The UK Ambassador to Turkey discussed this issue with Turkey's Director General for South Asia on 27 March as did the UK National Security Advisor with his Turkish counterpart in London on 11 April.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of treating (a) smoking related illnesses and (b) alcohol related illnesses in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tobacco is uniquely harmful, with no safe level of smoking, and no other consumer product that kills two thirds of its long-term users. It causes one in four cancer deaths, including 70% of lung cancer cases, and takes approximately 80,000 lives every year. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking in England at over £21 billion. This includes an annual £18 billion loss to productivity through smoking related lost earnings, unemployment, and early death, as well as costs to the National Health Service and social care of £3 billion.
The Department estimated the annual cost of alcohol consumption to the NHS to be £4 billion in 2021. The previous estimate published alongside the Government’s 2012 Alcohol Strategy was updated to reflect inflation. The Department has begun a review of existing methods and evidence to update this estimate. The estimated costs of alcohol and smoking related illnesses to the NHS were not designed to be compared, and are based on different methods, data sources, and time periods.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her planned timetable is for providing compensation to sub-postmasters who (a) were wrongfully prosecuted using evidence from the Horizon IT system and (b) have already had their wrongful convictions overturned.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Financial redress for those postmasters whose convictions have been overturned by the courts is managed by the Post Office. As of 24 April 2024, out of the 56 full claims received, offers have been made on 47, with 40 offers accepted.
We encourage those postmasters with overturned convictions who have not yet submitted a claim to do so as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests have been made by the Irish government for the UK to accept an asylum seeker since 2016.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Prior to leaving the EU, the UK participated in the Dublin Regulation which allowed us to return third country nationals to other Member States, using the first safe country principle. Our statistics on Dublin III returns requests are published online and can be found here: (Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).
Following our departure from the EU, we agreed to an operational arrangement with Ireland which allows for the return and readmission of asylum seekers. We do not routinely publish any statistics regarding the returns requests made under our operational arrangements.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been returned to the UK from Ireland since 2016.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Prior to leaving the EU, the UK participated in the Dublin Regulation which allowed us to return third country nationals to other Member States, using the first safe country principle. Our statistics on Dublin III transfers are published online and can be found here: (Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).
Following our departure from the EU, we agreed to an operational arrangement with Ireland which allows for the return and readmission of asylum seekers. Ireland has not returned anyone to the UK under these arrangements.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a cost benefit analysis of the implementation of assisted dying.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No cost benefit analysis has been made of the implementation of assisted dying.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will extend the Children’s Hospice Grant beyond 2024–25.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has renewed the Children and Young People hospice funding for 2024/25, again allocating £25 million for children’s hospices, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as previously used. We are currently considering the future of this funding stream beyond 2024/25.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act on levels of trade between Northern Ireland and the (a) rest of the UK and (b) EU.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is carefully considering this Regulation and will be publishing an explanatory memorandum shortly, with detail on its potential impact on Northern Ireland.
Any applicability in Northern Ireland will of course be subject to the important democratic scrutiny mechanisms in the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support small rural community projects in North West Leicestershire constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)