Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making the easement for levying wine duty permanent.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the new alcohol duty system, the Government introduced a wine easement for 18 months which will last until February 2025. During this period, all wine between 11.5-14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) will pay duty as if it were 12.5% ABV. This gives the wine industry over two years to adapt to the new system.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on relocation agents.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Renters (Reform) Bill will deliver a fairer, more secure, and higher quality private rented sector that is fit for the 21st century. The Impact Assessment for the Bill considers the impact on letting agents (which includes relocation agents).
It estimates that as a result of familiarisation costs and more stable private rented sector tenancies, letting agents will face costs of £1,085 per agent per year over the ten-year appraisal period. The reforms may also create new opportunities for letting agents, such as services which support landlords to meet their new requirements.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is for implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of Prevent, published on 8 February 2023.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Independent Review of Prevent was published on 8 February 2023.
On 20 February 2024, the Government published the Independent Review of Prevent: One year on progress report. The report details full progress against the Review’s recommendations. This report can be found at the following link: Independent Review of Prevent - One year on progress report.
We have implemented 30 of the 34 recommendations and are making rapid progress on delivering the remaining four.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which recommendations of the Independent Review of Prevent, published on 8 February 2023, have been implemented.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Independent Review of Prevent was published on 8 February 2023.
On 20 February 2024, the Government published the Independent Review of Prevent: One year on progress report. The report details full progress against the Review’s recommendations. This report can be found at the following link: Independent Review of Prevent - One year on progress report.
We have implemented 30 of the 34 recommendations and are making rapid progress on delivering the remaining four.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will take steps to halt evictions from temporary asylum accommodation for the full duration that a severe weather emergency protocol is active.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
It has been agreed that the eviction or move on from asylum accommodation will pause for up to, but no more than three days, when Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) is activated by a local authority and an individual does not have a housing offer from elsewhere.
The Home Office is working to ensure that individuals are offered support from Migrant Help or their partner organisation when they receive a decision on their asylum claim. This support includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education entitled UNRWA Education: Textbooks and Terror, published in November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are aware of the findings of this report. We take any allegation of the promotion of racism and discrimination extremely seriously and have been clear that incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable and should have no place in education. Any allegations of breaches of UN staff regulations and rules, including neutrality breaches, are reported to FCDO and investigated. We continue to urge all parties to condemn incitement wherever and whenever it occurs.
The UK-supported 2021 review of the Palestinian Authority (PA) curriculum found improvements in content, with previously flagged materials removed. What we really need to see is further curriculum reform from the PA and we continue to raise this with them regularly.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what his policy is on the use of the term genocide in reference to Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is the UK Government's longstanding policy that any judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for the government. We are taking robust action in response to China's human rights violations in Xinjiang regardless. In October 2023, the UK led a joint statement with a record 50 signatories on Xinjiang at the UN, demonstrating a significant number of countries are prepared to call China out for its human rights violations. We have also imposed sanctions, enhanced export controls, provided guidance to businesses, and taken action to tackle forced labour in supply chains. The UK Government also consistently raises human rights violations with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels - the Foreign Secretary last did so during a call with China's Foreign Minister in December 2023.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that Departments meet the legal requirements to ensure the prevention of (a) human trafficking and (b) slave labour in supply chains.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The UK Government’s response to Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking is compliant with both domestic and international obligations, such as those covered under the Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Modern Slavery Act 2015, Illegal Migration Act 2023 and Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
All contracting authorities are strongly encouraged to follow best practice and due diligence outlined in Procurement Policy Note 02/23.
Where a supplier is found to have a high or medium risk of having modern slavery in their supply chain, the Government-owned Modern Slavery Assessment Tool is used to identify what a supplier needs to do to tackle that risk.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make it his policy to impose Magnitsky sanctions against Tucker Carlson.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO uses the Magnitsky sanctions regimes to designate those responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses and serious corruption. It is a longstanding policy that we do not comment on future sanctions designations.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans his Department has to consider mitigating factors such as imprisonment under the National Security Law for Hong Kong citizens applying for British National (Overseas) visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Applicants to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route must have no serious criminal convictions, have not otherwise engaged in behaviour which the UK Government deems not conducive to the public good, or be subject to other general grounds for refusal set out in the Immigration Rules. However, we recognise that every case has its individual circumstances therefore caseworkers have flexibility to ensure that those who have custodial sentences for crimes which are not recognised as such in the UK are not automatically refused on the BN(O) route.
In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the BN(O) route. Recent changes ensure that a person who has been placed on immigration bail due to a pending asylum claim will not have their application to the BN(O) route refused solely for that reason. To make a successful application, applicants will need to meet all the other requirements of the route.