Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of video recording all investigation stages not being standard practice on (a) charge and (b) conviction rates.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Codes E and F of the Policing and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 governs the conduct video and audio recording of interviews of non-terrorism suspects, in-cluding appropriate safeguards. All interviews of terrorist suspects in England and Wales must be audio and visual recorded. The use of video recording for other stages of the investigatory process is an operational matter for the police. Research has not been conducted on the impact of broader recording practices.
The College of Policing published research on the impact of body worn video on outcomes. https://whatworks.college.police.uk/Research/Documents/BWV_Report.pdf This found that a significantly higher proportion of incidents attended by officers wearing a camera resulted in a charge rather than other criminal justice out-comes (e.g. cautions).
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a mandatory and consistent (a) UK-wide logo and (b) on pack information for compostable food packaging; and what plans her Department has to introduce such a policy.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Resources and Waste Strategy analysed the challenges currently facing the recycling industry in this country, setting out how we would tackle these challenges. Building on commitments in the Strategy we launched a consultation earlier this year on reforming the packaging producer responsibility system, as part of that consultation the Government proposed a mandatory UK-wide labelling system that provides clear information to help people to recycle. Following strong support for the proposal from consultation respondents, the Government is minded to take forward a mandatory labelling scheme subject to further analysis and legal considerations. Defra officials are exploring how a mandatory labelling scheme can address consumer confusion about what to do with compostable packaging. The consultation closed on 13 May and the summary of responses and next steps can be found via the below link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/packaging-waste-changing-the-uk-producer-responsibility-system-for-packaging-waste
The Government recognises that innovation into compostable and biodegradable plastics could help reduce the environmental impacts of plastics if they are disposed of in the right way. However, this is often not the case. If these plastics are put in the domestic waste bin, for example, they are likely to end up in landfill and can break down to release powerful greenhouse gases, such as methane. If mistakenly recycled with other plastics, they have the potential to damage the quality of the new products made from the recycled plastic. Furthermore, concerns persist that plastics which are claimed to be biodegradable, if littered or otherwise released into the environment in an uncontrolled way, may not degrade quickly or at all, and they can only be composted if they meet relevant standards.
As a consequence of these concerns, the Government published a call for evidence in July 2019 to help consider the development of standards or certification criteria for bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable plastics as well as to better understand their effects on the environment and our current waste system. The call for evidence closed on the 14 October 2019 and we are currently analysing the responses received to inform future policy. We currently do not have plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the matter of requiring any form of plastic packaging to be compostable.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits for (a) reducing littering and (b) increasing recycling rates by (i) banning food producers from using using the term biodegradable on food packaging and (ii) introducing a standard definition of the term with respect to the time-frame in which products must fully decompose.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Resources and Waste Strategy analysed the challenges currently facing the recycling industry in this country, setting out how we would tackle these challenges. Building on commitments in the Strategy we launched a consultation earlier this year on reforming the packaging producer responsibility system, as part of that consultation the Government proposed a mandatory UK-wide labelling system that provides clear information to help people to recycle. Following strong support for the proposal from consultation respondents, the Government is minded to take forward a mandatory labelling scheme subject to further analysis and legal considerations. Defra officials are exploring how a mandatory labelling scheme can address consumer confusion about what to do with compostable packaging. The consultation closed on 13 May and the summary of responses and next steps can be found via the below link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/packaging-waste-changing-the-uk-producer-responsibility-system-for-packaging-waste
The Government recognises that innovation into compostable and biodegradable plastics could help reduce the environmental impacts of plastics if they are disposed of in the right way. However, this is often not the case. If these plastics are put in the domestic waste bin, for example, they are likely to end up in landfill and can break down to release powerful greenhouse gases, such as methane. If mistakenly recycled with other plastics, they have the potential to damage the quality of the new products made from the recycled plastic. Furthermore, concerns persist that plastics which are claimed to be biodegradable, if littered or otherwise released into the environment in an uncontrolled way, may not degrade quickly or at all, and they can only be composted if they meet relevant standards.
As a consequence of these concerns, the Government published a call for evidence in July 2019 to help consider the development of standards or certification criteria for bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable plastics as well as to better understand their effects on the environment and our current waste system. The call for evidence closed on the 14 October 2019 and we are currently analysing the responses received to inform future policy. We currently do not have plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the matter of requiring any form of plastic packaging to be compostable.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory training on memory science for judges; and whether he will introduce mandatory training on memory science for judges.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Responsibility for judicial training rests with the Lord Chief Justice and with the Senior President of Tribunals (for the tribunals judiciary, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, in line with the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007) and is exercised through the Judicial College.
To preserve judicial independence, the judiciary and professional staff in the Judicial College are responsible for the design, content, and delivery of judicial training.
Courts and tribunals across all jurisdictions rely upon individuals accurately recalling things when giving evidence, both oral and written. The cross-jurisdictional induction and continuation seminars that deal with judicial assessment of the reliability and credibility of witnesses, refer to this during presentations and workshops.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290332 and to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290324, if he will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within the next 12 months; and for what reason his Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department will continue to use Crown Commercial Services energy frameworks and keep its tariffs under review. The Department will be considering switching to a green tariff in the next 12 months. The Department has previously purchased the standard Crown Commercial Services tariff that is recommended for Departments.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 291002 and to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290324, if he will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within the next 12 months; and for what reason his Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to supporting and playing its part in the UK Government intent to tackle climate change by transitioning to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The MOD uses the mandated Crown Commercial Services energy framework to procure the supply of electricity. The framework is designed to achieve the best value for money for the public sector. The current three-year rolling contract is due to expire on 31 March 2022. This contract does not specify a percentage of electricity that should come from renewable sources however, the future contract specification will be reviewed as part of the ongoing planning for delivering net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Procuring and generating renewable and low carbon electricity is part of a suite of measures the Department is pursuing to reduce its emissions. For example, at RAF Marham a new Generating Plant built by Future Biogas now supplies power to the site. Further opportunities to directly source renewable electricity through long term power purchase agreements and on-site generation are also being pursued.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Scunthorpe constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates1.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as at end of September 20192:
In the Scunthorpe constituency since 2012, approximately 9,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1370 employers have met their duties.
1Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
2The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink:
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290329 on Department for International Development: Energy Supply and to the Answer on 1 October 2019 to Question 290324 on Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Energy Supply, if he will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within the next 12 months; and for what reason his Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
DFID’s UK estate comprises two joint-headquarters, 22 Whitehall in London and Abercrombie House in Glasgow. DFID’s current energy supplier for both offices are EDF Energy for electricity. DFID’s energy is contracted via the Cabinet Office’s Crown Commercial Service Framework. DFID intends to take advantage of renewable energy options under the new Crown Commercial Service Framework when putting in place new energy supply arrangements. As highlighted in DFID’s 2018-19 Annual Report and Accounts (link), DFID has a strong record of improving environmental performance and is working towards meeting the Greening Government Commitment targets (link) in the UK by end of financial year 2019-20.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 2 October 2019 to Question 291004 and to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290324, if he will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within the next 12 months; and for what reason his Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Government departments are mandated to use Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Energy frameworks for the supply of electricity. EDF is the current supplier and the current arrangement lasts until March 2022.
We are exploring with CCS how to increase the percentage of energy sourced from renewables. This includes the feasibility of changing the current percentage mix, the costs of securing matched renewable energy through obtaining Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origination (REGOs), and the timescales for doing so.
To date the Department has prioritised energy efficiency and spend to save investment on its estate. But as part of the MoJ’s commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 or sooner, the Department is exploring options for increased on-site renewable energy generation, and low and no carbon energy supply.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 2 October 2019 to Question 290335 and to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290324, if he will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within the next 12 months; and for what reason his Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The electricity used by the FCO across its UK estate is procured using the Crown Commercial Service (CCS). CCS is an executive agency and trading fund of the Cabinet Office of the British Government.
Through their competitively tendered Energy related commercial agreements, CCS ensure all legislation is adhered to including the environmental standards of suppliers. CCS is not able to dictate the sources of power to be supplied to the government departments as this is internal policy driven. The FCO is currently receiving electricity from the standard UK supply mix, however they have the option to access renewable energy from a variety of alternative routes, taking into account the additional financial commitment.
The current CCS framework under which the FCO procures its electricity expires in 2023. Under the CCS framework, the electricity is supplied by EDF. The electricity supplied is not solely from renewable resources. The CCS Framework does provide the ability to have electricity solely from renewable resources. The FCO is investigating this option.
The FCO actively seeks to manage its energy consumption as demonstrated by having reduced carbon emissions associated with its UK energy consumption from 9,485 tCO2e in 2017/18 to 7,357 tCO2e in 2018/19, a reduction of 22.44%.