Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what consideration his Department makes of animal welfare when determining its aid development policies.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The 2022 Strategy for International Development (IDS) set the direction for all of the UK's international development work. It outlines a patient approach and a focused set of priorities that will drive lasting, sustainable, growth, alleviate suffering and tackle the root causes of global crises. We will use all our levers, from our diplomacy to our investment and trade, to deliver our development objectives. The Action Plan for Animal Welfare demonstrates the Government's commitment to animal welfare and how we will deliver on this commitment, both at home and abroad.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase awareness of Op RESTORE procedures among GPs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Access to Op RESTORE is by general practitioner (GP) referral, therefore it is vital that there is awareness of the service in primary care. There are direct links between Op RESTORE and the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Veteran Friendly Accreditation Scheme, with accredited practices receiving information on the bespoke veterans’ services, such as Op RESTORE and Op COURAGE, including how to refer to them. To date, over 75% of primary care networks have at least one GP practice that is accredited as veteran friendly. In addition, the service is promoted through the Royal College of General Practitioners clinical toolkits and the Op COURAGE service.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme on West Yorkshire.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We are committed to supporting the introduction of 4,000 zero emission buses and achieving an all zero-emission bus fleet across the entire UK. Across the UK, an estimated 3,400 zero emission buses have been funded so far.
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority received £30.3 million from the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme which will support the introduction of 136 zero emission buses.
We will publish the first report from the Department’s monitoring and evaluation project for the ZEBRA scheme, covering process evaluation of the pre-implementation phase of the project, in due course.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants who have entered the UK via small boat crossings are currently housed in accommodation within West Yorkshire whilst their asylum claims are being processed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.
The Home Office publishes data on asylum seekers in receipt of support in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority are published in tables Asy_D11 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. Data is published on a quarterly basis, the latest information was published 23 September 2022.
The Home Office do not publish statistics which disaggregate those claiming asylum support who entered the United Kingdom via channel crossings. This information is not held in a reportable format and would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage people to become blood donors.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Since September 2021, the science relating to blood, organ and stem cell donation is taught as part of the secondary school curriculum in England, aimed at promoting awareness in young people. NHS Blood and Transplant use a range of media, marketing activity, donor and patient case studies, partnerships and engagement with faith organisations to raise awareness. Its Community Investment Scheme committed £400,000 to support 35 grassroot, community and faith-based organisations to increase awareness, understanding and behaviour change.
NHS Blood and Transplant is also diversifying the donor base, in particular, increasing donors of black heritage.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies registered within Morley and Outwood constituency have been struck off the Companies House register in the past 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Between 1st November 2021 and 31st October 2022, 575 companies with a registered office located in the Morley and Outwood parliamentary constituency were struck off the register.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of the prohibition of the consumption of dog and cat meat within Great Britain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
HM Government shares the public’s high regard for animal welfare, including the welfare of dogs and cats.
The United Kingdom is a nation of animal lovers and citizens of this country find the consumption of dog and cat meat inconceivable. HM Government strongly agrees with this view and is appalled by the prospect of dogs or cats being consumed.
HM Government has seen no evidence that dog or cat meat is being sold or consumed in this country.
There are strict rules for food businesses on the slaughter and production of meat for human consumption in the United Kingdom and dog or cat meat would not be permitted under these requirements. We also have specific laws on the sale of food in England which are enforced under the Novel Foods Regulation 2018. These regulations make it an offence to sell dog or cat meat in England.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to reduce the number of criminal offences involving the use of drugs committed in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government’s ten-year Drug Strategy, From Harm to Hope, sets out a whole system approach to reduce drug-related crime through its three priorities: breaking drug supply chains; delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system; and achieving a significant reduction in demand for illicit drugs.
The Home Office is investing £300 million over three years to mobilise a robust and innovative end-to-end plan which attacks every phase of the supply chain, and the Department for Health and Social Care a further £780 million over three years to rebuild drug treatment and recovery services.
Combating Drugs Partnerships have been set up to cover every local area across England and offer a new blueprint for local accountability. Treatment helps reduce crime and local authorities in West Yorkshire have been allocated over £7.3 million for 2022/23 to improve services in line with the ambitions of the drugs strategy.
Project ADDER, which is supporting the delivery of the strategy outcomes, trail-blazes a whole-system response to drive down drug related offending, drug deaths and drug use in 13 sites across England and Wales. In total, Wakefield’s Project ADDER funding allocation will be £1,670,000 for 2022/23, which includes both health and enforcement funding.
We have also published a white paper, ‘Swift, Certain, Tough: New Consequences for Drug Possession’ that proposes tougher, escalating penalties for so-called recreational drug users who drive the demand for drugs and fuel criminal markets.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who reside in Morley and Outwood constituency are awaiting trial.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to supporting the recovery of the courts and our decisive action kept justice moving during the pandemic. Now that barristers have returned to work, we can work together to drive down the backlog and ensure victims see justice served sooner.
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of outstanding cases at the magistrates’ court by Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) area in the Magistrates rdos tool and for outstanding cases at the Crown Court by LCJB area and Crown Court in the Crown Court rdos tool.
The data that is collated centrally does not include the addresses of individual defendants. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce the number of violent crimes committed in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to drive down serious violence. We are doing this through a twin-track approach which combines tough enforcement action with support for those most at risk; so that we can stop young people from becoming trapped in the cycle of violence in the first place.
Since 2019, the Home Office has invested £170m into the development of 20 Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the areas worst affected by serious violence, which includes establishing a VRU in West Yorkshire. VRUs bring together local partners and deliver a range of early intervention and prevention programmes to divert young people away from a life of crime. Since 2019, the West Yorkshire VRU has received c.16m to support delivery of violence reduction activity, including £5.9m in this financial year. The VRU was also successful in bidding for an additional £450k to work alongside the police to deliver targeted youth work to high-risk young people at the point of arrest.
As at 30 September 2022, West Yorkshire Police has recruited 744 additional uplift officers against a total three year allocation of 852 officers.
The deployment of officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables.