Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to support (a) human rights and (b) democracy in (i) sub-Saharan Africa and (ii) other countries.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is a long-standing supporter of an open international order based on respect for democracy and human rights. Globally, our work includes holding Russia to account over its actions in Ukraine and at home and China for its actions in Xinjiang province; and supporting the Human Rights Council and the Summits for Democracy. Across Africa, our human rights work has included support to media freedom in South Sudan, human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, and tackling child exploitation in DRC. We have also partnered to support democratic institutions: for example, the judiciary in Kenya, civil society in Nigeria, and the African Union (AU), through our £7 million AU Conflict and Governance programme.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he (a) has had and (b) plans to have discussions with (i) Cabinet colleagues and (ii) relevant stakeholders on the potential merits of increasing the tax free childcare allowance.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury work closely with other Government departments and relevant stakeholders on all elements of childcare policy, including Tax-Free Childcare.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to provide humanitarian support in Haiti.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains concerned by the deteriorating security situation in Haiti which exacerbates pre-existing humanitarian and economic crises. We continue to support Haiti through our contributions to UN agencies, multi donor, pooled NGO funds, and institutions such as the World Bank Group, who are active in addressing Haiti's significant humanitarian challenges.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help prevent reoffending by people convicted of violent offences.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to tackling the causes of reoffending to keep our communities safe. Between 2010/11 and 2020/21, the overall proven reoffending rate has decreased from 31.6% to 24.4%.
Rehabilitation is critical to reducing reoffending. It is the process by which we assist people either to change themselves or improve their life circumstances, addressing their drivers of reoffending and therefore cutting crime. Rehabilitation takes many forms, ranging from the delivery of a cognitive behaviour programme to enabling a person to access suitable accommodation and the means to earn a living.
HMPPS offers 5 Accredited Programmes specifically designed for those individuals convicted of general, domestic, intimate partner violent offending: Kaizen, Becoming New Me Plus (BNM+), Building Better Relationships (BBR), New Me Strengths (NMS), and Living as New Me (LNM). The Thinking Skills Programme (TSP) is a responsive and flexible Accredited Programme that may be suitable for those offenders who do not meet the eligibility criteria for more specific programmes, as well as the New Me MOT toolkit, offering continuity of support to those who have completed the Kaizen, BNM+, or NMS programmes.
In addition to our targeted work to prevent violent crime reoffending, we are also working hard to ensure that prison leavers across the estate have the right building blocks in place to ensure they are successful on release. For example, we are helping prison leavers to secure accommodation, employment, and substance misuse treatment, all of which are essential for rehabilitation and can significantly reduce the likelihood of reoffending. We are also delivering Commissioned Rehabilitative Services which provide offenders with tailored, community-based services to support rehabilitation and drive down reoffending. On top of this, we are expanding the use of electronic monitoring for both community-based sentences and post-custody licence to help reduce the risk of reoffending and support robust offender management.
Finally, public protection work is central to the work of the Probation Service. We have also increased our baseline funding by £155 million per annum which is helping us to increase staffing and take other action to improve delivery across HMPPS so that the service can best achieve its purpose of protecting the public and reducing reoffending.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the impact of checks at ports under the Windsor Framework on the time taken for food produce consignments to clear checks.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain committed to ensuring the smooth flow of goods, reflected in the arrangements we have put in place through the NI Retail Movement Scheme and through the further elements we have set out in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper. The Government believes that the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme has been rolled out smoothly and professionally for businesses since 1 October and provides a secure basis to protect GB-NI retail agrifood movements, including in the event of further GB-EU divergence on food safety standards. But we will continue to engage intensively with the agri-food supply chain regarding the movement of goods into Northern Ireland to address any issues where they arise.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the ethnicity of offenders convicted of theft in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice holds data on the ethnicity of offenders convicted of theft offences covering the period requested and these are published and can be viewed in Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.
The tool allows users to select offences (in this case Offence ’04: Theft offences’). Yearly totals can be broken down by quarter using the Quarter variable.
The ethnicity of the offenders can be found by using either the Ethnicity or Detailed Ethnicity filter. Furthermore, the number of convictions by ethnicity can be seen by dragging the Ethnicity or Detailed Ethnicity from Filters to Rows in the PivotTable Fields.