Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support shop workers who are victims of retail crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact crime can have, not only on businesses but also the wider community and consumers. I have been clear I expect a zero-tolerance approach to retail crime and shoplifting and have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response.
In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, the police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender.
In 2022, we introduced a statutory aggravating factor for assault against those who are serving the public. Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 means the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences, allowing the court to give a longer sentence within the statutory maximum for the offence.
These legislative and operational changes will go a long way to provide a better response to victims. We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to retail crime is as robust as it can be for the victims of this crime.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of fire risk posed by battery storage facilities.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 6137 on 18 December 2023.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a restriction on battery storage facilities being built within 500 metres of residential areas.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer my Rt Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 6137 on 18 December 2023.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of presenting medallic recognition to the service personnel who served on HMS Diamond while it was stationed in the Red Sea.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Medallic recognition for operations is kept under continuous review by the Ministry of Defence. The case for a medal would be considered on the basis of a recommendation made by the Operational Commander to the Operations Recognition Board, which would in turn make recommendations to the Chiefs of Staff and Ministers.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of passengers that have passed through Stone, Staffordshire on trains since 2009.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department holds entry/exit data for passengers using Stone train station on a financial year basis. The number of passengers entering/exiting Stone station grew from 48,054 in 2009-10 to 214,040 in 2022-23. Whilst West Midlands Trains has been the operator since 2017, any data prior to this relates to London Midland.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department is providing to local authorities on the distribution of funding for high streets.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There is a range of support options available to encourage regeneration of high streets and we advise local authorities on how to make the best use of these. This support includes provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act for High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) which give local authorities new powers to force landlords to rent out vacant units in high streets, as well as the High Street Accelerator pilot programme and the Government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns to drive ambitious plans for regeneration.
Long-term investment also includes £2.35 billion of Town Deals and over £830 million of Future High Streets Funding across 170 high streets, town centres and local communities in England.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Future High Streets Fund will be extended to smaller high streets.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There is a range of support options available to encourage regeneration of high streets and we advise local authorities on how to make the best use of these. This support includes provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act for High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) which give local authorities new powers to force landlords to rent out vacant units in high streets, as well as the High Street Accelerator pilot programme and the Government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns to drive ambitious plans for regeneration.
Long-term investment also includes £2.35 billion of Town Deals and over £830 million of Future High Streets Funding across 170 high streets, town centres and local communities in England.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to regulate the frequency of bus services.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government recognises that frequent bus services are vital and has invested to protect them. How frequently bus services operate is a local decision and the responsibility of bus operators and Local Transport Authorities. While Enhanced Partnerships can place upper limits on frequencies, LTAs can subsidise frequency increases above the service levels provided commercially to meet local need. Since 2020, we have invested over £3.5 billion in buses, including a recently announced further £300 million to protect and enhance services from July 2023 to April 2025. Following the redirection of HS2 funding, on 23 October the government announced over £250 million will be allocated to local authorities in the Midlands to improve bus services.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that the costs of charging electric vehicles in public places remain affordable.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has recently laid regulations to improve the consumer experience across the public charging network. The regulations will ensure that pricing information is transparent, payment methods are simplified, charge points are reliable and public charge point data is freely available for consumers.
Through these regulations, the Government will ensure that drivers can get value for money by comparing prices across different public charge points through a single format of pence per kilowatt hour, similar to pence per litre of fuel.
Overall, in many cases electric vehicle drivers can benefit from savings on the cost of fuel compared to conventional combustion engines.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to hold discussions with car manufacturers on helping to ensure there is a provision of a range of wheelchair accessible battery electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government will continue to engage with vehicle manufacturers in the UK and other industry stakeholders to support the provision of zero emission wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs). It is already supporting the uptake of WAVs through the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate and Plug in Vehicle Grant.