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Written Question
Defence: Industry
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 18 of the Defence Command Paper 2023, what criteria his Department has developed for determining cases in which there is an essential national security requirement for certain industrial capabilities to be available onshore within the UK.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The 2023 Defence Command Paper reinforces a key message of the 2021 Defence and Security Industrial Strategy: the need for our investment decisions to take into consideration any implications for the UK’s Operational Independence.

Our considerations include identifying the industrial capabilities required to support and upgrade in-service equipment (including manufacture of the most critical components); the ability to conduct military operations as we choose; and, the ability to respond to urgent operational requirements arising during operations.


Written Question
Defence Equipment: Procurement
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Defence Command Paper 2023: Defence’s response to a more contested and volatile world published in July 2023, what steps his Department is taking in its procurement process to ensure that the UK has access to (a) key materials, (b) components and (c) critical technology.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) operates a range of initiatives to identify and address threats to our supply chains, including access to materials, components and technology. We are developing an extensive MOD-wide Supply Chain Resilience Programme, which aims to prioritise the mapping of our most critical supply chains. In addition, through the Defence Suppliers Forum Supply Chain Resilience Working Group, we work closely with industry and maintain an open dialogue to identify and put in place the measures needed to protect the supply chains of our key programmes, whilst maintaining the resilience of the UK’s industrial and technology base.


Written Question
Hate Crime: Police Cautions
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to issue guidance to the police on requirements to refer to the Crown Prosecution Service when using the new diversionary caution for hate crime offences.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As set out in the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act 2022, the Government legislated for a reformed two-tier cautions framework in England and Wales.

We have consulted on a draft Code of Practice to support future implementation. This covers the use, administration, and scrutiny of Diversionary and Community Cautions. The draft Code of Practice stipulates that a Diversionary or Community Caution may be given for a hate crime case but only once authorisation has been obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service. The draft Code of Practice was put to public consultation from 2 August to 13 October 2023 and invited views on the operational impact of the draft Code, including the approach to excluded offences.

Currently, we are analysing the consultation responses received to inform any necessary revisions to the draft Code of Practice and we will publish a Government response to the consultation in due course.


Written Question
Hate Crime
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people convicted of hate crimes in magistrates' courts were sentenced to undergo a rehabilitative programme in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We do not centrally hold data on offences motivated by hostility or prejudice towards an individual based on a personal characteristic. This information may be held on court record, however, the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The latest data on the number of offenders starting a community order or suspended sentence order supervised by the Probation Service with a rehabilitative programme imposed can be found in the Offender Management Statistics quarterly publication here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/653854823099f9000d7f30a4/Probation_Q2_2023.ods.


Written Question
Hate Crime
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what rehabilitative programmes are provided by the Probation Service to help tackle hate crime; and whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the impact of these programmes on levels of recidivism.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

There are no rehabilitative programmes or interventions designed specifically to address hate crime. Hate crime offences are typically driven by a range of underlying factors that are shared with other types of offending for which there are a range of programmes and interventions available that may be suitable. What programme(s) or intervention(s) may be most suitable for someone convicted of hate crime offences is determined based on the nature of the offence and an assessment to determine eligibility and the specific rehabilitative needs of the offender.

A number of studies and evaluations have been carried out in recent years on HMPPS rehabilitative programmes and interventions, and can be found by visiting https://www.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-law#research_and_statistics.


Written Question
Hate Crime: Reoffenders
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reoffending rates were for people convicted of (a) racially-aggravated, (b) religiously-aggravated and (c) other hate crime offences who (i) received a (A) caution and (B) fine and (ii) were imprisoned in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We do not centrally hold data on other hate crime offences. This information may be recorded by individual police forces and in court records, however the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

There are 79,456 offenders in the latest reoffending cohort (October – December 2021) which can be found in the Proven Reoffending Statistics review, here:

Proven reoffending statistics: October to December 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Drugs: Manufacturing Industries
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress she has made on negotiations with the pharmaceutical sector.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

  • A new voluntary scheme has been agreed in principle by the government, NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and will run for 5 years from 1st January 2024.

  • It is a landmark deal that is set to save the NHS around £14 billion over 5 years in medicines costs that can be used to provide the best possible treatment and care for NHS patients, grow the workforce and cut waiting lists.


Written Question
Cyprus: British Nationals Abroad
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what information his Department holds on the number of British citizens who are not able to travel directly to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; and whether he has had recent discussions with his Turkish Cypriot counterpart on this matter.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" as an independent state. Under the Chicago Convention, only the Republic of Cyprus may designate an airport for international flights. It has not done so for Ercan airport. As such, it is not possible to fly directly between the UK and the north of Cyprus. Ministers have not discussed this topic with the Turkish Cypriot administration and the FCDO does not hold information about how many British citizens are unable to travel directly to the north of Cyprus.


Written Question
Cyprus: Military Bases
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had recent discussions with the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on proposals to establish a new Sovereign Base Area under a two-state solution in Cyprus.

Answered by James Heappey

In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" as an independent state. The Secretary of State for Defence has not had any discussions with the Turkish Cypriot leader about UK basing or the Sovereign Base Areas on the island of Cyprus.


Written Question
Airports: Mental Health Services
Wednesday 15th November 2023

Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will have discussions with airport operators on the adequacy of provision within airports for people with (a) autism and (b) other conditions that cause sensory overload.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Aviation accessibility is a priority for government. The Department for Transport is in regular discussions with airport operators and will be hosting workshops on accessibility with the industry in November. These will include considerations around non-visible disabilities and neurodiversity. The government's Disability and Access Ambassador for Aviation also ran a workshop on 5 October 2023 covering how the UK standard for designing and managing the built environment for people with neurodiversity, ‘Design for the Mind,’ can be incorporated into UK airports.