Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of steps his Department is taking to help reduce global (a) spread of lethal disease and (b) infant mortality among individuals who lack access to adequate toilet facilities.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government is committed to improving global health and ending the preventable deaths of children, newborns and mothers. The lack of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is still a major driver of children's illness and mortality. The Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition provided 14,800 health facilities with critical WASH supplies and services over the last three years. We support sanitation in schools in Mozambique and Ethiopia, and our new £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme will support governments to develop stronger systems critical to delivering sustainable and climate resilient WASH services - an important part of reducing the spread of disease and reducing infant mortality.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in Turkey on attacks in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
As a close NATO ally, we regularly engage the Turkish Government on regional stability, including in Syria. The Foreign Secretary most recently discussed this issue with the Turkish Foreign Minister in Ankara on 20 October. The UK recognises Turkey's legitimate security interests in the region but encourages restraint from activity that could lead to further destabilisation or civilian loss of life. Security and stability in the region are necessary to prevent worsening of the already serious humanitarian situation in northern Syria and enable the Global Coalition and its partners to continue the fight against Daesh. HMG encourages all international actors to do everything possible to ensure that sufficient aid reaches those in need.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the humanitarian situation in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria following recent attacks.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
As a close NATO ally, we regularly engage the Turkish Government on regional stability, including in Syria. The Foreign Secretary most recently discussed this issue with the Turkish Foreign Minister in Ankara on 20 October. The UK recognises Turkey's legitimate security interests in the region but encourages restraint from activity that could lead to further destabilisation or civilian loss of life. Security and stability in the region are necessary to prevent worsening of the already serious humanitarian situation in northern Syria and enable the Global Coalition and its partners to continue the fight against Daesh. HMG encourages all international actors to do everything possible to ensure that sufficient aid reaches those in need.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote active travel by key stage (a) three and (b) four students.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made any specialist training available to police forces on (a) defusing tensions between motorists and protestors undertaking non-violent direct action involving the obstruction of public highways and (b) preventing the use of vehicles as weapons against such protestors.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is regrettable that frustrated members of the public have been seen physically confronting protesters. While the government understands the frustration caused by protesters who use highly disruptive tactics to stop hard-working people going about their lives, there is no justification for acts of violence.
The police have comprehensive powers to deal with any individual who exhibits violent or threatening behaviour. The College of Policing is the organisation which sets standards and publishes police guidance and is operationally independent. The College has recently worked with the National Police Chiefs' Council to publish National Protest Operational Advice (Public order public safety | College of Policing), which provides operational guidance on dealing with protests, including ensuring the safety of all those present.
In addition, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Public Order Public Safety (Public order public safety | College of Policing) was updated on 8 June 2023 and provides guidance on the policing of major events. The document signposts to the National Protest Operational Advice document.
The Government has recently introduced new legislation in the form of the Public Order Act 2023 and amended existing provisions in the Public Order Act 1986 to ensure that the police have the powers they need to deal with highly disruptive protests. By giving the police these new powers, we will reduce the likelihood of frustrated members of the public engaging in violent or threatening behaviour in response to disruptive protests. In some cases, the use of these new powers has enabled police to clear the streets of protesters in as little as three minutes.
The Home Office does not hold any data on the number of assaults recorded by motorists against protesters. A review into the recording of NCHI, reporting to the Policing Minister, is underway.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of assaults recorded by motorists against protestors undertaking non-violent direct action involving the obstruction of public highways since February 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is regrettable that frustrated members of the public have been seen physically confronting protesters. While the government understands the frustration caused by protesters who use highly disruptive tactics to stop hard-working people going about their lives, there is no justification for acts of violence.
The police have comprehensive powers to deal with any individual who exhibits violent or threatening behaviour. The College of Policing is the organisation which sets standards and publishes police guidance and is operationally independent. The College has recently worked with the National Police Chiefs' Council to publish National Protest Operational Advice (Public order public safety | College of Policing), which provides operational guidance on dealing with protests, including ensuring the safety of all those present.
In addition, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Public Order Public Safety (Public order public safety | College of Policing) was updated on 8 June 2023 and provides guidance on the policing of major events. The document signposts to the National Protest Operational Advice document.
The Government has recently introduced new legislation in the form of the Public Order Act 2023 and amended existing provisions in the Public Order Act 1986 to ensure that the police have the powers they need to deal with highly disruptive protests. By giving the police these new powers, we will reduce the likelihood of frustrated members of the public engaging in violent or threatening behaviour in response to disruptive protests. In some cases, the use of these new powers has enabled police to clear the streets of protesters in as little as three minutes.
The Home Office does not hold any data on the number of assaults recorded by motorists against protesters.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of advertisements for the sale of items prohibited under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (a) on social media platforms and (b) by online retailers; and what steps she is taking to end the sale of those items.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK has some of the toughest legislation in the world in relation to the sale of knives and offensive weapons. The sale and importation of a wide range of knives and other weapons are prohibited under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 extended these prohibitions to include possession in private. We will be banning ‘zombie style’ knives following our recent consultation on new knife legislation proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other bladed articles in crime. We will also be raising the maximum sentence for those who sell prohibited weapons to two years imprisonment.
Despite this legislation we are aware of ongoing advertising of prohibited items on social media and by online retailers. To combat advertisements on social media, Schedule 7 of The Online Safety Bill (set to achieve Royal Assent (this Autumn) sets out a series of priority offences which include the sale of weapons. Companies, including online marketplaces, will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 136537 on Harland and Wolff: Welding, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the ability of Harland and Wolff to meet its contractual obligations on the construction of the new Fleet Solid Support Ships.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Team Resolute is obliged by the Fleet Solid Support ship contract to deliver the social value and training plan. The Ministry of Defence has no direct contractual relationship with Harland & Wolff; the company is a sub-contractor to the prime, Navantia UK, within the Team Resolute consortium.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Departments planned timescale for the design and construction of the Fleet Solid Support Ships beginning with the awarding of the contract to the Team Resolute consortium in November 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On current plans, construction of the Fleet Solid Support ships will begin in 2025 with the first ship expected to enter service in 2031, and all three ships in operational service by 2032, which will deliver the Full Operating Capability for the Fleet Solid Support programme.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the British Academy's future funding plans for the British Institute at Ankara, in the context of the recent Turkish general election.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government provides funding to the British Academy for eight British International Research Institutes (BIRI), including the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA). The BIRIs are independent organisations, overseen by Boards of Trustees. The BIAA promotes academic collaboration between scholars based in the UK, Turkey and the wider Black Sea region, and acts as a centre of research excellence. The Government reviews funding and delivery of the British Academy and its BIRIs on an ongoing basis with regular reporting, monitoring and evaluation from the British Academy to ensure funding objectives are met.