Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce reoffending rates among prolific offenders in Great Yarmouth town centre.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
In November 2024, the Home Office introduced Respect Orders to give police and local councils powers to ban persistent offenders from town centres. As well as prison sentences of up to two years, criminal courts will be able to issue unlimited fines and community orders, such as unpaid work, and curfews as punishment for breaching a Respect Order.
For those who persistently break the law, we are building 14,000 new prison places to make sure they are removed from the streets. Whilst in prison they will be expected to take part in education or learn new skills to make them more useful contributors to society after release.
The Probation Service's first priority is to protect the public. Anyone released from prison is subject to strict licence conditions, including exclusion zones where appropriate. If found to have breached these conditions they can be returned to prison.
The Probation Service puts in place services aimed at reducing re-offending by supporting the needs of people on probation in Great Yarmouth. These include providing support in obtaining and maintaining suitable accommodation, help with drug and alcohol dependency issues, assistance with personal wellbeing needs and a holistic service addressing all needs for women.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what aggregated safety data, including adverse-event summaries, the MHRA has recorded relating to the use of puberty blockers in under-18s since 2010; and whether the Department has been informed of any safety signals during that period.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from their independent advisory committee, the Commission on Human Medicines, where appropriate to inform regulatory decisions.
Puberty blockers are also known as gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. These medicines are licenced for conditions such as young children who enter puberty too early, also known as precocious puberty, prostate cancer, and endometriosis. The use of GnRH analogues to suppress puberty in children and young people with gender dysphoria is off-label prescribing. This means that the use of these medicines for this purpose is outside of the licensed uses, and as such the benefits and risks of the medicine for use in this specific population have not been assessed. The MHRA does not regulate off-label use.
The MHRA has received three United Kingdom suspected adverse drug reaction reports in which a GnRH analogue has been reported as being used in a child or young person for the purpose of puberty suppression in gender dysphoria. The GnRH analogues included in this search were buserelin, leuprorelin, goserelin, gonadorelin, nafarelin, and triptorelin. Please note it is not mandatory to provide information on indication when submitting an adverse drug reaction report.
It is important to note that a reaction reported to the Yellow Card scheme does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the medicine, only that the reporter had a suspicion it may have. Underlying or concurrent illnesses may be responsible, or the events could be coincidental.
The MHRA has not identified any safety signals which concern the off-label use of the GnRH analogues for the purpose of puberty suppression in gender dysphoria. However, we acknowledge that there is a clear lack of clinical evidence for the safety and efficacy of using these medicines for gender incongruence and/or dysphoria in those aged 18 years old and under. That is why NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research have commissioned a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones on young people’s physical, social, and emotional well-being.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees for the last financial year was nil and (ii) other similar membership subscriptions was nil.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department reviews NHS England expenditure reports relating to the prescribing of puberty blockers for children; and whether (a) financial oversight and (b) risk assessments have been conducted since 2010.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All arms-length bodies, including NHS England, are held to high standards of financial responsibility and publish annual reports and accounts which are laid before Parliament.
Gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues, or puberty blockers, have been prescribed to children under 16 years of age in England for licenced uses, for instance precocious puberty and endometriosis, and off label uses, such as gender dysphoria. The cost of prescribing drugs to a patient is met by the patient's integrated care board.
Regarding risks assessments conducted since 2010, in March 2024 NHS England published a suite of documentation relating to its decision to remove gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues as a routine treatment option in the National Health Service for children under 18 years old with gender dysphoria. This documentation included a review of the published evidence, which concluded that there is very limited evidence about safety, risks, benefits, and outcomes for the use of this medication in children with gender dysphoria.
Restrictions on the sale and supply of these medicines via private and NHS prescriptions were introduced in May 2024. As part of that legislation the Government conducted a targeted consultation and sought advice on patient safety from the independent Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) and Cass Review.
The Government response to the consultation, the full report of the CHM, and the Cass review are available publicly, and respectively, at the following three links:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20250310143633/https://cass.independent-review.uk/
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what evidence NICE has identified as the basis for its clinical assessment of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria; and whether NICE has undertaken (a) scoping and (b) evaluation exercises since 2015.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not developed guidance on, or made a clinical assessment of, puberty blockers for gender dysphoria. In 2020, NICE developed two evidence summaries:
These summaries were commissioned by NHS England and developed by NICE to an NHS England process. They helped inform the Cass review.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions for fly-tipping were brought in Great Yarmouth in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of whether current penalties are a sufficient deterrent.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights communities and the environment and dealing with it imposes significant costs on both taxpayers and businesses. Anyone caught fly-tipping may be prosecuted and faces potentially serious punishment.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions relating to fly tipping in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Relevant offences can be filtered by using the offence filter and selecting 91.1 Offences related to fly-tipping - Triable either way.
Data is not published separately for Great Yarmouth, however, there have been no prosecutions for this offence at Great Yarmouth magistrates court in year ending June 2025.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts. Parliament has provided the courts with a broad range of sentencing powers to deal effectively and appropriately with offenders, including discharges, fines, community sentences, suspended sentences and custodial sentences.
The maximum penalty for fly-tipping is 5 years custody. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors. The courts also have a statutory duty to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
The Government keeps the sentencing framework under ongoing review to ensure that it remains fit for purpose.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of Answers to Parliamentary written questions on absconded foreign national offenders and irregular migrants.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has no plans to commission an independent review into the Department’s handling, recording, and disclosure of absconder data. The Department already undertakes:
The Department remains committed to maintaining robust and transparent processes, ensuring compliance with all relevant standards and obligations. It is also dedicated to continuous improvement and will review and strengthen its procedures whenever necessary.
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions. Departmental performance on Written Parliamentary Questions is published at the end of each session by the Procedure Committee and is therefore publicly available.
All Parliamentary Questions are reviewed and cleared by Ministers prior to publication including those referring to absconders.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will commission an independent review into her Department's handling, recording and disclosure of absconder data.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has no plans to commission an independent review into the Department’s handling, recording, and disclosure of absconder data. The Department already undertakes:
The Department remains committed to maintaining robust and transparent processes, ensuring compliance with all relevant standards and obligations. It is also dedicated to continuous improvement and will review and strengthen its procedures whenever necessary.
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions. Departmental performance on Written Parliamentary Questions is published at the end of each session by the Procedure Committee and is therefore publicly available.
All Parliamentary Questions are reviewed and cleared by Ministers prior to publication including those referring to absconders.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she received internal representations on the adequacy of Ministerial replies to Parliamentary Questions on absconders prior to their publication.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has no plans to commission an independent review into the Department's handling, recording, and disclosure of absconder data. The Department already undertakes:
The Department remains committed to maintaining robust and transparent processes, ensuring compliance with all relevant standards and obligations. It is also dedicated to continuous improvement and will review and strengthen its procedures whenever necessary.
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions. Departmental performance on Written Parliamentary Questions is published at the end of each session by the Procedure Committee and is therefore publicly available.
All Parliamentary Questions are reviewed and cleared by Ministers prior to publication including those referring to absconders.