Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help reduce the distress to animals caused by fireworks displays.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal, and this includes through the misuse of fireworks. Users of fireworks need to use them responsibly and be aware of animals close by, and those found guilty of causing animals unnecessary suffering can face up to five years’ imprisonment.
A number of animal welfare and veterinary organisations provide advice and guidance to enable people to minimise the impacts of fireworks on animal welfare. We will be working closely with these organisations to amplify this messaging in the run up to, and during, key dates when fireworks are commonly used.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of rent-to-rent schemes.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We have worked with stakeholders representing both tenants and landlords to ensure our reforms deliver a fairer and more secure private rented sector, which includes the necessary provisions for the rent-to-rent sector.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
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 potential impact of petrol leaf blowers on the environment.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
When conducting our annual assessment of air pollutant emissions, we include petrol powered leaf blowers in the “Residential: Household and gardening (mobile)” category (regardless of whether they are used in a residential setting or not). Our latest assessment (National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2021) is that in 2021, this sector, which also includes petrol-powered lawn mowers, chainsaws etc, contributed a total of 3.5 tonnes of PM2.5 (0.004% of the UK total of 83.2 kilotons) and 328.8 tonnes of NO2 (0.05% of the UK total of 677.1 kilotons).
Leaf blowers are an important tool for many in the landscaping and horticultural trades. As we continue our transition towards Net Zero we will look at ways to encourage a switch to non-fossil fuelled machinery, including mains and battery powered landscaping and horticultural equipment such as leaf blowers.
The Noise Emission in the Environment by Equipment for use Outdoors Regulations 2001 regulate certain types of outdoor machinery to control the noise they produce, in order to reduce environmental impact, particularly in urban areas. The regulations list all the equipment they apply to, which includes leaf blowers, and set permissible sound power levels that must not be exceeded.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of hospital births in 2023 were via caesarean sections.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information is not available in the format requested, as data is only available from January 2023 to November 2023. Provisional data from NHS England indicates that there were 509,647 birth episodes in total during this period, of which there was a valid delivery method recorded for 402,571 episodes. 158,562, or 39%, of these births were recorded by delivery method of caesarean.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) driving through red lights. and (b) other forms of dangerous driving.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government believes that any form of anti-social, dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue.
Enforcement of road traffic law and how available resources are deployed is the responsibility of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.
The Government will continue to support the police to ensure they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation, including in relation to the offence of driving through red lights and other forms of dangerous driving.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent the spread of bedbugs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department does not have responsibility for reducing the spread of bedbugs. Bedbugs are not an invasive species and are not known to spread diseases, although any individuals who think they have bedbugs should contact their local council or pest control service. Some further information on bedbugs is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bedbugs/
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the FCA on the prevalence of overcharging for car finance loans before 2021.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is working closely with the FCA, the FOS, and the motor finance industry to monitor the potential impact of complaints made about motor finance commission practices.
The FCA has confirmed that it will be taking steps to investigate historic practice in the motor finance sector.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 14 September 2023 to Question 198188, whether his Department has made a further assessment of the implications for his policies of the Law Commission report entitled Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law, published in July 2022; and when his Department plans to publish a response to that report.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is still carefully considering the Law Commission’s 57 recommendations for weddings reform and will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people affected by the IT issue which led to valid VAT registration numbers not being visible on the VAT Checker service.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This issue was specific to a small number of new VAT registrations not displaying on the GOV.UK service.
HMRC implemented a fix on 17 May 2023 to prevent any further problems with new VAT registrations.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that allegations of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas are investigated.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The reports of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli women and girls and other civilians are horrifying. We unequivocally condemn sexual violence in Israel and wherever it occurs in the world. Conflict-related sexual violence is an abuse of human rights and when perpetrated in the context of an armed conflict, can constitute a violation of international humanitarian law such as a war crime. We call for these reports to be fully investigated to ensure justice for victims.
The UK is committed to strengthening the global response to conflict-related sexual violence. Our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) strategy, launched in 2022, sets out the work we are leading globally to prevent Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and strengthen justice for all survivors.