Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what funding UK Defence and Security Exports offers to companies to exhibit at international defence and security trade shows.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UK Defence and Security Exports does not offer any funding to companies to exhibit at international defence and security trade shows. UKDSE offers other services to companies such as equipment demonstration through the Export Support team and opportunity to purchase space on the main UK stand at some events.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will review the (a) surplus sharing and (b) other arrangements of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has been consistent in its willingness to consider any proposals that the Trustees bring forward. Ministers have previously been willing to discuss proposals including those which would alter the surplus sharing arrangements.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children have been waiting longer than (a) 18 and (b) 24 months for a community paediatric appointment as of 17 April 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle violence and sexual offences in Preston.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
As part of steps taken through our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, we are tackling perpetrators and supporting victims.
We have provided funding to the Lancashire PCC to roll out the Drive Project, which focuses on the most serious domestic abuse offenders to prevent them from abusing again, and funded Preston based Saraha to provide bilingual, comprehensive, face-to-face support service for women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who are victims of domestic abuse.
Nationally, we have invested £9.4 million to develop a New Operation Model for the investigation of rape through Operation Soteria. This ensures investigations are suspect based. All police forces in England and Wales are now implementing this new approach to rape investigations and we have provided £8.5m in 2023/24 to continue to support policing to improve their response to rape.
Through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds, we have invested over £150 million to deliver interventions to tackle violence against women, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime.
This includes just over £3.4m for Lancashire, of which £146,568 has been awarded to Preston City Council to fund interventions such as the installation of CCTV, the deployment of taxi stewards and night-time economy sector training, along with improvements to accommodation for services assisting women at risk and recovery services for victims of sexual violence.
Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £8m for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in Lancashire. VRUs bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area, including sexual abuse and domestic abuse.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the graduate visa route on export earnings.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government remains committed to sustainable growth in student numbers and the International Education Strategy ambition to host 600,000 international students a year. The Department for Business and Trade is aware of the potential impact of any changes to the Graduate Route visa via assessments made by stakeholders such as Universities UK. To that end, HMG’s International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, is advising the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Graduate Route.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to ensure that people who are arrested are tested to see if their drink has been spiked.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Home Office has no plans to implement mandatory spiking testing for arrestees.
We urge anyone who believes they or someone around them has been spiked to contact the police as soon as possible to report the incident and submit a urine sample for testing through the approved lab-based process. Incidents can also be reported online - including anonymously.
Individuals who have been arrested by the police but believe they have been spiked can raise this with them and submit a sample for testing.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential impact of the increased Minimum Income Requirement on (a) women and (b) people belonging to specific ethnicities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Minister for Women and Equalities wrote to all Government departments in December last year reminding them of their statutory duty to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty when shaping policy and delivering services. The duty requires public authorities to ensure that equality issues are actively considered in order to remove or minimise disadvantage. As part of the Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty includes the protected characteristics of sex and race.
To assist departments' compliance with the duty, the Minister for Women and Equalities provided updated Public Sector Equality Duty guidance.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his Department’s policy to extend the service of the Type 45 Destroyer beyond 2038.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Type 45 Destroyer Class is currently due to be Out of Service in 2038 and no decision has been taken on an extension beyond this date.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to secure contributions towards the costs of building safety remediation from (a) cladding manufacturers, (b) insulation manufacturers, (c) fire door manufacturers, (d) architects, (e) building contractors, (f) building control organisations and (g) warranty providers.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer my Hon Gentleman to the oral statement made in the House of Commons on 26th March 2024 (Official Report HC, Volume 747, Column 1414).
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that the infected blood interim payment process for bereaved parents and children is (a) transparent and (b) efficient.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 17th April, the Government tabled amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill which include a statutory duty to make interim payments of £100,000 to estates of the deceased infected people who were registered with existing or former support schemes (where previous interim payments have not already been made to infected individuals or their bereaved partners). This is an important step forward to get substantial compensation into the hands of families of victims of infected blood.