To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


View sample alert

Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Wandsworth Prison: Drugs
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the positive rate for random mandatory drug tests carried out at HMP Wandsworth was in the latest period for which data is available.

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

The latest period for which random mandatory drug tests (rMDT) data is available is the year April 2022 to March 2023 (2022-2023). 18% of random mandatory drug tests (rMDT) in Wandsworth were positive for either traditional or psychoactive drugs throughout 2022-23.

We are doing more to tackle the supply of drugs in prisons. Our £100m Security Investment Programme completed in March 2022 and delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, supplying full coverage across the closed male estate. We have also installed 84 X-ray baggage scanners at 49 sites, drug detection machines and metal detection archways. Furthermore, we are taking steps to support individuals with substance misuse issues in prison. We have dramatically increased the number of incentivised substance-free living units, where prisoners commit to living drug-free with incentives and regular testing. Over 70 prisons now have an ISFL, up from 25 in summer 2022.


Written Question
Metals: Recycling
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many unlicensed metal recyclers have been prosecuted in the past (1) three years, (2) five years, and (3) 10 years; and what steps they are taking to increase the number of prosecutions.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We absolutely recognise the distress and disruption metal theft can cause, not only to businesses, but also local communities.

The latest published statistics for the year ending March 2023 showed the number of metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales was down by 54% compared with the year ending March 2013.

The Government supported the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to reverse an upward trend in the level of metal theft through better regulation of the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. The 2013 Act requires anyone carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer to be licensed by their local authority. The Act also provides police and licensing authority officers with a power to issue a closure notice if they are satisfied the premises are not licensed but are being used by a scrap metal dealer in the course of business; and to subsequently apply to the magistrates’ court for a closure order.

The Home Office continues to work closely with the National Police Chief Councils (NPCC) through the NPCC Metal Crime Steering Group, which brings together partner agencies to ensure a robust response to metal theft.

The Home Office also provided funding in the financial year 2020-21 to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures the national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. Membership of the Partnership includes infrastructure companies such as rail, telecoms and utility companies, who work together to monitor trends in metal theft, share intelligence, target offenders and implement crime prevention measures. The Partnership has provided training for over 2000 police officers and other agencies in the responsibilities under the Act and how to enforce it.

Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the ‘Criminal Justice System’ for England and Wales every quarter. This includes ‘summary offences under Scrap Metal Dealers Act’; The statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023.


Written Question
Metals: Recycling
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government who holds responsibility for tackling unlicensed metal recyclers between the different police services and local authorities.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We absolutely recognise the distress and disruption metal theft can cause, not only to businesses, but also local communities.

The latest published statistics for the year ending March 2023 showed the number of metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales was down by 54% compared with the year ending March 2013.

The Government supported the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to reverse an upward trend in the level of metal theft through better regulation of the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. The 2013 Act requires anyone carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer to be licensed by their local authority. The Act also provides police and licensing authority officers with a power to issue a closure notice if they are satisfied the premises are not licensed but are being used by a scrap metal dealer in the course of business; and to subsequently apply to the magistrates’ court for a closure order.

The Home Office continues to work closely with the National Police Chief Councils (NPCC) through the NPCC Metal Crime Steering Group, which brings together partner agencies to ensure a robust response to metal theft.

The Home Office also provided funding in the financial year 2020-21 to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures the national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. Membership of the Partnership includes infrastructure companies such as rail, telecoms and utility companies, who work together to monitor trends in metal theft, share intelligence, target offenders and implement crime prevention measures. The Partnership has provided training for over 2000 police officers and other agencies in the responsibilities under the Act and how to enforce it.

Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the ‘Criminal Justice System’ for England and Wales every quarter. This includes ‘summary offences under Scrap Metal Dealers Act’; The statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023.


Written Question
Recycling
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure high recycling rates under the Simpler Recycling policy; and how such rates will be assessed to give consumers confidence.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Simpler Recycling will aim to make recycling clearer and more consistent across England. All household and non-household premises (such as businesses, schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core groups: metal; glass; plastic; paper and card; food waste; garden waste (household only). Furthermore, packaging producers will be required to label packaging as ‘Recycle’ or ‘Do Not Recycle’ adopting a single label format which incorporates the Recycle Now symbol.


Written Question
Inland Waterways: Pollution
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of inland waterways that are contaminated by expired mine workings.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In 2021, the Environment Agency estimated that contaminated groundwater discharged from abandoned metal and coal mines was polluting more than 1,500km (3%) of rivers in England (see Mine waters: challenges for the water environment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).

In 2023, Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan outlined the Environment Act target to halve the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by cadmium, lead, nickel, zinc, copper and/or arsenic from abandoned metal mines by 2038, against an estimated baseline of around 1,500km. This baseline length of rivers and estuaries polluted by abandoned metal mines will be updated later in 2024.


Written Question
Welding: Health Hazards
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) provide information to welders on and (b) help protect welders from the potential health risks associated with mild steel welding fume.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has taken the following steps to provide information to welders:

  • The specific HSE guidance to businesses on welding fume control was updated in the form of the COSHH Essentials Welding Sheet WL3 (Welding fume control (hse.gov.uk)).

  • HSE’s website has a wide range of guidance and resources on the safety and health hazards associated with welding (Welding - HSE). Access to HSE’s website and downloading the documents on the website is free.

  • HSE developed a multi-channel media campaign, including the Work Right Site (Campaigns Archive - Work Right to keep Britain safe), a top tips resource on preparing for inspections and regular e-bulletins and social media alerts covering welding fume control.

  • A series of presentations at stakeholder events and webinars, reaching thousands of people and hosted by multiple partners, informed duty holders about the required control measures for metal working fluids and welding.

  • The findings of the regular HSE inspection campaigns are shared and highlighted with the relevant industry stake holder groups.

HSE conducts regular inspection campaigns targeting the industries where welding is prevalent. Since 2013 there have been annual campaigns specifically focussing on metal fabrication businesses including assessment of their control of exposure to welding fume. Inspection activities in other industries, for example agriculture and construction, also address welding controls where appropriate.


Written Question
Electrical Goods: Recycling
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government why they are planning to require larger retailers to accept used electrical items for recycling, including products originally bought from other retailers, rather than using existing local authority facilities and specialist scrap metal recycling units.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Large retailers selling electrical products already have an obligation under the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 to take back equipment for recycling, including products originally bought by other retailers, on sale of an equivalent item. The cost of recycling that waste equipment, and the cost of collection and recycling equipment deposited at local authority household waste recycling centres, is met by importers and manufacturers.

With independent research from Material Focus indicating that at least 500,000 tonnes of waste electricals were lost through being thrown away, hoarded, stolen, or illegally exported every year, the government is consulting on proposals to make it easier for householders to responsibly recycle their waste electrical equipment, through whichever route they find most convenient.


Written Question
Prisons: Alcoholic Drinks
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to address alcohol harm in prisons.

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

The Ministry of Justice works closely with NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to ensure that all prisoners who need it have access to high-quality alcohol and substance misuse treatment. As part of the government’s 10-year drug strategy, DHSC has made a record £532 million of additional investment through to 2024/25 to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services


The MoJ is also investing to tackle drug and alcohol misuse and engage more offenders in treatment, including recruiting Drug Strategy Leads in key prisons to coordinate a whole-system approach, and Health and Justice Coordinators in every probation region to improve links between prison and local drug and alcohol treatment services.

We are also expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living Units where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs and alcohol, with regular drug testing and incentives. We now have over 60 of these wings across the estate, and are aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025. This will dramatically expand the number of prisoners who have access to these wings.

We are committed to tackling the supply of drugs and alcohol into prison. Our £100m Security Investment Programme completed in March 2022 and delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, resulting in full coverage across the closed male estate. We have also installed 84 X-ray baggage scanners at 49 sites, building on the rollout of our body scanners, drug trace detection machines and metal detection archways.


Written Question
River Mersey: Pollution Control
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to remedy metal contamination of bed sediments in the Upper Mersey catchment that result from (a) industry and (b) urban development.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

There are six existing voluntary mine-water treatment schemes to prevent metals from abandoned coal mine discharges entering watercourses within the Mersey Catchment, and there are currently two other prospective schemes in the National Mine-water Ranking Scheme.

There are no identified polluting metal mine discharges within the catchment of the River Mersey, and consequently no proposed schemes under that process.

Other sources of metals in river sediments are many and varied (mostly from historical industries and waste activities), but the Environment Agency (EA) only has a role in controlling discharges from current regulated activities (effluent discharges, waste management activities, landfill etc) and has no regulatory remit or resource to specifically extract metals from river sediments that have been affected by historical activities.

EA duties include regular and routine water quality monitoring on controlled waters (rivers, lakes, groundwater etc).


Written Question
Metals: Sales
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the process for the sale of scrap metal from the ex-Redcar Steelworks has brought value for money for the public.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

The independent panel’s report was published on Monday 29 January and found no evidence of illegality of corruption. The report also made several recommendations on governance and oversight. The Secretary of State asked the mayor to consider these carefully, working with the Combined Authority and partners as appropriate, to provide him with an initial report by 8 March on how he intends to respond to the panel’s recommendations.

The Secretary of State is clear that he will not take decisions on further action until he has considered that response.

As they were appointed to do so independently of government, the panel themselves have made their own assessments of all relevant evidence presented within the terms of reference within which they were established.