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1724478

	registered interest
	date	30/07/2024
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Bus Services: Rural Areas
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to introduce a minimum bus service frequency standard in rural areas.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	2615
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/09/2024 answer text <p>The government knows that Britain needs a modern transport network to help kickstart economic growth. Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities. As announced in the King’s Speech, the government will introduce the Better Buses Bill to put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England, to ensure networks can meet the needs to the communities who rely on them, including in rural areas. We plan to empower local transport authorities through reforming bus funding and introducing local network safeguards, giving local transport authorities enhanced accountability over bus operators.</p> answering member constituency Wakefield and Rothwell answering member printed Simon Lightwood question first answered 02/09/2024 13:08:12 answering member 4943 label Biography information for Simon Lightwood
	tabling member	5140

1727662

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Health and Safety
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that prisons are safe workplaces for staff.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	4485
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2024 answer text <p>Staff must be able to expect a safe and decent work environment. We will not tolerate any violence against prison officers and prisoners who are violent towards staff will face the full consequences of their actions.</p><p>The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 doubled the maximum penalty to up to two years’ imprisonment for those who assault emergency workers, including prison officers. There are higher maximum penalties in place for more serious offences, including ABH, GBH and sexual assault.</p><p>We are providing targeted support to adult male prisons with the highest assault rates to tackle local drivers of violence.</p><p>We are continuing with plans for a phased removal of wet-shave razors in up to 30 prisons in the adult male estate in 2024/25.</p><p>To protect staff from serious assaults, prison officers in the adult male estate are provided with PAVA, a synthetic pepper spray. Every prison officer across public sector prisons can wear a Body Worn Video Camera whilst on shift, providing high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against those who commit assaults against staff.</p><p>We are implementing measures to ease prison crowding as we know that crowded conditions can increase violent incidents in prisons.</p> answering member constituency Scunthorpe answering member printed Sir Nicholas Dakin question first answered 10/09/2024 09:32:22 answering member 4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin
	tabling member	5140

1727663

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) protections and (b) support mechanisms are in place for whistleblowers in prisons.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	4486
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2024 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice has a comprehensive whistleblowing policy which all staff can access via the intranet. The policy sets out the protections and support available to a whistleblower. Protections include protection under the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/23/contents" target="_blank">Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA)</a> and the assurance that the Department will take disciplinary action if a whistleblower is subject to detrimental treatment as a result of having raised a concern.</p><p>Sources of support include Nominated Officers, who can advise on how to raise a concern, and specialist teams including Counter Corruption, the HM Prison and Probation Service Tackling Unacceptable Behaviours Unit, and the Department’s employee assistance provider.</p> answering member constituency Scunthorpe answering member printed Sir Nicholas Dakin question first answered 11/09/2024 16:07:23 answering member 4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin
	tabling member	5140

1728223

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that incidents of bovine TB in livestock are properly (a) monitored and (b) dealt with.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	4791
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>We know that experiencing a TB incident (or breakdown) in a cattle herd can be particularly stressful. To help cattle keepers in this situation, comprehensive guidance on how TB breakdowns are monitored and dealt with can be found on the TB Hub website: (<a href="https://tbhub.co.uk/advice-during-a-tb-breakdown/" target="_blank">https://tbhub.co.uk/advice-during-a-tb-breakdown/</a>).</p><p> </p><p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) follow well-established protocols in all herds affected by a TB breakdown, working closely with the affected herd keeper to contain and eradicate the infection, enabling the herd to regain its Officially TB Free (OTF) status. Several steps are taken, including:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Immediate application of herd movement restrictions. Only limited and controlled movements of TB-restricted cattle are permitted. Cattle from TB-restricted holdings can only move to slaughter and certain other limited destinations under a licence issued by APHA.</li><li>All animals over 42 days old in the affected herd are tested at 60-day intervals (often using a more severe interpretation of the tuberculin skin test), until two consecutive test results are achieved.</li><li>Supplementary interferon-gamma blood testing is used alongside the skin test in some TB breakdown herds.</li><li>All TB test reactors (and, in some cases, non-reactor animals in direct contact with known infected cattle) are rapidly removed to designated slaughterhouses, triggering statutory compensation payments to the keeper. Alternatively, keepers can opt for private slaughter of their TB reactors if they prefer.</li></ul> answering member constituency Cambridge answering member printed Daniel Zeichner question first answered 17/09/2024 10:26:38 answering member 4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner
	tabling member	5140

1728224

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support farmers who experience outbreaks of bovine TB to recover.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	4792
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>We recognise the serious impacts that bovine TB (bTB) breakdowns can have on the affected farm businesses and on local rural communities. In addition to statutory payments to compensate farmers for the loss of any animals removed for TB control reasons, Defra provides support and help to affected livestock keepers (and their families) in different ways:</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>The </strong><strong>Defra-funded TB Advisory Service</strong> (<strong>TBAS</strong>) (<a href="https://www.tbas.org.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.tbas.org.uk/</a>) offers free, bespoke, practical and cost-effective advice to all livestock keepers in England. This can be provided by way of farm visits by qualified specialists, over-the phone advice and badger sett surveys to help reduce the risks associated with TB.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Grant funding for the <strong>Farming Community Network</strong> (<strong>FCN</strong>), which provides an on-demand support service for those impacted by a TB breakdown, with specially trained volunteers providing business as well as emotional and pastoral support.</p><p> </p><p><strong>ibTB</strong> (<a href="https://www.ibtb.co.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.ibtb.co.uk/</a>) is a free-to-access, online interactive mapping tool set up to help cattle farmers and their vets to understand the level of bTB in their area and to manage the risks when purchasing cattle. IbTB is updated on a regular basis to enhance its functionality and the quality of information it offers to users.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>The TB Hub </strong>(<a href="https://tbhub.co.uk/" target="_blank">https://tbhub.co.uk/</a>) is a joint industry-government initiative, also provides cattle farmers with practical advice and information on dealing with bTB on their farm, covering everything from biosecurity measures to TB testing.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>The Five Point Plan </strong>(<a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftbhub.co.uk%2Fpreventing-tb-breakdowns%2Fprotect-your-herd-from-bovine-tb%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C5761b4dcc5fb4d4d09c308dcd72eea94%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638621843719268261%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=PYzXPr%2BM2nCR0Xjc%2FXt7uFoq5DzwEKcjHKY0XSeiQSQ%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://tbhub.co.uk/preventing-tb-breakdowns/protect-your-herd-from-bovine-tb/</a>), developed in partnership by industry and Defra, provides clear and practical guidance on good practice for bTB biosecurity.</p> answering member constituency Cambridge answering member printed Daniel Zeichner question first answered 17/09/2024 15:50:03 answering member 4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner
	tabling member	5140

1728225

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Livestock: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure movement restrictions as a result of reported disease outbreaks are reviewed in a timely manner.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	4793
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>Defra recognises the impact that movement controls can have on animal keepers and other affected businesses and seeks to minimise burdens as far as practically possible, while maintaining the integrity of measures to mitigate risk of spread. To that end, movements from restricted zones to designated slaughterhouses are permitted under a general licence, and keepers can apply to move animals to live outside restricted zones under individual licences if pre/post movement tests indicate these moves are safe.</p><p> </p><p>The situation, including the need for and size of movement controls, remains under continuous review.</p> answering member constituency Cambridge answering member printed Daniel Zeichner question first answered 17/09/2024 10:47:38 answering member 4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner
	tabling member	5140

1728226

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what changes his Department has made to the testing system for bovine TB since August 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Claire Young
	uin	4794
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2024 answer text <p>Since August 2023, cattle brought into herds in the annual testing part of the Edge Area from higher-risk areas in England (and from Wales) have been subject to post-movement TB testing. This measure has strengthened the mandatory TB post-movement testing regime for cattle in England, originally introduced in April 2016 for animals joining herds in the Low Risk Area (LRA) of England from other parts of England or Wales.</p><p> </p><p>Between September 2020 and July 2021, the default frequency of mandatory TB surveillance testing throughout the High Risk Area (HRA) of England was increased from annual to every six-months, with some exceptions for lower-risk cattle herds (whose owners would have the option to remain on annual TB testing). In March 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) introduced two relatively minor changes to the process used to identify herds in the HRA that are eligible for annual TB testing:</p><p> </p><ul><li>the regular review of the eligibility lists switched from six-monthly to quarterly.</li><li>keepers of herds newly qualifying for annual testing were given the opportunity to delay their next scheduled TB tests as long as the window for completion of the next routine herd test had not started.</li></ul> answering member constituency Cambridge answering member printed Daniel Zeichner question first answered 17/09/2024 10:34:12 answering member 4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner
	tabling member	5140

1015223

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Horses: Animal Welfare
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals on the tethering of horses.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Luke Hall
	uin	195690
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2018 answer text <p>Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act), it is an offence to fail to provide for an animal’s welfare or to cause it any unnecessary suffering. The 2006 Act is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids (the Code). The Code provides owners and keepers with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their horses and includes a specific section on how to tether a horse. Local authorities have powers under the 2006 Act to investigate allegations of cruelty or poor welfare. In addition, welfare organisations such as the RPSCA and World Horse Welfare (WHW) may also investigate such matters. If anyone is concerned about the way a horse has been tethered, they should report the matter either to the relevant local authority, or to the RSPCA or WHW who can investigate. If a horse is found not to be tethered appropriately, it could lead to a prosecution under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. I therefore consider that there is legislation and guidance in place in respect of tethering of horses.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 04/12/2018 11:40:00 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
	tabling member	4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall

1015224

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Animal Welfare: Horses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will estimate the (a) number of hours spent by the police on and (b) cost to the police of tackling animal welfare concerns relating to horses in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Luke Hall
	uin	195691
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office does not collect this information. Decisions about the allocation of police resources and deployment of officers are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable PCCs. They are responsible for ensuring the needs of the local community are met.</p><p>The Government is supporting the police to respond to changing demand with an over £460m increase in total investment in the police system this financial year, including an increase of around £280m in funding for Police &amp; Crime Commissioners through council tax precept. The Chancellor recognised in his Budget speech that the police are under pressure from the changing nature of crime and that the Home Secretary would review police spending power ahead of the 2019/20 police funding settlement.</p><p>Police and local authorities have powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to investigate animal welfare issues. We would not expect the police to deal with horse-related welfare problems unless there was a public safety issue, such as horses loose on roads. Anyone can bring a prosecution under the 2006 Act, and it is on this basis that the RSPCA prosecute people for animal cruelty, including to horses.</p><p>In relation to the unlawful placement of horses on other people’s land for grazing (fly-grazing), the Control of Horses Act 2015 gives land owners powers to remove horses which have been left on their land without their permission. If anyone is concerned about the welfare of a horse in a field they can report it to the local authority who can investigate under the 2006 Act or they can report it to the RPSCA or World Horse Welfare who will also investigate.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd question first answered 11/02/2019 16:51:52 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
	tabling member	4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall

1015225

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Animal Welfare
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on how many local authorities have not appointed animal welfare inspectors with training to enforce the Animal Welfare Act 2006 with respect to equine welfare.
	tabling member constituency	Thornbury and Yate
	tabling member printed	Luke Hall
	uin	195692
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2018 answer text <p>Defra does not hold records of how many local authorities have not appointed or trained inspectors to enforce equine welfare issues.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities are required to enforce <em>The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 </em>which includes the licensing of businesses that hire out horses for riding or instruction in riding and which requires inspectors to be suitably qualified. We would expect most local authorities, therefore, to have inspectors trained in enforcing equine welfare more generally.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 04/12/2018 17:05:54 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
	tabling member	4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall