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1127496

registered interest
date	20/05/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Crimes of Violence: Radicalism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reported instances of far-right violence have been recorded in each of the past 10 years.
tabling member constituency	Don Valley
tabling member printed	Caroline Flint
uin	256229
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office routinely collects and releases data on the number of violent offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.This data does not include information on whether the violence was motivated by far-right ideology or not.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd question first answered 22/05/2019 16:14:32 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
tabling member	389 label Biography information for Caroline Flint

1127540

registered interest
date	20/05/2019
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 steps he is taking to help ensure that local authorities have the resources to enforce the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
tabling member constituency	Bridgend
tabling member printed	Mrs Madeleine Moon
uin	256270
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, local authorities, in common with the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the police, have powers of entry to inspect complaints of suspected animal cruelty and take out prosecutions where necessary. Local authorities are able to make decisions based on local needs and the arrangements that work best for them, and it is for local authorities to determine how to prioritise their resources. The Government is investing in Britain’s future, and this year’s local government finance settlement includes extra funding for local services. Local authorities will have access to £46.4 billion this financial year (2019/20) to meet the needs of their residents. This is a cash increase of 2.8% and a real terms increase which will strengthen services and support for local communities.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 22/05/2019 15:59:51 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	1490 label Biography information for Mrs Madeleine Moon

1126816

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of whether there is a need for transitional protection for mixed-age couples that will see eligibility for pension credit and housing benefit affected by transferring to universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
uin	254779
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The mixed age couples change will not apply to couples already claiming Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit for pensioners on 14 May for as long as they remain entitled to either benefit. DWP wrote earlier this year to those mixed age couples already receiving Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit for pensioners to ensure they know about the change and how they could be affected if their circumstances change on or after 15 May.</p><p> </p><p>Couples who would be eligible for the pension age benefits under the previous rules but have not claimed before 15 May will have up to 13 August to make a backdated claim to 14 May and we encourage them to do so.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 22/05/2019 15:54:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb

1126926

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
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	Electronic Training Aids
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question 249947, whether the Government has plans to bring forward legislation to ban the use of electronic shock collars by mid-July.
tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
uin	254811
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The necessary legislation needed to prohibit the use of remote controlled hand-held electronic training collars for dogs, will be laid before Parliament in due course. Timings for this legislation will be announced in the normal way.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 22/05/2019 16:13:17 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1126945

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
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	Cats and Dogs: Imports
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 compliance with the Balai Directive to protect the UK from disease in relation to EU and Third country imports of stray cats and dogs.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	254769
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>Defra takes the threat to public and animal health posed by animals entering the United Kingdom (UK) very seriously. This includes the rescue and rehoming of stray cats and dogs from EU and Third countries under the Balai Directive, which is classed as a commercial import not as a pet import. Importation of stray dogs and cats, whose history is unknown can pose a biosecurity risk to the UK and therefore enforcement measures are in place to ensure compliance.</p><p> </p><p>All consignments of stray dogs or cats from Third countries must enter through a Border Inspection Post (BIP), and receive documentary, physical and identity checks upon arrival for compliance with import requirements.</p><p> </p><p>All EU consignments of dogs or cats receive documentary checks on entry and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) conduct further checks post-import. A risk-based approach is used to determine which consignments receive a further post-importation identity and documentary check at their destination in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>Where animals fail to meet the necessary health requirements for entry to the UK, they must either be quarantined until compliant, returned to their country of origin, or euthanised – all at the expense of the owner or importer. This helps to preserve the UK’s high standards of biosecurity, and acts as a deterrent to those who might otherwise be motivated to abuse Balai import requirements. The UK CVO is in correspondence with her EU counterparts in Member States where issues of non-compliance have been detected.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 22/05/2019 16:08:56 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1126970

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Trials: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) BAME and (b) white defendants who enter guilty pleas.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	254792
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The proportion of guilty pleas (where plea was known) has slowly been declining, from 74% in 2014 to 69% for white defendants, and from 61% in 2014 to 57% for BAME defendants in 2018.</p><p>Data is only available for defendants dealt with at Crown Court (not all defendants) for indictable offences.</p><p>The proportion of defendants who entered a guilty plea by ethnicity (2008 – 2018) can be found in the Crown court data tool at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802313/crown-court-tool-2018.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802313/crown-court-tool-2018.xlsx</a></p><ul><li>Remove the ‘Values’ field from Rows</li><li>Drag the ‘Ethnicity’ field into Rows</li><li>Drag the ‘Total for Trial’ field into Values</li><li>Filter to ’01: Guilty Plea’ in the ‘Plea at Crown Court’ field for the number of defendants that entered a guilty plea</li><li>Filter to ’01: Guilty Plea’ and ’02: Not Guilty plea’ in the ‘Plea at Crown Court’ field number of defendants that entered a plea overall (where plea was known)</li><li>The number of BAME defendants can be defined by combining ’02: Black’, ’03: Asian’, ’04: Mixed’ and ’05: Chinese and other’ rows. The number of white defendants who entered a guilty plea each year can be found in the ‘01: White’ row.</li><li>The proportion of defendants who entered a guilty plea can be found by dividing the number of guilty pleas by the number of overall pleas for the relevant ethnicity rows.</li></ul> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 22/05/2019 16:46:56 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1127020

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Credit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any increase in complaints regarding short-term and payday lenders related to those suffering with problem debt.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL15781
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, transferring regulatory responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.</p><p> </p><p>The FCA requires payday lenders to carry out robust affordability checks, limits the number of times a payday loan can be rolled over to two, places tough restrictions on lenders’ use of continuous payment authorities, and requires all payday lending adverts to include a risk warning and information about where to get free debt advice.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has given the FCA strong powers to protect consumers and to take action against firms and individuals that do not meet its standards. In 2018, the FCA issued total fines of £60 million.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>On problem debt more broadly, the Government is implementing its manifesto commitment to introduce a breathing space and statutory debt repayment plan. The two polices aim to give people in problem debt the opportunity to take control of their finances and put them on a sustainable footing.</p> answering member printed Lord Young of Cookham question first answered 22/05/2019 16:23:21 answering member 57 label Biography information for Lord Young of Cookham
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1126503

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Offensive Weapons
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps is he taking to ensure that social media companies tackle the advertising of online sales of knives and other weapons used in violent crime.
tabling member constituency	Stevenage
tabling member printed	Stephen McPartland
uin	254190
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>Tackling serious violence is a top priority for the government through measures set out in the Serious Violence Strategy and further initiatives to tackle knife crime and serious violence more generally, including the Offensive Weapons Act which received Royal Assent on 16 May.</p><p> </p><p>The Online Harms White Paper, published in April, sets out plans for a regulatory framework to further ensure companies take action to address online harmful behaviour, including the sale of weapons and other illegal goods and services. A new statutory duty of care will require companies to take more responsibility for harm caused by content or activity on their services. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen and enforced by an independent regulator. The regulator will issue codes of practice on what companies need to do to fulfil their duty of care, working with law enforcement for codes of practice on illegal harms to ensure they adequately keep pace with the threat.</p> answering member constituency Stourbridge answering member printed Margot James question first answered 22/05/2019 15:52:08 answering member 4115 label Biography information for Margot James
tabling member	4093 label Biography information for Stephen McPartland

1126531

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	CCTV: Biometrics
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of facial recognition in CCTV.
tabling member constituency	Haltemprice and Howden
tabling member printed	Mr David Davis
uin	254130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>Facial recognition is a fast evolving area of technology with the potential to streamline identity verification and authentication processes across Government and the private sector.</p><p>Its performance is dependent on a number of variables, from the quality of the images, environmental factors, the specific algorithm used, the thresholds or risk profile applied and many other factors. Possible matches produced by LFR systems are always checked by a human operator before deciding what, if any, action to take.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd question first answered 22/05/2019 16:11:43 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
tabling member	373 label Biography information for Sir David Davis

1126555

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Sick Leave
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
tabling member constituency	Carshalton and Wallington
tabling member printed	Tom Brake
uin	254064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The number of employees in the Department for Business, Energy &amp; Industrial Strategy (BEIS) during the calendar year of 2018 who were absent due to mental health reasons, including stress was 59, this represented 1.5% of the total workforce. The proportion of sickness absence related to mental health reasons, including stress, was 23% of the overall sickness absence for the department for the same time period.</p><p> </p><p>The estimated cost to the department over this period for employees taking sickness absence, is estimated at £1,421,738.30.</p><p> </p><p>BEIS is committed to supporting the wellbeing of its staff, including helping them to manage stress in the workplace, and has a Wellbeing Strategy that includes a specific focus on supporting good mental health in its employees. This strategy is based in part on the Civil Service Health and Wellbeing Strategy that also includes the promotion of good mental health for all as one of its five priorities. Through a programme of wellbeing events and speakers, a growing cohort of mental health first aiders, promotion and signposting of the employee assistance programme, and e-learning packages for staff on stress, resilience and wellbeing, the Department has seen continued awareness and engagement on wellbeing and good mental health.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Pendle answering member printed Andrew Stephenson question first answered 22/05/2019 16:20:29 answering member 4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson
tabling member	151 label Biography information for Tom Brake