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1713875

registered interest
date	25/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	British Nationality: Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2024 to Question 16407 on British Nationality, whether his Department has made an assessment of the compatibility of the policy on British citizenship from birth for a person born between 2 October 2000 and 29 April 2006 with obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	23781
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The British Nationality Act 1981 sets out how a person, born in the UK, may be a British citizen at birth, requiring that at least one parent is either settled here or British themselves. We are content that the determination of citizenship for children born to EEA nationals during the period cited is in keeping with that statute and does not breach any equalities obligations.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 30/04/2024 13:28:49 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1713879

registered interest
date	25/04/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	CJD: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the reliability of diagnostic testing of blood samples for vCJD.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	23782
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2024 answer text <p>Clinical diagnostic testing for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) is provided by the National Health Service, but there is currently no licensed blood screening test for vCJD, although there is ongoing research in this field. The National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit is involved in developing specialist investigations for vCJD, in collaboration with colleagues in Europe and internationally, with further information available at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/surveillance/diagnosis-and-testing" target="_blank">https://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/surveillance/diagnosis-and-testing</a></p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 02/05/2024 14:30:18 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1713471

registered interest
date	24/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Telephone Services: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of scam telephone calls using number spoofing were reported in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	23542
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2024 answer text <p>The Home Office does not hold any data on the number of scam telephone calls using number spoofing.</p><p>Ofcom recently published their experiences of suspicious calls, texts and app messages survey, conducted on 31<sup>st</sup> January and 1<sup>st</sup> February 2024 (2,202 UK adult respondents). Mobile and landline users were asked if they had ever received a call that looked like it was from a genuine source but then became suspicious that it was not genuine. 35% reported having received a call on their landline and 50% reported having received a call on their mobile of this nature.</p><p><a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0025/281158/data-tables-2024.xlsx" target="_blank">https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0025/281158/data-tables-2024.xlsx</a></p><p>NB: These figures cannot be combined as some users may have received both suspicious call on their mobile and landline and do not provide answers on the number of spoofing calls in the last five years.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 02/05/2024 15:47:32 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1713472

registered interest
date	24/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Telephone Services: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to support (a) businesses and (b) other organisations whose numbers are used by (i) nuisance callers and (ii) criminals in number spoofing scams.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	23543
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>A central pillar of the Government’s Fraud Strategy is blocking individuals and groups from attempting to impersonate other organisations and institutional bodies. As part of this work, the Government has introduced a new measure to the Criminal Justice Bill to strengthen law enforcement capabilities to tackle scam text messages. The Bill will create a new offence for supplying or possessing “SIM farm” devices (which allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of individuals and businesses at the same time), without good reason or undertaking adequate due diligence.</p><p>In addition, the Government and Industry have signed the Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter, a voluntary agreement to improve counter-fraud efforts. As a result of the Charter, the sector has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. Since January 2022, the firewalls have stopped 960 million scam text messages.</p><p>Law enforcement are also working tirelessly to tackle criminal number spoofing operations at source. Last year, Operation Elaborate led by the Metropolitan police took down iSpoof, a website that was used to make 10 million spoof calls impersonating individuals and businesses. The international joint action led to 142 arrests and the main administrator of the website was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months of imprisonment.</p><p>In April this year, in another successful joint operation codenamed Stargrew, the Met took down LabHost; a major criminal website, which fraudsters used to create over 40,000 fake phishing websites impersonating businesses. So far the operation has led to 37 arrests, and over 25,000 victims in the UK have been contacted.</p> answering member constituency Tonbridge and Malling answering member printed Tom Tugendhat question first answered 30/04/2024 13:59:44 answering member 4462 label Biography information for Tom Tugendhat
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1713495

registered interest
date	24/04/2024
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	Furs: Sales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the responses to his Department's call for evidence on the fur trade.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	23544
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2024 answer text <p>A summary of replies received to the Call for Evidence on the Fur Market in Great Britain should be published in due course. At this stage we do not have a confirmed date for publication.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 02/05/2024 11:49:43 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1700475

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	217
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	BBC: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to have discussions with the Welsh Government on the BBC Funding Model Review.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	21362
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>The Terms of Reference for the BBC Funding Model Review set out that the review would undertake close engagement with the devolved administrations, including the Welsh Government, as appropriate. As part of the review’s evidence gathering exercise, evidence requests have already been sent to the Welsh Government, alongside the other Devolved Administrations. The Government intends to continue engaging the Welsh Government, and relevant broadcasting stakeholders in Wales, as the review progresses.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 19/04/2024 11:54:07 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1698543

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
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	Water Abstraction: Licensing
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 plans he has to reform the abstraction licensing regime in England.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	20368
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>As set out in the Plan for Water, Defra and the Environment Agency are undertaking a programme of changes to modernise abstraction licensing in England. We are working to move the water abstraction licensing system into the Environmental Permitting Regime. This will provide a modern, consistent and flexible legal framework upon which the management of abstraction can be developed to meet the needs of today and the future.</p><p> </p><p>Alongside the legislative changes, the Environment Agency is modernising its digital systems to maximise the opportunities the new legislation provides. This will bring new functionality to improve the way abstraction is managed, including a water abstraction eAlerts system which provides notifications directly to farmers. As the environment and our climate changes, the Environment Agency is adapting its policies in response. The Environment Agency has recently produced a regulatory position statement setting out how flood water can be abstracted for the benefit of abstractors but ensuring that the environment is protected.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency is also undertaking a refresh of the National Framework for water resources, which looks at how best to manage water resources across England. Through this, abstractors from all sectors will come together to identify water needs and the best way of meeting them.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 15/04/2024 13:46:37 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1698544

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
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	Agriculture: Water Abstraction
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 steps he has taken to improve the collection of data in agricultural water use.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	20369
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency’s ‘Managing Water Abstraction Service’ enables abstraction licence holders to submit records of how much water they had taken electronically rather than on paper. The Environment Agency estimates quicker, and easier submission of returns data digitally saves abstractors £247k each year. Some 95% of returns now come into the Environment Agency digitally.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is working on rolling out a Water Farm Practices Water Survey involving crop types and volumes of water used. This will be an extension of the annual farming practices survey, which provides a snapshot of the farming landscape across England. It will give an opportunity to update data last collected in 2010 on agricultural water management.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England is this week due to report on its latest phase of Catchment Sensitive Farming water advisory visits in the Southwest of England.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the Prime Minister’s commitment at last year’s Farm to Fork Summit Defra has funded an agriculture project on supply demand balances which have been piloted in Cambridgeshire and will be rolled out to wider parts of England. The water data from this work will be used to update the next round of Regional Water Resource Plans on agriculture water requirements (together with the Environment Agency’s Water Resources National Framework which will be published next spring). A sister project funded by Defra will also include agriculture water use data to assess and screen local resource options (such as reservoirs and rainwater harvesting) to help groups of farmers improve their water resilience.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 15/04/2024 12:02:38 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1698545

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
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	Agriculture: Water Abstraction
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making provision of data on water use rates a requirement for agricultural water licences.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	20370
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency assesses water use for agriculture as part of the abstraction licence application process both when it first grants an abstraction licence and at renewal. The Environment Agency uses the following guidance to assess water need and use rates: <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Foptimum-use-of-water-for-industry-and-agricultural-dependent-on-direct-abstraction&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Ca30c8fab4829427b970308dc4e4ebfd3%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638471347325942629%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=r%2Bnp3JhkjH2OOlmpk6JLxmlAO%2BZAbBV3lIkuhDvxTTM%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Optimum use of water for industry and agricultural dependent on direct abstraction - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency already receives information about how much water is used under abstraction licences in England. All ‘full’ abstraction licences must include requirements to measure or assess the amount of water abstracted. Licence holders must keep a record of how much water they abstract available for inspection. Licences that authorise the abstraction of 100 cubic metres per day or more must also send a return to the Environment Agency of how much water they have abstracted. The Environment Agency uses this information to assess compliance with licences and the environmental effects of abstraction. It also uses information about past usage to determine whether a time limited abstraction licence should be renewed on the same terms or for example have its quantities reduced.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency collates information about abstraction from all sectors and makes it available to Defra in a report called ‘ABSTAT’. The Environment Agency is currently producing an update to the ABSTAT report and will provide it to Defra in due course.</p><p> </p><p>Defra and the Environment Agency are working to move the water resources licensing regime into the Environmental Permitting Regime (EPR). Under EPR, abstraction data will become public register information.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 15/04/2024 09:53:05 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1697883

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
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	Social Security Benefits: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the use of AI in benefit fraud investigations does not discriminate against vulnerable people.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	19927
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2024 answer text <p>The Department does not use AI in its benefit fraud investigations.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 26/03/2024 11:55:00 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake