Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to include in any deposit charge scheme for plastic bottles, plastic packaging boxes such as those used by fast food outlets.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra does not intend to include plastic packaging boxes, such as those used by fast food outlets, in a deposit return scheme. Our intention is to introduce a deposit return scheme in England specifically for single use drinks containers, subject to consultation later this year.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the badger cull to (1) Staffordshire, (2) Shropshire, and (3) Derbyshire; and if so, to which areas in those counties.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Should they wish, farmers and landowners across the bovine TB High Risk Area and Edge Area of England, which includes Staffordshire, Shropshire and Derbyshire, are able to apply to Natural England for licences to kill or take badgers for the purpose of preventing the spread of bovine TB, as set out under section 10(2)(a) of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. Applicants need to meet the licensing criteria and demonstrate that they will be able to deliver safe and effective operations in order to be authorised to proceed, as set out in the Guidance to Natural England, which can be found on gov.uk at the following link:
Farmers in a number of areas have signalled their intention to submit applications to Natural England for licences to conduct badger culls this year. Licensing decisions are a matter for Natural England.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the itemised costs to (1) the Home Office, and (2) the police, of the grant and renewal of authorities under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 for each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Department published the estimated average annual costs associated with issuing licences for museums, Home Office approved shooting clubs, and Section 5 licences in the impact assessment that accompanied the recent consultation on firearms. Average annual costs to the Home Office were estimated to be £596,000. Average annual costs to the police in England and Wales were estimated to be £69,000. Average annual costs to the police in Scotland were estimated to be £5,000. The impact assessment is available on www.gov.uk website and has been attached to this answer.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the groups which make up the total of section 5 authority holders under the Firearms Act 1968; and how many persons fall into each group.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government carried out a consultation on the implementation of new fees for applications for section 5 licences from 12 January to 9 March. The impact assessment accompanying the consultation, available on www.gov.uk, sets out the estimated number of holders for the most common types of section 5 licence, based on the number of applications made between January 2013 and December 2015. In the case of an exhibitors at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition (which are issued on a temporary basis), the figure provided is the number of holders in 2015. The figures in the impact assessment are set out in the following table:
Type of section 5 licence | Estimated number of holders |
Firearms dealer | 587 |
DSEI Exhibitor | 36 |
Firearms carrier | 321 |
Private Maritime Security Company | 12 (with 322 vetted guards) |
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how long each firearms licensing department takes to (1) grant, and (2) renew, (a) firearm, (b) shotgun, and (c) coterminous, certificates.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.
Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.
Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.
We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place financially to compensate certificate holders who are obliged to lodge their firearms with a registered firearms dealer due to a late renewal of their certificate.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.
Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.
Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.
We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place to issue temporary firearm, shotgun or coterminous certificates when renewals are not completed within the recognised timeframe.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.
Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.
Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.
We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place to ensure that applications for the grant or renewal of a firearm or shotgun certificate which are submitted correctly and in time are renewed within the recognised timeframe in order to avoid the certificate holder committing an offence.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.
Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.
Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.
We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to legislate to allow partners of the opposite sex to form civil partnerships.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government carried out a consultation on the future of civil partnerships in 2014. Views were invited on three options: abolishing civil partnerships; phasing them out; or extending them to opposite sex couples.
The review found that there was no clear consensus on the future of civil partnerships. A majority of respondents to the consultation were against extending civil partnerships to opposite sex couples and several significant stakeholders thought it was too soon to consider making changes to civil partnerships until the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples is known. Given the lack of any consensus, the government did not change the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
The decision not to change the law was judicially reviewed last year and the Government won in the High Court. The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal against the High Court judgment this week and confirmed that the Government’s approach is lawful.
We welcome the Court’s ruling. Before we take any action on this issue, it is right that we evaluate the impact that same sex marriage has on the take-up of civil partnerships. We will also carefully consider this judgment and its implications before deciding on our next steps.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what remedies are available to local authorities against fly tippers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The estimated cost of clearance of fly-tipping to local authorities in 2014/15 was nearly £50 million. Local authorities dealt with nearly 900,000 incidents of fly-tipping in 2014/15, with nearly two thirds of fly-tips involving household waste.
The penalties for fly-tipping are imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine, or both, on summary conviction; or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine, or both, on conviction on indictment.
In May 2016 the Government gave local councils the power to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for small-scale fly-tipping as an alternative to prosecution. The fine for a Fixed Penalty Notice is between £150 and £400 as specified by the waste collection authority, and £200 if no amount is specified.
Local authorities are not under any legal obligation to clear fly-tipped waste from private property, so this responsibility falls to the landowner. Depending on the circumstances, local authorities will often provide advice and guidance on measures that can be taken to prevent further fly-tipping, or may investigate an incident if there is sufficient evidence. Some authorities may also offer a clearance service but they are likely to charge for this. Government officials chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to promote and disseminate good practice in the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipped waste.