Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether HM Courts and Tribunals Service plan to recruit additional staff to support repossession cases in preparation for when Section 21 evictions end.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) recently introduced the Renter’s (Reform) Bill to Parliament. This bill includes the provision to end Section 21, also known as ‘no fault’ evictions. DLUHC and MoJ are jointly working on the Justice Impact Test (JIT), an MoJ tool to identify, quantify and cost the impacts of the Renter’s Reform Bill on the civil justice system.
The scale of any resource requirement resulting from additional impacts on the justice system, will be subject to agreement between MoJ and the policy-owning department.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many possession notices issued by private residential landlords in England and Wales cited antisocial behaviour as a reason in the most recent period for which data is available; and what the average (i) mean and (ii) median time was between a private residential landlord in England and Wales applying to the courts to repossess a property to the repossession taking place in such cases.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The MoJ does not hold data on possession notices issued by landlords outside the court process. The MoJ publishes statistics here on the volume and timeliness of possession claims brought to court but we do not record the grounds for possession and therefore cannot extract claims relating to antisocial behaviour from other possession claims.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of WHO's implementation of harm reduction strategies to help reduce smoking; and will he make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has not made an assessment on the effectiveness of World Health Organization’s implementation of harm reduction strategies to help reduce smoking. We have no future plans to perform an assessment or issue a statement.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the members of the delegation which attended the Global Tobacco Regulators Forum in 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
One official from the Department’s tobacco control policy team attended to represent the United Kingdom as a lead and expert in tobacco control policy. It is not Department policy to publish the names below SCS1 that attend events.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will call for the provision of urgent medical care for Emirlendris Benítez.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to monitor the ongoing imprisonment and mistreatment of Emirlendris Benítez, who was arbitrarily detained in August 2018 for political reasons. We regularly raise the human rights situation in Venezuela at the UN Human Rights Council, and our Embassy in Caracas supports local non-governmental organisations working on human rights. The regime's practice of regularly targeting those engaged in human rights work stands in the way of democracy and a resolution to Venezuela's humanitarian crisis.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will call for the unconditional release of Javier Tarazona..
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to monitor the ongoing imprisonment and mistreatment of Javier Tarazona, the director of the non-governmental organization FundaREDES who was arbitrarily detained in July 2021. We regularly raise the human rights situation in Venezuela at the UN Human Rights Council, and our Embassy in Caracas supports local non-governmental organisations working on human rights. In July 2022, the then FCDO Minister for Latin America issued a tweet calling for the release of Javier Tarazona. Human rights organisations must be able to work freely and without fear. The regime's practice of regularly targeting those engaged in human rights work stands in the way of democracy and a resolution to Venezuela's humanitarian crisis.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will call for the removal of the Law for the audit, regularization, action and financing of non-governmental and related organizations proposed by the Venezuelan authorities.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK firmly supports the right of civil society to operate freely in all countries, including Venezuela. Recent years have seen a worrying deterioration of the human rights situation in Venezuela, where the Maduro regime has used force against peaceful protesters, stifled media freedom, carried out arbitrary detentions and harassed journalists and human rights defenders. The UK is closely monitoring the proposed Law on control, regularization, operations and financing of non-governmental and related organisations, which would limit further the civil and democratic space. We raised the proposed bill at the UN Human Rights Council in March. We urge the Venezuelan regime to undertake constructive dialogue with the international community to ensure this space is protected in accordance with International Law.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release, Crackdown on illegal sale of vapes, published on 9 April 2023, how much of the £3 million funding for tackling the illegal sale of vapes will be allocated to West Northamptonshire.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Details of funding allocated to specific localities has not yet been determined.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Leader of the House on the parliamentary timetable for legislative proposals to protect journalists from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation before the end of the Parliament.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has announced its intention to legislate on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation when parliamentary time allows. We are engaging with all interested parties, including the Leader of the House, to find the best way forward to tackle this important issue via the most appropriate legislative vehicle and will announce the timetable in the usual way.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the cumulative cost for leaseholders of the new building safety regime since the Building Safety Act received Royal Assent.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department published an impact assessment in July 2021 that accompanied the introduction of the Building Safety Bill to Parliament. This estimated the ongoing costs of the new building safety regime (excluding the costs of Part 5, protections for leaseholders), which could then be passed on to leaseholders.
We intend to publish a revised estimate of the cost to leaseholders in the Impact Assessment that will accompany proposed secondary legislation relating to Part 4 of the Building Safety Act.