Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce delays in prisoners accessing emergency hospital care.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and that prison staff are aware of their own responsibilities and of the local procedures in place to support a streamlined response.
Responses to medical emergencies in prisons are undertaken and monitored locally by both prison staff and healthcare staff. Prison staff will secure the attendance of medical staff. During the day, or where a prison has 24-hour healthcare, commissioned healthcare staff will assess what intervention is needed and determine whether hospital treatment is required. Prison staff will arrange for an ambulance to attend, if needed, and escort it to the nearest, safest point of access to the patient, ensuring arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded locally.
Any incidents, including the time taken to respond, are discussed between prison and healthcare staff, either as part of a full debrief (in the case of the most serious incidents) or as part of the regular daily reflection on the events of the previous day.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce incidence of self harm on the secure estate.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We recognise that rates of self-harm across the estate are high, and we are taking action to address this.
We provide individualised support through our case management process for people assessed as at risk of self-harm. This approach places a strong emphasis on identifying individual risks, triggers and protective factors and having effective care plans in place to record, address and mitigate risks.
All new staff receive suicide and self-harm prevention and mental health awareness training, to increase skills in supporting at-risk prisoners.
We fund Samaritans to train prisoners to provide emotional support to other prisoners in crisis (the Listener Scheme).
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of confirming NFU Sugar as the UK sugar beet growers’ representative in contract negotiations with British Sugar.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market.
There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. The NFU has a statutory mandate, under Article 125 of Regulation EU 1308/2013 (Retained EU Law on the common organisation of agricultural markets) to represent the interests of growers in all commercial dealings with the processor. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the sole processor negotiates with the growers’ collective representative in the sugar beet sector.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market.
There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. The NFU has a statutory mandate, under Article 125 of Regulation EU 1308/2013 (Retained EU Law on the common organisation of agricultural markets) to represent the interests of growers in all commercial dealings with the processor. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure British Sugar agrees the (a) price and (b) terms of future sugar beet contracts with NFU Sugar.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market.
There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. The NFU has a statutory mandate, under Article 125 of Regulation EU 1308/2013 (Retained EU Law on the common organisation of agricultural markets) to represent the interests of growers in all commercial dealings with the processor. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many tonnes of (a) dangerous and (b) otherwise illegal meat have been intercepted by the Dover Port Health Authority in each of the last 10 financial years.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Please see the table below for total seizures of illegal meat year on year. The figures quoted are seizures from all ports who had returned seizure data to us from September 2022 onwards as part of Defra African Swine Fever programme. This does not reflect all illegal meat seizures.
We are unable to provide further levels of detail as we do not release details of the location of seizure; this information could risk undermining border security, by providing intelligence in our resource deployment and targeting
Total seizures for full year on year are as follows:
2022 (Sept-Dec) | 3745kg |
2023 | 44,482kg |
2024 | 92,270kg |
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much money released by the Dormant Assets scheme has been allocated to (a) England, (b) East Anglia and (c) Norfolk in each year since the scheme began.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As of 2023/24, a total of £826 million has been allocated from the Dormant Assets Scheme to England, with DCMS responsible for this portion of funding. This is broken down by year as follows: 2011/12: £39.9 million; 2012/13: £41.6 million; 2013/14: £70 million; 2014/15: £41.1 million; 2015/16: £30.7 million; 2016/17: £79.1 million; 2017/18: £128 million; 2018/19: £59.8 million; 2019/20: £57.6 million; 2020/21: £75.6 million; 2021/22: £44.8 million; 2022/23: £77.9 million; and 2023/24: £79.9 million.
To date, this has been distributed by four independent, expert organisations set up with the explicit purpose of delivering dormant assets funding: Youth Futures Foundation, Fair4All Finance, Better Society Capital, and Access: The Foundation for Social Investment. Dormant assets funding seeks to address entrenched societal challenges through long-term, innovative programmes at a national scale, and is not allocated on a regional basis.
Examples of how dormant assets funding has benefited East Anglia and Norfolk include Fair4All Finance investing £88,240 in community finance organisations in Norwich to support people in vulnerable circumstances by improving their access to fair and affordable financial products and services. Additionally, Asperger East Anglia received a £35,000 loan from Access’s Growth Fund, funded by dormant assets.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce crime in rural villages.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Rural crime can have devastating consequences for countryside communities.
That is why this Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas.
Under our Safer Streets Mission, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will deliver thousands of neighbourhood police and community support officers, across England and Wales, including in rural areas, to speed up response times and build public confidence. This Government is clear that when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith that justice will be delivered, and criminals will be punished – no matter where you live.
We are also committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 to fend off the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce shoplifting in rural convenience stores.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the last year of the previous government, shop theft soared to a twenty-year high, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.
No matter where you live, we are clear that when you report a crime, it should be properly investigated with victims having faith justice will be delivered and criminals will face meaningful consequences.
We will introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We will also end the effective immunity, introduced by the last government, granted to shop theft of goods of and under £200. This will remove any perception that offenders will escape punishment.
We will also provide over £7 million over the next three financial years to support the police tackling retail crime.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce speeding on rural lanes and highways.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Excess speed is still a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads. Anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face sanction.
Enforcement of speeding offences in rural lanes and highways and the deployment of available resources and capabilities is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to determine, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.