Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the mobile phone industry on using technology to prevent stolen phones from being re-used.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Crime Survey for England and Wales data about the level of mobile phone victimisation (drawn from interviews conducted in the year to March 2023) shows a fall of over 70% in the rate (1.7% to 0.4%) and number (752,000 to 196,000) of owners experiencing mobile phone theft, when compared to findings from CSEW interviews conducted in the year to March 2010.
While mobile phone theft has fallen significantly across England and Wales, reports about the scale of phone theft in London are concerning. The Home Office is therefore working closely with police and industry to tackle mobile phone thefts, and will consider evidence suggesting where new action is needed. Recent meetings have taken place.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to Question 24274, tabled by the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An answer to Question 24274 was published on 20 May 2024. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with Janssen on the adequacy of supply of the ADHD medication Concerta XL.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department has been working hard with industry to help resolve supply issues with some attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines, including Concerta XL tablets, which are affecting the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. This has involved asking that suppliers expedite deliveries to boost supplies of these important medicines, and addressing regulatory issues to ensure continuity of supply. As a result of our ongoing activity and intensive work, some issues have been resolved. We expect the disruptions to the supply of Concerta XL tablets to be resolved in May 2024.
The Department held a roundtable with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablet suppliers, including Janssen, in April 2024, to discuss the challenges they are facing, what they are doing, and what needs to be done to address these issues.
We have worked closely with specialist clinicians during this time to develop management advice for the National Health Service. The guidance includes advice for ADHD service providers and specialists to offer rapid response to primary care teams seeking urgent advice for the management of patients. This includes those known to be at a higher risk of adverse impact because of these shortages.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure patients have access to Concerta XL.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department has been working hard with industry to help resolve supply issues with some attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines, including Concerta XL tablets, which are affecting the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. This has involved asking that suppliers expedite deliveries to boost supplies of these important medicines, and addressing regulatory issues to ensure continuity of supply. As a result of our ongoing activity and intensive work, some issues have been resolved. We expect the disruptions to the supply of Concerta XL tablets to be resolved in May 2024.
The Department held a roundtable with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablet suppliers, including Janssen, in April 2024, to discuss the challenges they are facing, what they are doing, and what needs to be done to address these issues.
We have worked closely with specialist clinicians during this time to develop management advice for the National Health Service. The guidance includes advice for ADHD service providers and specialists to offer rapid response to primary care teams seeking urgent advice for the management of patients. This includes those known to be at a higher risk of adverse impact because of these shortages.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the report by Amnesty International entitled Myanmar: New data suggests military still importing fuel for deadly air strikes despite sanctions, published on 31 January 2024.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
We use a range of evidence to inform our response to the Myanmar military's continued import of aviation fuel that is used to carry out airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure. In 2023, the UK imposed six sanctions specifically targeting the import of aviation fuel into Myanmar. We continue to explore both sanction and non-sanction measures to tackle the military's ability to use air capabilities to target civilians.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Education, (b) representatives of UK universities and (c) the Secretary of State for the Home Department on protections from potential Chinese state intimidation for Chinese students studying in the UK.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government engages regularly with relevant counterparts, including university representatives, on issues such as this.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much HM Prison and Probation Service has spent on rehabilitation programmes approved by the Correctional Services Advice and Accreditation Panel since December 2019.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As the costs of rehabilitation programmes approved by the Correctional Service and Accredited Panel cannot be disaggregated from the overall budgetary provision for rehabilitative delivery costs, the information requested is not available.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending right to repair rules to include all electrical products.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has updated the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations for a range of products, including household fridges, washing machines and televisions, to support the reparability of these products in order to increase their lifespan. They include requirements that spare parts are available for a specified minimum number of years after the placing of new products on the market, provision of information to assist with repairs and that parts can be replaced with the use of commonly available tools.
We will continue to work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on future implementation of minimum Ecodesign requirements in Great Britain as set out in the energy-related products policy framework, published in November 2021. This will include considering whether to broaden the eco-design requirements to a wider range of electrical products.
Our plan is to continue to increase our resource efficiency and take forward that the right to repair is reflected in the Government’s Energy-related Products Policy Framework.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies on the UK's defence position in the Indo-Pacific region of the Australian national defence strategy.
Answered by Leo Docherty
I welcome the recent release of Australia’s inaugural National Defence Strategy. The United Kingdom and Australia consult closely on our respective defence and security strategies and the themes and challenges identified in the National Defence Strategy have clear parallels in the refreshed Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper. Both countries’ strategies prioritise cooperation with partners, particularly in the Indo Pacific, to strengthen collective security.
The UK has delivered on its ambition for a tilt to the Indo-Pacific and is now putting our approach on a long-term strategic footing, working with Australia and others. The UK and Australia also both recognise that the security and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific are inseparable. We continue to work closely with Australia to defend global rules and norms.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
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 help ensure home grown crops are resilient to climate change, in the context of increased (a) rainfall and (b) warmer weathers.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Our fantastic British farmers are world leaders and carefully plan their planting to suit the weather, their soil type and their long-term agronomic strategy. I understand the increasing importance of farmers having access to crop varieties that are resistant to climate change and variable weather conditions, to maintain crop quality and yields.
The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses the 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third Climate Change Risk Assessment. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety and quality from climate change overseas.
One of these responses, the recent Precision Breeding Act, is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in technologies like gene editing and supports Defra’s efforts to reinforce food security in the face of climate change. Through the Act we want to encourage researchers and commercial breeders to be at the forefront of capturing the potential benefits of precision breeding for British farmers and consumers. For instance, research into wheat that is resilient to climate change is currently underway at the John Innes Centre. Gene editing techniques have been used to identify a key gene in wheat that can be used to introduce traits such as heat resilience whilst maintaining high yield. This could help to increase food production from a crop that 2.5 billion people are dependent on globally.
Also included in the NAP3, Defra’s flagship breeding research programme, the Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) on Wheat, Oil Seed Rape, Pulses and Vegetable crops identify genetic traits to improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and nutritional quality of our crops. The GINs also provide a platform for knowledge exchange for breeders, producers, end users and the research base, and a means for the delivery of scientific knowledge, resources and results to add value to wheat crops.
The £270 million Farming Innovation Programme also supports industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture. All projects support productivity and environmental outcomes that will benefit farmers and growers in England. In our latest ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition, we awarded over £11 million to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops. Previous competitions have also supported crop-related research.