Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure police authorities are better able to enforce sections 61 and 62 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Decisions on the use of powers available to them in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 are an operational matter for the police.
The Government published guidance for the police and local authorities on dealing with illegal and unauthorised encampments in March 2015. This sets out the wide range of powers already available, including the use of Section 61 and 62 notices of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the costs of cleaning up illegal Traveller sites are recovered from the perpetrators of damage caused.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The government is concerned about unauthorised encampments and the effect that they can have on communities. Local authorities and the police have a wide range of strong powers that enable them to take action and we want to see them working together to address this issue. A summary of the powers is published on the government's website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-illegal-and-unauthorised-encampments
This summary includes the powers available to local authorities to clean up after unauthorised encampments. There are also associated powers for local authorities to recover the costs of cleaning up in certain circumstances. Where the perpetrators of fly-tipping can be identified, they can be prosecuted and fined for depositing waste illegally. Swift enforcement action against unauthorised encampments will reduce the opportunities for fly-tipping. Ordering of legal costs and/or damages is at the discretion of the Court.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the possibility of the UK rejoining the European Free Trade Association.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Prime Minister has been clear that we are not going to provide a running commentary on our approach to negotiations. We recognise the need for a smooth transition as the UK leaves the EU which minimises disruption to our trading relationships. The Government is discussing our future trade relationship with a range of countries, including those in the European Free Trade Association.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that medicines distributed within the UK on European Medicines Agency licence continue to be distributed once the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by David Mowat
The Government is very aware of the need to ensure that medicines already on the United Kingdom market, and which were licensed through the European Medicines Agency’s centralised procedure, remain approved for use across the UK after our exit from the European Union. This is not an issue which needs to form part of any negotiation, but will be within the UK’s own competence.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many drugs currently prescribed to NHS patients in England and Wales are distributed under a European Medicines Agency licence; what those drugs are; and what therapeutic areas they treat.
Answered by David Mowat
Information on medicines granted a marketing authorisation through the European Medicines Agency’s centralised procedure is available in the Community register of medicinal products for human use, which can be found at:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/documents/community-register/html/alfregister.htm
Whether these medicines are prescribed to National Health Service patients in England is dependent on a number of factors including manufacturers’ marketing decisions, guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, national and local commissioning policies, established clinical practice and individual clinicians’ prescribing decisions.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much each NHS trust has recuperated by recharging insurance companies for the costs associated with the treatment of customers who are involved in road traffic accidents in each of the last five years.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The information is not held in the format requested. Whilst the Department does hold National Health Service trust level data on the total costs recovered through the NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme, we cannot currently extract trust level data specifically related to road traffic accidents without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will continue to allow entry fees for chess tournaments to remain VAT exempt.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Entry fees for chess tournaments have always been taxable at the standard rate of VAT.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 40810, on NHS Protect, what the categories of offence were for each of the prosecutions listed.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Information on the date a prosecution commenced for each case from 2010-11 to 2015-16 and the category of offence from 2010-11 to 2012-13 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The date the investigation commenced for each case and the category of offence from 2013-14 onwards are shown in the attached table.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 40810, on NHS Protect, when each of the prosecutions listed commenced.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Information on the date a prosecution commenced for each case from 2010-11 to 2015-16 and the category of offence from 2010-11 to 2012-13 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The date the investigation commenced for each case and the category of offence from 2013-14 onwards are shown in the attached table.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the accuracy of labour shortages reported by employers before adding professions to the occupational shortage list.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) reviews the Shortage Occupation List when commissioned to do so by the Government.
The MAC is an independent advisory body consisting of expert labour market economists. It has a clear, published methodology for assessing whether occupations are skilled, in shortage, and whether it is sensible to address those shortages in part through migration, based on a variety of indicators and using national “top down” data as well as “bottom up” evidence from employers.
The MAC has carried out two full reviews and three partial reviews of the Shortage Occupation List since May 2010. Further information about the MAC’s methodology and the reviews it has carried out are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/migration-advisory-committee