Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve reading education provision in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All prisons are legally required to offer a library service, and all prisoners are regularly able to access appropriately stocked libraries that support them in their learning and personal development.
HMPPS has recently issued best practice guidance to all prisons across England to ensure the quality of library services can be maximised regardless of a prison’s cohort, function or available resource.
In Wales, we have well-established library services across the Welsh estate with several satellite library services for extra accessibility in prison residential areas, and the national reading strategy is in progress.
Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and every prison now has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign. We also engage with experts as part of a National Reading Group which advises on improvement work that includes better initial assessments of prisoners’ reading ability.
In addition, prisons in England and Wales frequently work with voluntary and community sector providers who provide reading support delivered by peer mentors as well as workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the building maintenance backlog relating to prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
To keep our prisons safe and secure, we are investing £220 million in prison and probation service maintenance in 2024-25, and up to £300 million in 2025-26. This is the largest investment in maintenance per annum since 2021-22.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to reduce the administrative cost of the tax system.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Budget 2024 the government committed to simplifying the tax system as part of its three strategic priorities for HMRC: closing the tax gap, modernisation and reform, and improving customer service.
A key aim for the Government is to reduce the administrative burdens for businesses when dealing with the tax system. To this end the Government announced, for example, on 28 January that it has listened to businesses and stakeholders and decided that employers will no longer have to provide more detailed employee hours data to HMRC from April 2026.
The Government is meeting with stakeholders, including the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board, to understand their priorities for administration and simplification, ensuring that this work is driven by the views of taxpayers.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of gambling advertising on (a) children under 18, (b) adults and (c) people with a gambling addiction.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This government recognises that while advertising is a legitimate advantage which licensed operators have over illegal gambling firms, increased exposure to gambling advertising can have an impact on gambling participation. Some forms of advertising can also have a disproportionate impact on particular groups, such as children and those who are already experiencing problems with their gambling.
There are existing robust rules in place to ensure that advertising, whenever it appears, is socially responsible, with a particular regard to the need to protect children, young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed and exploited. The Gambling Commission is also introducing new requirements for operators to allow customers to have greater control over the direct marketing they receive, and have also consulted on measures to ensure that incentives such as free bets are constructed in a socially responsible manner.
However, we recognise that more can be done to improve protections. We have set the gambling industry a clear task to raise standards and this work will be monitored closely.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made by the (a) Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and (b) the Commission on Human Medicines to (i) understand the (A) current and (B) historic risks of sodium valproate when taken during pregnancy, and (ii) in communicating these risks to (1) healthcare professionals and (2) patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), taking advice from the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), has worked to raise awareness among healthcare professionals and patients of the risks of valproate when taken during pregnancy through several updates to the valproate Summary of Product Characteristics, for healthcare professionals, and the Patient Information Leaflets, as well as updates to associated educational materials as required.
The magnitude and type of risks associated with valproate use in pregnancy have been communicated in articles in the MHRA bulletin, Drug Safety Update, and via letters cascaded out through the NHS Central Alerting System. These communications have been supported by messages from the relevant professional bodies and regulatory requirements reinforced through changes to clinical guidelines and improved alerts on general practitioner prescribing systems.
The valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme, implemented in 2018, is supported by educational materials for healthcare professionals and patients which describe the neurodevelopmental disorders and major congenital malformations associated with the use of valproate in pregnancy, and are available electronically and sent in hard copy format to healthcare professionals.
In January 2024, the MHRA communicated, in an article in a Drug Safety Update, the latest advice from the CHM, that valproate must not be started in new patients, male or female, younger than 55 years old unless two specialists independently consider and document that there is no other effective or tolerated treatment, or if there are compelling reasons that the reproductive risks do not apply. It was advised that women and girls of childbearing potential who are already receiving valproate should have their treatment reviewed by two specialists at their next annual review. The requirement for two specialists to review these patients is a one off, and subsequent annual reviews required under the Pregnancy Prevention Programme are undertaken by a single specialist.
Updated educational materials were made available to healthcare professionals and patients electronically, and sent to healthcare professionals in hard copy format, that could be provided to patients and which could support the discussions between healthcare professionals and patients.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help reduce late payment to SMEs (a) directly contracted by the Ministry of Defence and b) in the supply chain of firms contracted by the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) aims to pay 90% of undisputed and valid invoices from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within five days. In the last quarter of this financial year, over 95% of invoices have been paid within this timescale. Additionally, 100% of all undisputed and valid invoices should be paid within 30 days. Information relating to the Department's supplier payment performance can be found at the gov.uk website.
Along with all major suppliers to Government, direct suppliers to the MOD are required to comply with the Government’s prompt payment policy (PPN 10/23), and can be excluded from MOD procurements if they do not meet the standards of fair payment laid out in the policy. Suppliers must ensure that 95% of invoices in their supply chain are paid within 60 days and that they pay their invoices within an average of at least 55 days.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she plans to amend the list of protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 to include hair colour.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The Government has no such plans.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle homophobia in boxing.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport must be open to everyone. There is absolutely no place for homophobia, or discrimination of any kind, in sport or society.
The Government expects sports bodies, including the boxing authorities, to take robust action to tackle discrimination whenever and wherever it occurs. The Government will continue to work with National Governing Bodies and sector organisations to fight all forms of discrimination at all levels of sport.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of standards of (a) maintenance and (b) repair work to (i) Single Living and (ii) Service Families Accommodation.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Within each Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) contract, there is an embedded assurance and verification process to check the adequacy of the maintenance and repair service provided to Single Living and Service Families Accommodation. The assessments are made against Acceptable Levels of Performance (ALP).
We continue to robustly challenge supplier performance against agreed levels. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation Chief Executive and his Officials hold monthly scrutiny meetings with contractor Chief Executives to continue to hold them to account, drive performance improvements and deliver the best possible service to Service personnel and their families.
Where performance falls short of that ALP, specific performance Rectification Plans are put in place to recover performance and any subsequent contractual performance withholds applied. Each Region manages this performance rectification with suppliers back to an acceptable level of performance with oversight from the Health Check Forum.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making wildlife crimes notifiable offences.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Wildlife crime can have devastating consequences for our natural environments and countryside communities. This Government is committed to reducing crime in rural areas and anyone exploiting or deliberately harming British wildlife should face the full force of the law.
That is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit, which plays a vital role in providing intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK.
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.