Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making crimes against wildlife notifiable offences.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit to help tackle these crimes.
The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agenciesacross the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity. The NWCU uses this information to produce strategic and tactical assessments of wildlife crime across the UK.
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing sentences for people convicted of assaulting public service workers .
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. Parliament has provided the courts with a broad range of sentencing powers to deal effectively and appropriately with offenders, including discharges, fines, community sentences, suspended sentences and custodial sentences.
The law is clear that where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty, or providing a service to the public this is to be considered by courts as an aggravating factor, increasing the seriousness of the offending. This applies to assaults committed against a wide range of workers. The statutory aggravating factor came into force on 28 June 2022.
Going forward, we will undertake a review of sentencing, to make sure that our framework is consistent, coherent, and cuts crime. We will use this review to develop a new long-term vision for sentencing which makes sense to victims and the wider public. The Lord Chancellor will announce more details of this review in due course.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of levels of compliance of NHS Trusts with the NHS car parking guidance 2022.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Car Parking Guidance 2022 includes mandatory and voluntary elements. All trusts that charge for hospital car parking provide free car parking to in-need groups, and are therefore compliant with the mandatory element of the NHS Car Parking Guidance 2022.
NHS England strongly encourages all trusts to follow the voluntary element of the guidance, particularly that where hospital car parking charges do exist, they should be reasonable for the area.