Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to tackle period poverty.
Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Minister for Women and Equalities
The Department for Education runs a scheme providing free products in education settings, so periods aren’t a barrier to learning for young women. There are similar schemes to ensure that hospital patients and those in police detention have access to the products they need.
This Government is tackling the root causes of poverty through measures to make work pay, boosting the living wage, and investing in public services; so no one has to go without the essentials.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the contribution of youth services to the wellbeing of young people in Hartlepool constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government cares about young people and champions the vital role that youth services play in improving the wellbeing of young people. We are working closely with the Home Office on the Young Futures Programme which prioritises prevention, including mental health. In Hartlepool, we have provided funding to youth clubs through the Youth Investment Fund, to give young people a safe space to go to. We also know that sport has public health benefits too which is why we have committed to investing £123 million in grassroots sport this year to ensure sport is open to everyone.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of council tax bands.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government currently has no plans to reform council tax. Ahead of any decisions taken on the tax, the Government will carefully consider the impact on councils and taxpayers. The Government is committed to keeping taxes on working people as low as possible.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
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 the effectiveness of the NHS dental contracting framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system and contracting framework, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department makes an assessment of the socio-economic background of an area when determining the location of asylum accommodation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a set of asylum accommodation plans which set out how much Dispersal Accommodation is appropriate for each local authority. The Home office has developed an indexing tool which has helped to ensure that this is done in an evidence-based manner, factoring in a range of socio-economic factors, for example homelessness, pressures on GPs and hate crime. When procuring accommodation in line with those plans, our accommodation providers consult with local authorities who have the opportunity to set out any concerns and to signpost our accommodation providers to possible alternative properties.
The Home Office will continue to review the appropriateness of sites for use as asylum accommodation and remains committed to regularly engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders as part of this process.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open an inquiry into crustacean die-offs on the North East coast.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department is aware of the conclusions of the independent review commissioned by the previous administration into the crustacean mass mortality event on the North East coast of England. Defra, supported by its public bodies and agencies, continues to work with researchers and the scientific community on coastal health, livelihoods, and environment.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to tackle the antisocial use of off-road vehicles.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.
The police are able to pursue off road bikers but any decision on whether to undertake a pursuit is an operational one, and should take account of the risk factors and proportionality in each situation. The Home Office works closely with the NPCC to understand how the safety of police pursuits can be improved.
The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good, so that they will be able to quickly destroy the bikes that they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has plans to build a new nuclear reactor on the Hartlepool nuclear power station site.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A new National Policy Statement will be developed to provide the planning framework for nuclear power beyond 2025. We believe the sites identified in the current National Policy Statement (EN6), including the privately owned Hartlepool site, are likely to retain inherent positive attributes that make them attractive for consideration for development.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the regulations governing the powers of the police to (a) pursue and (b) detain people using off-road bikes illegally.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.
The police are able to pursue off road bikers but any decision on whether to undertake a pursuit is an operational one, and should take account of the risk factors and proportionality in each situation. The Home Office works closely with the NPCC to understand how the safety of police pursuits can be improved.
The Government will give police the powers they need to take illegal, dangerous and antisocial bikes off the streets for good, so that they will be able to quickly destroy the bikes that they seize from offenders. We will set out more information in due course.