Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of fees for firearms licences.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Fees for firearms licences were last increased in 2015 and the Government is currently considering proposals for new firearms licensing fees.
I hope to make an announcement about fees shortly.
Income received from firearms licensing fees should be invested into ensuring forces’ licensing teams are adequately resourced, trained and equipped.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's planned timescale is for the (a) consultation and (b) review of F gas regulations.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We undertook a joint review of the GB F gas Regulation and published our assessment report in December 2022 (available online). We are now in the process of developing policy proposals for reform and intend to consult on these in due course.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle domestic violence.
Answered by Laura Farris
Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and tackling it remains a top priority for this Government.
We remain committed to delivering our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and complimentary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. We have doubled funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline and added violence against women and girls - including domestic abuse - to the revised Strategic Policing Requirement elevating it to a national threat for police forces to respond to accordingly.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on its review into the environmental impact of disposable vapes.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
There have been no meetings held between the Defra ministers and Scottish Ministers, so far. However, there are plans to hold discussions on this area in the near future.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 11 April 2023, HCWS710, on Achieving Smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping, when his Department plans to create the illicit vapes enforcement squad.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
The new illicit vapes enforcement unit, led by National Trading Standards, is now operational. The two-year, £3 million funded project commenced work in early summer 2023. National Trading Standards is gathering data and intelligence, training staff, and bolstering capacity, and will begin field work operations in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the £10,000 penalties for the sale of illicit tobacco products to illicit e-cigarettes.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
The current Track and Trace system only covers illicit tobacco. However, we are currently exploring a range of new measures to tackle illicit vapes as part of response to youth vaping call for evidence. We will publish our response to this shortly.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice of 16 May 2023, Official Report, col 695, when his Department plans to publish a call for evidence on motoring offences.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Government will confirm any next steps in due course.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support (a) hospitality, (b) public house and (c) other businesses with energy prices.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The Government remains committed to supporting the whole business sector including hospitality, public houses and other businesses. The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. It also provides businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support.
Wholesale gas prices have now fallen to levels before Putin’s invasion. The new EBDS therefore strikes a balance between supporting businesses for a further 12 months and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets. This provides long term certainty for businesses and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year.
The government has had to make some difficult decisions this Budget to maintain economic stability and secure the public finances. The government has provided a series of cuts and freezes on alcohol duties in the past decade. The most recent freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represents a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next 4 years. Whilst we are raising rates by RPI, we have increased the value of Draught Relief to support pubs, meaning a pint of draught beer sold in a pub will not pay more duty from August.
We have provided extensive support to the hospitality and tourism sector through an over £8 billion reduction in VAT during the pandemic, and are also increasing and extending business rates support with a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24 for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. This will support around 230,000 businesses, including pubs, with 75 per cent relief off their business rates bill, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Pubs will also benefit from the freeze to the business rates multiplier for 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years, meaning all bills are 6% lower than without the freeze.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of demand for school places in specialist settings.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Demand for specialist school placements has grown in recent years, with over 50,000 more pupils placed in special schools compared to 2017.
We have responded to this by developing new specialist provision. We are investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to deliver new specialist places in mainstream and special schools. Our Free Schools programme has opened 77 special and 50 alternative provision free schools across the country since 2010, with 67 similar projects in the pipeline.
The recent Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local setting.
For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and specialist provision, we will ensure they get prompt access to the support they need, and that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the fines for retailers which sell vaping products to young people under the age of eighteen.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
No assessment has been made of the adequacy of the fines for retailers which sell vaping products to young people under the age of 18 years old.
However, a post implementation review of The Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 was published in January 2021 and is available at the following link:
The review concluded that the legislation had met its objectives.
We are fully aware of issues around youth vaping and have recently launched a youth vaping call for evidence. We will assess a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential future changes to vaping policy and regulation.