Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what support the Intellectual Property Office provides to SMEs seeking to enforce registered copyright and trademark rights against overseas infringers.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Helping SMEs protect and enforce their intellectual property (IP) rights is an important priority for the UK Government. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) provides support through its International IP Service, which offers guidance on protecting and enforcing IP overseas. This includes country and region-specific information on local regulatory frameworks, registration requirements, enforcement routes and common risks, as well as signposting to relevant overseas offices and enforcement authorities.
The IPO also maintains a network of IP attachés in key international markets, providing practical guidance to help UK businesses make informed decisions about protecting and enforcing their rights overseas.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of greater cross-agency action between the Intellectual Property Office, Trading Standards and Border Force on tackling counterfeiting.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Government is reducing the sale of counterfeit goods by supporting Police, Trading Standards and Border Force to take targeted enforcement action, disrupt online sales, seize counterfeit goods and use Proceeds of Crime Act powers to recover criminal profits.
Between 2021 and 2023, Border Force seized counterfeit articles with an estimated retail value exceeding half a billion pounds. The volume of suspected counterfeit articles seized varied over this period, falling from more than 3 million articles in 2021 to just over 1 million in 2023. Of these seizures, 95% were confirmed as counterfeit in 2021 and 89% in 2023. The estimated retail value of destroyed counterfeit goods increased from £142 million in 2021 to over £200 million in 2023, indicating a trend towards lower volumes of higher-value items.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that providers of occupational health clinical services maintain accurate and contemporaneous records and a reliable audit trail, including the retention of metadata, for the medical information they hold about individuals.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department expects all providers of occupational health services to comply with their legal obligations regarding the management, storage, and retention of personal data and medical records, including their responsibilities under United Kingdom data protection legislation and any other relevant statutory or professional requirements.
Responsibility for maintaining accurate and contemporaneous records, and for ensuring appropriate audit arrangements for the information they hold, rests with the individual provider.
The Department does not routinely audit occupational health providers' record-keeping practices, including the retention of metadata, nor does it centrally collect or monitor information on providers' compliance with these requirements.