Oral Answers to Questions
Rachel Hopkins Excerpts(1 week, 5 days ago)
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Paul Waugh (Rochdale) (Lab/Co-op)
Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)
Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West) (Lab)
Mary Creagh
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend—[Interruption.] I hear enthusiasm for his comments from both sides of the House. Rochdale council has an exemplary record on fly-tipping, with 26 fixed-penalty notices and 12 prosecutions, which is admirable. Last week, the Environment Agency worked with the north-west regional organised crime unit to arrest two men in Manchester for fraud and money laundering, following an extensive investigation into packaging export notes used by law-abiding firms to export waste that were unlawfully sold for £747,000. Our message to the waste criminals is clear: we are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill, and we are going to track them down.
Rachel Hopkins
Fly-tipping is a scourge on local communities and a drain on council resources, be they rural councils, like Central Bedfordshire, or town councils, like Luton, in my constituency. Most recent figures show that there were over 10,000 fly-tipping incidents in Luton alone in 2023-24, but does the Minister agree that we need a co-ordinated approach between the Department, local authorities and the police to deliver a holistic strategy to tackle fly-tipping?
Mary Creagh
It is clear that my hon. Friend is right. Luton has a particular problem with fly-tipping, but the council has been doing good work, with 263 fixed-penalty notices and 32 prosecutions. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs chairs the national fly-tipping prevention group, and we work with a wide range of interested parties, including councils, the Environment Agency, the National Farmers Union and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to disseminate good practice, and I urge Luton to join us in that endeavour.
The Solicitor General
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this important issue. This Government have already banned machetes. We are introducing legislation that will clamp down on the sale of dangerous knives online, and we are committed to banning ninja swords, too. I recently met the CPS’s victim transformation programme and heard how the CPS is fundamentally transforming the way it provides support to victims to ensure that they get the assistance they need at every stage of the criminal justice process.
Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)
The Solicitor General
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that question. The Government are taking decisive action to crack down on serious and violent crime right across the country, and to ensure that perpetrators of such offences are put behind bars. As such, I welcome her strong support for the Crime and Policing Bill, which contains tough measures to tackle knife crime and other crime.
Rachel Hopkins
Sadly, Bedfordshire police recorded some of the highest knife crime rates in England in the year ending March 2024. A robust and quick CPS response is key to delivering justice for victims and their families. How are the Government ensuring that we increase prosecution rates for those serious offences to keep dangerous offenders off our streets?
The Solicitor General
My hon. Friend raises a critical issue that affects communities in Bedfordshire and across the country. An important part of the Government’s mission to make our streets safe is our commitment to halving knife crime in a decade. We have implemented our ban on zombie-style knives and machetes, and we are moving forward with our plans to ban ninja swords later this year. We know that more needs to be done to tackle the sale of knives and offensive weapons online, which is why we have recently announced Ronan’s law, which will include stricter rules for online knife sales.
Oral Answers to Questions
Rachel Hopkins Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)
Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)
The Solicitor General
Reliable and effective local policing is the foundation for keeping all our constituents safe, whether they live in a city, a town or a rural area. That is why the Government are putting more police officers and PCSOs on the beat. Our plan for change will ensure every neighbourhood has a named contactable police officer in their community to deal with local issues.
The Solicitor General
We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act, which aims to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting, as my hon. Friend describes. He will know that the Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention takes this matter very seriously and is working closely with the automotive industry to ensure the most robust responses possible to these crimes. I am also happy to raise the matter with my hon. Friend’s local chief Crown prosecutor.
Rachel Hopkins
Farmers across Luton South and South Bedfordshire have frequently raised with me the issue of fly-tipping on their land. I welcome the Government’s commitment to implement stronger laws to prevent fly-tipping. Will the Solicitor General, working with colleagues across Government, also commit to review and update sentencing guidelines for courts to make prosecuting fly-tippers more consistent and ensure more stringent fines are applied for the worst offenders?
The Solicitor General
Fly-tipping is a scourge both in urban and rural areas, which is why we are clamping down on it by forcing environmental vandals to clean up the mess they create. We are taking a cross-Government approach, aligned with our safer streets mission. I am sure my hon. Friend will be reassured to know that, working with ministerial colleagues, we are setting out a new strategy that will address antisocial behaviour and fly-tipping, and restore public confidence in policing.
Flooding: Bedfordshire
Rachel Hopkins Excerpts(5 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Blake Stephenson (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)
I rise in Flood Action Week to raise an issue that is front-of-mind for so many of my constituents. The flooding in September devastated homes, farms and businesses right across my constituency and those of hon. Friends across Bedfordshire. Indeed, my home in Shillington was flooded. Two months-worth of rainfall in 24 hours caused considerable damage to property and risks for people, especially the elderly or vulnerable, so I thank all the first responders and council workers who worked tirelessly to support my constituents.
Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this Adjournment debate during Flood Action Week. Constituents of mine were also impacted by the flooding across the county. Last week, I met representatives from the Fire Brigades Union, who said that over 400 calls had been taken in seven hours on flood-related issues alone. I pay tribute to them. Does he agree that there should be recognition of firefighters who carry out flooding rescue, which they do alongside all their other duties even though it is not a statutory service?
Blake Stephenson
So many people across so many organisations, including fire and rescue, worked tirelessly to protect our communities. I associate myself with the hon. Lady’s comments about the support provided by our local police and fire and rescue services.
Mid Bedfordshire is not an area at obvious risk of extreme flooding—unlike other parts of the county, we lack major rivers beyond the River Flit—but our soil types range from the thin sandy soils of the Greensand ridge to poorly draining clay soil, each of which presents its own flooding challenges. Our winters are getting wetter, and I know that many families will, like mine, look at the damage done by those floods and worry that such flooding will become the norm.
Blake Stephenson
I thank my right hon. Friend for making that point. He has stolen my thunder, because I was going to make that exact point later in my speech, so I will skip over it when I get to that section.
Blake Stephenson
Perhaps I will say it again. England has suffered its second worst harvest on record, with persistent wet weather, and waterlogged fields risk putting our farmers out of business over the medium to long term.