Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what funding has been made available to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for clean-up operations following recent flooding.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 9235 on 16 January 2024.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to paragraph 199 of the Guide to Parliamentary Work, published by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, if he will he make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department’s performance against that paragraph in his Answer of 21 November 2023 to Question 1578 on Afghanistan; and if he will take steps to improve the adherence of his Department to the principles set out in that Guide.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The FCDO holds data on how much aid we have provided for Afghanistan and our commitment to ensure that at least 50 per cent of those reached with our aid are women and girls. The FCDO does not hold the breakdown of how much UK aid has been allocated specifically to women-led organisations based in Afghanistan. We have not withheld information on funding allocations. The department is confident that the answer provided to PQ 1578 adequately meets the guidelines laid down by the Leader of the Commons in the Guide to Parliamentary Work.
The FCDO attaches great importance to the effective handling of Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs) and recognises the importance of Parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the decline of free to use ATMs in Rotherham on residents.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. Importantly, in relation to personal current accounts the FCA is required to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash access services.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: FCA Access to Cash Consultation
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his proposal to increase the income thresholds for spousal visas would apply to renewals of existing visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The revised minimum income requirement will be implemented in spring 2024.
The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with the increase in the minimum income requirement in due course.
Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions the Government has had with the UN on international space conventions.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government is committed to the advancement of the peaceful use and exploration of outer space. The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) is the primary multilateral forum which sets the future of global space law and guidelines for the benefit of all humanity: for peace, security and development. The UK attends COPUOS and its subcommittees, playing a significant role to shape law and guidelines that are fit for the future, strengthening relationships with Member Nations and showcasing UK thought leadership in space sustainability.
We also work closely with the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs and fund projects to support the peaceful uses of space, including the implementation of the Long-term Sustainability (LTS) Guidelines: publishing them in all six official UN languages and capacity building tools for emerging space nations. We and our experts in the UK Space Agency continue to work in these forums to improve the LTS guidelines and add to the range of guidance available.
The Government plays a leading role within the UN and with international partners to promote responsible space behaviours. In December 2021 the UN General Assembly adopted a UK-sponsored resolution, which established a new UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on reducing space threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours. In October 2023, the UK General Assembly agreed to set up a further OEWG to build on the discussions of the first.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many sections of dual carriageway are subject to reduced speed limits due to the condition of central reservation safety barriers as of 28 November 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are currently no speed restrictions in place on any stretch of dual carriageway on the Strategic Road Network due to the condition of the central reservation safety barriers.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of how many and what proportion of repeat prescriptions are unused.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As identified in the National Overprescribing Review, published in September 2021, addressing overprescribing is a key area of opportunity for delivering greater value for money in medicines in the National Health Service, and it forms part of NHS England’s ongoing Medicines Value programme priorities. Evidence is limited but the review estimated that at least 10% of the total number of prescription items in primary care need not have been issued.
The review report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-overprescribing-review-report
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of dog legislation officer capacity to implement the ban on American Bully XL type dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be supporting the police to deliver additional training to Dog Legislation Officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced. We are liaising with the Home Office about any additional resourcing needs that may be required once the ban is in force.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for dog legislation officers to be trained to enforce the ban on American Bully XL type dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be supporting the police to deliver additional training to Dog Legislation Officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced. We are liaising with the Home Office about any additional resourcing needs that may be required once the ban is in force.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tents prisons have provided to people leaving prison in (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no official policy to issue tents as part of releasing people from prison, therefore the Ministry of Justice does not collect data on the number of tents issued. As such no information can be provided.
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes delivering our transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), which provides up to 84 nights of basic temporary accommodation for prison leavers who would otherwise be homeless.
CAS-3 launched in five initial probation regions in July 2021. The service was expanded to Wales in June 2022, with expansion to the remaining six probation regions in England by the end of the year, to support the thousands of offenders who leave prison homeless.
Between 01 July 2021 and 31 March 2023 5,796 individuals, who would have otherwise been homeless, were accepted on to CAS-3.