Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Government has for land that was formerly earmarked for HS2.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Any property that is no longer required will be disposed of and a programme is being developed to do this. We will ensure it is compliant with requirements on the disposal of surplus government property, delivers value for money for taxpayers and does not disrupt local property markets.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to return NHS Trusts to pre-pandemic procurement practices.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Guidance on how contracting authorities, including National Health Service trusts, should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic was published in March 2020 and February 2021, reminding them of the options available when undertaking procurements in an emergency. These two guidance documents are available, respectively, at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0120-responding-to-covid-19

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0121-procurement-in-an-emergency

Authorities are allowed to procure goods, services, and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances, using regulation 32(2)(c) under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. These include a direct award under which authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement.

Contracting authorities assess the market conditions for procuring supplies related to any procurement, in accordance with procurement guidance and regulations. Where any procurement meets the tests for the use of Regulation 32(2)(c) for the direct awarding of a contract, then that approach can be used. However, where it doesn’t, other approaches will be considered.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to introduce legislation protecting shopworkers from serial or abusive shoplifters.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, and includes a new standalone offence for assaults on retail workers and electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters. This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, launched in October 2023.

We will legislate through the Criminal Justice Bill, currently before Parliament, to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops.

The new bespoke offence of assaulting a retail worker will also be introduced via the Criminal Justice Bill. The offence will have a maximum penalty of six months in prison, or an unlimited fine – and upon conviction, it is expected that courts will make a Criminal Behaviour Order, which could bar offenders from visiting affected shops or premises. Breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order is a criminal offence and carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.

Those who repeatedly assault retail workers will be electronically monitored after their third offence, to crack down on reoffending and ensure those continuing down a path of violent behaviour will be met with further consequences. For the most serious violent offenders of assault, custodial sentences of up to five years in prison are already available.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many vacancies there are in frontline police roles, including Police Community Support Officers, as of 16 April 2024.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold data on vacancies in frontline policing roles.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the function of police workers (officers, staff, designated officers (S.38) and Police Community Support Officers) as at 31 March each year in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.

This includes information on the number and proportion of police workers in frontline policing roles. Data from 31 March 2021 to 31 March 2023, by worker type, can be found in the ‘Functions Open Data Table’ here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba635306f78d000d7426aa/open-data-table-police-workforce-functions-260723.ods. Data for previous years, can be found in Tables F1 to F3 of the data tables accompanying each publication.

Data for the ‘as at 31 March 2024’ publication will be published in July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.