Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce shoplifting in Suffolk.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Since 2010 our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft from the person down 48% and overall violent crime down 44%, and with more police officers on the streets than in 2010.
However, there has been a worrying rise in shoplifting and violence towards retail workers, which we need to address.
Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 37% in the 12 months to December 2023. Although, the number of people charged with shoplifting offences in the same period rose by 46%, showing the police are heeding the message and taking action.
The Government has taken a number of recent significant steps to reduce and prevent retail crime. Our plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, which highlights five areas of work this Government will drive forward to tackle retail crime. This will include us introducing a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops. We will develop a retail theft electronic monitoring (EM) ‘package’, to offer sentencers starting in a pilot area, a clear community sentence pathway for repeat retail theft offenders.
This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, which includes a commitment to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Figures published by the NPCC show early signs of progress.
Furthermore, we will bring forward legislative changes to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops. This legislative change will provide that on the third sentencing occasion, an offender would be electronically monitored as part of any community sentence or post-release for the duration of any licence period.
Under section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, low-value shoplifting (value of £200 or less) is a summary offence, unless an adult elects to be tried in the Crown Court. Where a summary offence is committed, the case can be handled as a police-led prosecution.
Police-led prosecutions were introduced to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system by allowing for a simpler, more proportionate police-led process in high-volume, low-level, uncontested cases. This route enables cases to be handled more speedily, rather than cases having to go to the CPS and through the Crown Court.
Repealing this would mean victims of shoplifting have to wait longer for cases to come to court.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle anti-social behaviour in (a) Suffolk Coastal constituency and (b) Suffolk.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Last year the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan) ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.
The plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes funding an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we worked with 10 police force areas and, following the success of the pilots, we have extended this approach to every police force in England and Wales from April. Suffolk will receive £1,000,000 for the hotspot programme for 2024/25 tackling areas of high incidents of both anti-social behaviour and serious violence.
We are also strengthening police and local authority powers to tackle anti-social behaviour through a number of measures in the Criminal Justice Bill.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the total value was of grant funding awarded from the Heritage High Street Fund to projects in (a) Suffolk Coastal constituency and (b) Suffolk since 2019.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The taxpayer-funded High Streets Heritage Action Zones programme ran from 2019 to 2024, operating in England only, and administered by Historic England. The programme has funded the transformation and restoration of over 60 high streets, creating economic growth and improving quality of life in these areas.
There was one programme in Suffolk, in Lowestoft. The total grant funding awarded from 2019 to 2023 was £804,926.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support the growth of creative industries in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The UK Government has a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and support another 1 million jobs by 2030. This was set out in June 2023 in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which was accompanied by £77 million of new funding to support the sector’s growth. This is on top of a range of tax reliefs introduced or expanded since 2010 covering film, television, animation, video games, orchestras, theatres and more.
Creative Industries GVA grew at more than twice the rate of UK GVA between 2010 and 2022 (50.3% vs 21.5%), and helped support more than a million new jobs since 2010.
Measures in the Sector Vision include the £28.4 million Create Growth Programme (CGP) to support high-growth creative businesses in twelve English regions outside London to scale up and become investment ready. The CGP is being delivered in twelve local area partnerships, including Suffolk.
It also includes £1 million for the Creative Careers Programme, which raises young people’s awareness of creative careers and pathways by providing specialist advice and information through a range of industry-led engagement. It is delivered in regions around England, including Suffolk.
The Arts Council England Investment Programme is also investing £444 million each year into arts and culture in England. The Arts Council is providing around £5.36 million per year to cultural organisations in Suffolk, of which over £1.6m allocated to cultural organisations in Coastal Suffolk.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of unoccupied dwellings in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department publishes live tables on dwelling stock, which includes vacant homes here: Live tables on dwelling stock (including vacants) - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab). This data is collated from Council Taxbase data, collected by local authorities.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of NHS provision for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in Suffolk.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to assessment and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. The NICE guideline on ADHD does not recommend a maximum waiting time from referral for an assessment of ADHD to the point of assessment or diagnosis.
Whilst the Department has not made a specific assessment, Suffolk and North East Essex ICB advises that it has undertaken a review of children’s ADHD and autism services. As a result of the review, and current demand, the ICB has agreed additional funding of £3.3 million to support the services to not only reduce the time children are waiting for assessment but also increase the service provision to meet future demand. The ICB is also looking at potential new models of delivery and at the current pathways to see how it can utilise them more efficiently to ensure a smoother process for families.
In respect of adult ADHD and autism services, the ICB has worked closely with its local National Health Service provider, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, to closely monitor and respond to increases in demand. In March 2024, the ICB agreed to invest £300,000 to support those patients on the waiting list with additional advice and support.
In respect of the adequacy of ADHD service provision nationally, in December 2023, NHS England initiated a rapid piece of work to consider ADHD service provision within the NHS. The initial phase of work identified challenges, including with current service models and the ability to keep pace with demand. Following this initial review, NHS England is establishing a new ADHD taskforce alongside the government, to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The new taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD and help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.
Alongside the work of the taskforce, NHS England has announced that it will continue to work with stakeholders to develop a national ADHD data improvement plan, carry out more detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape and capture examples from local health systems which are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services to ensure best practice is captured and shared across the system.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Suffolk.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Government provides extensive business support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with over 40 offers of support available to all business including those in Suffolk.
Businesses in Suffolk can access support through GOV.UK, the Business Support Service and network of Growth Hubs. Government-backed financial support is available from the British Business Bank, including the Growth Guarantee Scheme, which has been extended until the end of March 2026.
The Government set out policy actions in the Prompt Payment and Cash Flow which was published alongside the Autumn Statement in November 2023. These actions include extending Payment Performance Reporting Regulations with legislation being passed earlier this month, ensuring that large businesses are required to report their payment performance.
The Start Up Loans Company provides loans and pre- and post-loan business support and mentoring to new entrepreneurs. Since the programme started in 2012, 917 loans have been awarded to start ups in Suffolk totalling over £9 million.
The Government’s recently launched initiatives supporting business:
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to promote (a) international trade and (b) investment opportunities for businesses based in Suffolk.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
The Department for Business and Trade works with local stakeholders to promote trade and investment opportunities. Businesses in Suffolk can access the Department's range of export support services through great.gov.uk. This includes online learning and information, the Export Academy, our network of International Trade Advisers, and our International Market Advisors in overseas regions. UK Export Finance also has a network of export finance managers and coverage includes Suffolk.
The Department works in partnership with other Government Departments and locally to attract potential investors and provide support for foreign investors wishing to invest in the area.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has allocated to the farming sector in Suffolk Coastal constituency since 2022 by (a) funding type and (b) recipient.
Answered by Mark Spencer
We do not hold details of Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) funding by constituency. Details of FiPL funding for projects in the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape, which partly overlaps with the Suffolk Coastal constituency, can be found here.
The Rural Payment Agency (RPA) has supported the farming and rural sector through payments under a range of schemes.
Since 1 April 2022, the RPA has released through schemes and grants approximately £20,740,643 in the Suffolk Coastal constituency.
A breakdown of these figures provided below relates to payments released within the specified financial years 2022 to 13 May 2024, irrespective of the scheme year to which individual payments are related, and only covers payments that are provided to farmer businesses by the RPA.
Basic Payment Scheme | Countryside Stewardship Scheme | Environmental Stewardship | Sustainable Farm Incentive | Other Grants | Total |
13,056,470 | 3,533,148 | 2,200,580 | 221,924 | 1,728,521 | 20,740,643 |
To meet data protection obligations, it is not possible to break this down further by recipient.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the amount that local authorities have spent on repairing potholes in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In 2023/24, Suffolk County Council received £35 million of capital funding from the Department for Transport, an increase of 30% compared to the previous financial year, with much of the additional funding made possible by the decision to reallocate funding from the HS2 programme. The Department asked all local highway authorities to publish a plan on how they intend to spend the additional funding being provided, and Suffolk County Council’s plan is available on its website.
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, in this case Suffolk County Council, to maintain and manage its highway network. The Department for Transport allocates capital funding to local highways authorities to enable them to maintain their highway networks, but decisions on how much of this, and how much of their other income, is spent mending potholes as opposed to maintaining other highway assets are entirely matters for them.