Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a statutory food hygiene rating scheme in England.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
We will consider whether the mandatory display of ratings should be introduced in England in due course. In the meantime, the FSA is working with its local authority partners to maintain and improve the impact and benefits of this highly successful public health scheme.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating the display of restaurant food hygiene ratings in all English licenced premises assessed.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
We will consider whether the mandatory display of ratings should be introduced in England in due course. In the meantime, the FSA is working with its local authority partners to maintain and improve the impact and benefits of this highly successful public health scheme.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to incorporate harvest control rules into future fisheries management plans.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) are evidence-based action plans ensuring stocks can be sustainably harvested. Work is being done to implement actions in the six published FMPs. Collectively, these can be considered as equivalent to the ‘harvest control rules’ for the individual fisheries. Defra published a harvest standard specification in September setting out the broad framework within which individual harvest strategies can be developed for English fisheries. Harvest standard specification for fisheries management plans in English waters - GOV.UK Harvest Control Rules require a sufficient level of data and understanding of a stock. Currently, there are some FMP stocks that they cannot apply to until there is a better evidence base.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish proposed measures for the Stage 3 offshore Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rotherham on 16 September 2024, PQ 4529.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HMRC's policy paper on making tax digital, updated on 19 December 2022, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a digital tax system for managing duty on vaping.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to modernising tax administration to enhance efficiency and compliance.
HMRC operates on a ‘digital by default’ basis and will look to mandate digital channels by which all businesses within the scope of the Vaping Products Duty (VPD) must register, report and pay online, with exceptions only for those who are digitally excluded by virtue of protected characteristics. This was set out in VPD consultation response document: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672263b43ce5634f5f6ef582/Vaping_Products_Duty_consultation_response.pdf
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the use of section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 by police forces to tackle nuisance behaviour involving (a) motorbikes, (b) e-bikes, (c) e-scooters, (d) quad bikes and (e) any other type of motor vehicle.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Information about the powers the police use to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) incidents is not held centrally by the Home Office, and is collected by HMICFRS.
The Home Office collects and publishes data about the number of ASB nuisance incidents on a quarterly basis, however information about which of these incidents involved motor vehicles is not currently identifiable.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data quarterly on the proportion of respondents who experienced types of ASB in their local area, including “Vehicle related behaviour”, in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – however the type of vehicle used is not currently identifiable.
Both the ONS and Home Office datasets for ASB in the year to March 2024 can be found here:
Information for the year to June 2024 will be published on 24th October 2024.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's timetable is for making a decision on the development Medway Maritime Trust elective care centre in Chatham.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Presently, there is no Medway elective treatment business case going through assurance with the Department. NHS England has delegated authority for business cases costed at under £25 million, in which case the Department is not the decision maker. This aligns with our approach that local health infrastructure needs are determined by local health system planners, in collaboration with NHS England.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she had made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads in Kent and Medway.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local road network. Kent County Council and Medway Council are the local highway authorities for different parts of the Chatham and Aylesford constituency, and they are therefore responsible for the condition and maintenance of their local road networks. They will receive £38.3 million and £3.5 million respectively from this Department during 2024/25 to help them carry out their local highway maintenance responsibilities, and it is up to them to decide how that funding is used. For England as a whole, the Government has a commitment to enable local highway authorities to fix up to a million more potholes a year.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce driving test waiting times in (a) Medway and (b) Kent.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA’s) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
DVSA continues to take measures to increase test availability. These include the recruitment of driving examiners (DE), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As part of its recruitment efforts in Kent, DVSA has made offers to 15 potential new DEs. DVSA launched its latest recruitment campaign in September 2024. From this campaign DVSA aims to recruit a further eight DEs in the Kent area.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to increase Crown Court capacity in Kent.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. The caseload has risen in recent years as a result of the pandemic and an increase in cases coming before the criminal courts.
To address this, we plan to sit 106,500 working days at the Crown Court this financial year and continue to keep 18 Nightingale courtrooms open for 2024/25. Alongside this, we consistently invest in the recruitment of c.1000 judges and tribunal members annually and are also considering further measures to speed up justice.
HMCTS receives a specified level of funding each year to operate the courts and tribunals. This level of funding is agreed by the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice via the Concordat process. Sitting days are subsequently allocated to regions and local courts.
In 2024/25, Maidstone Crown Court is scheduled to sit at its maximum capacity in line with the number of judges and courtrooms it has available. We continue to explore the prospect of increasing the number of courtrooms available at the Court. Canterbury sits below capacity, but this reflects the improving performance picture at the court.