Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 10 December 2024 (HL3098), whether their policy on energy from waste has changed; and if so how, following the publication of the Residual waste infrastructure capacity note on 30 December 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Residual Waste Infrastructure Capacity Note assesses our residual waste treatment capacity need to 2035, as well as giving consideration to the long-term residual waste reduction target. The Capacity Note shows that, as of 2022-23, there were certain areas in England where significant volumes of non-recyclable household waste are sent to landfill. There is also a need to divert non-household wastes away from landfill.
The Capacity Note was published which set out that the Government will only back new energy from waste projects that meet strict conditions. Proposals for new facilities will have to demonstrate a clearly defined domestic residual waste treatment capacity need to facilitate the diversion of residual waste away from landfill, or enable the replacement of older, less-efficient facilities. Additionally, new facilities will have to maximise efficiency and support the delivery of economic growth, net zero and the move to a circular economy.
The Government encourages those developing energy from waste facilities (at all stages in the process) to consider forecast changes to future capacity, demand, and the Government’s circular economy opportunities, in light of the evidence published in the Capacity Note.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report from the Office for Environmental Protection, Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2023/2024, published on 16 January, that they may not meet environmental standards for maritime areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My department welcomes the Office for Environmental Protection’s report reviewing “Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2023/2024”. We will respond in full to this report in due course.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve foreign language teaching in schools and colleges, in particular the practical experience of speaking a foreign language in the host country, following the decision not to continue the UK's participation in the Erasmus Programme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
Having the opportunity to study a modern foreign language should be part of the broad and rich education that every child in this country deserves.
Languages provide an insight into other cultures and can open the door to travel and employment opportunities. They also broaden pupils’ horizons, helping them flourish in new environments.
The government is committed to providing enriching opportunities for students and young people to experience other countries and cultures, including through school trips and exchanges. We also recognise the difficulties that schools have faced in recent years when it comes to organising visits. The UK has agreed measures with France which make school trip travel between the UK and France easier.
The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s global programme for students to study and work abroad. Students can develop new skills, including language skills, gain international experience and boost their employability. The scheme has been helping tens of thousands of UK students to study and work abroad for four years and we have recently announced that the scheme will be running for a fifth year.
The UK has a bilateral student exchange programme with Germany, the UK German Connection (UKGC), which provides opportunities for children, young people, and a limited number of language teachers in the UK and Germany to engage in a range of activities, including seminars, exchanges, visits and study courses. UKGC seeks to support current German learners in the UK and encourage more to learn the language.
The department also has a long-standing Language Assistants Programme, delivered by the British Council, to improve modern foreign language skills through direct interaction with native speakers from around the world. This includes arranging placements in the UK for non-UK residents to assist with teaching French, Spanish, Mandarin, German and Italian (as Modern Language Assistants). In the 2024/25 academic year, there are 700 Modern Language Assistants allocated to UK schools.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of withdrawing telephone landlines on elderly and vulnerable customers, and whether they have made representations to telecommunications companies in this regard.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This is a very important issue which the government has been closely engaged with since it took office. It is important to note that landlines are not being withdrawn, but their underlying technology is being moved from Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
The switchover is an industry led programme. The Government is determined to ensure that any and all risks of the industry-led migration from PSTN to VoIP are mitigated. Communication providers and network operators signed voluntary charters in December 2023 and March 2024, ensuring their commitment to protect vulnerable consumers during the PSTN migration. On 18 November 2024, the major communication providers agreed to adhere to further safeguards set out in the non-voluntary migrations checklist before restarting non-voluntary migration of customers from PSTN to VoIP.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current level of bad debt in the water sector and what plans they have to reduce that debt.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The occupier of a property has a legal responsibility to pay the water bill of that property. Water sector bad debt is money owed to water companies which customers are failing to pay off.
This Government expects all water companies to proactively engage with supporting their customers and to put robust support in place to help customers make payments on any outstanding debt.
Between 2019 and 2024 bad debt cost the sector £2.205 billion. Under Ofwat’s PR24 Final Determinations, companies have committed to contributing £197 million of funding to reduce the number of households in debt.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce a zero rate of VAT for church repairs and renovation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has no plans introduce a zero rate of VAT for church repairs and renovation.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s second largest tax forecast to raise £171 billion in 2024/25. Taxation is a vital source of revenue that helps to fund vital public services.
Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates. In some cases, reliefs do not represent good value for money, as there is no guarantee that savings will be passed on to consumers.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport administer the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This provides grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship.
The Government keeps all tax policy under review, and any decisions on tax policy will be announced at fiscal events in the context of the overall public finances.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to prevent houses from being built on functional flood plains and, in particular, on those sites located in flood zone 3b.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework clearly sets out that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk, including floodplains. The approach to planning for flood risk is already clear that new housing and most other forms of development are not appropriate in a functional floodplain (Flood Zone 3b), where water has to flow or be stored in times of flood.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consider a single budget for the maintenance and dredging of watercourses, rather than two separate ones as at present for capital and operational maintenance.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Currently, dredging is part of the Environment Agency’s routine maintenance programme on its watercourses.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. Longer term funding decisions will be made at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many miles of maintenance and dredging of minor watercourses will be achieved this year.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency plan to carry out dredging on 147 miles (236km) of watercourses for which they are responsible in 2024/25. Figures can be subject to change based on in-year inspections and the potential to have a requirement to redistribute resources to incident response and recovery.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the results of the pilot schemes for renting e-scooters.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department monitors how the e-scooter trials are running on a continuing basis to ensure they are operating safely and developing the evidence base that will inform our future decisions on e-scooters.
A second national evaluation of e-scooter trials will start early this year. This will look to understand what journeys are being replaced by e-scooter journeys and how they integrate with public transport; their safety for users and for others; and examine accessibility impacts of e-scooters. It will also explore changing travel patterns since the coronavirus pandemic, when the trials were initially set up, and as e-scooters have become more embedded in public life.