Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announcement by Ofwat that water bills will increase over the next five years, what proportion of storm overflows resulting in harmful nutrients entering rivers they expect to be reduced over this period; and what financial consequences will be applied to water companies who do not meet overflow targets.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For Price Review 24, which runs from 2025 – 2030, water companies are investing almost £12 billion to improve 2,800 storm overflows. This expenditure has a price control deliverable (PCD), which sets out Ofwat’s expectations for delivery.
Ofwat also sets specific performance targets for water companies. Ofwat is expanding these performance commitments for Price Review 24 to include an ambitious storm spill reduction target. If achieved, this would see average spills per storm overflow reducing by 45% by 2029 compared to 2021 levels across the industry.
Where required outcomes are not met, companies must reimburse customers, thereby holding water companies to account to deliver the investment.
Beyond storm overflows, £6 billion will be invested to reduce harmful nutrients, including phosphorous, by 28% over 2025-30, through upgrading treatment works and promoting sustainable farming.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to fully review the medicines supply market, particularly with regard to shortages of medicines and their costs.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to fully review the medicines supply market. Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes, or distribution and regulatory issues. We have drawn on up-to-date intelligence and data on the root causes of medicine supply issues, with manufacturing problems being the most dominant root cause.
The resilience of UK supply chains is a key priority, and the Department and NHS England are committed to helping to build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. We are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work, to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and strengthen our resilience. As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to incorporate a role for chiropractors in national musculoskeletal health prevention strategies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving health outcomes for the over 17 million people in England with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions forms a key part of the Government's missions to build a National Health Service fit for the future and kickstart economic growth.
Prevention, early detection, and treatment of these conditions using a multidisciplinary approach can enable people to live in good health and remain independent. As such, the Government recognises the role chiropractic treatment can play in supporting people with MSK-related pain.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure that the increase in employer National Insurance contributions does not result in job losses among lower paid women with caregiving responsibilities.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook expects that the Employer National Insurance contributions package will lead to a reduction in the participation rate of 0.1 per cent from 2025-26 onwards. Overall, once the impact of all budget measures are taken into consideration, the OBR expect the employment level to increase from 33.1 million in 2024 to 34.3 million in 2029.
Employers have a choice about how they respond to the NICs increase. The Government recognises that employers may respond by increasing employees’ wages more slowly than they would have otherwise, alongside absorbing pressures through prices, efficiencies or lower profits.
The Government is protecting the lowest paid by increasing the National Living Wage. This limits the ability of employers to pass on increases in costs to those on lower pay. The Government has also introduced important protections for workers as part of the Plan to Make Work Pay.
The Government is partnering with business to maximise women’s contribution to the economy. In line with the ambition of the Invest in Women Taskforce to expand access to funding for female entrepreneurs, the British Business Bank is investing £50 million in women-led funds. HMT’s Women in Finance Charter is supporting financial services firms to make the most of their female talent.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the costs of ending the National Citizen Service.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This Government is committed to delivering an orderly transition following the decision to wind down the NCS programme from March 2025 and close the NCS Trust when parliamentary time allows.
DCMS is currently working closely with the NCS Trust to agree the full costs of winding down the programme, and closing the NCS Trust.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how long they estimate it will be before money for both existing and new youth projects is made available as part of the National Youth Strategy; and what are the timescales projected for new youth projects to be up and running.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government will publish the National Youth Strategy in 2025. In the interim, in 2025/26 we are increasing the total funding for other DCMS youth programmes, excluding the National Citizen Service programmes which we will be winding down from March 2025. Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course.
This will include allocating over £85m of capital funding to create fit-for-purpose, welcoming spaces for young people, with the new Better Youth Spaces fund allocating at least £26m for youth clubs to buy new equipment and do renovations. This capital funding also allows for the completion of the Youth Investment Fund programme.
We will also launch the Local Youth Transformation pilot, which will test a new way of working and supporting local authorities, providing a package of support to assess, improve and invest in impactful local youth offers to build back lost capacity and sow the seeds for a much-needed rejuvenation of local youth services.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of apprentices who are studying for vocational qualifications.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
An apprenticeship is a job with training. Through a combination of on and off the job training, an apprenticeship will enable an apprentice to be competent in a specific occupation. Not all apprenticeships will include a mandatory qualification, but some will, such as a degree or a professional accreditation.
This government is reforming the apprenticeships offer into a new levy-funded growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and align with the industrial strategy. It will feature shorter duration apprenticeships and new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted, growing sectors. These will help more people learn high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country. The department will take the time to work closely with employers and providers to design new training that offers young people a route into good, skilled work and meets the needs of the industrial strategy.
The department continues to pay additional funding to employers and training providers to support them to take on young apprentices, apprentices with learning difficulties and disabilities, and care leavers.
The department is continuing outreach work in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme and targeting young people through the Skills for Life campaign.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the proportion of food grown in the UK which is never eaten; and what steps they are taking significantly to reduce this figure with a particular emphasis on full contracts.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We acknowledge that more can be done to reduce food waste in the primary production stage.
Conversations with industry have suggested that a potentially significant cause of food waste on farm are unfair business practices at the point of first sale, where the specification requirements can lead to produce being left unharvested or rotting in the field.
We have taken powers to clamp down on these kinds of unfair contractual practices through the ‘fair dealings’ powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 and intend to work with stakeholders to explore how these powers could be exercised to address such concerns.
Total UK food waste arisings are 10.7 million tonnes with approximately 1.6 million tonnes (15%) occurring on farm.
The amount of food we waste is a stain on our country. This Government will work with business to drive down food waste and make sure food is put on the plates of those in greatest need.
We continue to support WRAP and their work to drive down food surplus and waste in homes and businesses. This includes work to ensure surplus food is redistributed to charities and other organisations who can use it and on programmes to help citizens reduce their food waste.
We thank food producers, charities and retailers in the sector for tackling the problem of food waste.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote the development of green jobs; and what is their assessment of the consequences for delivery of a low-carbon built environment.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) has been created to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high quality, paid fairly, and have favourable terms and good working conditions.
The OCEJ is engaging widely with industry, experts, and trade unions for a clear assessment of the skills opportunities and challenges. It is working closely with Skills England to ensure that skills systems reforms support the clean energy transition.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the role of Groceries Code Adjudicator and whether it should be a full-time appointment.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) is appointed by the Secretary of State and holds and vacates office as the Adjudicator in accordance with the terms of their appointment.
The government will undertake the fourth statutory review of the GCA in 2025. The review must consider how much the Adjudicator’s powers have been exercised and assess how effective the Adjudicator has been in enforcing the Groceries Supply Code of Practice over the review period. The government will give all interested parties the opportunity to contribute to this review.