Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to stimulate market demand for higher animal welfare products within the (1) transparency, and (2) strengthening, of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' regulatory baseline.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Stimulating market demand for higher welfare products is a key strand of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. We are continuing to work with industry to explore how we can harness the market to improve food information to consumers and build on our high standards of animal welfare, while aligning with wider food labelling priorities such as eco-labelling.
Alongside this we are investigating where additional regulatory tools may be required to ensure that effective enforcement of our high animal health and welfare standards is maintained.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to fully fund vet visits for farmers as per their annual health and welfare review.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The annual health and welfare review opened to all eligible keepers of cattle, sheep and pigs in February 2023, giving farmers access to a fully funded visit to their farm by a vet of their choice. In the coming months we will continue to iterate the service by further simplifying the application process. Further iterations will allow more reviews to take place, by opening the offer to livestock keepers who are not Basic Payment Scheme recipients and to those who keep multiple species or multiple herds and flocks of the same species.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to improve the welfare of farmed animals at the time of slaughter.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter, and legislation sets out the main requirements to protect the welfare of animals when being slaughtered.
Following publication in 2021 of the Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015, and as part of the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we are considering a number of ways in which the welfare of animals at the time of killing could be further improved. As a first step, last year we introduced The Protection of Animals at the Time of Killing (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2022 which made the non-penetrative captive bolt device available as a killing method for neonate piglets, lambs and kids (within certain parameters), providing an effective method for humane culling on-farm.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government which options they are considering to provide competitive wholesale electricity prices to the steel industry.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Powering Up Britain – Energy Security Plan sets out the steps the Government is taking to ensure the UK is more energy independent, secure and resilient as well as our goal for Britain to have among the cheapest wholesale electricity prices in Europe by 2035.
The Government has also announced new measures to support Britain’s Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) faced with high electricity prices. The British Industry Supercharger will reduce policy costs by exempting eligible firms from the costs of renewable energy obligations and the GB Capacity Market. It will offer support with network charges and bring an increase in the capacity market exemption, for which we are currently carrying out a public consultation. This is in addition to other ongoing support providing compensation for the indirect costs of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the Carbon Price Support mechanism.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether not implementing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in the UK will pose any risk to the steel industry's ability to export.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Carbon leakage risk is currently managed by at-risk sectors, including steel, receiving a proportion of carbon allowances free of charge (free allocation) in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. The UK ETS Authority has committed to maintain current levels of free allocation for industrial sectors until 2026. There is a further consultation at the end of 2023 to better target the remaining free allocations toward sectors considered to be at risk of carbon leakage, due to be implemented in 2026.
The government has recently consulted on potential future measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks, including the potential for a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The consultation closed on 22 June 2023, and the government is considering a wide range of stakeholder responses before taking any decisions. The government will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether not implementing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism could leave the UK open to high-emission steel dominating the UK market and having a detrimental effect on the UK steel industry.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Carbon leakage risk is currently managed by at-risk sectors, including steel, receiving a proportion of carbon allowances free of charge (free allocation) in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. The UK ETS Authority has committed to maintain current levels of free allocation for industrial sectors until 2026. There is a further consultation at the end of 2023 to better target the remaining free allocations toward sectors considered to be at risk of carbon leakage, due to be implemented in 2026.
The government has recently consulted on potential future measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks, including the potential for a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The consultation closed on 22 June 2023, and the government is considering a wide range of stakeholder responses before taking any decisions. The government will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have sufficient data on children over the age of 16 who are not in education or vocational training to enable targeted help to be made available to these so-called 'ghost children'.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since 2010, the department has put in place a range of policies that have significantly reduced the quantity of young people designated as not in education, employment and training (NEET).
Whilst the government provides the framework to increase participation and reduce the proportion of young people who are NEET, responsibility and accountability for delivery lies with local authorities, who have a statutory duty to identify and support all young people who are NEET.
Statutory guidance directs local authorities to collect information on all young people in their area, including whether they are NEET or have characteristics that put them at risk of becoming NEET, so that local authorities and their delivery service partners can effectively target and support those young people.
The department monitors NEET data and liaises with local authorities regarding their statutory duties to identify and support 16 and 17-year-olds. The department also publishes annual data from local authorities, including NEET comparative scorecards, that supports local authorities and their delivery services to monitor their own performance and benchmark it against that of others to promote improvements. The NEET comparative scorecards include information on local populations according to the Office of the National Statistics that can help local authorities evaluate whether young people are missing from their data and take further action. The NEET comparative scorecards are published at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/young-people-neet-comparative-data-scorecard.
The department also works with local authorities to support the better use of data tools to identify those at an increased risk of becoming NEET, based on characteristics such as having a learning difficulty or disability, or a record of poor school attendance, so they can be monitored and targeted with extra support to help them stay in education.
NEET young people are separate to children missing education, the latter being defined as compulsory school-aged children who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. From autumn 2022, local authorities have been asked to voluntarily provide aggregate information to the department on children missing education. This information is being analysed, and we expect this data will help to significantly improve our understanding of the national level picture.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework remains fit for purpose, given that it was negotiated before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion per year to the sector and outlines a joint vision for how community pharmacy will be more integrated into the National Health Service, deliver more clinical services and become the first port of call for minor illnesses. The Government continues to support this ambition.
Each year of the CPCF is negotiated separately between the Department, NHS England, and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee. In September last year, following a joint review of the CPCF, we announced the agreement for the remainder of the five-year deal, which included a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on (1) small businesses, and (2) innovation and growth, if the current Research and Development (R&D) tax relief scheme, including the available rebate of R&D costs, is withdrawn.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
As part of the ongoing Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs review, the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2022 that we are reforming the R&D tax reliefs to ensure taxpayer’s money is spent as effectively as possible, whilst leaving the level of R&D related business investment in the economy unchanged.
The permanent increase from 13 per cent to 20 per cent for the R&D Expenditure Credit rate announced at Autumn Statement 2022 also means the UK now has the joint highest uncapped headline rate of tax relief in the G7 for large companies.
The Government recognises the value of R&D intensive SMEs to the UK’s wider innovation ecosystem, and at Autumn Statement 2022 committed to working with industry ahead of Budget to understand whether further support is necessary for R&D intensive SMEs. Following this, the Chancellor has announced further support targeted at those R&D intensive companies most affected by the previous changes.
The Government will introduce an higher rate of tax relief for R&D intensive SMEs. Loss-making companies claiming the existing SME tax relief will be eligible for a higher payable credit rate of 14.5 per cent if they meet the definition for R&D intensity, instead of the 10 per cent credit rate for non-intensive companies.
Alongside this, from April the Government will extend the scope of qualifying expenditures the reliefs to include data and cloud computing costs.
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 establish a framework for smaller employers to incorporate new support, training and employability initiatives.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are the backbone of our economy and have a key role to play in driving economic growth.
The Department for Education set a strategy for skills reform in England in the Skills for Jobs white paper, putting employers at the heart of the skills system and the Government is investing an additional £3.8 billion over this Parliament to ensure workers can develop the skills businesses need.
By the end of FY 2022/23 Government will also have invested over £118m for the 38 English Growth Hubs to provide SMEs with free advice, alongside our Business Support Helpline.