Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of cooperative energy models.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government recognises the role community groups and cooperatives play in our efforts to tackle climate change. Great British Energy’s Local Power Plan will enhance existing support Community Energy Groups to roll out renewable energy projects and develop up to 8GW of cleaner power.

The Government also supports the community energy sector through the £10 million Community Energy Fund, which enables communities across England to access grant funding to develop local renewable energy projects for investment.

The previous Government consulted on the barriers to community energy through a Call for Evidence, which closed on 30 June 2024. We will learn from the responses to this consultation to inform our future work on community energy.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of abolishing the furnished holiday let tax regime on local (a) economies and (b) jobs.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lets (FHLs) tax regime from April 2025. This will equalise the tax treatment of FHL and non-FHL landlords’ income and gains.

The Government wants to support the visitor economy alongside housing for longer-term residents to rent or buy. Achieving this balance is crucial in supporting the tourism sector, and many of the people who work in the sector need access to local housing.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the review into the loan charge will include examining the roles of (a) scheme promoters, (b) umbrella companies and (c) tax advisers.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government committed to an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.

Further details about the review will be set out in due course.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure the independence of the new review on the loan charge.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.

Further details will be set out in due course.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to enhance strategic road networks before the development of new housing projects in the South East.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

National Highways play a key role in the planning process to determine the necessary strategic road requirements of new major housing projects, and new major developments are a key consideration in future network investment planning as part of the Road Investment Strategy. Alongside this, the Department continues to work with colleagues in the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government and other partners to deliver a well-designed, integrated, and affordable transport network that unlocks homes and supports new developments. This is key to realising wider growth benefits, including reducing congestion and emissions, and ensuring communities can access jobs and services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to support people who have experienced long-term (a) financial difficulties and (b) mental health challenges as a result of not qualifying for financial support schemes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is working to support people and improve living standards for everyone across the country. As part of this, the Government committed to making no increase in employee National Insurance, Income Tax or VAT as we want to keep taxes as low as possible for working people. The Government has also put growth as its number one mission, which will help families by boosting wages and putting more money in people’s pockets.

The Budget announced a £240 million Get Britain Working package to help people into work which will help to tackle the root causes of economic inactivity and to get those who can work, off benefits and into good employment. Further details have been set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, published on 26 November 2024.

On 1 April 2025, the new National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates will come into force, expecting to benefit over 3 million eligible workers. For a full-time worker on NLW, the 6.7% increase of the rate to £12.21 per hour will provide a £1,400 increase to their annual earnings. These increases will ensure that the lowest-paid workers are supported and marks a step towards the government delivering a genuine living wage for all adults.

In addition, the Government is also supporting those on low incomes through continuing the Household Support Fund, increasing the Carers’ Allowance weekly earnings limit by nearly 30% from April 2025, and creating a new Fair Repayment Rate ensuring 1.2 million households claiming Universal Credit are on average better off by £420 per year, by capping the amount of debt deductions at 15% of the standard allowance.

On mental health, the Government has continued to expand access to mental health support to address the high levels of demand since the pandemic ended. This has included increasing the mental health workforce, treating more people through NHS Talking Therapies and improving urgent and emergency mental health care though new crisis houses and alternatives to A&E as well as making support available to those experiencing a crisis through the new ‘mental health option’ on 111.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what specific steps he is taking to (a) monitor and (b) mitigate the environmental impact of sewage spills on (i) waterways and (ii) broader ecosystems.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

From 1 January 2025, water companies will be required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning (under section 141DA of the Water Industry Act 1991 as inserted by section 81 of the Environment Act 2021).

In addition to this, the Water (Special Measures) Bill will introduce a duty for water companies to publish data related to discharges from all emergency overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning.

This will create an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and hold water companies to account. This will meet the Government commitment to ensure monitoring of every outlet.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will also introduce a statutory duty for all water companies in England and Wales to publish annual Pollution Incident Reduction Plans.

The measures in this Bill will provide the most significant increase in enforcement powers for the regulators in a decade, giving them the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies in the next investment period, which is due to start in April next year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he has made an assessment of the potential merits of standardising the GP appointment application process in Surrey.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The GP Contract requires all practices to offer patients an assessment of need, or signposting to an appropriate service, on the day they contact the practice, or the next day if they contact the practice in the afternoon. They will not be asked to phone back another day.

As independent businesses, practices have autonomy in the way that they function operationally, including the implementation of digital services and how they manage appointments and related processes. Therefore, each practice will have its own approach to managing appointment bookings in order to best meet the needs of the local population.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) tackle discrimination and (b) enhance inclusion policies for neurodiverse people in the workforce in Surrey.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Neurodivergent people bring many positive benefits to businesses but can face stigma and disadvantage. We understand the importance of tackling discrimination and encouraging employers to adopt neuro-inclusive working practices so that everyone can thrive at work.

In our plan to Make Work Pay, we committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace. We will be gathering expert evidence on how best to improve employment for all neurodivergent people and will be considering the Buckland Review of Autism Employment’s findings.

Employers have a key role to play. Our support to employers includes a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme. Both help employers to understand their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010. We will be considering how to enhance our work with employers in the months ahead, including in response to the independent employer review announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of integrating carbon monoxide risks into country-based travel advisories.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development (FCDO) travel advice remains under regular review to ensure it reflects our latest assessment of risks to British nationals. The risks of carbon monoxide poisoning is currently covered in our Travel Advice pages for China and Nepal. We aim to include information in our travel advice on the issues most likely to be of relevance to British nationals visiting or living in each country/territory. In determining what we include in our Travel Advice we assess a range of factors, including drawing on local knowledge and monitoring trends in consular cases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of(a) the utilisation of psilocybin-based treatments for mental health conditions and (b) commissioning further research into the therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department recognises that the use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies, such as psilocybin, to treat mental illness is gaining attention both within the medical and scientific communities, as well as across the public more broadly. However, there is no proven medical use for psilocybin in the United Kingdom, and no such substance has yet been licensed as safe and effective in the treatment of mental health conditions. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is supporting psilocybin research via the NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility, the NIHR Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility, and the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, where researchers are developing and evaluating the efficacy and safety of psilocybin therapies.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve the awareness of carbon monoxide poisoning risks among British tourists overseas.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We provide information and guidance in our Travel Advice on the issues most likely to be of relevance to British nationals visiting or living in each country/territory. In determining what we include in our Travel Advice we assess a range of factors, including drawing on local knowledge and monitoring trends in consular cases. The risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is currently covered in our Travel Advice pages for China and Nepal. In addition, two of our Travel Aware partners, RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and the Safer Tourism Foundation, run campaigns and continue to develop messaging to alert travellers to the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning around the world. We regularly review the work we do with all our Travel Aware partners ensuring that they are highlighting appropriate issues to British travellers.

Infant head measurements

Sharon Scrivens

Jim Grant Inspirational Achievement Award

Contribution of Selsey Life magazine to the Selsey community

Protecting children from sexual abuse

Government response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on communication of changes to women’s State Pension age

Sage House Dementia Hub

Flood recovery framework

UN Special Rapporteur's report on atrocity crimes in Iran

Domestic Abuse Offences

Found: present: Tonia Antoniazzi (Chair); Chris Bloore; Sorcha Eastwood; Claire Hanna; Katrina Murray; Dr Al Pinkerton

Submit Evidence (by 31 Jan 2025)

The committee is undertaking an inquiry into the operation of the Windsor Framework in Northern Ireland, scrutinising the implementation of commitments from the movement of goods to rights obligations.

Submit Evidence (by 5 Feb 2025)

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is launching an inquiry into Government policy on the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland.