Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on the future status of the Parthenon marbles.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Secretary of State and I have separately met with the Chair and Director of the British Museum. The position of the Parthenon Sculptures was one of a number of issues discussed on both occasions.
I also met Greece’s Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni on 4 November for a meeting regarding tourism, and she briefly raised the Parthenon Sculptures.
Decisions relating to the care and management of the Parthenon Sculptures are a matter for the British Museum Trustees, acting within the law.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) amending the Quarry Regulations 1999 to ensure that (i) levels of PM10 and PM2.5 particulate emissions in quarries are (A) monitored and (B) controlled and (ii) risk assessments in relation to those particulate emissions are undertaken and (b) directing the Health and Safety Executive to introduce evidence-based standards for levels of air quality in quarries.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations, environmental permits for quarries issued by local authorities must already include emission limit values, monitoring requirements and other controls for particulate matter and other air pollutants.
The Quarries Regulations 1999 require operators of quarries to take necessary measures to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the quarry and its plant are designed, constructed, equipped, commissioned, operated and maintained in such a way that persons at work can perform the work assigned to them without endangering their own health and safety or the health and safety of others. The duty holder for the quarry is required to ensure that risks and exposure to harmful substances are adequately controlled.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the performance trajectory of CrossCountry Trains following the implementation of its reduced timetable.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Rail Minister met with CrossCountry in August. It is subject to a Remedial Plan that runs until March 2025. CrossCountry reinstated its full timetable from 10 November.
Officials meet CrossCountry regularly to discuss operational issues including progress with the Remedial Plan. CrossCountry will continue to be very closely monitored against the contractual benchmarks that are set out in its National Rail Contract.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of making water companies statutory consultees in planning applications.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government encourage water companies and other infrastructure providers to work proactively with local planning authorities to identify where supporting infrastructure will be required to meet the demands of new development.
On 23 October, the government announced an independent commission to review the water sector regulatory system and make recommendations to reform the water sector regulatory framework in England and Wales. The review is expected to report next year, and we will carefully consider its findings.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making the LGA's voluntary shared database on taxi driver licenses mandatory.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 27 April 2023, the remainder of the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 was commenced, and the Department designated the use of a database, which previously operated on a voluntary basis supported by the Local Government Assocation, for the purposes of this Act. The Act mandates the use of a national database in England to record every decision to refuse, revoke or suspend a taxi or private hire vehicle driver licence due to safeguarding, road safety or discrimination concerns.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of removing the abatement law on teacher's pensions on (a) retaining teachers and (b) allowing retired teachers to return to the profession.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department reviewed the abatement provisions as part of scheme reforms introduced in 2015 and removed abatement applying to any service accrued under the career average scheme that was introduced.
The abatement provision applies to pension accrued in the final salary section of the scheme only. The final salary section is closed to any further accrual, and all active members have now transitioned to the career average scheme.
Retired teachers are able to return to the profession and accrue further pension.
There are no plans to review the abatement provisions again.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support Ukrainian nationals living in the UK whose right to (a) work and (b) rent expires before the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme comes into effect; and if her Department will issue guidance to (i) employers and (ii) landlords on ensuring that refugees with less than a year remaining on their permission are not denied the opportunity to (A) work and (B) rent property in the UK on this basis.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
To provide future certainty, Ukrainians who have been provided with sanctuary in the UK under the Ukraine schemes will be able to apply for further permission to remain in the UK through a bespoke Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme due to open in early 2025. The new route will provide an additional 18 months’ permission.
The scheme will provide the same rights and entitlements as the existing Ukraine Schemes, to access work, benefits, healthcare and education. Further details on eligibility and application processes will be available before the scheme opens.
We continue to work closely with relevant stakeholders to communicate these changes to landlords and employers, to support the stability of Ukrainian guests in these areas.
The Employer’s guide to right to work checks and the Landlord's guide to right to rent checks have been updated to reflect employment and renting of Ukrainian nationals. Updates have included advising of schemes which are now closed, and changes made to the Homes for Ukraine scheme which means some visa holders, who applied to the scheme after the 19 February 2024, will have 18 months permission to remain in the UK.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the criteria for ambulance dispatch to ensure that suspected sepsis cases are prioritised; and if he will take steps to ensure that the NHS guidelines on (a) calling 999 and (b) going to A&E are strictly adhered to.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Calls to 999 are triaged to ensure the sickest patients get the fastest response. Suspected sepsis is generally allocated a Category 2 response. This category of response is for emergency incidents that require urgent assessment and rapid transportation.
The Government has committed to returning ambulance response time performance to the standards set out in the NHS Constitution. As a first step the Health Secretary has commissioned Lord Darzi to lead an independent investigation of National Health Service performance, which is due to report in September 2024. We will continue to support the public in accessing the NHS treatment and advice that best meets their needs.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) dental practices in South Leicestershire constituency and (b) the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board on (i) dental contract (A) reform and (B) value, (ii) units of dental activity rates and (iii) taking steps to increase access to dentistry.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning National Health Service dental services. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, address underlying issues, and set out the action needed for longer term reform of the system. This includes a new patient premium to support dentists in taking on new NHS patients, an uplift to the minimum Units of Dental Activity (UDA) rate, new dental vans to bring dental care to our most isolated communities, and the Golden Hello incentives to encourage dentists into under-served areas. We are also developing further recommendations for dental contract reform, and will consult with the sector before an announcement on this, later this year.
Data on the number and value of NHS contracts in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB, and the number of UDAs commissioned and delivered, is available on the NHS Business Services Authority’s Open Data Portal, at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/access-our-data-products/open-data-portal-odp
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much and what proportion of the contract awarded to CityFibre to provide hard-to-reach premises in Leicestershire and Warwickshire with access to gigabit-capable broadband will be spent in South Leicestershire constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez
In February 2024, BDUK announced the signing of a £71.5 million Project Gigabit contract for Leicestershire and Warwickshire with the supplier CityFibre, to deliver lightning fast broadband to approximately 38,000 premises. Of these premises, approximately 6,500 are in the South Leicestershire constituency.
The specific funding required to reach the premises in each area will depend on the costs involved for deployment, which can vary. However, it can be anticipated that approximately £11.5 million of the contract funding will be spent in South Leicestershire.