Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) costs and (b) merits of requiring freeholders to allow the installation of electric vehicle charging points where requested by leaseholders.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is continuing provide support to install chargepoints. This includes the Electric Vehicle Charge Point grant which provides people living in flats or rental accommodating up to £350 towards an EV chargepoint, and Infrastructure Grants which allow those who own apartment blocks to apply for funding for installation in car parks.
The Government also delivered world-leading legislation which came into force in June 2022, requiring new buildings with associated parking to have charging infrastructure installed. These measures are estimated to lead to the installation of up to 145,000 chargepoints across England every year, including for new apartments.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the installation of electric vehicle charging points for residential apartments.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is continuing provide support to install chargepoints. This includes the Electric Vehicle Charge Point grant which provides people living in flats or rental accommodating up to £350 towards an EV chargepoint, and Infrastructure Grants which allow those who own apartment blocks to apply for funding for installation in car parks.
The Government also delivered world-leading legislation which came into force in June 2022, requiring new buildings with associated parking to have charging infrastructure installed. These measures are estimated to lead to the installation of up to 145,000 chargepoints across England every year, including for new apartments.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support GP practices with the costs of recycling medical packaging.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Premises Costs Directions 2013 set out the reimbursement of certain costs, incurred by General Medical Services contractors, that can be claimed relating to their practice premises. This includes being able to claim reimbursement for clinical waste disposal. The costs of all other waste services are a general practice (GP) expense, covered by the payments GPs receive for delivery of services under their contracts. The Premises Costs Directions 2013 is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-general-medical-services-premises-costs-directions
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent progress her Department has made on the procurement process under Project Gigabit for work in Elmet and Rothwell constituency.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Over 98% of premises in Elmet and Rothwell already have access to a superfast broadband connection (over 30Mbps) and over 83% have access to gigabit-capable broadband (>1000 Mbps). This is above the national average of 97% for superfast coverage and 79% for gigabit coverage respectively.
In April 2023, as part of Project Gigabit, we launched a procurement inviting broadband suppliers to bid for a contract to bring gigabit-capable broadband to the remaining premises in West Yorkshire, including in Elmet and Rothwell, that are unlikely to be reached by broadband suppliers' commercial rollout plans. We aim to award a contract to the successful supplier in early 2024.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to increase levels of meat and poultry exports.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To support delivery of the Government’s Export Strategy the Prime Minister recently announced a food and drink export package to boost export capability and deliver on growing demand for our high-quality UK produce across the world. This included a further expansion of our global agrifood and drink counsellor network who negotiate removal of trade barriers in growing global markets. Within the last year we have successfully secured access for lamb to the USA and apples to India. The export package also included a £2m boost to promotional activity such as trade shows and missions that help drive demand for UK products alongside the GREAT food and drink campaign.
To further support food producers export, we have held a range of National and Regional food summits with dedicated SME workshops to highlight export opportunities and build capability.
Supporting this increased investment in exports we have an ambitious programme of negotiations for free trade agreements which is delivering results. On 31 May the UK’s first new free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand came into force, opening markets for UK producers across all products. On 31 March, the Government substantially concluded negotiations on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement (FTA) including 11 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. This trade deal will see new export opportunities for food producers including exporters of meat and poultry.
We work closely with a wide range of industry representative partners to identify and prioritise barrier removal, and to seize opportunities to streamline the export process for animals and animal products. Alongside opening new market opportunities, we are also increasing resilience and mitigating risks to existing trade. This is particularly the case with poultry where we are working with trade partners to agree regionalisation agreements to allow trade from unaffected regions to continue in the context of Avian Influenza outbreaks.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources in the (a) Animal Health and Plant Agency to respond to multiple exotic disease outbreaks and (b) Food Standards Agency to respond to safety risks associated with imported food.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
a) The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) constantly review resource allocation and the Secretary of State is briefed on the Agency’s preparedness for multiple disease outbreaks. Recognising the impact of persistent incursions of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 into the UK, additional funding has been made available this year to APHA to ensure it has the resources needed to deliver against the increased demands HPAI has placed on it.
(b) While the Food Standards Agency is responsible for imported food safety policy, responsibility for the delivery of border controls for imported food rests with Plant Health Agencies, which are the relevant competent authorities. As such they are responsible for ensuring adequate resources are in place to carry out this function at a local level.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she (a) has had and (b) plans to have with international trading partners on the use of avian influenza vaccinations.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The vaccination of poultry and captive birds against avian influenza, excluding those in licensed zoos in England, is not currently permitted.
While avian influenza vaccination is unlikely to be a viable option for the 2023/24 high risk season, Defra has established a cross Government and industry task force to explore potential for use of vaccination as a preventive measure for avian influenza. Further information can be found at Bird flu (avian influenza) vaccination task force - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Secretary of State and her officials, including the UK Chief Veterinary Officer, regularly engage with trading partners and international fora like the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) on a range of animal health issues, including vaccination policies.
Any future decisions on avian influenza control measures, including the use of vaccination, will be based upon the latest scientific, ornithological, and veterinary advice. Should UK avian influenza vaccination policy change in future, Defra will work to secure the buy-in of trading partners to ensure UK trade in poultry is not negatively affected.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the readiness of (a) food border checks and (b) veterinary provisions.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In August 2023, the Government published the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) which sets a new regime of sanitary and phytosanitary controls regime for all imports to GB. Defra continues to engage regularly with other Government departments, including Cabinet Office to prepare for implementation of the BTOM. Under the BTOM inspections for food safety, biosecurity and animal health will take place at Border Control Posts (BCPs) from April. BCP operators must demonstrate that there are sufficient on-site staff, including official veterinarians, to carry out the required import checks on consignments, and BCPs should therefore have sufficient staff to undertake their function. There will be continual dialogue between Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Port Health Authorities to ensure that the correct levels of staffing are in place to deliver BTOM.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on supporting the provision of on-street charging points for electric vehicles where there (a) is no off-street parking and (b) are no public charge points.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is supporting local authorities through the £381m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, enabling local authorities to work with industry to transform the availability of charging infrastructure for drivers without off-street parking. A key aspect of the LEVI Fund is over £45m Capability funding, which enables local authorities to secure dedicated in-house expertise to plan and deliver EV chargepoint strategies, which take account of local challenges.
A variety of technical, commercial and management guidance and best practice is available for local authorities through the LEVI Fund Support Body, appointed by the Department to deliver the LEVI Fund. This includes a ‘Knowledge Repository’ which contains guidance for each stage of charging infrastructure delivery, from writing a strategy to selecting sites and hardware through to designing effective contracts using a procurement ‘heads of terms’.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
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 help reduce the number of people with endometriosis globally.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK recognizes the significant impact that endometriosis has on women's sexual and reproductive health and quality of life and that strong health systems, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), are essential for tackling this disease. That's why the Women's Health Strategy for England made improving access to services, and prioritising services for women's conditions such as endometriosis, one of the 6 priorities for action.
Globally, the UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive SRHR. With our partners, we are working towards a world where women, girls and all other marginalised people have access to quality health services. We support health system strengthening through our funding to the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents, and in collaboration with key partners, including the World Health Organization and UNFPA.