Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a maximum workplace temperature.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to modernising health and safety guidance including that addressing workplace temperatures. The Government will work with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to bring forward detailed proposals for consultation on workplace temperature.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate she has made of the number of unoccupied shops on high streets in (a) Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The information requested is not held centrally.
We are committed to safeguarding our high streets. Through the English Devolution Bill, we will introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets that will empower local communities to reclaim and revitalise empty shops, pubs, and community spaces, revamping our high streets and eliminating the blight of vacant premises.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a medal for seriously injured and medically retired emergency service personnel.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
We owe a tremendous gratitude to dedicated emergency service workers for their continued hard work and sacrifice to protect the public. There is no doubt that those who have their service cut short have made, and in many cases will continue to make, an invaluable contribution to the emergency services.
Medals are awarded by the Government, on behalf of His Majesty The King to recognise individuals within the service. The creation of a new medal requires a cross Government consensus before advice is put to HM The King, the implementation of a fair set of criteria and processes, and the allocation of funding. Ultimately, these decisions sit with The Monarch but the Government is happy to consider the case for any new medal or award, subject to comprehensive assessment across government to consider whether a medal of this kind would be feasible.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to help ensure that shoplifters who steal goods worth under £200 are charged.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police Recorded Crime figures showed 443,995 shoplifting offences for the year ending March 2024, an increase by 30% in the 12 months leading up to. Shoplifting continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. The Government will not stand for this.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government will end the effective immunity that has been granted to low level shoplifting of goods under £200. We will also introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the of the potential merits of minimum standards for mobile phone signal on new-build housing estates.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Regulations are in place which require developers of new build homes, including new-build housing estates, in England to install the infrastructure necessary for gigabit-capable broadband connectivity. There is currently no equivalent provision relating to mobile coverage. The government is committed to updating national planning policy to ensure the planning system meets the needs of a modern economy, and this includes making it easier to build digital and mobile infrastructure.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Demand Responsive Transport schemes in which locations have been funded under the Bus service improvement plan..
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We estimate around 19 Local Transport Authorities are using or planning to use Bus Service Improvement Plan funding to fund Demand Responsive Transport schemes around England.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the average cost per passenger journey to the public purse of the £2 bus fare cap in each local transport authority.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The £2 National Bus Fare Cap is a voluntary scheme for eligible bus operators, who are provided a bespoke funding allocation to reimburse the difference between the cap and the shadow commercial fare. This is calculated using the Department for Transport’s methodology which uses each operator’s historic and present data to predict ticket sales for each period of the scheme.
It is not possible to calculate the average cost per passenger journey in each Local Transport Authority (LTA) because the reimbursement is provided directly to bus operators, who do not operate exclusively within LTA boundaries. The total government investment to cap bus fares at £2 between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024 is around £600 million.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the adequacy of services provided by London Northwestern Railway and (b) whether London Northwestern Railway is meeting its obligations set out in the West Midlands Trains Limited 2021 rail contract.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to work closely with West Midlands Trains (WMT), which operates London Northwestern Railway services to monitor its adequacy.
The Department also monitors compliance with WMT’s contractual obligations. Although operational performance has recently been impacted by a significant number of infrastructure and weather-related incident. WMT’s performance was above expectations and other contractual metrics have also been within acceptable levels overall.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number and proportion of miles of roads in (a) Dunstable and (b) Leighton Buzzard that are in poor condition.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport collects information on the condition of roads from local highways authorities. Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard make up part of the local highway authority of Central Bedfordshire.
Information on the condition of roads specifically in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard would be held by the local highway authority of Central Bedfordshire. Unfortunately, it is not held by the Department at this level of granularity.
Information on the condition of roads in England is collected and published by the Department annually here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-network-size-and-condition. However, no information for the condition of roads in Central Bedfordshire has been provided to the Department since the financial year ending March 2019.
The data held by the Department for the financial years ending March 2010 to March 2019 showed that:
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the risk of flooding in central Bedfordshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA)’s current Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Capital Programme (2021-2027) includes 10 projects within the central Bedfordshire area, with a current estimated total project value of £3.5 million. This includes several schemes delivered by Central Bedfordshire Council to better manage surface water in locations which have experienced surface water flooding historically, including Blunham and Shefford. The EA is also completing a first stage appraisal of the flood risk to Leighton Buzzard to better understand the case for flood risk mitigation and the likelihood of achieving a cost beneficial solution. It expects this to be completed by autumn 2024.
The EA’s annual maintenance programme for main rivers in the catchment includes desiltation projects, vegetation clearance and flood defence improvements, and is funded by a combination of Government grant in aid and local flood funding.
The EA is also working in partnership with Central Bedfordshire Council, the Internal Drainage Board and Anglian Water to gather evidence about flooding during January 2024, following one of the wettest winters on record. This work will identify the causes of flooding and determine any necessary actions. The EA has also been engaging with communities to understand the impacts from these events.