Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department is taking steps to support the approval of air-to-air heat pumps for inclusion in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is taking steps to support the inclusion of air-to-air heat pumps in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The necessary legislative changes have already been made and the scheme is ready to provide £2,500 grants for eligible installations.
It is also necessary to ensure that there are standards in place and installers are accredited to install air-to-air heat pumps. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is working closely with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, the Microgeneration Certification Scheme and Certification Bodies to deliver these.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of the rule that prohibits UK television broadcasters from showing live Premier League matches on Saturdays between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on (a) attendance of non premier league football games and (b) pirating of Premier League matches.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Article 48 of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Statutes, which facilitates the “3pm blackout” is voluntarily adopted by the Football Association (the FA) with the aim of protecting ticket sales for lower leagues in the football pyramid.
As the Minister stated on the floor of the House of Commons during Second Reading of the Sporting Events Bill on 3 September, this is “an issue for the Football Association, but we support the current situation, as we recognise the importance of this for the lower leagues'".
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of public funding allocated to the development, validation and uptake of human-specific research methods in each year from 2020 to 2025.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 28 August 2026 to Question UIN 23680 Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
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, whether her Department plans to introduce a national minimum urban tree canopy cover target for local authorities.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to meeting the statutory Environment Act target to increase tree canopy and woodland cover in England to at least 16.5% by 2050. We continue to support local authorities and partners to increase tree cover, including in towns and cities, through a range of tree planting and establishment programmes.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how much funding was provided to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research in each year from 2020 to 2025; and what proportion of that funding was allocated to replacing the use of animals in scientific procedures.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 08 September 2026 to Question UIN 23681 Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
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, if she will list the professions of the members on DEFRA’s Infrastructure Board.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Defra Infrastructure Board is an internal cross-government forum, with representation from a range of government departments and public bodies. It draws on expertise from across government, with relevant technical experts attending as required.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in each constituency in the East of England have been identified by HMRC as being owed pension tax relief as a result of not receiving the full tax relief available on pension contributions.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HMRC do not hold information on owed pension tax relief by constituency.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2025, published in July 2026, what assessment she has made of the use of 11,213 mice in procedures reported under the LD50 and LC50 test.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
All procedures using protected animals, including the LD50 and LC50 tests, are subject to strict regulation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). No project licence can be granted unless a Home Office inspector has completed a harm-benefit analysis and concluded that the likely benefits justify the harms to the animals.
As part of that assessment, inspectors consider the scientific rationale, whether the proposed method is appropriate to achieve the stated benefits, and whether suitable non-animal alternatives are available. The use of animals is authorised only where those tests are judged necessary, justified and proportionate.
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 steps she is taking to support fire services across the East of England to tackle wildfires.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Fire and rescue services have been responding to an exceptionally challenging period of wildfire activity, with multiple significant incidents being managed simultaneously across England and Wales.
Measures have already been utilised to assist with the response to emergencies such as the ban on the disposable BBQs introduced on 14 August as well as use of the emergency alert system across the East of England and other parts of the UK. These are options that will assist emergency services going forward.
This year, we have made available almost £1.95 billion in core spending power to standalone fire and rescue authorities in England (excluding York & North Yorkshire and Greater Manchester) through the Local Government Finance Settlement. It is for each fire and rescue authority to decide how best to use that funding, including for wildfire training, preparation and prevention, based on local risk.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how much funding was provided to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) each year between 2020-2025; and what proportion of that funding was spent on activities intended to replace the use of animals in scientific procedures (as opposed to activities focused on refinement or reduction).
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NC3Rs receives funding from a number of sources. Its core funding is provided by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which are part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Core funding for financial years:
2020/21: £9.35M
2021/22: £9.45M
2022/23: £10.20M
2023/24: £10.00M
2024/25: £10.10M
2025/26: £7.93M
Replacement of the use of animals is included in all NC3Rs programmes with the exception of its animal welfare projects. Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, more than 80% of grants awarded by the NC3Rs have been to replace the use of animals.