Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will take steps to support small businesses with the costs of compliance with (a) EU general safety and performance requirements and (b) EU regulations.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

UK businesses exporting medical devices to the EU should comply with EU General Safety and Performance Requirements (GSPR), which outline the criteria for medical and in vitro diagnostic devices marketed in the EU. These apply under the EU Medical Device Regulations (MDR) and the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR), which came into force in 2017.

Responsibility for interpreting and providing guidance on EU legislation rests with the European Commission. For detailed guidance, businesses should refer to the European Commission's website. UK Government continue to assess implementation milestones of MDR and IVDR. Businesses experiencing EU market access issues, may seek support via the UK Export Support Service.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the EU General Product Safety Regulation on UK small businesses exporting to the EU.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I appreciate that for some businesses, the updated EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) will require changes, and we take these concerns very seriously. Government is supporting small businesses to understand GPSR and is engaging directly with businesses to assess the regulation’s impact.

We have published guidance on GPSR’s application in Northern Ireland, which we will keep under review. The responsibility for interpreting EU legislation lies with the European Commission. The Commission have published their own business guidance and impact assessment of the regulation.

Small businesses exporting to the EU may also wish to contact the Government’s Export Support Service.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the tax allowance for pensioners to £15,000.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to keeping taxes as low as possible for pensioners while ensuring fiscal responsibility, which is why it is not extending the freeze on personal tax thresholds that was implemented by the previous government, and is instead allowing them to rise with inflation from April 2028.

At Autumn Budget, the Government announced that the basic and new State Pension will increase by 4.1% from April 2025. This means those on a full new State Pension will receive an additional £470 a year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of people waiting for NHS dental appointments in North Cornwall constituency.

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

This Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For North Cornwall constituency, this is the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB. The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB is taking actions to make NHS dental care more accessible, including the commissioning of additional urgent dental care appointments across the South-West, a dental helpline for urgent advice; and an access pilot project in Cornwall to support the most vulnerable people to access an NHS dentist.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to make NHS dental care more accessible for people in North Cornwall constituency.

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

This Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For North Cornwall constituency, this is the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB. The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB is taking actions to make NHS dental care more accessible, including the commissioning of additional urgent dental care appointments across the South-West, a dental helpline for urgent advice; and an access pilot project in Cornwall to support the most vulnerable people to access an NHS dentist.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) expanding the base money supply and (b) other alternative monetary policy.

Answered by Tulip Siddiq

Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. This includes decisions on Bank Rate and the stock of UK government bonds held in the Asset Purchase Facility.

It is for the MPC to judge how it uses its tools to maintain price stability and Bank Rate is the MPC’s primary macroeconomic tool. The separation of fiscal and monetary policy is a key feature of the UK’s economic framework, so the government does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to tackle private parking companies issuing penalties to customers for taking too long to purchase a ticket due to (a) queues at the parking payment machine and (b) limited mobile phone/internet signal.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is committed to driving up standards across the private parking sector for the benefit of motorists.

The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.

We hope to announce our proposals regarding the code as soon as possible.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing the Environment Agency with ring-fenced funding from the proceeds of fines placed on water companies for breaching sewage dumping regulations.

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

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will deliver on the Government’s commitment to put water companies under special measures. It will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

Through the new cost recovery power in the Bill, we will enable the Environment Agency to fully recover costs for the full extent of their water company enforcement activities including prosecutions and civil sanctions, revocation notices of permits and pollution incidents.

The Water Restoration Fund, which launched in April 2024, was established to reinvest water company environmental fines and penalties into projects to improve the water environment. Defra is continuing to work with His Majesty’s Treasury regarding continued reinvestment of the water company fines and penalties on water environment improvement. A final decision on this will be made when the Spending Review concludes later this year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that Local Housing Allowance rates reflect rents in (a) rural and (b) urban areas.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In April 2024, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) increased to the 30^th percentile of local market rents for one year at a cost of £7bn over 5 years.

LHA rates are set within Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs), which are determined by rent officers at the Valuation Office Agency for England, Rent Officers Wales and Rent Services Scotland. There are 192 BRMAs across Great Britain.

A BRMA is an area within which a person could reasonably be expected to live with regard to facilities and services for the purposes of health, education, recreation, banking and shopping. The BRMA criteria takes account of travel to and from those services by both public and private transport in both rural and urban areas.

Rent Officers gather a representative sample of private rental data across the BRMA of all property types and property sizes from a range of sources. They also survey across the full year to capture current market conditions. This includes collecting a representative sample from all the local authority areas within a BRMA, including larger urban centres and more sparsely populated rural areas where relevant.

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 legislating to increase the minimum percentage of affordable housing requirement when hew housing developments are (a) planned and (b) built.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The golden rules introduced through the revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 require that development on the Green Belt delivers 15 percentage points more affordable housing than the existing local plan affordable housing requirements, up to a maximum of 50% (except where the local plan requirement is already higher). We estimate that the median affordable housing target in the Green Belt will be 50%.

Outside of the Green Belt, it is for local authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require affordable housing, and to reflect this in planning policies. We will consider what further steps we can take to support social and affordable housing as part of our intent to produce a set of national policies for decision making later this year.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional (a) funding and (b) support for (i) local authorities and (ii) harbourmasters to (A) safely dispose of and (B) reclaim abandoned vessels.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Many ports already have powers to remove, dispose of, and recoup costs pertaining to abandoned vessels. Environmental impact is a factor that may be considered as a part of a decision to intervene. If ports do not have powers to remove vessels, they can seek additional powers if needed by means of a Harbour Revision Order As these legal avenues already exist, the Department has taken no recent action, nor plans to undertake an assessment but we continue to welcome input from stakeholders on these issues.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will commission an independent review of alternative renewable energy technologies.

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

The Secretary of State does not intend to commission a separate independent review of alternative renewable energy technologies. DESNZ monitors new developments through the Net Zero Innovation Programme.

Additionally, since 2012 the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund has received proposals for alternative technologies, which are reviewed independently.

The link to more of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-entrepeneurs-fund

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) reduce the number of abandoned leisure boats and (b) mitigate environmental damage from those boats.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The department has taken no recent steps to address either of the two issues raised in the question. The department has issued advice in the port marine safety code around the issue of abandoned vessels, but that advice is aimed at vessels which pose a threat to safety. The department would expect that each port would use its powers in a reasonable manner to the limit of its authority to address any issue caused by abandoned leisure vessels, and would do so in would environmentally responsible way.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that rural communities remain connected following the digital switchover.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The digital switchover is an industry led programme. Customers in rural communities will not have their landlines migrated to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) without an available stable internet connection (VoIP only requires a minimum speed of 0.5mbps).

The Government has taken several initiatives to boost rural connectivity and mobile coverage throughout the UK, including Project Gigabit, the Shared Rural Network deal with the industry, and publishing the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy 2023.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions his Department has had with oil and gas companies on renewables policy.

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

Details of Ministers’ and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of attaching emergency batteries for mobile phones to telephone masts in rural areas.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Communications providers have a statutory responsibility to take measures to identify, prepare for and reduce anything that compromises the availability, performance or functionality of their networks and services. Some mobile phone masts have battery back-up so that they can continue operating despite a power outage, although the amount of back up currently varies across the access network.

Ofcom have recently undertaken a public Call for Input on this issue, and in September 2024 they announced they will undertake further analysis to consider whether additional measures are needed. Government will continue working closely with Ofcom, mobile operators and the power sector to ensure there is appropriate and proportionate resilience across the network.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a detailed national registration system for leisure vessels.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Secretary of State for Transport has not assessed this the potential merits of introducing a detailed national registration system for leisure vessels. Whilst registering on the Small Ships Register is not mandatory, small ship owners are encouraged to register their vessel. The small ships register (part 3) currently has 34,527 vessels registered.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of families dependent on food banks.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has committed to producing a Food Systems Strategy which will provide an opportunity to set out how the food system can deliver for growth, health and the environment. A particular focus will be ensuring that families in poverty can afford healthy food which will improve child welfare, reduce the burden on the NHS, and benefit UK productivity in the long term.

Moreover, the Child Poverty Taskforce is working to publish a comprehensive strategy to tackle child poverty. This includes consideration of how the Government can tackle the key drivers of essential costs for low-income families, such as food.

The Government has put in place several measures to support the households who face the greatest hardship, including the Fair Repayment Rate for debt deductions in Universal Credit, which means approximately 1.2 million families will keep more of their award each month. The Household Support Fund in England has also been extended until 31 March 2026, which will mean those most in need can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water. We are investing over £30 million in the rollout of free breakfast clubs in every primary school, so that every child is well prepared for the school day and can achieve their full potential.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) maintaining and (b) reducing levels of fuel duty on (i) households, (ii) small businesses and (iii) the haulage sector.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and cancelling the planned inflationary increase for 2025/26, meaning rates will remain frozen at the levels set in March 2022.

This support represents a total saving for drivers in 2025/26 of around £3 billion, or £59 for the average car driver. Vans will see an average saving of £126 and heavy goods vehicles will see an average saving of nearly £1,100. Those driving more than average, which includes drivers in rural communities, will generally experience larger savings.

The Rural Fuel Duty Relief Scheme provides a 5p reduction to motorists buying fuel in certain areas. The areas included in the scheme demonstrate certain characteristics such as: pump prices much higher than the UK average; remoteness leading to high fuel transport costs from refinery to filling station; and relatively low sales meaning that retailers cannot benefit from bulk discounts.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of rises in fuel duty on rural communities.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and cancelling the planned inflationary increase for 2025/26, meaning rates will remain frozen at the levels set in March 2022.

This support represents a total saving for drivers in 2025/26 of around £3 billion, or £59 for the average car driver. Vans will see an average saving of £126 and heavy goods vehicles will see an average saving of nearly £1,100. Those driving more than average, which includes drivers in rural communities, will generally experience larger savings.

The Rural Fuel Duty Relief Scheme provides a 5p reduction to motorists buying fuel in certain areas. The areas included in the scheme demonstrate certain characteristics such as: pump prices much higher than the UK average; remoteness leading to high fuel transport costs from refinery to filling station; and relatively low sales meaning that retailers cannot benefit from bulk discounts.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits and (b) impact on trade barriers of re-joining the EU (i) single market and (ii) customs union.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government is resetting the relationship with our European friends to strengthen ties and tackle barriers to trade. We have been clear that there will be no return to the customs union or the single market.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will undertake a review of the prescription charge exemption list to include more (a) chronic and (b) lifelong conditions.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no current plans to review the list of prescription charge exemptions, or the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate.

There are extensive arrangements in place in England to ensure that prescriptions are affordable for everyone. Approximately 89% of prescription items are dispensed free of charge in the community in England, and there is a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place, for which those with long term or chronic conditions may be eligible. Eligibility depends on the patient’s age, whether they are in qualifying full-time education, whether they are pregnant or have recently given birth, whether they have a qualifying medical condition, or whether they are in receipt of certain benefits or a war pension.

People on low incomes can apply for help with their health costs through the NHS Low Income Scheme. Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) are also available. PPCs allow people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost, with three-month and 12-month certificates available. The 12-month PPC can be paid for in instalments.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a protected minimum floor for Universal Credit.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government recognises the importance of the social security safety net and the role Universal Credit has to play in tackling poverty and making work pay. That is why a Fair Repayment Rate will be introduced from April 2025, reducing the overall cap on Universal Credit (UC) deductions from 25% to 15%. This means approximately 1.2 million of the poorest families will benefit by an average of £420 a year.

At this time, the Government have no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a protected minimum floor for Universal Credit at this time.

Independent parking regulator

CAMRA Pub of the Year award 2024 for The Bailey Head

Support for SMEs in coastal and farming constituencies

Hospices and palliative care

Social housing in rural areas

Blue Monday

Protecting children from sexual abuse