Ben Obese-Jecty

It is the Government’s priority to build support for developments by ensuring communities directly benefit, as per the commitment set out in the election manifesto. As such we are reviewing how to most effectively deliver community benefits for communities living near new energy infrastructure.

Through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, we are exploring several ways to reduce energy bills by making more efficient use of the energy infrastructure we are building.

The Government is continuing to assess the benefits and costs of zonal pricing alongside other options for reform within our current national pricing arrangements. We are considering these options carefully and will provide more information in due course.

This is a proposed Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and is currently at the pre-application stage of the Planning Act 2008 consent process. This is when the applicant starts to create their application and is required to consult with people and organisations in the area. We understand that the developer intends to hold four public consultation events, starting in early October 2024.

The application is expected to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate between January and March 2025.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) attended a ministerial roundtable on accelerating the adoption of alternatives to using animals for drug development earlier this year.

The Government is committed to supporting the development and uptake of alternative methods to the use of animals in science and we are engaging with the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory authorities on how to take this commitment forward.

The Government invests significantly through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) in the development and adoption of non-animal approaches. The NC3Rs receives additional funding from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for specific programmes and substantial in-kind support from companies for their CRACK IT innovation programme.

The Government has committed to work towards phasing out of animal testing, including supporting the development and testing of new medicines.

The Government is working with pharmaceutical industry partners and through our medicines regulatory agency (MHRA) to understand the international drivers and challenges to integrating non-animal methods into regulatory safety testing. We are engaging with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) who represent the UK at the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use on how to accelerate the acceptance of data generated in non-animal methods for drug safety decision making.

The Government has committed to partnering with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the requirements for phasing out of animal testing and we are currently engaging with the sector as to how to take this commitment forward. It is not yet possible to replace all animal use due to the complexity of biological systems and regulatory requirements for their use. Any work to phase out animal testing must be science-led, in lock step with partners, so we will not be setting arbitrary timelines for reducing their use.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science.

Non Government Organisations such as The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) and Understanding Animal Research provide excellent public facing resources to support the public to better understand animal testing in drug development and regulation, and the significant ongoing efforts to reduce it. We will continue to engage with these organisations through our government agencies to support this outreach.

The government has already taken decisive action by announcing in the King’s Speech that, under the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, every primary school with primary aged children will offer a free breakfast club. Legislating for breakfast club provision will give schools the certainty they need to plan for the future.

Future spending commitments will be set out as part of the Spending Review process.

This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy and this tax policy change will be introduced at the Budget on 30 October. Following scrutiny of the government’s costing by the Independent Office for Budget Responsibility, details of the government’s assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes will be published at the Budget in the usual way.

This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) indicates that the number of pupils who may switch schools as a result of this change is likely to represent a very small proportion of overall pupil numbers in the state sector and any displacement would be expected to take place over several years. This research can be found here: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/tax-private-school-fees-and-state-school-spending.

The department cannot be certain of the precise level, if any, of transfer from private to state sectors additional to the movements between schools, and between the private and state sectors, which happen each year in all parts of the country. However, there is significant spare capacity in existing state schools. The department collects pupil forecasts and school capacity data from local authorities annually through the School Capacity survey and this data shows that in May 2023, 11.7% of primary capacity and 11.5% of secondary capacity was unfilled nationally, meaning school places are available in many parts of the country. The department will monitor demand and capacity using our normal processes and continue to work with local authorities to meet any pressures.

The government is clear on the impact that breakfast clubs can have to support children to arrive at school ready to learn, which is why it committed in its manifesto to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school. The new breakfast club offer, once rolled out nationally, will be available to every state funded school with primary aged children.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing children’s eligibility for free home to school travel and for arranging free travel for eligible children. The department does not currently collect data on the number of children who receive free home to school travel from local authorities.

The annual cost of home to school travel is not collected at constituency level. Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 requires local authorities to submit information about their education expenditure, including expenditure on home to school travel to the department. The information collected from local authorities is published on GOV.UK. Further details are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure.

Local authorities consider their waste treatment capacity needs at local level via Waste Local Plans. The Government does not undertake assessments of the national proportion of waste management and treatment facilities at an individual authority level. Before the end of this year, however, we hope to publish an analysis of municipal residual waste treatment infrastructure capacity, including exports, against expected future residual waste arisings in England so we can understand what future capacity may be required following implementation of the packaging reforms. This will include assessment of currently operational and consented capacity at a national level and by planning region. This analysis will support decision making relating to planning for new residual waste treatment infrastructure.

The published Local Authority Collected Waste Management Statistics detail waste collected by local authorities and how this is managed and treated. These statistics are available here.

The Taskforce will consider both near-term resilience and preparedness, and longer-term resilience and wider floods strategy, for all sources of flooding. Defra is working with Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government to engage Lead Local Flood Authorities between the Taskforce meetings.

There are 10 active and well-established flood action groups across the Huntingdon constituency. These are Alconbury, Alconbury Weston, Broughton, Buckden, Godmanchester, Houghton & Wyton, Kimbolton & Stonely, Offord (Cluny/D’Arcy), St Ives and Wistow.

All of these communities have flood plans in place and access to flood kit. In Alconbury and Alconbury Weston, the Environment Agency (EA) have also installed flood monitoring cameras which the local flood action group in the community can access and use for monitoring purposes during a flood event.

Following the recent flooding event, Brampton and Hemingford Grey have also sought support to set up local flood actions groups. The EA are now in the process of working with Cambridgeshire County Council (the Lead Local Flood Authority) to help support and develop these new flood groups.

The Secretary of State has allowed Anglian Water to finalise its Water Resources Management Plan, which includes proposals for two reservoirs, the Fens Reservoir and Lincolnshire Reservoir. Both meet the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project criteria and would need development consent, under the Planning Act 2008.

Anglian Water expects the Fens Reservoir to be in supply by 2036/37 and the Lincolnshire Reservoir to be in supply by 2039/40. Future consultations on the proposals are required before the applications for development consent are submitted. The applications are expected in 2026/27 for the Fens Reservoir, and in 2028/29 for the Lincolnshire Reservoir.

Pesticides are strictly regulated based on the risks and benefits of use. Decisions on Emergency Authorisation applications for use of neonicotinoids on sugar beet for 2025 will be taken in line with the legal requirements of Regulation 1107/2009 (Article 53) and with full consideration of the available evidence and advice.

This Government will change existing policies to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides that threaten bees and vital pollinators.

Huntingdon has 81 publicly available chargepoints as of 1 July 2024. The number of future public chargers required in a local area is dependent on a number of factors, such as electric vehicle (EV) uptake, levels of off-street parking and types of charging option. Local authorities play a key role in ensuring an area has a clear EV charging strategy.

The Government is supporting local authorities through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund. Through the fund, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, which includes Huntingdon, has been allocated £5,437,000 capital funding to transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were also allocated almost £542,000 in capability funding to secure dedicated in-house expertise to plan and procure the delivery of local chargepoints across their area.

The government is determined to deliver better bus services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions. It has set out a plan to achieve this, based on giving local leaders the tools they need to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve, including those in rural or isolated areas.

As announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the government will introduce a Buses Bill later this session. This will put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England, ensuring networks meet the needs of the communities who rely on them. The Bill will increase powers available to local leaders to choose the model that works best in their area, whether that be franchising, high-quality partnerships with private operators or local authority ownership.

At present, the majority of bus services in England outside London are provided on a commercial basis by private operators. The government does not hold information on individual bus routes. The government is determined to deliver better bus services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions. It has set out a plan to achieve this, based on giving local leaders the tools they need to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve.

As announced in the King’s Speech, the government will introduce a Buses Bill to put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England. We also plan to empower local transport authorities through reforming bus funding. By giving local leaders more control and flexibility over bus funding they can plan ahead to deliver their local transport priorities. The Department will work closely with local leaders and bus operators to deliver on these ambitions.

The Department is aware of long-standing local aspirations for an East Coast Main Line station at Alconbury Weald that would align with the new housing being developed in the area. The Secretary of State announced that she has commissioned an internal review of the Department's capital portfolio. This will support the development of a long-term strategy for transport, that delivers a modern and integrated network with people at its heart. It will consider a fundamental reset to how we approach capital projects, to ensure that transport infrastructure can be delivered efficiently and on time, supporting our strategic objectives. I encourage any project proposal to consider how the scheme links to wider government commitments concerning economic growth, but regret that I am not yet able to comment on individual schemes or proposals at this time.

The Government has already begun work to reform the pensions system:

• The Pensions Bill, confirmed in King’s Speech, could boost pension pots by over £11,000 for an average earner saving over their career, with further consolidation and broader investment strategies to potentially deliver higher returns for pensions.
• Our landmark Pensions Review, launched in July, is considering how to drive efficiencies and boost investment to help increase pension pots.
• The second phase of the review will begin later this year, looking at further steps to improve pension outcomes, including assessing pension adequacy. This will consider options to build on the success of Automatic Enrolment, which has turned millions of people into pension savers.

The Pension Credit data is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024 in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics.

The estimated number of pensioners in Huntingdon constituency who will lose Winter Fuel Payments is 21,148, this equates to a proportion of 93%. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics, (sources below).

The estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Huntingdon Constituency (2010 boundary) from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Huntingdon constituency. Please note that Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.

Furthermore, the above does not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the policy change (means testing Winter fuel payments to those on Pension Credit and other means tested benefits). We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.

Also, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households rather than individuals, so the number of individuals claiming Pension Credit, will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).

Sources used:

winter-fuel-payments-caseload-2022-to-2023.ods (live.com)

Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk) (Feb-24 data)

We are clear that Faster, simpler and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, also known as the Dentistry Recovery Plan, published on 7 February 2024, did not go far enough to improve access for dentistry patients in the National Health Service. As part of our ambitions for dentistry, we will review what elements of the Dentistry Recovery Plan can be taken forward and within NHS budgets, including the proposals for dental vans.

The Department is working across the Government to deliver our commitment of a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers which is why we are exploring a range of options. This includes existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.

The information is not collected in the format requested. However, the National Health Service collects data for all of England in the Estates Returns Information Collection, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/england-2022-23

We do not hold the information in the format requested.

We must reset the New Hospital Programme to put it on a sustainable footing, however we are clear that replacing hospitals built wholly or mostly with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, including Hinchingbrooke Hospital, is the priority.

We are undertaking a full review of the programme to provide a thorough, costed, and realistic timeline for delivery, and to ensure we can replace the crumbling hospital estate in England. The review will be completed this autumn, and once concluded, Parliament will be updated on the next steps for the programme.

The Agreement between the UK and Mauritius on 3 October will, for the first time in 50 years, secure the important UK-US military base on Diego Garcia. The base plays a crucial role in regional and international security. It is not normal practice for the UK to reveal the value of its payments for military bases anywhere across the globe. To do so could put at risk their future secure operation. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the underpinning Treaty as part of the ratification process.

The Agreement between the UK and Mauritius on 3 October will, for the first time in 50 years, secure the important UK-US military base on Diego Garcia. The base plays a crucial role in regional and international security. It is not normal practice for the UK to reveal the value of its payments for military bases anywhere across the globe. To do so could put at risk their future secure operation. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the underpinning Treaty as part of the ratification process.

In January, the UK paused funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) following allegations that 19 staff were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack.

Catherine Colonna conducted an independent review that found the existing UNRWA framework was "robust", but neutrality issues persisted. UNRWA committed to implementing all recommendations. The Foreign Secretary was subsequently reassured that UNRWA is committed to the highest standards of neutrality. The Foreign Secretary called the UN Secretary-General on 18 July to discuss funding to UNRWA. He then announced resumption of funding to UNRWA on 19 July. The UN's Office of Internal Services Oversight (OIOS) led an investigation into the specific allegations against individual staff members. On 5 August, OIOS findings concluded that nine members of UNRWA may have been involved in the atrocities. We welcome UNRWA's action to terminate the contracts of these individuals.

The Office for Value for Money is in the process of appointing an independent Chair and developing its workplan. Further details will be made available in due course.