Ben Obese-Jecty

I refer the Hon Member to the reply I gave in UIN 16568

The UK’s association to Horizon Europe means that UK researchers and businesses can participate in the world’s largest programme of research cooperation, worth £80bn+, alongside their EU colleagues and those from other Associated Countries. UK researchers are fully eligible, and DSIT encourages them to apply for funding calls in Horizon Europe’s ‘Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment’ cluster.

Making Horizon Europe association a success is the Government’s priority, and that is why DSIT is engaging with key stakeholders to boost UK participation and remove barriers to international R&D collaborations.

Through the Programme, six local authorities are installing "smart" multi-purpose columns or lampposts, to test the benefits of this hosting multiple services, such as mobile connectivity, electric vehicle charging, Wifi and CCTV.

The Government is currently carrying out an evaluation of the Programme, which is due to conclude next year. We will decide our next steps following this process.

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 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 committed to partnering with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the requirements for phasing out of animal testing.

It is not yet possible to replace all animal use due to the complexity of biological systems and regulatory requirements for their use. The Government is engaging with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on how to accelerate the science-led adoption of alternatives to the use of animals for drug development and testing. These will need to be incorporated into international regulatory guidelines which the MHRA adhere to.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal.

We recognise that any work to phase out animal testing must be science-led and in lock step with partners. We are currently engaging with partners from sectors with interests in animal science as to how we will take this commitment forward.

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 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.

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.

The special educational needs (SEN) publication publishes data on pupils in schools in England with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The data file titled “School level underlying data 2024 (csv, 10 Mb)” under the section “Additional supporting files” includes the figures at school level, including the school‘s parliamentary constituency. As these figures are taken from the January 2024 school census, the parliamentary constituencies are based on pre-election boundaries. Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for statistics on schools and pupils, including SEN.

It may be useful to note that as the data requested is published at school level, it can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes and is accessible here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Updates to geographical data are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics.

Information on the number of children in Huntingdon who do not have a school place is not readily available. Information is however available on the placements of children and young people with EHC plans, for the Cambridge local authority in the publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.

An extract showing the number with placements other than in school or further education establishments, is given at this link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/75145e5f-3b4f-4e79-4100-08dce44cbd16.

This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy. Projections by the Institute for Fiscal Studies indicate that the number of pupils who may switch schools as a result of these changes is likely to represent a very small proportion of overall pupil numbers in the state sector, with any displacement 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.

On the matter of home to school travel in the state sector, the department’s policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home to school travel for children of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. Local authorities have the discretion to arrange travel for other children, but are not required to do so.

Where a child is not eligible for free home to school travel from the local authority, it is the parent’s responsibility to make the necessary travel arrangements.

State education is accessible to all children, regardless of their financial status. All children of compulsory school age are entitled to a state-funded school place. The department works to support local authorities to ensure that every local area has sufficient places for every child that needs one. This includes those pupils who have special educational needs.

Where pupils’ places in private schools are being funded by local authorities because their needs can only be met in private school, for example in England, where attendance at a named private school is required by a child’s education, health and care plan, local authorities will be able to reclaim the VAT.

State education is accessible to all children, regardless of their financial status. All children of compulsory school age are entitled to a state-funded school place. The department works to support local authorities to ensure that every local area has sufficient places for every child that needs one. This includes those pupils who have special educational needs.

Where pupils’ places in private schools are being funded by local authorities because their needs can only be met in private school, for example in England, where attendance at a named private school is required by a child’s education, health and care plan, local authorities will be able to reclaim the VAT.

This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy and will confirm the introduction of these changes at the Budget on 30 October. The Office for Budget Responsibility will also certify the government’s costings for these measures at that time. The right time to discuss any funding for state-funded schools is at the Spending Review.

To note, analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies assumes a net gain to the public finances of £1.3 to 1.5 billion per year in the medium to long run as a result of removing tax exemptions from private schools. This would allow for about a 2% increase in state school spending in England. This analysis can be found here: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/tax-private-school-fees-and-state-school-spending.

The primary PE and sport premium will continue in the 2024/25 academic year and, as in previous years, individual school allocations will be confirmed when the department issues updated guidance later in the term.

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 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.

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.

It is a water company’s duty to assess water available to meet demand and protect the environment. Water companies do this in their statutory water resources management plans every 5 years.

Approximately £6 billion is planned for spending across England between 2025 and 2030 to provide secure, sustainable water resources. In East Anglia this investment includes 2 new reservoirs and a network of pipelines to improve the supply and distribution of water across the region.

Assets in the Middle Level are primarily managed by the Middle Level Commissioners with some managed by the Environment Agency (EA).

The 2021 EA’s “Future Fens – Flood Risk Management Project Baseline Report” underscores the importance of these assets across Cambridgeshire Fens.

1. We do not have access to asset condition data for the Middle Level Commissioner’s assets. www.middlelevel.gov.uk

The majority of EAs assets are at target condition, on the Low Bank there are 6 out of 66 assets below target condition and to be brought back to target condition.

The EA’s Middle Level barrier bank, recently underwent a £44.3m embankment raising project, ensuring it remains in target condition.

1. The Middle Level Commissioners oversee flood risk with a total area of 734km² in size. Specifically for the Middle Level sub-catchment, the Future Fens baseline report has identified approximately £281m would need to be invested in both Environment Agency and Middle Level Commissioner’s assets over the next 100 years to maintain the 2021 level of service. It also estimated that these assets deliver around £10.5bn worth of benefits.

The Environment Agency’s Fens2100+ programme, with a £9.8m budget, aims to assess and develop a strategy for future asset management and investment needs.

The Government’s new Floods Resilience Taskforce marks a new approach to preparing for flooding and developing policy. It brings together a range of partners in national, regional and local Government, including the Environment Agency (EA), Devolved Administrations, selected Regional Mayors and Lead Local Flood Authorities.

Membership of the Taskforce from national, regional and local partners is flexed to meet the specific agenda and priorities but the Taskforce will also work with a wider range of flood risk partners as needed.

The EA also has ongoing engagement with the 12 Flood Liaison Action Groups which operate across the constituency, and it also conducts regular maintenance, inspections, conveyance, and public safety assessments along the River Great Ouse and its tributaries.

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.