Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's guidance on hedge laying; and if he will include roadside hedges in the Countryside Stewardship grant BN5: Hedgerow laying.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Under action BN5, support is available to farmers to lay roadside hedgerows where the farmer has management control of both sides of the hedgerow. In January we set out a commitment to introduce a cycle of reviews for scheme actions from 2025, which will include BN5. The current guidance is clear and as part of the cycle of reviews, we will assess the suitability of the guidance, including taking into account any farmer or stakeholder feedback we receive.
We will be publishing voluntary guidance to support the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in the summer.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken to bring forward legislation to amend the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 on the enforcement sector.
Answered by Mike Freer
On 17 July 2023, following a review of the fees that enforcement agents and High Court Enforcement Officers can recover when using the taking control of goods procedure, we announced that we intended to amend the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 to uplift such fees by 5%. We also announced that we would consult on reforms that aimed to encourage earlier and cheaper settlement of debt. We said that we would implement any reforms and the fee uplifts at the same time, in order to balance the need to ensure that there is a sustainable enforcement industry with making sure that those facing enforcement action are treated fairly. That consultation closed on 6 December 2023.
We received detailed feedback from a wide range of stakeholders and the Enforcement Conduct Board have been consulted. A response to the consultation will be published and a timetable for implementation will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will make an assessment with the Enforcement Conduct Board of the potential merits of introducing regulatory changes relating to the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 separately to implementing the uplift to the fees recoverable for (a) High Court and (b) non-High Court enforcement.
Answered by Mike Freer
On 17 July 2023, following a review of the fees that enforcement agents and High Court Enforcement Officers can recover when using the taking control of goods procedure, we announced that we intended to amend the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 to uplift such fees by 5%. We also announced that we would consult on reforms that aimed to encourage earlier and cheaper settlement of debt. We said that we would implement any reforms and the fee uplifts at the same time, in order to balance the need to ensure that there is a sustainable enforcement industry with making sure that those facing enforcement action are treated fairly. That consultation closed on 6 December 2023.
We received detailed feedback from a wide range of stakeholders and the Enforcement Conduct Board have been consulted. A response to the consultation will be published and a timetable for implementation will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his planned timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.
Answered by Mike Freer
On 17 July 2023, following a review of the fees that enforcement agents and High Court Enforcement Officers can recover when using the taking control of goods procedure, we announced that we intended to amend the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 to uplift such fees by 5%. We also announced that we would consult on reforms that aimed to encourage earlier and cheaper settlement of debt. We said that we would implement any reforms and the fee uplifts at the same time, in order to balance the need to ensure that there is a sustainable enforcement industry with making sure that those facing enforcement action are treated fairly. That consultation closed on 6 December 2023.
We received detailed feedback from a wide range of stakeholders and the Enforcement Conduct Board have been consulted. A response to the consultation will be published and a timetable for implementation will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2024 on the incomes of farmers.
Answered by Mark Spencer
As part of our transition away from Direct Payments, the draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2024 will apply reductions to delinked payments in 2024. However, this money is not being lost to the sector. The overall farming budget in England is being maintained at an average of £2.4 billion per year across this Parliament. The money released from the reductions is being reinvested in our other schemes for farmers and land managers. This means farmers can access funding which will help reduce costs and improve productivity and resilience, as well as benefitting the environment.
Analysis of the impacts of removing Direct Payments was included in the Government’s 2019 farming evidence compendium and 2021 and 2022 Agriculture in the UK Evidence Packs.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have died while attempting to cross the English Channel to the UK illegally in each year since 2020.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Home Office is aware of a total of 69 persons known to have died while attempting to cross the English Channel in small boats since 2020:
2020: 6 deaths reported
2021: 34 deaths reported
2022: 4 deaths reported
2023: 12 deaths reported
2024: 13 deaths reported (as at 30 April 2024)
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on open finance.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The financial services sector is currently at the forefront of Smart Data, through a combination of Open Banking and the HM Treasury-funded Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), which recently published recommendations for driving Open Finance forward in the UK.
HM Treasury has worked closely with the Department for Business and Trade as it developed its Smart Data roadmap, which sets out the government’s ambition for future Smart Data scheme development across seven different sectors, including finance, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-smart-data-roadmap-action-the-government-is-taking-in-2024-to-2025.
As set out in the roadmap, HM Treasury will carefully consider CFIT’s recommendations for Open Finance, alongside wider industry engagement, as it develops its strategy for Open Finance.
In April 2024, HM Treasury also announced the launch of an industry-led taskforce, which will identify and prioritise Open Finance use cases and data-sets that could be unlocked to improve SME access to credit.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to reform the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to support off-gas properties.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Government published its response to the consultation on amendments to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) in March. We will be making a series of changes including: removing insulation requirements; increasing the capacity limit for shared ground loops from 45kW to 300kW; expanding the definition of biomass boilers to include those with a cooking function and introducing flexibility to allow for the potential future differentiation of grant levels for off grid properties.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to help support British heat pump manufacturers.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Government is supporting heat pump manufacturers through the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition, which will provide up to £30m in grant funding for manufacturers to create new, or expand or repurpose existing, factories to produce heat pumps and key components. The Competition is expected to create capacity for up to 270,000 heat pumps a year and support up to 1,000 jobs.
Heat pump manufacturers can also take advantage of other incentives offered by Government for industry as a whole, such as investment zones which can provide direct and indirect support such as a range of tax reliefs.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Green Heat Network fund in supporting shared ground loop deployment in rural off-gas grid areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave on 21 March 2024 to my hon Friend the Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) to Question UIN 18922.