Carla Denyer

The Government is committed to strong collaboration with local government on net zero, as demonstrated by having recently signed up to CHAMP - the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships for Climate Action.

The previous government ran the Local Net Zero Forum of which terms of reference, membership and meeting minutes can be found on the Local Net Zero Forum gov.uk page. The Government is currently reviewing the approach and will set out plans in due course.

Under the terms of a contractual agreement between HPC and SZC, which was agreed at the time of the Final Investment Decision on HPC, a payment is payable from SZC to HPC if SZC takes a positive FID. This payment reflects benefits for SZC, including the significant learning and ‘avoided First-of-a-Kind’ costs that SZC will gain from being a ‘second-of-a-kind’ replica of HPC.

The payment would be financed by the investors in SZC and would be added to the cost base of SZC, and is therefore included in the Government’s Value for Money assessment of the SZC project.

The value of the payment to HPC is intended to be broadly equal to £3/MWh in Net Present Value terms, reflecting the size of the reduction in the strike price at HPC if a positive FID on SZC is taken.

Taking into account the lower HPC strike price, the overall effect of the payment on GB electricity consumers would be broadly neutral.

The Government’s Warm Homes Plan will set out a range of measures to support upgrading millions of homes over this parliament, including grants and low interest loans to support investment in low carbon heating, focusing on incentivising people to transition to clean sources of heat.

The Government is also continuing with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme which offers grant payments of £7,500 towards the cost of installing heat pumps, supporting property owners transition away from fossil fuel heating. These grants are in addition to the 0% rate of VAT on the purchase of heat pumps, which will last until March 2027.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is intended to cover the cost of installations of heat pumps and biomass boilers in individual properties.

However, the Government recognise that heat networks will be one of the primary low-carbon technologies for decarbonising home heating over the next decade and will play a key role in all pathways to 2050.

The Government is working with industry and local authorities and has invested over £500 million to transform the heat network market, protect consumers, improve existing networks, and build new low-carbon ones.

In 2020, the Department undertook a public consultation on options for changing the way pavement parking is managed outside London. We are considering the views received to inform the Government’s next steps for pavement parking policy. The formal consultation response will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking

The Department agrees that the design and maintenance of footways has a major impact on how useable they are for different people, particularly disabled people. The report raises a number of important issues which the Department is considering carefully.

NHS England, via the regional health and justice teams, has regular meetings with prison healthcare providers to ensure the quality of the services that are provided. These are also supplemented with local partnership boards where governors, commissioners, and providers meet to discuss any issues, risks, and areas of concern. This could include the number of prisoners who are currently under an Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork approach where there is a risk of self-harm, and the overall healthcare provision, including any issues around enablement.

The Dying Well in Custody Framework and supporting self-assessment framework describes a set of national standards for local adoption, and provides a tool for a local multi-disciplinary approach to providing agreed standards of palliative and end of life care to people in prison.

A study into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as one of the treatment options for children and young people with gender incongruence is being developed through a joint programme between NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the research arm of the Department. The research will be co-sponsored by King’s College London and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The study team has submitted its research application, and this is currently undergoing scientific review. In August, NHS England stated that the study protocol should be complete by December 2024 and, subject to academic approval, recruitment to the trial would commence in early 2025. Subject to the study achieving the necessary approvals, the NIHR will publish details of the award, including the planned trial duration and study completion date, on its website.

As of the end of September 2024, £70 million of this year's £97 million bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Sudan had been disbursed. The rest of the UK's funding to Sudan this year will be distributed by the end of the financial year. The majority of this funding supports key UN agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF who are providing life-saving food assistance in Sudan. UK ODA also contributes to: the Sudan Humanitarian Fund, which is supporting local and national responders, including Emergency Response Rooms; a consortium of International non-governmental organisations delivering protection services, including on sexual and gender-based violence associated with conflict; and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)'s work on emergency preparedness and response, protection of civilians, and providing life-saving healthcare across Sudan.

The UK Government is closely monitoring the impact of the conflict and is deeply concerned by UN reports that humanitarian access is becoming ever more difficult, particularly to northern Gaza. As set out in the Foreign Secretary's statement on 2 September, Israel could and must do more to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians in Gaza. This was one of the factors in the UK Government's decision in September to suspend some arms export licences to Israel. The Prime Minister reaffirmed the need for greater aid access in his statement to the UN General Assembly on 26 September. The Foreign Secretary also continues to press Israeli leaders to allow unfettered aid access in Gaza.

HMG Ministers and officials at the British Embassy in Cairo continue to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case with the Egyptian government at the highest levels. They have been consistently clear in calling for his release and continue to press for urgent consular access. The Egyptian Government does not recognise Mr El-Fattah as a British national and are refusing consular access. The Foreign Secretary raised Mr El-Fattah's case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty most recently on 25 September, the Prime Minister also raised Mr El-Fattah's case with President Sisi on 8 August, and I raised Mr El-Fattah's case with the Egyptian Ambassador on 11 September.

We are monitoring the situation in Lebanon closely and keeping all existing visa pathways under review.

Lebanese nationals who wish to come to the UK should do so via the existing range of routes available.

Any application for a UK visa will be assessed against the requirements of the Immigration Rules.

Those who cannot meet all the eligibility requirements may still be granted permission where there are exceptional circumstances which mean refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant or their family.

More information on all routes available for a person to apply to work, study or settle/join family in the UK can be found here: Visas and immigration - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Sections 73, 74 and 79 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSC Act 2022) are currently being reviewed by the Government in line with commitments made in Parliament when the Act was passed. The final report on these sections will be published before the end of the year.

In addition, the Act itself will be subject to post-legislative parliamentary scrutiny between 3 and 5 years after Royal Assent, i.e., between April 2025 and April 2027.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will be subject to post-legislative parliamentary scrutiny between 3 and 5 years after Royal Assent, i.e., between April 2025 and April 2027. The Government has also reaffirmed the commitment made by the previous administration to undertake expedited post-legislative scrutiny on all aspects of the Public Order Act 2023 next year.

The Government will carefully consider the best approach to undertaking this post-legislative scrutiny to ensure all measures are appropriately assessed.

Local authorities have powers to tackle hazardous conditions in private rented housing, including being able to issue landlords with improvement notices. Non-compliance with local authority enforcement action is a criminal offence.

The Renters’ Rights Bill, currently before Parliament, will strengthen these powers and support local authorities to enforce effectively. The Bill will introduce a new civil penalty of up to £7,000 where private landlords have failed to keep their properties free of dangerous hazards and applies a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. The Bill also introduces a new Private Rented Sector Database which will enable local authorities to quickly identify landlords and better target enforcement.

The Government is reviewing proposals and feedback from the changes to various permitted development rights consultation, and will publish a response in due course.

The Government is reviewing proposals and feedback from the changes to various permitted development rights consultation, and will publish a response in due course.

The Bill will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.

All establishments are required to ensure prisoners receive three nutritionally balanced meals a day as set out in PSI 44/2010 Catering - Meals for Prisoners: Prisoner meals: PSI 44/2010 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). These must meet the religious, cultural, and medical needs of all prisoners.

All health treatment in custody is the responsibility of NHS England and NHS Wales. NHS services are commissioned on the basis of equivalence with those received in the community by the general public. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service is committed to ensuring that people in prison are able to access NHS commissioned services in custody in a timely manner. Should any issues arise, established governance arrangements provide the means for Governors, NHS Health and Justice Commissioners (England) or Local Health Boards (Wales) and providers to address concerns about local healthcare delivery.

Following the Business Question on the 10th October 2024, I wrote to the Cabinet Office and my office further contacted the Home Office to raise this matter. Where Members raise issues with Ministers, it is important that they receive full and timely responses. I understand that the Home Office has now responded to the Hon. Member.