Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to lay commencement regulations to bring section 115 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 into force.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Regulations (2024/452) have been laid on 4 April 2024 to commence section 115 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, and this will come into force on 25 April 2024.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 19037 on Climate Change: Investment, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing an additional £3 billion per year for nature restoration for adaptation as set out in the report by the Climate Change Committee entitled Investment for a well-adapted UK, published on 1 February 2023; and how much funding his Department plans to provide for nature restoration and adaptation in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the Environment Act 2021, the Government committed to the legally binding target of creating or restoring more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected site by 2042. Taking actions for nature, including protecting our land and species, is also a core part of our third National Adaptation Programme.
This Government is not currently planning to make an additional assessment around providing £3bn per year on nature restoration for adaptation and cannot commit to funding beyond the life of this parliament, but regularly reviews budgets as part of business planning and spending review decisions.
Defra has guaranteed an average £2.4bn annual budget for the farming sector for the life of this Parliament. This includes paying farmers to restore valuable habitats such as lowland peat and to engage in sustainable agroforestry and wetland management, which will support adaptation to climate change. A range of bespoke funding also exists to support nature restoration. Our recently awarded Species Survival Fund is supporting 20 projects with £25m for habitat creation and restoration, while Natural England has launched 12 Nature Recovery Projects spanning over 300,000 hectares since 2022, with 13 more to come by 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 18876 on Offshore Industry: Employment, on what date OEUK shared the underlying data with her Department; and if she will place a copy of that data in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) have shared underlying data pertaining to their workforce estimates at various points in time. Most recently, in December 2023, OEUK has shared a workbook listing regional breakdowns of the oil and gas sector workforce compiled by Experian. The underlying data is commercially sensitive and owned by Experian. Sharing of this data is a matter for them.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Heads of terms agreement with Eni regarding the North-West Hynet project, signed in October 2023, whether she consulted with (a) public bodies, (b) affected communities and (c) other stakeholders on the terms of this agreement; and if she will make it her policy to conduct a public consultation prior to a commercial contract being signed in relation to this project.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Heads of Terms agreement was primarily commercial. No formal consultation was required or undertaken. Before granting an economic licence to authorise the implementation of carbon dioxide transport and storage activities, the Secretary of State is required to give notice of the proposal to do so in accordance with Section 9 of the Energy Act 2023, as well as consider any representations or objections which are duly made.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has committed (a) tax-payer and (b) tariff-backed guarantees to the North-West Hynet project.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has announced up to £20 billion for the early deployment of CCUS in the UK and aims to establish four clusters by 2030, including the Track-1 HyNet cluster.
No contracts have yet been awarded through the Cluster Sequencing process. The form and amount of support provided to projects is subject to ongoing negotiations. Final decisions on whether to award support will be subject to achieving value for money outcomes for taxpayers and consumers.
To maximise participation, diversity, and resilience in the Cluster Sequencing process, we have also supported early-stage design work in industrial clusters, via the existing Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund, which is run by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). They announced the outcome of the challenge in 2021, committing up to £171m across nine projects, including £33m to projects in the HyNet cluster, crowding in private sector co-funding.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the terms and conditions of the next round of the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant will be announced; and if he will take steps to ensure that there is no gap in the provision of funding from that grant.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The safety and security of the Jewish community is of the utmost importance to the Government. In light of the Israel/Hamas conflict and its impact on domestic hate crime, the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement confirmed that protective security funding for the Jewish community will be maintained at £18 million in 2024/25. In February 2024, in response to reports of increased incidents of antisemitism in the UK, the Prime Minister announced that CST will receive the same level of funding each year to 2027/28 (totalling £54 million for 2025-2028).
The Community Security Trust will continue to manage the grant on behalf of the Home Office, providing protective security measures (such as guarding, CCTV and alarm systems) at Jewish schools, colleges, nurseries, and other Jewish community sites, as well as a number of synagogues.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on tackling sexual violence in conflict; and if he will make it his policy to call for incidents of sexual violence by (a) Hamas and (b) the Israel Defense Forces to be independently investigated.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK condemns sexual violence unequivocally and without exception. Reports of sexual violence on and since 7th October are deeply disturbing. The UK has consistently called for these reports to be fully investigated to ensure justice for survivors and victims.
Through our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict programmes and dedicated funding totalling £60 million, we are leading work internationally to prevent conflict-related sexual violence and strengthen justice and support for all survivors.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19031 on Universal Credit: Housing, for what reason there are different qualifying criteria for (a) Support for Mortgage Interest and (b) support that homeowners receive in respect of service charges.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) and help with service charges cover different costs and different eligibility criteria apply.
SMI is paid at a rate that the lending industry generally accept as sufficient to avert the threat of repossession. This help is often significantly less than the homeowner’s contractual liability, although eligibility was recently extended to assist homeowners with rising interest rates. While SMI provides support at the point of need, this help is in the form of an interest-bearing loan that is recoverable from equity when the property is sold.
Eligible service charges are met in full and this help is in the form of a non-recoverable benefit.
Given these differences the Department see no compelling argument for aligning entitlement rules.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to reduce exports of plastic waste.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We want to deal with more of our plastic waste at home. The Government’s collection and packaging reforms will help to stimulate investment in the UK reprocessing infrastructure so we can reduce our dependency on plastic waste exports. In addition, the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto made a commitment to ban the export of plastic waste to countries which are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 it his policy to introduce a moratorium on new incineration capacity in the UK.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials are currently assessing planned Energy from Waste capacity against expected future residual waste arisings so we can understand what future capacity may be required following implementation of key commitments in the Resources and Waste Strategy. This further assessment of residual waste treatment capacity needs will be published in due course. We are clear that Government does not support overcapacity of residual waste treatment infrastructure at either a local or national level.