Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his policy is on the reinvestment of environmental (a) fines and (b) penalties collected from (i) water and (ii) sewerage companies since November 2023 through the Water Restoration Fund.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Restoration Fund is reinvesting funding based on water company environmental fines and penalties into projects to improve the water environment. The Water Restoration Fund funding is based on water company fines and penalties from April 2022 until October 2023.
Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects.
Following a rigorous assessment process, I am pleased to say that current applicants to the Water Restoration Fund have been contacted regarding the outcome of their application.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the energy price cap to park home owners.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Due to the physical set-up of these residences, the majority of consumers living on park home sites will continue to receive their energy via a non-domestic contract and will not have their own meter. This means that the energy price cap will not apply to them. However, park home residents who purchase their gas or electricity from their park home site owner are protected from excessive charges by the Maximum Resale Price provisions drafted by Ofgem.
The provisions prevent mobile park owners from reselling energy to the residents at a higher price than the price that they paid to the licensed energy supplier. Consumers are entitled to receive a breakdown of the park owner’s costs upon request. The breakdown should include details of the cost of electricity and/or gas, standing charges and VAT paid.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding he has allocated to support National Parks in England in 2025-26.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 25/26 the Government is providing £44.8 million resource funding to the 10 National Park Authorities, alongside £15 million capital investment.
Projects in National Parks will also receive funding through extensions to our Farming in Protected Landscapes and Access to All programmes. We have extended Farming in Protected Landscapes until March 2026, providing £30 million across England’s 10 National Parks and 34 National Landscapes. Access For All has also been extended to March 2026, with an additional £6.8 million for National Parks and National Landscapes to deliver improved access to nature for all users.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support pensioners in receipt of Local Housing Allowance who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum housing support for tenants (including pensioners) in the private rented sector. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.
The increase to LHA rates in April 2024 cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25, and approximately £7bn over 5 years.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities to those entitled to Housing Benefit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.
As a downpayment on poverty we are investing £1bn in funding for both the Household Support Fund (HSF) and DHPs (including Barnett impacts) for 2025/26 and will be ensuring DHP funding is maintained at current levels.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure all staff working with children and young people have the appropriate training to identify and support children with speech, language and communication challenges.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All teachers are teachers of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). High quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve in their education, and early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in the early years and later in life, including for all aspects of later attainment in school.
This is why the department’s new combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND, including content on supporting pupils’ oral language skills, and our Universal SEND Services training programme helps school and further education workforces to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND earlier and more effectively.
The department is also co-funding the Early Language Support for Every Child and Partnerships programme with NHS England, which utilises pre-qualification speech and language therapy Support Assistants in early years and primary settings, and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools builds teacher and staff capacity to identify and meet the needs of neurodivergent children, including those with speech and language needs.
The department are continuing funding support for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme. As of January 2024, we estimate that the programme has screened 650,000 children in the last four years and supported over 211,000 four and five year-olds since the pandemic.
To continue to build workforce capability, the department has recently commissioned Newcastle University and University College London to review the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people, including around speech, language and communication needs.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible families are using the Healthy Start scheme in the South Devon constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start. The number of people on the scheme receiving Healthy Start in February 2025 for South Devon is 1,239.
The NHSBSA does not currently hold data on the number of people who are eligible for the scheme. An issue was identified with the Healthy Start source data that is used to calculate uptake of the NHS Healthy Start scheme. The NHSBSA removed the data for the number of people eligible for the scheme and the uptake percentage from January 2023 onwards.
The issue has only affected the data on the number of people eligible for the scheme. It has not prevented anyone from joining the scheme or continuing to access the scheme if they are eligible.
The following table shows the number of people on the scheme in February 2025 for all three wards in South Devon:
Country | Ward | People on the digital scheme |
England | South Hams | 165 |
England | Teignbridge | 440 |
England | Torbay | 634 |
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Adoption and special guardianship support fund beyond March 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for South Devon to the answer of 12 March 2025 to 35389.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support park home residents.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government provides park home residents with free independent advice about their rights through the government-funded Leasehold Advisory Service.
We are also supporting park home residents with their household bills. The government has extended the Household Support Fund in England until 31 March 2026 with an extra £742 million in support, with additional funding for the Devolved Governments. Park home residents are also eligible for a one-off £150 discount off electricity bills under the Warm Home Discount scheme. The payment is in addition to other payments such as the Cold Weather Payment and Winter Fuel Payment. Any park home resident who is struggling with their energy bills contracts can contact their local authority to see what support they can receive.
The park homes sector is an important part of the housing market. The government recognises that there are longstanding concerns about the requirement to pay site owners a commission upon sale of a park home. We will set out plans in due course to seek further evidence from the sector on the rationale for the commission.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 to ensure small businesses are supported during the implementation of the extended producer responsibility scheme.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The aim of packaging extended producer responsibility is to ensure businesses - rather than taxpayers - are responsible for the cost of dealing with packaging when it becomes waste. These plans will encourage manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase recyclable and reusable alternatives.
Packaging extended producer responsibility cost obligations will only apply to large producers with a turnover over £2 million and who place more than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market. This threshold exempts around 70% of producers from paying these fees. Any large producers who supply the exempt producers with empty packaging will pay the fees associated with that packaging.
We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have. This includes assessment of the impacts on small businesses, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has of the cost of the Extended producer responsibility scheme for small businesses.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The aim of packaging extended producer responsibility is to ensure businesses - rather than taxpayers - are responsible for the cost of dealing with packaging when it becomes waste. These plans will encourage manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase recyclable and reusable alternatives.
Packaging extended producer responsibility cost obligations will only apply to large producers with a turnover over £2 million and who place more than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market. This threshold exempts around 70% of producers from paying these fees. Any large producers who supply the exempt producers with empty packaging will pay the fees associated with that packaging.
We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have. This includes assessment of the impacts on small businesses, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.