Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency is taking to ensure that the Avon Valley path between Burton and Christchurch is maintained.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Maintenance of public rights of way, including decisions to divert or extinguish them, is a matter for the local authority.
The Environment Agency and Natural England are working with local landowners and South West Water to review future flood risks that may impact assets that cross the flood plain, including the stretch of the Avon Valley path between Burton and Christchurch.
Public access on rights of way and common land in floodplains is regularly affected by winter flooding events. The frequency and duration of such events appears to be changing as a result of climate change, and adapting towards natural flood management needs to consider and balance this alongside rights of public access, public safety as well as land use.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
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 estimate of the quantity and proportion of halal (a) beef and (b) lamb sold in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We do not hold data that would allow us accurately to estimate the quantity of halal beef and lamb sales in the last 12 months.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has issued guidance for local councillors on what may constitute an imperative reason of overriding public interest under Part 6 of the Conservation of Habitats Regulations 2017.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra guidance on how competent authorities, including local authorities, must decide whether a plan or project which affects a Habitats site can go ahead and how to consider imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI) can be found on Gov.UK.
Habitats regulations assessments: protecting a European site - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that new homes are built in areas subject to a ban on residential development solely due to a nearby river catchment having excess phosphates in the water; and if he will differentiate developments already the subject of planning applications approvals from proposals not yet submitted.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government was very disappointed with the decision of the House of Lords voting against proposals that would have unlocked over 100,000 homes.
Given that they have, the responsible approach is to look at alternative ways in which we can ensure that people still have the opportunity of home ownership and a roof over their heads, whilst still being good stewards of the environment (as, indeed, the legislation was previously trying to do). As a result, we are, for now, focusing on making progress within the existing legal framework, keeping us on track to meet our manifesto commitment to build one million homes over this Parliament. This includes making available £110 million through the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund and to help planning authorities in affected areas deliver tens of thousands more homes before the end of the decade.
Provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act mean that local planning authorities and developers will assume that wastewater treatment work upgrades will be completed by 2030 and should factor that assumption into any relevant decision-making for the purposes of an assessment under the Habitats Regulations. This will benefit both new applications and developments already approved.
Further details of the Government’s measures to address the challenge of nutrient neutrality can be found – www.gov.uk/guidance/nutrient-neutrality-update.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
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 merits of requiring halal meat to be labelled with a declaration as to whether it comes from animals that are stunned before slaughter.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2021, Defra ran a call for evidence to gather data on the potential impacts of different types of labelling reform for animal welfare, including considerations around method of slaughter. We received over 1,600 responses and a summary of these responses is available on GOV.UK. Based on the information gathered, we will continue to work with stakeholders to explore how we can harness the market to improve food information for consumers.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department provides accelerated NHS (a) primary and (b) secondary care services to armed forces veterans whose medical conditions arise from their military service.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
All services within the National Health Service across the United Kingdom are available to members of the Armed Forces, veterans and their families. In England, NHS England commissions additional services for veterans with service-related injuries. Veterans can and are encouraged to use these services whenever they need support.
Op RESTORE, formerly known as the Veterans’ Trauma Network, delivers comprehensive medical care to veterans with physical service-related health problems. Veterans are supported by Defence Medical Welfare Service, and other key charities form part of the Multi-Disciplinary Team and support process which helps veterans to “wait well” whilst waiting for treatment.
For medical conditions arising as a direct result of time spent serving in the Armed Forces, general practitioners can refer directly into the OP RESTORE service.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing a person who has a power of attorney on behalf of a park home resident to appeal against a site licence condition which has been imposed by a local council.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It remains appropriate that site owners, not residents or their representatives, have the right to appeal against conditions imposed on them by local authorities. Site licences and any conditions attached to them, are issued to site owners by local authorities, to ensure sites and amenities on them are adequately maintained.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of refugee integration loans have been repaid in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not hold the data requested in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugee integration loans were made in each of the last 5 years for which information is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not hold the data requested in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the value of refugee integration (a) loans and (b) repayments made since January 2007 is.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Refugee Integration Loans were introduced in 2007 following a public consultation and is intended to help people with the costs of integrating into UK society. They are funded by the Home Office who make the initial decisions on applications. They are then administered and recouped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Refugee integration loans are interest-free loans with favourable repayment terms for individuals who are over 18 and meet the following eligibility criteria:
Individuals are currently able to borrow between £100 and £500. Between £100 to £780 can be borrowed if submitting a joint application with a partner.
The Home Office does not hold data for the value of refugee integration repayments made since January 2007 in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.