Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people are waiting for a (a) theory and (b) practical driving test; how many of those tests are available; and what steps he has discussed with the DVSA to increase the availability of those tests.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is restoring its testing services with new COVID safe procedures in place to keep people safe and help stop the spread of coronavirus. As the DVSA has been unable to provide its normal level of service for the past seven months, demand for theory and practical driving tests are higher than usual.
As of 20 October 2020:
The DVSA is working with its theory test supplier to extend opening hours and add additional days where local lockdown restrictions allow. There are over 709,000 theory tests available for candidates to book until the end of January 2021, and an additional 151,290 test slots up to the end of February 2021. In remote areas of Scotland, where possible, the DVSA has replaced the Mobile Testing Vehicle (MTV) with alternative venues to provide theory tests, and increased availability of appointments by extending opening/closing times with landlord agreement. In Wales, the DVSA has made an additional 82 theory test slots available (week commencing 19 October) to compensate for the lack of testing in the next fortnight due to the Welsh fire-breaker. It is reducing the levels of potential reschedules by allowing candidates to move tests forward.
The DVSA has also made over 375,000 practical car slots available to the end of January 2021, and an additional 85,000 test slots up to the end of February 2021. From 19 October, driving examiners increased the number of tests they conduct from five to six per day, which should help to reduce waiting times.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the former Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of 9 May 2019, Official Report, column 643, whether it remains his Department’s assessment that additional residual waste energy capacity above that already planned to 2020 should not be needed.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In developing our Resources and Waste Strategy (RWS), my department considered the amount of residual waste treatment capacity that will be required for England to avoid any negative impact on future recycling ambitions and the major waste reforms we are implementing. The assessment concluded that significant additional residual waste energy recovery capacity such as incineration or advanced conversion technologies – above that already operating or planned to 2020 – would not necessarily be needed to meet an ambition of no more than 10% municipal waste to landfill by 2035, if a 65% municipal recycling rate is achieved by that same year. This assumed refuse derived fuel exports remain at 2018 levels. However, if energy recovery continues to provide a better environmental alternative to landfill, more investment to reduce tonnages of municipal waste to landfill further would deliver environmental benefits.
In accordance with the commitment given in the RWS we continue to monitor residual waste infrastructure and will publish an updated assessment in the coming months.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2020 to Question 100935 on Housing: East Hampshire, if he will undertake an assessment of affordability ratios for homes inside (a) South Downs National Park and (b) other National Park boundaries relative to neighbouring areas.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether treatments for community acquired pneumonia have been used to treat patients with covid-19 on the NHS; and whether he plans to stockpile those treatments to prepare for a rise in cases of covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence advises that antibiotic treatments for community acquired pneumonia are ineffective for COVID-19 related viral pneumonia unless there is a bacterial co-infection though the guidance allows for antibiotic prescription in certain circumstances, accommodating local antimicrobial prescribing preferences.
The Government continues to hold stockpiles of medicines, including those used in the treatment of community acquired pneumonia, to cope in a range of scenarios, and robust contingency planning continues to ensure that the country is prepared for a possible second peak of COVID-19 infections.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what impact assessment he has undertaken on the introduction of the ban on neonicotinoids.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Restrictions prohibiting the outdoor use of three neonicotinoids were put in place from late 2018. The Government supported these restrictions because, based on the scientific evidence, we were not prepared to put our pollinator populations at risk. The evidence on the toxicity of these chemicals to bees and their persistence in the environment means that the clear advice of scientific advisers is that these restrictions are justified.
The Government recognises that the loss of neonicotinoids has made it harder for farmers to control certain pests in emerging crops. Some growers of crops including oilseed rape and sugar beet aphids have faced significant yield losses because of these difficulties.
The Government considered these impacts in deciding its approach, but did not carry out a formal impact assessment. This was because neither the benefits nor the costs of restrictions on neonicotinoids are amenable to precise quantification.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the (a) residence-based and (b) workplace-based house price to income ratios for (i) East Hampshire parliamentary constituency and (ii) East Hampshire district local authority area disaggregated by the area (A) inside and (B) outside the South Downs National Park in all years where data is available.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the levels of (a) honey production, (b) the total bee population and (c) the wild bee population in the last 10 years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
UK honey production has recovered over the past few years to around 6,500 tonnes in 2019, following a significant drop earlier in the decade. A range of factors affect production, predominantly weather, levels of pests and disease and numbers of large-scale commercial bee farmers. No formal assessment is made of honey production trends but the National Bee Unit has a key role in supporting the sector by ensuring that levels of pests and disease are kept to a minimum. This is achieved through delivery of our apiary inspection programme and the provision of education and training for beekeepers.
Honey bee numbers are dependent upon the numbers of colonies managed by beekeepers and bee farmers. In the last ten years, numbers of colonies recorded on the National Bee Unit’s BeeBase website have doubled from around 110,000 to around 220,000. It should be recognised, however, that this increase is due in part to new registrations of existing beekeepers, and not entirely to additional colonies or beekeepers.
Each year, the Government publishes an indicator of trends in populations of wild bees and other pollinators in the UK, measuring changes in the distribution of almost 400 pollinating insect species since 1980, including 137 species of bees. The indicator shows an overall decline since 1980. However, there are encouraging, but not yet definitive signs of improvement for some species. For example, from 2013 onwards, there is evidence of an overall increase in the distribution of the 137 wild bee species, although other insect pollinators have continued to decline. The annual update of the indicator was published on 15 October 2020.
Defra works with a range of partners to implement a National Pollinator Strategy to address declines in wild pollinators and concerns about bee health, alongside more specific action to support honey bees and beekeeping in the Healthy Bees Plan. This has included establishing a UK-wide pollinator monitoring and research partnership in collaboration with research institutes and volunteer organisations to gather further data on the status of UK pollinators.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of trends in (a) acreage of oilseed rape, (b) imports of oilseed rape and (c) imports of oilseed rape substitutes in the last 10 years.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The Oilseed rape area increased from 269 thousand hectares in 1984, reaching a peak of 756 thousand hectares in 2012. Since then the area has decreased each year (apart from 2018 when an increase to 583 thousand hectares was seen). The provisional figure for 2020 shows a further decrease to 388 thousand hectares.
Total area planted for Oilseed rape in hectares for the last ten years
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Thousand hectares | 705 | 756 | 715 | 675 | 652 | 579 | 562 | 583 | 530 | 388* |
*2020 figure is current estimate based on Defra survey
Total Oilseed rape imports over the same period are shown below
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Thousand tonnes | 64 | 18 | 177 | 87 | 87 | 63 | 345 | 206 | 354 |
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Total other Oilseed (excl Rape but including Soya, Nut, Sunflower, Linseed) imports over the same period are shown below
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Thousand tonnes | 1,016 | 991 | 842 | 1,013 | 998 | 903 | 954 | 1,012 | 851 |
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Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his timescale is for responding to the Glover Landscapes Review published in September 2019.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is committed to ensuring our Protected Landscapes flourish as havens for nature and are places that everyone can visit and enjoy.
The Glover Landscapes Review set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We welcome this ambition and consider it important that we actively engage with stakeholders to inform and develop our response.
We are working on our response to the Review, with a focus on those recommendations requiring collective action and new ways of working nationally. The Government will come forward with firm proposals for implementing the Glover Landscapes Review in due course.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the Seasonal Workers Pilot.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Defra and the Home Office have been working closely to ensure the successful operation of the Seasonal Workers Pilot, and to undertake an effective assessment. The evaluation of the Seasonal Workers Pilot is ongoing and the results will be published in due course. The expansion of the Pilot in 2020 will enable the Government to carry out a more extensive evaluation of the systems and process in place to access labour from non-EEA countries, ahead of any decisions being taken of how the future needs of the sector may be addressed.