Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the progress on improving educational outcomes in the 55 education investment areas.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Education Investment Areas (EIA) programme is in its infancy, and it is too early to attribute any changes in educational outcomes in these areas to the initiatives made available to schools through the EIA programmes.
The department will, internally, monitor changes in key stage 2 and key stage 4 attainment in EIAs and consider any fluctuations. The department intends to review their impact following the publication of the 2023/24 academic year data.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to paragraph 5.174, page 105 of the Autumn Statement 2023, what steps her Department is taking through (a) distribution decisions and (b) monitoring of expenditure to help optimise the impact of funding for AI compute on the UK's (i) technological advancement and (ii) economic competitiveness.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UKRI is working with its delivery partner UKRI to identify appropriate host sites for the £500m AIRR expansion through a competitive process. We will provide updates on the outcomes in due course.
DSIT is working with industry and academia to understand how AI and compute technologies are developing over time to ensure the UK secures best value for money and maximum impact from our investments.
As announced in the 2024 Spring Budget, DSIT will set out in due course the access model for public compute facilities, ensuring that both researchers and innovative companies can access the compute they need.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the OneWeb and Eutelsat merger on the UK's (a) national security and (b) strategic interests in space and satellite technology.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
OneWeb’s merger with Eutelsat means the Government now has a significant stake in a larger and more diverse company, which will play an important role in securing UK interests in an increasingly competitive satellite communications sector.
The Government retains certain rights in OneWeb. These provide a range of national security rights and ensure that the UK remains a preferred location for activity on a commercially competitive basis. The merger was approved by all relevant regulatory bodies in 2023.
OneWeb continues to innovate in the UK satellite communications sector, contributing to one of Government’s five critical technologies for the future.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the OneWeb and Eutelsat merger on the UK's (a) strategic economic interests in space and satellite technology and (b) wider economy.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
OneWeb’s merger with Eutelsat means the Government now has a significant stake in a larger and more diverse company, which will play an important role in securing UK interests in an increasingly competitive satellite communications sector.
The Government retains certain rights in OneWeb. These provide a range of national security rights and ensure that the UK remains a preferred location for activity on a commercially competitive basis. The merger was approved by all relevant regulatory bodies in 2023.
OneWeb continues to innovate in the UK satellite communications sector, contributing to one of Government’s five critical technologies for the future.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of the state pension rise from April 2024 for the sustainability of pension funding.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The new State Pension was introduced in April 2016 with the aim of providing a clearer, sustainable foundation for State Pensions for decades to come.
Each year, the Government Actuary’s Department publishes a report showing the impact of uprating decisions on the National insurance Fund. The most recent report in January this year took into account the 8.5% increase in the basic and new State Pensions which will come into force from 8 April. The assessment was that the Fund would have enough money to self-finance for at least the next five years. HM Treasury has the ability to top up the National Fund from the Consolidated Fund when needed, even if receipts do not match expenditure. The report said that a Treasury Grant would not be needed in the next five years.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the Horizon compensation scheme is tax free.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is working with the Post Office to ensure all victims of the Horizon IT Scandal receive full and fair financial redress.
The Government has already granted tax exemptions for payments related to the Overturned Convictions (OC) and Group Litigation Order (GLO) compensation schemes.
Compensation payments for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) are subject to tax. However, to ensure postmasters get the full financial redress they deserve, the Government announced on 19 June 2023 a tax-exempt top-up payment for HSS postmasters to ensure that the underlying amount they receive is not unduly reduced by tax. Elements specifically for the shortfalls that were repaid, or distress that was caused, are not taxable
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the level of regional disparity in fuel prices.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Competition and Markets Authority’s road fuel market study found, with the exception of Northern Ireland, differences in average prices between the regions of the UK are relatively small but there was much wider variation between rural and urban categories than between them.
The Government is committed to ensuring drivers get a fair deal for fuel and has a consultation on the PumpWatch scheme which will require petrol-filling stations to share price information within 30 minutes of a change. This will drive down prices by reigniting competition and empowering drivers to find the best deals. Petrol prices are now at a level not seen since the end of October 2021 following our work to bring transparency back to the market.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the average time it takes for a child under the age of 18 diagnosed with cancer to start treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have not made a specific assessment; the Department is taking steps to reduce cancer treatment waiting times across England, including the time between an urgent general practitioner referral and the commencement of treatment. Increasing the diagnosis and treatment referrals for cancers in young people, whilst reducing waiting times, is a priority for the Government. Although survival has more than doubled since the 1970s in the United Kingdom, there is more to be done to improve childhood cancer outcomes, including reducing waiting times between diagnosis and treatment.
The Government is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care and plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.
In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.
In addition, the National Health Service now offers all children and young people with cancer whole genome sequencing to enable more comprehensive and precise diagnosis, and access to more personalised treatments.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken to tackle (a) violence and (b) intimidation against young women and girls.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We have made significant progress since we published the Tackling VAWG Strategy in July 2021 and the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan in March 2022.
In the Tackling VAWG Strategy, the government committed to invest £3 million to better understand what works to prevent violence against women – to invest in high quality, evidence-informed prevention projects, including in schools, aiming to educate and inform children and young people about violence against women, healthy relationships and the consequences of abuse.
Our Domestic Abuse Act became law in April 2021. This is a landmark piece of legislation which includes important new protections and support for victims. Abusers are no longer be allowed to directly cross-examine their victims in the family and civil courts, and victims have better access to special measures in the courtroom to help prevent intimidation – such as protective screens and giving evidence via video link.
To improve the police response to tackling these crimes, we have supported the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for VAWG, DCC Maggie Blyth, and have added violence against women to the Strategic Policing Requirement, meaning it is now set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.
The Government also supported the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act 2023, which makes public sexual harassment a specific offence. The Act will come into force as quickly as reasonably possible.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to increase the amount of energy produced by offshore wind.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In November 2023, the Government published core parameters for the sixth Contracts for Difference Allocation Round (AR6), the Government’s flagship renewable energy scheme. The Administrative Strike Price for offshore wind projects in AR6 has increased 66% since the previous CfD round and by 52% for floating offshore wind projects. This will encourage greater investment into UK offshore wind.
In the Autumn Statement, the Government announced the £960 million Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support clean energy manufacturing capacity, including for offshore wind. Additionally, the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme will provide up to £160m to kickstart investment into port infrastructure.