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.
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 support the development of nuclear fusion technology.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In October 2023, I announced our updated Fusion Strategy, with a renewed focus on supporting the whole UK fusion sector. This includes an additional £650m through to 2027 for Fusion Futures – a suite of new R&D programmes to support the sector and strengthen international collaboration. This builds on over £700m we committed from 2021 to 2025 to the UKAEA.
At the site of the former coal-fired power plant at West Burton in Nottinghamshire, we will build, by the 2040s, STEP, a prototype fusion power plant capable of delivering energy to the UK grid – a globally unique programme.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress his Department has made on ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers in seaside towns.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are making significant progress in closing hotels, with 50 due to be closed by the end of January, and more in the coming months.
We are also working to move asylum seekers into alternative, cheaper accommodation and have successfully cleared the legacy backlog by deciding more than 112,000 cases, while maintaining the integrity of the system.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of (a) the adequacy of the support provided to people making complaints against solicitors and (b) the potential merits of (i) increasing the support provided throughout the complaints process and (ii) simplifying the complaints process.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The legal profession in England and Wales together with its regulators, operates independently of the Government. The responsibility for regulating the sector sits with the approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board (LSB).
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the approved regulator for solicitors. The SRA is responsible for handling complaints regarding solicitor conduct, complaints can be made via their website at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/.
If a consumer is dissatisfied with the service provided by a solicitor, they can log a complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. This can be done via their website at https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.
The LSB recently led a consultation (24 August – 17 November 2023) on proposals to ensure that people who use legal services have access to fair and effective complaint procedures. The proposals aim to strengthen consumer protection and improve the overall quality and standards of legal services.
Their new proposal focuses on bettering the current complaints procedures. It sets clear outcomes for regulators to deliver, including collecting and analysing intelligence on complaints to support the best possible redress system, as well as fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement. By engaging regulators on key issues, the LSB aims to drive higher standards in the provision of legal services across the board. The LSB will consider the feedback they receive and in turn make appropriate changes to their draft policy. A response to their consultation will be issued in early 2024, alongside the final Requirements, Guidance and statement of policy.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward proposals to ensure that people who have lost a court case a result of a solicitor's negligence are able to access legal redress in the event that the law firm for which that solicitor worked has gone out of business.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The legal profession in England and Wales operates independently of Government. The responsibility for regulating the sector sits with the approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board (LSB). There are several routes in place to ensure consumers have access to legal redress in the event of the collapse of their solicitor’s law firm.
The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) deals with service complaints against regulated legal services providers – including those who are no longer operational. Their website provides information with regards to the different routes available for consumers depending on their personal circumstances.
If an Ombudsman has made a final decision against a closed legal service provider and the consumer has not received any redress, they can decide to enforce the Ombudsman’s decision in court or make a complaint against the firm’s indemnity insurance. The Ombudsman can help consumers with finding contact details for relevant indemnity insurers.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) also considers redress where consumers have lost money as a result of fundamental ethical failures by solicitors that they regulate. Consumers affected by said issues may be able to claim against the provider’s indemnity insurer or the ‘Solicitors Indemnity Fund’ via the SRA’s website, in certain circumstances. The SRA offers support to members of the public in making claims and the relevant form can be found on their website at: www.sra.org.uk/sra-managing-sif . They also may be able to apply to the SRA’s compensation fund if they believe a solicitor owes them money or believe their loss relates to services provided by a solicitor. The form and guidance on this can be found on the SRA’s website at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/compensation-fund/application-process/.
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, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the process for assessing the eligibility of dementia patients for continuing healthcare funding.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Eligibility for National Health Service Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is not determined by age, diagnosis or condition, or financial means; it is assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the totality of an individual’s needs. This ensures a person-centred approach to CHC, whereby the individual is placed at the centre of the assessment and care-planning process. We continue to work with our partners, including NHS England who are responsible for oversight of CHC delivery, external organisations, and people with lived experience, to seek feedback on CHC policy and implementation.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Second Interim Report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, published 5 April 2023, what his Department's policy is on the implementation of that report's recommendation of interim payments to children, parents and siblings of people affected by infected blood.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Work is currently underway across Government to give thorough consideration to each of the recommendations that Sir Brian made in his second interim report. As you know, the Victims and Prisoners Bill was amended on 4 December 2023, and we are aware of the strength of feeling across Parliament on this issue. I will make a statement to Parliament as soon as possible before recess to update on Government progress.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of further regulating the fines chargeable by parking companies operating on private land.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Following the introduction of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the Government is taking action to improve the regulation of the private parking industry and is developing a new code of practice to ensure the best possible protection for motorists and parking companies alike.
We are currently considering the impact of any changes to parking charges levels and debt recovery fees before a decision is made on the appropriate level.
In due course it is the Government’s intention to consult on these elements of the code, as such we have recently concluded a call for evidence to make sure the consultation on parking charges and debt recovery fees is as well informed as possible.
The Government is working with both industry and consumer representatives to ensure the code comes into effect as quickly as 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, if the Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of a review of what remedial assistance may be given to support energy suppliers in maintaining the National Grid in areas where costs of upkeep are higher.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Electricity network operators are private companies which build, own, and operate electricity network infrastructure. As regional monopolies, they are regulated by the
independent energy regulator, Ofgem. Ofgem uses the price control framework to set the level of investment in infrastructure for each network company and their allowable rate of return. The costs incurred in the maintenance, reinforcement, and new build of
Electricity network infrastructure are recovered mainly through electricity consumers’ bills. The price control and charging arrangements are matters for Ofgem.
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, whether her Department plans to take steps to implement AI technology that predicts heart attacks years in advance.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Many of the artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are looking at heart attack prediction are still in research and development. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) carried out an Early Value Assessment (EVA) on Cari-Heart in March 2023. Cari-Heart is a medical device that uses AI to analyse heart computerised tomography (CT) scans, to give clinicians a patient’s personalised risk of heart attack. NICE’s EVA does not recommend Cari-Heart for use in the National Health Service and that it should only be used for research to generate more evidence of its effectiveness at this stage.
Further pilot testing of Cari-Heart in five NHS trusts has started. This will evaluate the effectiveness of the tool as it analyses chest CT scans to help clinicians assess patients’ risk of heart attack.
The Department is funding the AI in Health and Care Award. This has provided £123 million to 86 AI technologies to test and evaluate some of the most promising AI technologies likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. A number of these trials include AI technologies that could assist clinicians to treat heart disease. These could generate more evidence of these technologies' effectiveness, which could lead to their rapid adoption in the NHS.
Another trial, which has received a £1.2 million award from the National Institute for Health Research, will test an AI-enabled smart stethoscope in 200 general practices (GPs) across London and Wales. The TRICORDER programme will assess if by providing the tool to GPs this can increase early detection of heart failure and reduce diagnosis through emergency hospital admission.