Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle waste crime in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government published its new Waste Crime Action Plan on 20 March which is the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste. We will tighten regulation to close the loopholes criminals exploit, enable tougher enforcement to disrupt and punish them, and direct action to clean up the damage they leave behind.

The Government is committed to tackling waste crime in North East Somerset and Hanham. We are strengthening the Environment Agency’s enforcement powers and funding, and supporting joint working with Bath and North East Somerset Council and the local police services. Across the constituency, the Environment Agency is using intelligence led inspections and investigations to identify illegal waste activity, take enforcement action, and disrupt organised waste crime, protecting local communities and the environment, and ensuring waste is managed responsibly locally.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help increase accountability in the water sector in the West of England.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

For too long, water companies paid out billions in dividends while pumping sewage into our rivers. This Government is ending that. The Water White Paper creates a single regulator, prevention-focused enforcement, and tougher laws: banning bonuses for failure and ensuring water works for customers, not just shareholders.

To truly turn around the water sector we need the right people in to do the job. We want the sector to be attractive to high quality senior leaders, acting in the public interest, who can lead change from the top.

To achieve this, the Government committed in the White Paper to consider taking forward a new regime for senior accountability. This would be carefully designed to ensure senior leaders are directly accountable for the service customers receive, whilst still allowing water companies to appoint capable leadership

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce waiting times at the RUH (Bath) A&E department.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the pressures facing emergency departments, including at the Royal United Hospital Bath, and is taking sustained action to reduce accident and emergency waiting times and improve patient flow across urgent and emergency care. Through the NHS Medium‑Term Planning Framework and the Model Emergency Department, NHS England has set out a clear trajectory for improving performance, with a focus on reducing long waits, improving safety, and delivering better patient experience.

At the Royal United Hospital Bath, NHS England is working with the trust and the wider local system to support delivery of these improvements. This includes action to improve patient flow, increase the use of Same Day Emergency Care to avoid unnecessary admissions, strengthen discharge and community capacity, and deliver capital investment to improve emergency department flow. The trust is also receiving support from national improvement programmes, including Getting It Right First Time, alongside action to strengthen overnight staffing and real‑time performance oversight.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of factory farming on ammonia pollution.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra does not have an assessment of “factory farms”. However, a breakdown of UK ammonia emissions by livestock sector can be found in Table 1 of this published document; 2509190841_UK_Agriculture_Ammonia_Emission_Report_1990-2023_26062025_Final.pdf.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce fly tipping in North East Somerset and Hanham.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action.

To support councils to make better use of their power to seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, we have published best practice guidance and case studies on the website of the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group. Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping.

In addition, we have recently secured powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.

We have also obtained powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for the courts to award up to 9 penalty points on driving licences for those found guilty of fly-tipping. This would make it harder for offenders to continue dumping illegally if they are disqualified from driving and send a clear warning that fly-tipping is not tolerated.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of workforce training capacity to support the transition to electric vehicles.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to ensuring the UK has the right skills to remain at the forefront of the manufacturing and maintenance of electric vehicles (EVs).

The number of EV qualified technicians has risen rapidly. According to data from the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), in 2025 there were over 71,000 qualified EV technicians. This means 26% of all technicians in the country are qualified to work on EVs, which make up about 13% of all licensed vehicles in the UK.

The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles has endorsed the IMI’s TechSafe scheme, which provides a register and professional standard for EV technicians. The scheme helps to ensure technicians have the skills they need to safely repair an EV.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is the policy of HM Revenue and Customs to inform NHS commissioners of concerns regarding unpaid VAT liabilities prior to filing a winding-up petition.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

It is not HMRC’s policy to inform NHS Commissioners of unpaid liabilities. HMRC is unable to discuss debts held by third parties with NHS Commissioners due to taxpayer confidentiality rules. This includes companies that have been contracted to deliver NHS services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to improve the safety of young people online in North East Somerset and Hanham.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Protecting children from harm online is a priority for the Secretary of State. That is why the Secretary of State launched the consultation ‘Growing up in an Online World’ on how to go further to protect children and has committed to respond by the Summer. This builds on action to designate encouraging self-harm as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, close loopholes and bring AI chatbots into scope of the Act, criminalise AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material; and criminalise people who write guides on how to exploit legitimate AI tools to generate child sexual abuse.