Desmond Swayne

Currently, the Controlled Environment Horticulture (CEH) sector is ineligible for the British Industry Supercharger, which the Energy Intensive Industry (EII) Exemption Scheme is a part of. The CEH sector does not meet the necessary thresholds of electricity and trade intensity, nor does it have an eligible Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code to be classed as an EII. The Department for Business and Trade intends to review and publicly consult on the sector eligibility for the British Industry Supercharger in 2026. I encourage the CEH sector to engage with this consultation when the opportunity arises.

The definition of the hours threshold and the length and frequency of reference periods will depend on the outcome of the forthcoming consultation on the details of the measures to end exploitative zero hours contracts.

We have considered international examples of employment rights in developing this consultation. Many countries have taken steps to restrict or prohibit zero-hours contracts altogether. For example, New Zealand and Norway have banned their use, while Ireland allows them only in limited circumstances, and both the Netherlands and Finland require employers to offer contracts on equivalent terms to workers who regularly work a consistent shift pattern.

The government will consult on the details of the measures to end exploitative zero hours contracts to inform regulations. Decisions on the circumstances in which regulations might place the duty to offer agency workers guaranteed hours on the agency or another intermediary in the supply chain, as opposed to the end hirer, will depend on the outcome of this consultation.

The government understands that what should be considered reasonable notice will differ depending on different sectors and circumstances. Regulations will specify how much notice should be ‘presumed reasonable’ as well as other factors that should be considered when determining whether the notice was reasonable or not, as opposed to setting a single notice period to be deemed reasonable in all cases. Decisions on these regulations will depend on the outcome of the forthcoming consultation on the details of the measures to end exploitative zero hours contracts.

The Government recognises the role of community energy in delivering net zero and is working with Ofgem to address regulatory barriers, including routes to market. Through delivering on commitments in the Local Power Plan, we are working with Great British Energy to explore measures to make it easier for community energy groups to participate in local energy markets.

The department, Ofgem and wider energy industry has also been working to make changes to industry rules to support the local trade of energy. This includes work on rule P441, standardising the classification of local energy sites to provide a regulatory footing that will clarify the rules of setting them up. Further updates and outcomes from this work will be provided in due course.

The UK ETS Authority recently concluded a review into free allocation policy which confirmed refining is at risk of carbon leakage and will continue to be eligible to receive support through free allocation, measured against an efficiency standard. The review also determined that the efficiency standard used to set free allocations would be maintained in 2027, providing operators in the sector with the necessary certainty to plan for the forthcoming allocation period. This will provide continuity and additional time for industrial sectors to plan for future benchmark updates, which are expected in 2028. Ahead of this the UK ETS Authority will perform and assessment of impacts on businesses, including those in the Refining sector.

The UK’s refining capacity is very important to our energy security, resilience, as an industrial base to the continued growth of our regions. This government recognises the wider challenges facing the sector and know that tackling these together is vitally important.

Under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, free allocations are provided to the refining sector to mitigate the risk of carbon leakage and reduce exposure to the carbon price.

Linking the UK ETS and EU ETS is expected to bring significant economic benefits to the UK, including a cheaper path towards decarbonisation by providing businesses with access to a larger, stable carbon market and creating the conditions for mutual CBAM exemptions, removing a major barrier to trade and lowering costs for UK firms.

By law, network charging is a matter for Ofgem, the independent regulator.

Fixed charge banding rules, including migration, are set out in the DCUSA industry code (Schedule 32). They limit migration to exceptional circumstances, including significant change in capacity or consumption. There are some proposals to change banding rules (DCPs 412, 420, 454, and 466), which will be subject to final Ofgem approval. The DCUSA Secretariat can provide information about these rules/ proposals.

Ofgem has launched the Cost Allocation and Recovery Review (CARR), which is assessing whether there are more efficient and fairer ways to allocate and recover system costs.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given on 11 November to my hon Friend the Member for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill (Kate Osamor) to Question UIN 87351.

Through Project Gigabit, we are delivering gigabit-capable broadband to premises not included in suppliers’ commercial delivery plans. Suppliers provide details of their commercial build plans to Building Digital UK (BDUK), the part of DSIT responsible for Project Gigabit, on a confidential basis.

This avoids individual suppliers being able to gain access to the specific plans submitted by other suppliers and helps maintain confidence from suppliers to engage in this process with BDUK, which they undertake on a voluntary basis. As a result, we are unable to confirm which suppliers have included Godshill in their commercial delivery plans.

BDUK is now reviewing the latest evidence from all suppliers, and if it confirms that there are no longer any commercial plans for Godshill, the premises will be reclassified as being eligible for public subsidy.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.

PIA rental charges are set by Ofcom and based on the total cost of the physical infrastructure that Openreach needs to recover. While we are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, it is for the regulator to assess the fair level of these rental charges and DSIT has not made any formal assessment with regard to PIA charges.

The Civil Society Covenant Framework was launched in October 2024 and used as the basis for extensive engagement with over 1,200 organisations across government and civil society’s full diversity, including many faith and interfaith groups. These insights and experiences have helped ensure that the Covenant is inclusive of organisations of all purposes, sizes, geographical locations, and those that are led by underrepresented groups.

The Civil Society Covenant was launched by the Prime Minister in July 2025 at a major civil society summit. As we move forward, we will continue to work with our government and civil society partners, including faith organisations, to raise awareness across their members and networks and drive engagement with the Covenant at national, local and grassroots levels. MPs are encouraged to make organisations in their constituencies aware of the Covenant.

The Government highly values the charity sector, and its positive contribution across society.

Due to the difficult economic inheritance from the previous government, we have had to take a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability.

The Government has considered the implication of this policy change on the charity sector, and the impacts have been published in the usual way by HMRC as part of the Autumn Budget process.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), which gives a clear explanation of the policy objective and an assessment of the impacts, was published alongside the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill on 13 November 2024. This Note includes the impacts of the policy on the Exchequer; the economic impacts of the policy; and the impacts on individuals, businesses, civil society organisations and equality impacts.

In line with our proposed reforms, children with complex needs, who need a Specialist Provision Package(s) and a placement within a specialist setting, will have their provision guaranteed in their education health and care plan. Specialist Provision Packages will provide comprehensive, evidence-based and nationally consistent support.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

New National Inclusion Standards will set out evidence-based tools, strategies and approaches for educators to draw on to identify and support children and young people with additional needs. This will include evidence for targeted support to address barriers to learning and participation related to specific areas of development. One of these proposed areas of development is Speech, Language, and Communication.

We will establish an independent, expert panel to develop National Inclusion Standards. The panel will be composed of a range of experts across both research and practice in supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. They will also engage wider experts to test the development of the Standards. This will include, for example, ensuring expertise from speech and language therapists and other relevant experts is incorporated.

The department recently announced an investment of £15 million to establish new speech and language therapist (SaLT) advanced practitioners in every integrated care board geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings. These advanced practitioners will be qualified speech and language therapists.

The government is also investing £200 million to give all staff in schools, colleges and early years settings the training they need to better support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, including those with speech, language and communication needs in mainstream settings.

This is in addition to £3.4 million being invested this year in the Early Language Support for Every Child programme, helping to identify and respond to speech and language needs, continued investment in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, which has demonstrated significant impact on speech and language skills particularly for disadvantaged pupils, and an expansion of English Hubs programme from the 2026/27 academic year to include intensive language and literacy support.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.

The government has committed to reviewing the statutory guidance on Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions at School (2015), and we intend to consult on revised guidance. The current guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

Our aim is to ensure that schools are better equipped to support all pupils with medical conditions as part of our wider ambition to create more inclusive schools through the forthcoming Schools White Paper.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) recognises the importance of commons to the delivery of environmental outcomes. The RPA is currently assessing how common land can access Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and is actively exploring both on and off system options, testing feasibility. Once this assessment is complete, the RPA will engage external stakeholders to discuss its planned approach.

Irreplaceable habitat includes some of England’s most ecologically valuable habitats. The list of irreplaceable habitats in the biodiversity net gain regulations reflects the non-exhaustive list of examples of irreplaceable habitat in the National Planning Policy Framework. Given the breadth of habitats which could be considered irreplaceable the government plans in due course to review the definition of irreplaceable habitats to ensure it is robust and comprehensive to support decision makers.

The Environment Agency (EA) has used a range of information from the Channel Coastal Observatory (CCO) based at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, the majority of this information is freely available from the CCO website (https://coastalmonitoring.org/southeast/).

The information received includes water levels, tide gauge, wind and wave data, as well as land and sea-bed profiles and aerial photography.

The information from two historic storm events has also been received which provides details about the most powerful waves experienced in the area. Past events do not necessarily represent the upper limits of what may occur in the future. Therefore, the EA has also received further analysis from the CCO that adjusts historic events to show what storms of greater severity may be like in the future.

We want to provide these Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders with some certainty and continuity until they can move into the new ELM offer and to provide support so they can continue delivering environmental outcomes on their land. We will provide more information on timelines for rolling out the new CSHT and the reformed SFI offer in due course.

Farmers with an HLS agreement that expired in 2024 were offered a two-year extension to their agreement. This will allow farmers to continue delivering land management practices in HLS agreements without interruption to the funding they receive.

Defra also announced that on the 24 February 2025, that agreement holders under the Environmental Stewardship Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) will see an increase to their payment rates in the near future.

The Minister’s Mandate, first introduced in 1971, is mainly concerned with the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Crown lands of the New Forest. The Protected Landscapes Duty requires relevant authorities such as Forestry England to seek to further the statutory purposes of Protected Landscapes including the New Forest. Forestry England is also subject to a range of regulations, assurance schemes, procedures and other guidance to steer its activity in the New Forest, including the New Forest Acts 1877, 1949, 1964, and 1970, Ancient Monuments & Archaeological Areas Act 1979, Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, Environment Act 1995, and Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Forestry England continues to manage the Crown lands of the New Forest to achieve a proper balance between people, nature and a working commercial forest. For this reason, there is no plan to review the Minister’s Mandate at this time.

The Integrated National Transport Strategy will be published early next year and set the long-term vision for domestic transport across England.

The department has conducted extensive research and engagement with stakeholders and members of the public to inform the strategy. We have heard directly from motorcyclists and motorcycle representative groups, including the Motorcycle Action Group, through our Call for Ideas which closed with 6,340 responses and an 11-stop Regional Roadshow across England.

The insights gathered through our engagement activities have been analysed and are directly informing the strategy as it continues to evolve. The strategy will seek to address the main barriers people face in accessing good transport that were identified through our engagement.

Officials also met bilaterally with the Motorcycle Action Group on 29 August 2025 to respond to a range of matters of concern to motorcyclists which included an update on the development of the strategy. An update was also provided at the most recent meeting of the officials-led Motorcycle Strategic Focus Group on 15 September, chaired by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

HM Coastguard is not implementing new arrangements for the evacuation of emergency medical cases from Hurst Castle and Hurst Spit.  In the event of a medical emergency HM Coastguard would work with our ambulance service colleagues and the site owners to assess the situation and task appropriate assets to respond, such as lifeboats, search and rescue helicopters and Coastguard Rescue Teams in line with the response to any other island or remote location around the UK coast.

A temporary arrangement has been in place since 2018. The previous administration held a call for evidence last year and we will consider the evidence carefully before coming to a view.

Lump sum compensation payments under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are treated as personal injury capital and are disregarded for 12 months, reflecting longstanding rules across means-tested benefits and allowing time to protect funds intended to meet long-term needs. Where payments are placed into a trust or annuity, they are disregarded indefinitely, meaning the system already provides a mechanism to protect compensation in the long term.

Carers who provide unpaid care for at least 35 hours per week for a severely disabled person may get a carer element as part of their Universal Credit award. DWP is working with the Ministry of Defence to strengthen guidance and improve awareness, ensuring individuals understand their options to protect compensation at the point of award.

Lump sum compensation payments under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are treated as personal injury capital and are disregarded for 12 months, reflecting longstanding rules across means-tested benefits and allowing time to protect funds intended to meet long-term needs. Where payments are placed into a trust or annuity, they are disregarded indefinitely, meaning the system already provides a mechanism to protect compensation in the long term.

Carers who provide unpaid care for at least 35 hours per week for a severely disabled person may get a carer element as part of their Universal Credit award. DWP is working with the Ministry of Defence to strengthen guidance and improve awareness, ensuring individuals understand their options to protect compensation at the point of award.

Responsibility for the terms and administration of the Scheme sits with Motability Foundation and its Board of Governors. The Department for Work and Pensions meets quarterly with Motability Foundation, to discuss the Scheme’s operation.

The changes to the leasing package were announced on 26 March and include reducing the mileage allowance from 20,000 per year to 10,000 per year. Changes only apply to new leases and there are no changes to the mileage allowance for existing leases. Motability Foundation has advised that approximately 75% of customers on the Scheme already use fewer miles than the proposed new mileage allowance.

Motability understands that this will affect customers differently and is keeping these changes under review.

Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is part of the Government’s commitment to implement our Plan to Make Work Pay. The Government conducted a Regulatory Impact Assessment here on the impact of the SSP measures, including the removal of the waiting period in the Employment Rights Bill.

Whilst this is not a specific assessment on the impact on recruitment agencies or agency workers, the Government believes that the SSP measures strike the right balance between providing financial security to employees and limiting additional costs to employers, including agencies. The Bill ensures that people who work through employment agencies and employment businesses have comparable rights and protections to their counterparts who are directly employed. Employers, including those in the recruitment sector, are best placed to manage sickness absences and ensuring employees receive appropriate support. If employers have the right policies and practices in place, risks of inappropriate absenteeism can be mitigated.

The Government intends to conduct a post-implementation review (PIR) of the Employment Rights Bill within five years of implementation. The impact of the measures to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay will be monitored on employers and employees alike. This can include considering the impact on workers in the agency sector.

We are committed to considering and reflecting on what we have heard regarding the issue of Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme rules on the indexation of pre-1997 pension accruals. We understand it is an important issue for those affected.

The Pension Protection Fund’s assets and liabilities sit on the Government’s balance sheet, and any changes will have an impact on public finances. Any changes to the Financial Assistance Scheme will also impact the Exchequer and so requires careful consideration. The Government therefore needs to take its time to reflect on these complex matters which require a balanced approach for thoses receiving compensation, levy payers and taxpayers.

We will continue to work closely with the Pension Protection Fund as we explore this important issue further.

Specialist paediatric neurorehabilitation services are commissioned in line with the service specification published by the NHS England’s Clinical Reference Group for Paediatric Neurosciences. The service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paediatric-Neurorehabilitation.pdf

The service specification sets out a national, multidisciplinary model for delivering intensive rehabilitation tailored to the needs of children with acquired brain injury (ABI), including those with brain tumours, as well as children with other neurological conditions. The service specification provides a framework for integrated, specialist paediatric neurorehabilitation, centred on early and intensive intervention, coordinated care across acute, specialist, and community settings, and sustained support throughout childhood, including transition to adult services.

As part of NHS England’s service specification review programme, the Paediatric Neurosciences Clinical Reference Group is currently reviewing the service specification. This work includes engagement with individual paediatric neurorehabilitation services to inform an updated model of care and to assess current provision and access. This review will support improvements in access to high-quality, intensive rehabilitation and ensure services are responsive to the needs of children and young people across England.

In October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published new guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including ABI. The guideline covers children and young people as well as adults. NICE guidelines are informed by clinical expertise, are evidence-based, and represent best practice. The Government expects commissioners and service providers to take NICE guidance fully into account in designing services that meet the needs of their local population and to work towards their implementation over time.

I responded to the Rt. Hon. Member’s correspondence on 24 April 2026.