Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what new arrangements HM Coastguard is planning for evacuating emergency medical cases from Hurst Castle and Hurst Spit.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing sanctions on people associated with the detention of Alaa Abd El-Fattah in Egypt.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to securing Mr El-Fattah's release and we continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. The Prime Minister raised the case in a letter to President Sisi on 4 May. The National Security Adviser also raised Mr-El Fattah's case with the Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on 27 April and the Foreign Secretary raised with him on 9 April.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of spending on health and disability benefits by the end of the decade.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Incapacity and disability benefits spending is forecast to increase by £15.5 billion to £90.7 billion by 2029/30.
This includes a rise in spending on working-age benefits from £10.3 billion to £65.4 billion.
Without the 2025 Spring Statement measures, working-age benefits spending would be £4.5 billion higher by 2029/30.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to restore online access to enable disabled drivers to confirm their duty-exempt status when renewing their vehicle licence.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A DWP service which enables disabled drivers to confirm their vehicle excise duty exemption when renewing their vehicle licence was upgraded on 12th March. An error with date formats affected disabled drivers with a September Date of Birth. They had to follow an alternative process to apply for exemption through the Post Office. As soon as the problem was identified, DWP Digital took steps to resolve it.
The service was restored on Tuesday 22nd April at 11:09am. All disabled drivers, including those with a September date of birth, can now complete the check for duty exemption online. DWP Digital is taking steps to ensure this does not happen again with future service updates.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The approach taken by the previous Government to address legacy was wrong. It caused immense pain to victims and survivors, and in many respects has been found to be unlawful.
In December, I laid a proposal for a draft Remedial Order in Parliament, to remedy the human rights deficiencies in the Act identified by the courts, and when parliamentary time allows, I will introduce primary legislation to implement other measures to ensure that the Government fulfils the commitments it has made.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to protect Royal Navy war graves in international waters.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The term “war graves” is one which applies to the final resting places of fallen soldiers on land, and locations designated as a war grave by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
However, as a matter of customary international law, all naval warships, state vessels and associated artefacts are afforded protection through the principle of Sovereign Immunity. The UK is of the view that, unless expressly relinquished or abandoned by the Flag State, the Sovereign Immunity of the wreck of any Crown vessel remains in place, regardless of where the wreck in question is located, and those who lost their lives in service of our country should be left in situ and undisturbed.
Some warships are also afforded additional protection under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will implement an energy debt relief scheme available to all customers.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In December, Ofgem published an updated debt strategy which included two consultations; one of which proposed an energy debt relief scheme for consumers who accrued debt during the energy crisis. The second consulted on ways to improve debt standards, guaranteeing high standards of care and customer service for those in debt. Both of these consultations have now closed and Ofgem will carefully consider the feedback received. We stand ready to work closely with them on their findings.
On 25 February, we announced that we will be working to accelerate work with Ofgem on this potential energy debt scheme, helping consumers in significant debt to bring down their level of debt down and support them to pay for their energy moving forward.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to (a) mitigate the impact for consumers of the recent increase in the energy price cap and (b) ensure that retail energy costs fall in line with wholesale prices.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Energy bills are forecast to rise for the period 1 April to 30 June 2025 due to an increase in international gas prices.
The Government believes the only way to protect consumers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.
We continue to monitor energy prices and the price cap and are working to ensure bills are affordable for consumers in the long-term, including through our work with Ofgem to reform standing charges, and through our Warm Homes Plan which will upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with Apple Inc. on the continuing provision of its advanced data protection system in the UK.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.
The UK has a longstanding position of protecting people’s privacy whilst also ensuring action can be taken against child sexual abusers and terrorists.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to abolish clawback by pension providers.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The aim of integrated or so-called ‘clawback’ schemes is to provide, overall, the same level of benefits before and after a person reaches State Pension age. A higher amount of occupational pension is paid before the member begins to receives their State Pension, thereby smoothing benefit income over time.
The Government has no plans to abolish the provision of integrated pensions.