Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the (a) Plan 5 student loan repayment threshold and (b) annual pay for someone on the minimum wage in a full-time job from 1 April 2025 on the net income of graduates with student loans.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2022, the department conducted a government consultation to assess the impact of policy reforms on higher education funding and finance, including changes to repayment thresholds from Plan 2 to Plan 5. More details on the consultation can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62223cfb8fa8f549071fc82c/Higher_education_policy_statement_reform_consultation_-_Equality_analysis.pdf.
Comparing the previous threshold of £28,470 under Plan 2 with the new threshold of £25,000 under Plan 5, the monthly repayments under the new repayment plan would result in an individual who was previously earning £28,470 and not repaying their loan, to now repaying approximately £26 per month.
From 1 April 2025, the National Minimum Wage has increased to £12.21 for workers aged 21 and over. If working a standard 37.5 hours per week, a minimum wage worker will earn £23,809.50, which is below the annual threshold for both Plans 2 and 5. This calculation is based on the average actual weekly hours of work for full-time workers.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of facilitating the recycling of blister packs.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through making producers responsible for the costs of managing the packaging they use; packaging extended producer responsibility incentivises producers to use less packaging and transition to re-usable or easy-to-recycle packaging.
Defra has previously considered the merits of facilitating the recycling of harder to recycle packaging such as blister packs. This resulted in some currently difficult to recycle packaging, such as plastic films, being subject to kerbside collection and recycling requirements.
For others, such as blister packs, we concluded that where they are separately collected by producers, via takeback schemes, and are then recycled at the producer’s cost, then producers would not need to pay pEPR fees on the tonnage which is recycled. In addition, for future years, a producer’s modulated fees may be reduced if the packaging they are using, such as blister packs, is part of an easy to access, UK wide takeback scheme, as it will improve their recyclability assessment outcome.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she is making on implementing the findings of The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, published by her Department in February 2021.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government agrees with the central conclusion of the Dasgupta Review that nature, and the biodiversity that underpins it, sustains our economies, livelihoods and wellbeing. It is therefore committed to integrating nature into economic and financial decision-making, and the institutions and systems that underpin it.
The Treasury continues to make progress and explore ways to strengthen processes for assessing the climate and environmental impacts of fiscal decisions and improve the Green Book in line with emerging evidence and best practice. For example, building on the extensive guidance already provided for evaluating and monetising natural capital impacts, the Government has published updated supplementary guidance to the Green Book on Enabling a Natural Capital Approach, including additional guidance on valuing biodiversity.
As set out in the Budget last October, the Government is continuing to invest in the natural environment, confirming £5 billion over two years to support the transition to a more productive and environmentally sustainable agricultural sector in England, and at least £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration to protect soils, rivers and biodiversity.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of district heating schemes.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government believes that heat networks are an essential part of a decarbonised future energy system. In high density urban areas, they are often the lowest cost, low carbon heating option, and can use a range of low carbon energy sources such as waste heat from industry. This helps to reduce costs for consumers and strengthens the Uk’s energy resilience.
The Committee for Climate Change has recommended the government grows the heat network sector from providing 3% of national heat demand to 20% by 2050. We are implementing heat network zoning and funding low carbon heat networks to get to this scale.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his Israeli counterpart on whether UK-made (a) arms and (b) arms components for (i) F35 aircraft and (ii) other arms have been used in the Israeli Defence Force air strikes that commenced in Gaza on 18 March 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's robust export licensing criteria states that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In September 2024, following an IHL review, we have suspended certain export licences to Israel where we have assessed there is a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. The suspension of relevant export licences for Israel will be kept under review and we hope to see evidence of sustained improvements that address concerns relating to IHL.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with representatives of the horticultural industry on an alternative to the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s commitment to our horticulture sector and its vital role in strengthening food security remains steadfast. Our proposed approach to future funding for horticulture will be considered alongside Defra’s work to simplify and rationalise agricultural grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. This includes developing a 25-year Farming Roadmap, which will involve government and the industry working together to identify solutions to challenges to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
We recognise the specific needs of the horticulture sector, and Defra ministers and officials meet regularly with a variety of growers from across the sector, (including a number of Producer Organisation members), to discuss a wide range of issues to help us understand how best to support sector.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what criteria she plans to use to identify claimants with serious and lifelong health conditions to ensure they will never face reassessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The assessment process is an important part of claiming PIP and WCA to ensure that people receive the right level of support.
However, for some people with very severe health conditions and disabilities, by the time they come to make a claim, they have already undergone intensive assessments and provided detailed evidence about their condition to receive support from other services. That is why in PIP, we are also exploring ways in which we could use evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for some people with very severe health conditions to undergo a full PIP functional assessment. For example, for young people with very severe long-term conditions who have already been assessed for and awarded support from Disability Living Allowance for children before claiming PIP for the first time.
For those on UC with the most severe, life-long, conditions who we know will never be able to work, we will aim to exempt them from ever needing to be reassessed.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the technical differences between co-operatives and credit unions which justify excluding credit unions from the exemption from audit requirements available to smaller co-operatives under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014; and whether the Government plans to review this distinction in light of forthcoming recommendations from the Law Commission’s review of the Act.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the important contribution of co-operatives and mutuals to the economy, serving local communities around the country and ensuring the UK has a diverse business sector with their model of shared ownership. The Government is committed to unlocking the full potential of the mutual and co-operative sector to support inclusive growth.
Co-operatives are diverse organisations that span a variety of different sectors. Credit unions are financial co-operatives which offer savings and loans to their members. As deposit-takers, credit unions are subject to specific regulatory requirements.
The Government is funding the Law Commission’s independent review of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 to help ensure that co-operatives legislation is meeting the needs of this sector. This review will consider ways to update and modernise the Act. The Government will carefully consider the findings of this review to understand whether reform of the legislation is needed to ensure these businesses are supported to grow and succeed into the future.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 36460 on Litter, what steps he plans to take to support local authorities to tackle littering.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Littering is a crime that blights communities and the environment. Local councils are usually best placed to respond to littering and related problems, in a way tailored to the community in which they occur. They have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal including fixed penalty notices and prosecution.
This Government is considering what further steps are needed to help local authorities reduce litter and keep their streets clean. Any new announcements will be made in the usual manner.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress the Competition and Markets Authority has made on its investigation into misleading environmental claims, announced on 26 January 2023.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Following the closure of the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) investigation into certain claims made by Unilever in relation to some of its fast-moving consumer goods, which include everyday items such as toiletries and cleaning products, the CMA does not currently have any open investigations into misleading environmental claims.
The CMA remains interested in the issue and may take further enforcement action where this is warranted and appropriate, based on intelligence and its published prioritisation criteria.