Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department is providing to local authorities on the distribution of funding for high streets.
Answered by Jacob Young
There is a range of support options available to encourage regeneration of high streets and we advise local authorities on how to make the best use of these. This support includes provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act for High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) which give local authorities new powers to force landlords to rent out vacant units in high streets, as well as the High Street Accelerator pilot programme and the Government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns to drive ambitious plans for regeneration.
Long-term investment also includes £2.35 billion of Town Deals and over £830 million of Future High Streets Funding across 170 high streets, town centres and local communities in England.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Future High Streets Fund will be extended to smaller high streets.
Answered by Jacob Young
There is a range of support options available to encourage regeneration of high streets and we advise local authorities on how to make the best use of these. This support includes provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act for High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) which give local authorities new powers to force landlords to rent out vacant units in high streets, as well as the High Street Accelerator pilot programme and the Government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns to drive ambitious plans for regeneration.
Long-term investment also includes £2.35 billion of Town Deals and over £830 million of Future High Streets Funding across 170 high streets, town centres and local communities in England.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to regulate the frequency of bus services.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Government recognises that frequent bus services are vital and has invested to protect them. How frequently bus services operate is a local decision and the responsibility of bus operators and Local Transport Authorities. While Enhanced Partnerships can place upper limits on frequencies, LTAs can subsidise frequency increases above the service levels provided commercially to meet local need. Since 2020, we have invested over £3.5 billion in buses, including a recently announced further £300 million to protect and enhance services from July 2023 to April 2025. Following the redirection of HS2 funding, on 23 October the government announced over £250 million will be allocated to local authorities in the Midlands to improve bus services.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that the costs of charging electric vehicles in public places remain affordable.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has recently laid regulations to improve the consumer experience across the public charging network. The regulations will ensure that pricing information is transparent, payment methods are simplified, charge points are reliable and public charge point data is freely available for consumers.
Through these regulations, the Government will ensure that drivers can get value for money by comparing prices across different public charge points through a single format of pence per kilowatt hour, similar to pence per litre of fuel.
Overall, in many cases electric vehicle drivers can benefit from savings on the cost of fuel compared to conventional combustion engines.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to hold discussions with car manufacturers on helping to ensure there is a provision of a range of wheelchair accessible battery electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government will continue to engage with vehicle manufacturers in the UK and other industry stakeholders to support the provision of zero emission wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs). It is already supporting the uptake of WAVs through the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate and Plug in Vehicle Grant.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding allocated by his Department to community defibrillator projects.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made. The Government’s £1 million Community Automated External Defibrillators (AED) fund will provide an estimated 1,000 new defibrillators across England, with the potential for this to double as successful applicants will be asked to match the funding they receive partially or fully.
As of 22 September 2022, community organisations can now apply for a grant to fund a life-saving defibrillator for their local area. Applications for funding will be submitted to Smarter Society and the London Hearts Charity, who will assess each application against set criteria, ensuring that each AED is placed where they are needed most. They have designed engagement and application processes to appeal to a wide and diverse audience.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to help improve the frequency of bus services in rural areas; and if he will increase funding for the provision of additional buses in those areas where services are infrequent.
Answered by Richard Holden
Good bus services are vital in rural areas and this Government has invested to protect them. Since 2020, we have invested over £3.5 billion in buses, including a recently announced further £300 million to protect and enhance services from July 2023 to April 2025 via BISP+ and BSOG+.The decision to cancel HS2 North of Litchfield means that we can do more still. We will direct £36 billion to Network North in the Midlands and North of England, this includes a further £1 billion extra for bus networks over the next five years.
On top of the funding already announced, this means extending the ‘Get Around for Two Pound’ single bus fares to the 31st December 2024.
Of the £1 billion we announced, in the first year, 2024-5 ,we’ll be allocating £150 million to councils to support and enhance bus networks in the Midlands and the North, this includes a further £4,982,000 for Staffordshire County Council.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with the Chief Executive of National Express on cuts to transport services in South Staffordshire.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Department for Transport regularly engages with bus operators, including National Express, and will continue to do so to support the delivery of sustainable local transport networks.
On 23 October the Government announced that Staffordshire County Council has been allocated a further £4,982,000 for the first year of funding for buses redirect from HS2 funding, building on the £2,655,347 in BSIP+ funding to support and protect bus services allocated in 2023-4 and 2024-5. This can bus used by local authorities to support and enhance bus networks across Staffordshire and is on top of the extension of the national ‘Get Around For Two Pound’ national fare cap scheme.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the consultation entitled Original pack dispensing and supply of medicines containing sodium valproate, published in November 2021, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) proposal to always dispense those medicines in the original manufacturer's packaging and (b) other proposals in that consultation on consumers.
Answered by Will Quince
The amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable original pack dispensing of medicine and require whole-pack dispensing of medicines containing valproate were signed on 13 September 2023 and come into force on 11 October 2023.
An impact assessment was published on 19 March 2023 and is available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1015/impacts
This impact assessment was informed by responses to the consultation that we held on the proposals and sets out the Department’s assessment of the impact of the regulation changes for original pack dispensing and whole pack dispensing of medicines containing valproate.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to secure financial redress for the victims of Primodos.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Government published its response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) review in July 2021, which did not accept the recommendation to establish separate redress schemes for the three interventions covered by the review. This included a redress scheme for those harmed by Primodos.
Our priority is to make medicines and devices safer, and the Government is pursuing a wide range of activity to further this aim. The 2021 response, and the Government’s December 2022 update to the response, explains the changes that have been put in place since the IMMDS Review report’s publication, and the further action the Government will take to implement the recommendations accepted and to improve patient safety.
In the recent House of Commons debate of 7 September 2023 on hormone pregnancy tests, I committed to review the outstanding recommendations in relation to Primodos.