Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential value of the sustainable aviation fuel sector to the UK economy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The government is committed to supporting the uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). The UK’s SAF programme is one of the most comprehensive in the world, that includes the £180 million Advanced Fuels Fund and an ambitious SAF mandate which other low carbon technologies do not have.
On 17 April, we published a government response to an independent report on a UK SAF industry. It sets out how we are already taking action to address many of the report’s recommendations. We have committed to continue working with industry to consider the case for broader support alongside the AFF and the SAF mandate from 2025 (that will provide a long-term investment signal and price support), with a focus on industry funded intervention, to increase revenue certainty for UK SAF plants. If required following that work, we will launch a formal consultation this summer.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department made an assessment of the average proportion contributed to the income of hospitality venues by (a) wines and (b) spirits when formulating plans for the draught relief introduced on 1 August 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government consulted extensively and took account of evidence from a wide range of stakeholders and a variety of data sets as part of the tax policy making process on the alcohol review, including on the design of Draught Relief.
The Government has committed to evaluating the policy and its impacts after implementation.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing measures to assist (a) producers and (b) importers supplying the off trade in alcoholic drinks following the increases in alcohol duty announced in the Spring Budget 2023.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The new alcohol duty system will provide a simpler and more consistent duty regime for producers and importers supplying the off trade and on trade.
The Government is also introducing specific measures that will benefit produces and importers. The approval, return and payment processes for domestic producers of alcoholic products are being harmonised. Small Producer Relief reforms and extends the relief currently enjoyed by small breweries to all producers of other alcoholic products under 8.5% abv. Temporary arrangements for producers and importers of wine in place until 1 February 2025 will help them manage the transition to the new method of calculating the duty on their products.
The Government has also committed to evaluating the policy and its impacts after implementation.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of planned wine duty increases on (a) elasticity of demand and (b) forecast levels of future revenue to the Exchequer from alcohol duty.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook report in March 2023. The publication contained an alcohol duty revenue forecast up to and including 2027-28 and was inclusive of all planned changes to alcohol duties including wine duty increases.
Table 2.12 in the supplementary tables published alongside the Economic and Fiscal Outlook report contains separate clearance and receipt forecasts by type of alcohol.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to The Khan review: making smoking obsolete, published on 9 June 2022, whether his Department's response to that review will set out measures to (a) strengthen enforcement of vaping regulation and (b) stop the import and sale of vaping products that do not comply with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In order to support proposals set out in the Khan review, it is essential that consumers have access to high quality products while reducing the supply of non-compliant and smuggled goods entering through illegal channels. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently working closely with a number of regulatory and enforcement agencies, providing product and manufacturer information to assist in both strategic planning and direct enforcement of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. In addition to this, the MHRA is supporting the work of regulatory stakeholders across a range of related vaping and general legislation for the purposes of compliance and law enforcement.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the overall effectiveness of the MHRA in supporting and evaluating clinical trials in the UK; and what assessment he has made of the potential future risks to that effectiveness.
Answered by Will Quince
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recently underwent a programme organisational reform and transformation, supported by independent advisors, to deliver an agency able to modernise medicines and medical device regulation in the United Kingdom and take advantage of its new sovereign regulator status. This process and the ongoing implementation of the changes is under constant review by MHRA itself and departmental officials, including any impact on delivery and effectiveness. As part of that and the normal business planning cycles, the two teams will continue to work together to support the Agency to continue to protect the health of the UK population including ensuring the safety of clinical trials.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many phase one inspectors were employed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in each January since 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows the number of Good Clinical Practice inspectors who are trained to perform the inspections of phase I clinical trial units, who are members of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Phase I Accreditation Scheme of this type during each January from 2019 to 2023
Year | Number of inspectors |
January 2023 | 5 (plus 1 inspector in training) |
January 2022 | 6 |
January 2021 | 7 |
January 2020 | 6 |
January 2019 | 6 |
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the standard time is for a coordinated response by MHRA for clinical trails; and what the performance has been against that standard in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The standard time for the initial coordinated response from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is 30 days from the date of receipt of a valid request for authorisation of a clinical trial. The average coordinated performance against the standard for the last 12 months between February 2022 to February 2023 inclusive was 43.96 days.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether the proposed deposit return scheme in Scotland requires notification to the World Trade Organization under the Technical Barriers to Trade procedure.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
At this stage, the Scottish Government has not raised a requirement for WTO notification with the UK Government.
Devolved Administrations are aware of WTO obligations and the need to fulfil transparency obligations at the WTO as necessary.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) average and (b) longest time taken by MHRA to evaluate a clinical trial was in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
For the financial year 2018/19, the average time taken by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess a clinical trial was 23.29 days. The longest time taken was 56 days. For the financial year 2019/20, the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 23.47 days. The longest time taken was 56 days. For the financial year 2020/21, the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 21.43 days. The longest time taken was 49 days. For the financial year 2021/22, the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 27.58 days. The longest time taken was 68 days. For the financial year 2022/23 (April 2022 – February 2023 inclusive), the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 42.78 days. The longest time taken was 146 days.