Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure that people in rural areas have equal access to broadband services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Project Gigabit is the government’s programme to roll out fast, reliable broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. Over 35 contracts, with a combined value of over £2.3 billion, have already been signed to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to over 1 million premises, predominantly in rural areas.
Last week we announced a £157 million contract with Openreach to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to up to 65,000 rural and hard-to-reach premises across Central, Northern and Western Scotland, including in the Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey constituency.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of cellular networks in rural areas.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government wants all areas of the UK to benefit from reliable, high quality mobile coverage. We continue to work with Ofcom to ensure that their coverage reporting is as accurate as possible to allow us to reliably and accurately identify underserved areas.
4G geographic coverage from at least one mobile operator has now reached over 95% of the UK landmass, and we continue to work with the industry to deliver 4G mobile connectivity to places where there is either limited or no coverage.
Our ambition is to go further, and for all populated areas, including rural communities, to have access to higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030. We continue to work closely with the mobile network operators and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework in place to support investment and competition in the market.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to update regulations on the (a) composition, (b) marketing and (c) labelling of commercial infant foods.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influences many aspects of well-being in later life.
It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations, which apply in England, under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines. Similar legislation exists in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what disposal schemes exist for banned pesticides.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For all pesticides, there are legal requirements to store the product securely and dispose safely of any surplus. It is illegal to use or store any plant protection product (pesticide) that is no longer authorised. Professional users in possession of unauthorised plant protection products should contact an authorised business to dispose of them. While there are currently no specific government schemes for the disposal of banned pesticides, guidance for businesses needing to dispose of hazardous waste such as pesticides can be found on gov.uk. Amateur users should contact their local Civic Amenity site and ask them for guidance on disposal.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Making Tax Digital; and what steps she is taking to improve customer service for businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC’s published evaluation of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, introduced in 2019, shows that MTD is effective with additional tax revenue raised in line with HMRC’s original forecast. MTD reduces error and provides wider benefits, including time saved, increased tax confidence, greater accuracy and improved business operations.
The Government expects that businesses and landlords using MTD for Income Tax from April 2026 will experience similar benefits.
HMRC’s move towards being a digital first tax administration system supports the commitment to better customer service. Improved online digital services will handle routine functions and enquiries, supported by accessible online content such as recorded webinars and YouTube videos.
This will free up phone lines to support customers with more complex queries.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with (a) OFGEM and (b) energy companies on VAT inclusion in (i) energy billing documents and (ii) online quotes for consumers.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have regular meetings with Ofgem on a range of issues.
Quotes on energy pricing and how those quotes are broken down for customers are a matter for energy suppliers. However, the Government takes the issue of accurate billing very seriously. All suppliers must take all reasonable steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements sent to customers where these have been provided by a customer or obtained by the supplier. This is laid out in the Supplier Licence Conditions (SLCs) for both electricity and gas.
Under 31E.10 of both sets of SLCs where the licensee provides a Domestic Customer with any information about the Charges for the Supply of Electricity, gas or any other type of charge or fee (the “Applicable Charges”), the licensee must inform the Domestic Customer of whether the Applicable Charges include or exclude value added tax.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the carbon assessment for the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The ZEV Mandate remains the Government’s largest single carbon saving measure. The carbon impacts of the ZEV mandate were summarised within the cost benefit analysis published alongside the original legislation.
On 7 April 2025, the Government announced policy changes to the ZEV Mandate to further support the UK’s automotive industry. The policy changes are expected to have a minor carbon impact when compared to the savings delivered by the ZEV Mandate as a whole. We estimate a 1% decrease (-4.2 Mt CO2) in CO2 savings from the original ZEV mandate (420 Mt CO2) across 2024 to 2050. A breakdown of this carbon analysis has been published alongside the government response.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has had discussions with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on steps to maintain the security of domestic wood supply for future house building.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK imports c.80% of our timber. Imports will continue to play an important role in future timber supply, but the government wants to reduce them and there is an opportunity for domestic forestry and wood processing sectors to grow and thrive as a result. The proportion of softwood-producing woodland in England has risen to 10% of those planted over the last four years. We want to increase this to at least 30% and bring more hardwoods to market through increased woodland management. The government launched a Timber in Construction Roadmap on 27 February 2025. Increasing domestic timber supply is one of the key themes and the roadmap sets out actions that government and industry has committed to.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the guaranteed strike price for sustainable aviation fuel on the cost of (a) timber and (b) recyclable waste wood products for house building.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Measures introduced by the Department for Transport to support the uptake of sustainable aviation fuel do not support the use of feedstocks which are timber or could be better deployed in the production of recyclable waste wood products for house building.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she considered making an environmental impact assessment on the decision to ban volumetric concrete mobile plants in 2028.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As part of its consideration of the evidence, the Department for Transport has assessed the potential environmental impacts in accordance with the Environment Act 2021 which requires Ministers of the Crown to have ‘due regard’ to the environmental principles policy statement when making policy.
Current exemptions to weight limits for VCMs will expire in 2028. This policy is being maintained.