Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce (a) fly-tipping and (b) the impacts of fly-tipping on (i) natural environments and (ii) natural environments in rural areas.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are encouraging councils to take tougher action against fly-tippers. Under the Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan we have significantly increased the upper limit on fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping to £1,000 and the income from these penalties must now be reinvested in enforcement or cleaning up sites affected by fly-tipping, such as natural environments.
We appreciate the difficulty that fly-tipping poses to landowners. We are working with stakeholders, such as the National Farmers Union and local authorities, to share good practice including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land. We are also currently funding a post within the new National Rural Crime Unit to explore how the police’s role in tacking fly-tipping can be optimised, with a focus on rural areas.
Across three rounds of our fly-tipping grant scheme, we have now awarded nearly £2.2m to help more than 50 councils tackle fly-tipping at known hot-spots, including in rural areas, such as by installing CCTV. In addition to supporting more infrastructure, the latest round of projects will also help to raise awareness of the household waste duty of care to reduce the chance of waste getting into the hands of fly-tippers in the first place. A selection of case studies from earlier projects have been published so that others can learn about those interventions which were most successful. These are available here.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times in ambulance and emergency departments in Yorkshire.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Our Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services sets out the range of measures being taken to reduce ambulance and emergency department waiting times, including in Yorkshire.
Backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, we delivered 5,000 additional core hospital beds in 2023/24 and will maintain this capacity expansion in 2024/25. Ambulance trusts received £200 million of additional funding in 2023/24 to increase deployed hours and reduce response times, which will also be maintained this year.
Since we published our plan there have been significant improvements in emergency care performance, including in Yorkshire. In 2023/24, average Category 2 ambulance response times in Yorkshire were over nine minutes faster compared to the previous year, a reduction of 23%, and performance against the four-hour standard for accident and emergency care improved in each integrated care board area in Yorkshire.
The NHS Planning Guidance, published in March, commits to further improvements in emergency care performance in 2024/25, with more information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/operational-planning-and-contracting/
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that the concerns of objectors are considered during the development of new onshore wind projects.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises there are a range of views on onshore wind, which is why we have ensured community views must be considered. In September 2023, the Government made changes to planning rules in England to ensure that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community are appropriately addressed and the proposal has community support.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's timescales are for (a) the completion of repairs to the Ouse bridge on the M62 near Goole, (b) the removal of the temporary speed limit and (c) the full reopening of all lanes to traffic in both directions in that area.
Answered by Guy Opperman
National Highways are due to complete repairs on the Ouse bridge by September 2024 when the temporary speed limit will be lifted, and all lanes opened to traffic in both directions. Whilst there will be some residual work after all the lanes open, it will not impact road users.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress she has made on increasing the number of medical student places; and whether she expects to meet the commitment to double the number of medical school places by 2031.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
We are on track to meeting the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’s aim to double the number of medical school places in England, from 7,500 to 15,000 places a year by 2031/32. We have accelerated this expansion by allocating 205 additional medical school places for the 2024/25 academic year, and have provisionally allocated a further 350 additional places for the 2025/26 academic year. Final allocations will be published shortly. This will build on the expansion of medical school places in England to 7,500 per year, a 25% increase, that the Government completed in 2020, and which delivered five new medical schools.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times NHS trusts have been victims of ransomware attacks in the last 12 months; and whether (a) data has been (i) lost and (ii) made public and (b) a ransom has been paid in each case.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
A small number of cyber-attacks against National Health Service hospitals have been made public, but the specific details on the number, nature, and subsectors of NHS organisations that have been victims of a ransomware attack in the last twelve months cannot be released, as it may prejudice the prevention or detection of cyber-attacks against the NHS.
Our around-the-clock cyber monitoring across over 1.5 million NHS computers allows us to identify that ransomware is the most significant cyber security threat currently facing the health and social care sector. Automated cyber defences and monitoring by NHS England’s Cyber Operations teams continuously deter, prevent, and disrupt attempts to break into the NHS’ IT systems. The NHS implements the Government’s policy of not condoning ransom payment.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department issues on how (a) schools, (b) NHS trusts and (c) other public bodies should respond to ransomware attacks.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The world leading National Cyber Security Centre provides comprehensive guidance to all UK public bodies on how to respond to ransomware attacks, which can be found. The guidance is clear that central Government funds will not be used by Government departments or Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) to pay ransomware demands and this stance was publicly reiterated in November 2023 when the UK, along with other members of the Counter Ransomware Initiative, signed a joint statement discouraging anyone from paying a ransomware demand.
NHS England and the Department for Education provide bespoke guidance for their respective sectors which is consistent with the wider government’s approach. The Department is committed to harnessing expertise on this subject, including recently hosting a roundtable discussion on academic security with the support of the NCSC, to ensure that guidance continues to be appropriate for the developing threat.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what rules apply to compensation payments made to farmers affected by flooding from the (a) Farming Recovery Fund and (b) other schemes; and what mechanisms are in place to allow for a review when such payments have been refused.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following rules apply to farmers eligible for support from the Farming Recovery Fund. Farmers will receive payments for all land parcels which are flooded contiguous to a river with notably high river level gauge readings following Storm Henk during 2 to 12 January 2024. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will determine those farm businesses who are eligible and the amount of funding they could claim. If there are questions, then the farmer should write to the RPA.
More details on the rules and eligibility guidance on implementation of the support available for other schemes activated under the Flood Recovery Framework was sent to Local Authorities, who manage the support provided by the Framework where it has been activated. Further review of the scheme is underway. Support available for farm businesses and residencies includes:
These schemes are run by the relevant Local Authorities and any decisions on appeals should be directed to them to review.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the A1 between Newark and Grantham is due to be resurfaced.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Whilst there are no currently planned schemes to resurface the A1 between Newark and Grantham, it is inspected on a weekly basis and appropriate action is taken to address any safety critical defects within 24 hours.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he last met representatives of the (a) National Farmers Union and (b) National Pig Association UK; and what the results of those discussions were.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Secretary of State regularly meets with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU). In the last month he has met with the NFU President, Tom Bradshaw, during a visit to Dartmoor to discuss the Government’s response to the Fursdon Review. He also met with the NFU’s Deputy President, David Exwood, during a Farm Tenancy Forum in March to discuss the implementation of Kate Rock’s tenant farming review.
As the Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries, I also have frequent engagement with the pig sector and officials meet with representatives of the National Pig Association on a regular basis.