First elected: 16th December 2021
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Helen Morgan, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Helen Morgan has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Helen Morgan has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
A Bill to place a duty on the Government to ensure that every town with a population of more than 10,000 people has a regular bus service operating seven days a week, and that local health services, including hospitals and GP surgeries, are served by those buses; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish and implement a Care Workers Employment Strategy, with the aim of improving the recruitment and retention of care workers; to establish an independent National Care Workers Council with responsibility for setting professional standards for care workers, for establishing a system of professional qualifications and accreditation for care workers, and for advising the Government on those matters; to require the Secretary of State to commission an independent assessment of the support available to unpaid carers, including financial support and employment rights; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to require providers of electronic communications networks to grant other such providers access to their apparatus where that is necessary to ensure consistent network coverage; to prevent those providers from charging more than the standard market rate for such access; to require the regulator to impose penalties on providers who unreasonably fail to grant such access; to make provision for the purpose of incentivising providers to allow customers of other providers to use their networks where access cannot be granted to their apparatus; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish and implement a Care Workers Employment Strategy, with the aim of improving the recruitment and retention of care workers; to establish an independent National Care Workers Council with responsibility for setting professional standards for care workers, for establishing a system of professional qualifications and accreditation for care workers, and for advising the Government on those matters; to require the Secretary of State to commission an independent assessment of the support available to unpaid carers, including financial support and employment rights; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to place a duty on the Government to ensure that every town with a population of more than 10,000 people has a regular bus service operating seven days a week, and that local health services, including hospitals and GP surgeries, are served by those buses; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to require providers of electronic communications networks to grant other such providers access to their apparatus where that is necessary to ensure consistent network coverage; to prevent those providers from charging more than the standard market rate for such access; to require the regulator to impose penalties on providers who unreasonably fail to grant such access; to make provision for the purpose of incentivising providers to allow customers of other providers to use their networks where access cannot be granted to their apparatus; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to remove the requirement for voters to show an identity document in order to vote; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish and implement a Care Workers Employment Strategy, with the aim of improving the recruitment and retention of care workers; to establish an independent National Care Workers Council with responsibility for setting professional standards for care workers, for establishing a system of professional qualifications and accreditation for care workers, and for advising the Government on those matters; to require the Secretary of State to commission an independent assessment of the support available to unpaid carers, including financial support and employment rights; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to place a duty on the Government to ensure that every town with a population of more than 10,000 people has a regular bus service operating seven days a week, and that local health services, including hospitals and GP surgeries, are served by those buses; and for connected purposes.
Schools (Mental Health Professionals) (No. 2) Bill 2023-24
Sponsor - Munira Wilson (LD)
Markets and market traders (review of support) Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Simon Baynes (Con)
Kinship Care Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Munira Wilson (LD)
I regularly meet with the Lord Chancellor to discuss the Government’s mission to halve VAWG and tackle domestic abuse.
I am aware of Private Members Bill tabled by the Honourable Member for Eastbourne.
I will carefully consider both the merits and risks of creating domestic abuse-aggravated offences and respond via the usual parliamentary procedure.
The table below provides the estimates requested, number of long term sick days lost per department, along with our preferred measure, Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year which accounts for workforce size and composition. Data is provided for the main Ministerial Departments consistent with the answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 11521.
Long term sickness absence by Main Department, days lost and average working days lost per staff year, 2023
| 2023 (year ending 31 Mar 2023) | |
Department | Long Term Sick Days Lost | Average Working Days Lost |
Cabinet Office | 24,260 | 2.3 |
Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities | 8,360 | 2.0 |
Department Culture Media and Sport | 3,370 | 1.4 |
Department for Environment | 25,560 | 2.1 |
Department for Education | 19,790 | 2.5 |
Department for Transport | 75,190 | 4.8 |
Department for Health and Social Care | 34,180 | 3.3 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 367,360 | 4.7 |
HM Customers and Revenue | 305,190 | 4.5 |
HM Treasury | 4,230 | 1.5 |
Home Office | 139,980 | 3.8 |
Ministry of Defence | 173,050 | 3.2 |
Ministry of Justice | 580,740 | 6.9 |
Scottish Government | 151,000 | 5.8 |
Welsh Government | 21,560 | 3.9 |
Rural businesses offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. DBT works with other departments who provide funding for the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) supporting new and existing rural businesses and improved community infrastructure that will provide essential community services.
The Government has just announced the Business Growth Service (BGS), with local delivery at its heart to bring a range of existing core services under the BGS banner.
All businesses can access their Local Growth Hubs, which provide advice and support throughout the business journey, shaping their offer around the unique needs, whether town or country.
Rural businesses offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. DBT works with other departments such as Defra, helping people living and working in rural areas to realise the full potential of rural businesses and communities placing them at the heart of our policymaking.
The Government will publish a Small Business Strategy Paper later this year, setting out the Government’s vision for all small businesses, and has committed to funding for two key growth-driving programmes in 2025-26: Growth Hubs in England and Help to Grow: Management across the UK, which help businesses and entrepreneurs unlock their potential through bespoke support and resources
The Rural England Prosperity Fund is intended to support new and existing rural businesses, including farm businesses, to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy and to support new and improved community infrastructure that will provide essential community services and assets for local people and businesses to benefit the local economy
Rural businesses offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. As with all places, fulfilling the needs of people and businesses in rural areas is at the heart of our policymaking.
The Government has just launched the Business Growth Service (BGS), a national service with local delivery at its heart. It will bring a range of existing core services under the BGS banner, working hand in glove with local and devolved governments and the Growth Hubs network.
All businesses can access their Local Growth Hubs, which provide advice and support throughout the business journey, shaping their offer around the unique needs, whether town or country.
As of 30 August, 253 offers had been made to claimants under the GLO scheme; 207 postmasters had accepted their offer. Data on all Horizon redress schemes are published monthly on gov.uk.
DBT Funding for the Marches Growth Hub for each FY since it was established is set out in the table below:
Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) funded to deliver the Growth Hub | Marches Growth Hub delivered by Shropshire LA | |||||||||
2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
The Marches annual allocations (£'000) | 250 | 205 | 205 | 205 | 205 | 462 | 462 | 231 | 261 | 261 |
The Secretary of State and I meet regularly with a range of stakeholders.
Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.
The Government believes the only way to protect billpayers permanently is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us harness clean energy, reduce our reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets, and enable us to meet our target to be a clean energy superpower by 2030.
In the short-term, we are continuing to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 annual rebate on energy bills for eligible low-income households. I am also having regular discussions with energy suppliers to ensure that consumers are supported this winter.
The Government’s assessment is that the introduction of a price cap for heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas would not be in the long-term interests of consumers.
The structures of the heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas markets are different from those of gas and electricity supply. Imposing a price cap, which might fall below wholesale costs faced by heating fuel distributors, risks companies exiting the market or not accepting orders when they would make a loss on their fulfilment.
An independent evaluation of the Healthy Ageing Challenge has been published on UKRI’s website. The evaluation found that the Challenge has:
The medium- to long-term outcomes are likely to be achieved over the next 3 to 5 years.
Criteria assessing the impact and effectiveness of UKRI funding to support scale-up of innovative projects are consistently tracked through the UKRI Commercialisation Monitoring Framework, as well as Innovate UK’s Impact Management Framework.
All evaluations are published on UKRI’s website and are used to inform future approach and investments.
To deliver the Shared Rural Network, the UK’s four mobile network operators are investing £532m to eliminate the majority of ‘partial not-spots’ – areas which receive coverage from at least one, but not all, operators. The programme has already delivered substantial improvements for rural communities across the UK, with Ofcom reporting that 4G coverage from at least one operator now stands at over 93%, up from 91% when the programme started.
The government’s grant funding to upgrade Extended Area Service masts and tackle ‘total not spots’ is capped to prevent overspend. Building Digital UK is working with its delivery partners, including the Home Office, to ensure that maximal benefit can be achieved within the allotted programme funding and that the programme represents good value for money.
To deliver the Shared Rural Network, the UK’s four mobile network operators are investing £532m to eliminate the majority of ‘partial not-spots’ – areas which receive coverage from at least one, but not all, operators. The programme has already delivered substantial improvements for rural communities across the UK, with Ofcom reporting that 4G coverage from at least one operator now stands at over 93%, up from 91% when the programme started.
The government’s grant funding to upgrade Extended Area Service masts and tackle ‘total not spots’ is capped to prevent overspend. Building Digital UK is working with its delivery partners, including the Home Office, to ensure that maximal benefit can be achieved within the allotted programme funding and that the programme represents good value for money.
The Shared Rural Network will bring 4G mobile coverage to 95% of the UK landmass. Ofcom assesses the mobile network operators progress against their individual coverage targets. Ofcom reports that 4G coverage from at least one operator currently stands at over 93%, up from 91% when the programme started.
Roaming already exists for 999 calls, as the Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service requires that any call from a mobile phone will automatically roam onto another mobile network free-of-charge to make an emergency call if they have no signal from their own provider.
The Government is committed to improving rural coverage. The Shared Rural Network is set to increase 4G geographic coverage throughout the UK to 95% by the end of 2025. This will enable emergency calls in new areas and will reduce the digital divide between rural and urban areas of the UK, helping rural businesses and communities to thrive.
The government is working in partnership with mobile network operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network, which will reduce both partial and total not spots and bring 4G coverage to 95% of UK landmass. Ofcom reports that 4G coverage currently stands at over 93%.
Over 72% of premises in the North Shropshire constituency can access a gigabit-capable (>1000 Mbps) broadband connection.
Project Gigabit will extend this gigabit coverage. Freedom Fibre is delivering a contract to upgrade over 12,000 additional premises in the region, including over 9,000 premises in the North Shropshire constituency. We expect the first of these premises in North Shropshire to be connected by the end of 2024 and the contract is due to be completed by 2026. We will also keep suppliers’ commercial delivery plans under review and consider what else may be necessary to fulfil our ambition for gigabit coverage across the UK by 2030.
From my own experience, I am aware that Ofcom’s coverage maps do not always match consumers’ experience of mobile networks. My Department is working with Ofcom to identify what more can be done to improve the accuracy of its reporting, noting that all sorts of factors will impact people's experience, including how many other people are on the network at any given point, as well as weather conditions.
We have also asked Ofcom to keep under review its definitions of what constitutes “good” 4G and 5G coverage, so that they continue to reflect consumer expectations as people’s usage and their requirements evolve.
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions. Sport England’s Movement Fund offers crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources to improve physical activity opportunities for the people and communities who need it the most.
Funding from the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme continues to be invested in England through Sport England and our delivery partner, the Football Foundation.
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.
The Government is also acting to support more people to get onto the pitch wherever they live through the delivery of £123 million UK-wide through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2024/25.
Funding from the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme continues to be invested in England through Sport England and our delivery partner, the Football Foundation, who plan their investment pipeline based on Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs) which have been developed in partnership with local authorities and are in the process of being refreshed to reflect the current landscape. The existing LFFP for Shropshire can be found by visiting the Football Foundation’s website, and North Shropshire has benefitted from £152,070 of investment under this programme and the Swimming Pool Support Fund to date.
Should a constituent have an enquiry about prospective investment at a specific facility, they can get in touch with the Football Foundation directly via enquiries@footballfoundation.org.uk.
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.
The Government is also acting to support more people to get onto the pitch wherever they live through the delivery of £123 million UK-wide through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2024/25.
Funding from the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme continues to be invested in England through Sport England and our delivery partner, the Football Foundation, who plan their investment pipeline based on Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs) which have been developed in partnership with local authorities and are in the process of being refreshed to reflect the current landscape. The existing LFFP for Shropshire can be found by visiting the Football Foundation’s website, and North Shropshire has benefitted from £152,070 of investment under this programme and the Swimming Pool Support Fund to date.
Should a constituent have an enquiry about prospective investment at a specific facility, they can get in touch with the Football Foundation directly via enquiries@footballfoundation.org.uk.
The department is receiving compensation in recognition of the increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) paid by institutions it funds, including colleges, schools and other state-funded special educational needs and disabilities provision. Work is in progress to determine how that funding will be distributed, and more information will be provided as soon as is practicable. This NICs funding will be in addition to the £300 million and £1 billion funding increases announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 for further education and young people with high needs respectively, in 2025/26.
From the 2015/16 financial year to 2022/23, the most recent year for which information is available, the increase in net spending by Shropshire Council on provision and services for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including on those children’s home-to-school transport, has been 37% in real terms (67% in cash terms) and the increase in gross spending has been 32% in real terms (61% in cash terms).
The basis for this calculation uses high needs and home-to-school transport spending data provided to the department by Shropshire Council, which is broadly comparable from year-to-year, as follows:
Financial year | Gross spend | 2022/23 terms | Net spend | 2022/23 terms |
2015/16 | £21.2 million | £25.9 million | £19.6 million | £23.9 million |
2016/17 | £18.9 million | £22.5 million | £17.9 million | £21.3 million |
2017/18 | £24.0 million | £28.2 million | £23.2 million | £27.3 million |
2018/19 | £25.0 million | £28.7 million | £24.6 million | £28.3 million |
2019/20 | £25.0 million | £28.1 million | £24.8 million | £27.8 million |
2020/21 | £27.5 million | £29.3 million | £26.1 million | £27.8 million |
2021/22 | £28.9 million | £31.0 million | £28.0 million | £30.0 million |
2022/23 | £34.2 million | £34.2 million | £32.8 million | £32.8 million |
To note:
High needs budget expenditure:
1.2.1 Top-up funding – maintained schools
1.2.2 Top-up funding – academies, free schools and colleges
1.2.3 Top-up and other funding – non-maintained and independent providers
1.2.4 Additional high needs targeted funding for mainstream schools and academies
1.2.5 Special educational needs (SEN) support service
1.2.6 Hospital education services
1.2.8 Support for inclusion
1.2.9 Special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) in financial difficulty
1.2.10 Private finance initiative/ Building Schools for the Future costs at special schools, AP/ PRUs and Post 16 institutions only
1.2.11 Direct payments (SEN and disability)
1.2.12 Carbon reduction commitment allowances (PRUs)
1.2.13 Therapies and other health related services
1.4.11 SEN transport
Additional home-to-school transport expenditure:
2.1.4 Home-to-school transport (pre-16): SEN transport expenditure
2.1.6 Home-to-post-16 provision: SEN transport expenditure (aged 16-18)
The future of the Holiday Activities and Food programme beyond 31 March 2025 is subject to the next government Spending Review taking place this autumn and the department will communicate the outcome of that process in due course.
The future of the Holiday Activities and Food programme beyond 31 March 2025 is subject to the next government Spending Review taking place this autumn and the department will communicate the outcome of that process in due course.
The department has invested over £200 million every year since 2022 in free holiday club places for children from low-income families through the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme with all 153 local authorities in England delivering in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.
The HAF programme supports disadvantaged children and their families with enriching activities, provides them with healthy food, helps them to learn new things, improves socialisation and benefits their health and wellbeing during school holidays.
The right support should be available to every young person that needs it, which is why the department will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.
The government will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
The department does not hold or collect the data to provide the requested estimate.
For state-funded schools wishing to recruit teachers on a permanent or fixed term basis, Teaching Vacancies is a free national listing service which removes the cost for schools to list vacancies. 87% of schools are signed up to use the service.
Schools have the autonomy to decide whether to use private supply agencies to fill temporary posts or cover teacher absence and are best placed to make decisions on their approach to recruitment. The department, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, has established the agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. For more information, please visit the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.
The list of projects to receive funding from the first round of the Frequently Flooded Allowance was announced under the previous Government in 2023 and can be found at Frequently Flooded Allowance: Funding for repeatedly flooded communities - GOV.UK. The Environment Agency is best placed to provide detailed information about each project.
Protecting all communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. We will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences.
The list of projects to receive Government funding in 2025/26 will be agreed by the Environment Agency over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation.
A response to Question 20371 is being prepared and will be provided as soon as possible. I apologise for the delay in responding to the Honourable Member.
Section 42 of the Flood and Water Management Act has not yet been implemented in England. Should it be implemented, all new sewerage will be built to an agreed standard and automatically adopted. The powers to adopt existing sewerage have now expired. Therefore, new legislation will be required to enable mandatory adoption of this sewerage. Water companies can currently adopt sewerage voluntarily.
The Government has included private sewerage in the terms of reference for the forthcoming review of the water sector and will examine how best to address the problems caused by unadopted sewerage. The Government is committed to using legislation to reform the water sector and will continue to do so where necessary.
As set out in the written ministerial statement by the Housing Minister, this Government is determined to end the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ estates. We will consult on the best way to achieve this in 2025 and we will include options to reduce the prevalence of private management of these estates - which are the root cause of the problems faced by homeowners.
October 2023 to March 2024 has been recorded as the wettest six-month period ever recorded. The Farming Recovery Fund used data from Environment Agency and remote imagery on high river levels during Storm Babet (October 2023) and Storm Henk (January 2024). These were the two largest storms in this period. Met Office data was used to identify local authority areas in England which experienced exceptional rainfall. These data were used to identify eligibility for the Farming Recovery Fund which has now made one off recovery payments of £57.5 million to over 12,700 farm businesses to help farmers most affected by the exceptional flooding and wet weather. Eligibility for the Farming Recovery Fund does not include Storms Ashley nor Bert.
We are investing £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. The list of projects to receive government funding in 2025/26 will be consented in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees with local representation.
Longer term funding decisions will be made at the next Spending Review.
Defra keeps all legislation under review. Between 2022 and 2024, Defra undertook a review of the statutory powers and responsibilities to map, monitor, inspect and maintain all flood and coastal erosion risk assets, including culverts. This review also considered powers within the Land Drainage Act 1991. The review will be examined by the new Government and likely published in early 2025.
We expect those responsible for all assets including risk management authorities, other public and community organisations, the private sector and riparian owners to invest in ongoing maintenance and ensure timely repairs where necessary.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.
The Environment Agency has strategic overview for all flood risk in England, however, it is for Lead Local Flood Authorities to develop local interventions to reduce surface water flood risk for communities.
The Environment Agency continues to work closely with Shropshire Council, who are the Lead Local Flood Authority on North Shropshire.
The Rural Payments Agency uses both the Environment Agency and Met Office data to establish which farm businesses may be eligible for Farming Recovery Payment. The data on river flooding and exceptional rainfall allows the agency to identify affected land.
The full methodology can be found in the link below.
This Government is investing £2.4bn in 2024/25-2025/26 to improve flood resilience. The projects to receive Government funding in 2025/26 will be consented over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees with local representation.
We will consult in the new year on a review of the formula that allocates flood defence funding to ensure the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account.
The process used to allocate funding to floods projects in the investment programme follows a consistent approach that aims to reduce flood risk and secure benefits. The approach follows Green Book guidance on value for money.
This Government is investing £2.4bn in 2024/25-2025/26 to improve flood resilience. The projects to receive Government funding in 2025/26 will be consented over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees with local representation.
We will consult in the new year on a review of the formula that allocates flood defence funding to ensure the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account.
The process used to allocate funding to floods projects in the investment programme follows a consistent approach that aims to reduce flood risk and secure benefits. The approach follows Green Book guidance on value for money.
The Rural Payments Agency uses both the Environment Agency and Met Office data to establish which farm businesses may be eligible for Farming Recovery Payment. The data on river flooding and exceptional rainfall allows the agency to identify affected land.
The full methodology can be found in the link below.
We value input from farmers to inform our plans and appreciate their contribution to ongoing dialogue. Individual farmers are encouraged to engage with the process primarily through their representative groups, with whom we conduct regular discussions, and who serve as an effective channel for collective feedback.
Defra is committed to delivering this Government’s ambition to support British farmers to boost Britain’s food security. Central to achieving this ambition will be pursuing the right approach to fairness across the supply chain.
The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations (2024) came into force for new contracts on 9 July 2024 and will apply to all existing contracts from 9 July 2025. These Regulations will enhance transparency in the dairy supply chain, ensuring that contracts are agreed in writing, are clear on a range of important terms including pricing and termination, and cannot be altered without mutual agreement.
The Regulations will be enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA), who can exercise powers to investigate relevant complaints.
Defra is committed to enhancing fairness across supply chains, which will support farmers to boost Britain’s food security. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations (2024), which were introduced earlier this year, represent an important step forward in ensuring fairness and transparency for dairy farmers. However, some within the sector have raised concerns about potential unintended consequences of the Regulations, which the Government is seeking to address.
To ensure that the Regulations meet their original aims, we are undergoing a process of engagement with industry stakeholders and representatives, as well as the Devolved Governments. The Government will make any changes before the Regulations apply to existing contracts, on 9 July 2025.
Following their meeting in Brussels on 2 October, the President of the European Commission and the Prime Minister have agreed to strengthen the relationship between the EU and UK. The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards. The Government has already committed to seek to negotiate a veterinary/sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to help boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in the UK and the EU. The Government is unable to speculate on timings before we have begun formal discussions with the EU.
Our policy is not to pay compensation for plant health measures. We believe that resources are best directed at detection of pests and diseases, risk management and proactive assessment of emerging threats. We also invest in research programmes that enhance our understanding of plant health issues and provide evidence to inform contingency plans and management responses.
Protecting plant health is not an issue for government alone. Many plant importers, nurseries and landowners already play a major role in minimising the risk and spread of pests through practising good biosecurity, including sourcing clean stock and identifying outbreaks on their sites. The current arrangements ensure that everyone (the Government and its agencies, industry, non-governmental organisations, landowners, and the public) shares a common understanding of biosecurity and their role and responsibilities. The UK Government provides other forms of financial and non-financial support to assist with essential management of some of the most devastating tree diseases, including ash dieback.
The UK has high environmental standards that underpin the production of fresh fruit and vegetables. As set out in the manifesto, the Government is committed to using our Trade Strategy to promote the highest standards of food production.
Protecting communities around the country from flooding and coastal erosion is one of the new Secretary of State’s five core priorities.
In July 2022, a ring-fenced £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance (FFA) was created as part of the Government’s £5.6 billion investment programme into flood and coastal erosion schemes.
The eligibility criteria for the FFA were designed, in collaboration with the Environment Agency, to ensure funding is targeted towards communities that have flooded more than once within the past ten years. They were subject to targeted testing with Regional Flood and Coastal Committees and representatives from Risk Management Authorities. The criteria aim to address some of the specific challenges faced by frequently flooded communities, particularly those that are smaller and more rural and can face barriers accessing funding due to the relative complexity and cost of building flood defences compared to the size of the community.
Projects not eligible for the FFA are able to apply for Grant in Aid as part of the Government’s floods investment programme. We will review this programme to ensure flood risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future.