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Written Question
Park Homes: Energy Bills Rebate
Tuesday 26th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that residents of park homes can benefit from the Government's energy support measures.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for St Albans on 20th June 2022 to Question 18990.


Written Question
Fuel Oil: Prices
Tuesday 26th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to support households that are reliant on domestic heating oil in the event of further rises in energy costs in winter 2022.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to the noble Lord Allen of Kensington on 5 July 2022 to Question HL1128.


Written Question
Community Development: Infrastructure
Tuesday 26th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has plans to increase community benefits for people living near (a) large scale solar plants and (b) other nationally significant infrastructure projects.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Secretary of State for Energy committed to consult on community benefit options for the network infrastructure we need to meet net zero targets. This will ensure that communities that host network infrastructure are recognised for their vital role in ensuring a cheaper, cleaner and self-sufficient energy supply in Britain. Any new community benefit options will not replace community engagement with developments through the existing planning and consultation processes.

Local communities will continue to be able to have their say on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and the benefits they can deliver for their local area, including: environmental enhancements; job schemes; energy discounts; and investment in local infrastructure, such as faster broadband, electric vehicle charging points or energy efficiency measures. Applicants are required to set out in their Statement of Community Consultation how they propose to consult those living in the vicinity of the land. When deciding whether to accept an application for a Development Consent Order, the Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the relevant Sectary of State) must have regard to this consultation report. Where applications are accepted for examination, members of local communities can also make written representations on the proposed infrastructure, often also providing oral evidence at hearings.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Tuesday 26th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to ensure that new housing in rural areas comes with necessary improvements to local infrastructure.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

The provision of the right infrastructure at the right time is very important to new and existing communities, including those in rural locations. Where infrastructure is required as a result of new development, local planning authorities can require contributions from developers towards that infrastructure. Contributions can be sought through Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy.

To create a more efficient, effective and transparent system, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill proposes a new Infrastructure Levy. This will be a mandatory, non-negotiable charge, set and collected locally, to largely replace the complex and discretionary Section 106 regime and CIL charge.

The Bill will require local authorities to prepare infrastructure delivery strategies. These will set out a strategy for delivering local infrastructure through spending Levy proceeds. They will create a more transparent process for local people on how funds will be spent and what infrastructure will be delivered to support development. It will be for local councils to decide which infrastructure projects they spend the proceeds on.

The Levy will be brought forward through regulations that will set out the detail of how it will operate. We intend to consult on this detail, prior to any publication of regulations.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Tuesday 26th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing housing density for the purposes of reducing the requirement to build new homes on greenfield sites.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

This Government strongly encourages the efficient and effective use of land. Our National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) already sets out that planning policies and decisions should promote an effective use of land and make as much use as possible of previously-developed land in meeting the need for homes and other uses, while safeguarding and improving the environment, and ensuring safe and healthy living conditions.

The NPPF sets out that local plans should establish density standards for city and town centres which seek a significant uplift in density in those areas. Furthermore the NPPF is clear that where there is a shortage of land for meeting housing needs, it is especially important that planning policies and decisions avoid homes being built at low densities and that developments make optimal use of the potential of each site.

We have introduced a number of measures to support increased density including new permitted development rights to allow more buildings to be extended upwards to create new homes, and to make it easier for existing buildings to be converted to residential use. This will further support residential densification while avoiding the need to build on other types of land.

We are also bringing forward further reforms to support density through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, including a duty for local authorities to produce design codes to help shape the design of their area, giving greater certainty to communities and developers. In addition ‘Street Votes’ will incentivise communities to consider the potential for development and support a gentle increase in densities through well-designed and locally supported proposals.


Written Question
Dental Services: Faversham and Mid Kent
Tuesday 26th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of NHS dentist appointments available for people in Faversham and Mid Kent constituency.

Answered by James Morris

In 2019, a review of mandatory dental services in Kent identified Faversham as an area of significant need. Following this review, National Health Service dental contracts were agreed with five new dental practices with an overall increase of 19 whole-time equivalent dentists.

NHS England is currently preparing to procure further mandatory dental services in Kent, based on the current areas of greatest need. This will be aligned to the review being undertaken by NHS England and the South East Region Consultant in Dental Public Health.

Since July 2022, NHS England has asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity to safely improve access for patients, including in Faversham and Mid Kent.

The Department and NHS England have recently announced improvements to the NHS dental system to increase access, target patients with higher oral health needs and make NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work for dentists and their teams, including in Kent.


Written Question
Primary Health Care: Faversham and Mid Kent
Monday 25th July 2022

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase access to primary care services for people in Faversham and Mid Kent constituency.

Answered by James Morris

We have committed to recruit an additional 26,000 primary care staff in Primary Care Networks. In Kent and Medway, more than 400 additional roles staff have been recruited, including pharmacy technicians, first contact physios and mental health practitioners.

NHS England is working with local partners to attract general practitioners (GPs) to the area and encouraging trainees to undertake placements in Kent. In Kent and Medway, 19 GP trainees are being funded through the Targeted Enhancement Recruitment Scheme. Kent Medical School has 100 medical students hosted in Kent and Medway general practices. NHS England is procuring new mandatory dental services, based on the current areas of greatest need in Kent.


Written Question
Aviation
Monday 29th July 2019

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish a response to the consultation document entitled, Aviation 2050-the future of UK aviation, published in December 2019.

Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence

It remains the government's intention to publish an Aviation 2050 strategy later this year, which will respond to the recent consultation.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse: Mental Health Services
Monday 8th July 2019

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what protections he plans to introduce in the Domestic Abuse Bill to provide for the mental health needs of victims of domestic abuse.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Government is committed to improving the response to victims of domestic abuse through the provisions set out in our draft Domestic Abuse Bill and consultation response.

We are carefully considering the recommendations from the Joint Committee on the draft Domestic Abuse Bill about improving access to public services for victims of domestic abuse and their children and will be responding to the Committee’s report in due course.

We want to improve the provision of mental health services to ensure that they are available to anyone in need of such services, including domestic abuse victims. We have therefore committed to investing at least an additional £2.3bn per year in mental health services by 2023/24

On 17 June the Prime Minister announced a wide-ranging package of measures to strengthen the response to mental health, including training for all new teachers on how to spot the signs of mental health issues, additional funding to support local authorities to deliver local suicide prevention plans and updated professional standards for social workers across England to increase their knowledge and skills when helping those with mental health issues.


Written Question
Travellers: Caravan Sites
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to place on a statutory basis the good practice guidance to local authorities in relation to their use of powers on unauthorised encampments.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

As stated in the Government response to the consultation on powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments , we will in due course create a power to place new guidance on a statutory footing.