Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to issue guidance to pension funds on reducing the proportion of their funds invested in the fossil fuel industry.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension funds have a duty to manage investments in the best long-term interests of their members, which includes decisions concerning investments in fossil fuels. Occupational pension schemes are required to make climate-related disclosures aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. Schemes should also set out their stewardship approaches to voting and engagement in the Statement of Investment Principles and Implementation Statement. Schemes voluntarily signed up to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Stewardship Code can also publish an additional Stewardship Report. TCFD reports and information about stewardship increasingly provide evidence of how schemes are managing climate risks and actively engaging with companies to reduce exposure to fossil fuels. Trustees may decide to divest from fossil fuel companies, or funds with high carbon exposure, particularly where sustained engagement efforts do not achieve satisfactory outcomes.
My Department has issued statutory guidance for trust-based schemes, which trustees must have regard to. The guidance aims to support trustees in their efforts to meet their climate reporting and governance duties. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) also provides detailed guidance to support trustees address climate-related risks and provides feedback to the industry on areas for improvement. Information from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is available to support FCA-regulated pension providers.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of claiming both Universal Credit and Housing Benefit on working young people in supported accommodation; and what steps she is taking to ensure that young people in supported accommodation are financially incentivised to work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those living in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department will consider the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.
Like Universal Credit, Housing Benefit has an income taper. As Housing Benefit may be claimed by those both in work and out of work, there are no rules around the number of hours that someone may work; instead, there are income tapers which apply.
The income taper in Housing Benefit ensures people in work are better off than someone wholly reliant on benefits. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, improved confidence and independence as well as a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health. However, the treatment of earnings in Housing Benefit is less generous than that of Universal Credit. Therefore, although customers living in Supported Housing are better off working than doing no work at all, they can be financially better off limiting the hours they work to ensure they retain a small amount of Universal Credit entitlement.
Changing the current rules would require a fiscal event and funding at a Budget. As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on developing a new Pet Passport scheme between the UK and the European Union.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area, which will mean taking pets on holiday into the EU will be easier and cheaper.
Instead of getting an animal health certificate each time you travel, you will be able to get a multiuse pet passport valid for travel to the EU.
The European Commission has published a draft SPS mandate for negotiations pending approval through the Council of the European Union.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on small and medium sized businesses of the suspension of the $800 minimum threshold for imports into the United States which is due to come into force on 29 August 2025; and what steps his Department is taking to support (i) sole traders and (ii) other businesses.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
My department is engaging with industry to monitor impacts on small and medium-sized Businesses (SMEs).
We have published information to inform UK businesses and remain in close contact with our US counterparts to seek further clarity as needed. We remain fully committed to empowering SMEs to thrive in international markets through our wide-ranging export support – brought together through the Business Growth Service. Royal Mail’s new service allows SMEs to continue trading with the US, whilst most counterparts have suspended services.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has been commissioned to develop the business case for the proposed public private partnerships for neighbourhood health centres in the NHS 10 year plan; which (a) companies and (b) other organisations expressed an interest; and whether (i) patients, (ii) other members of the public and (iii) NHS staff will be part of the decision-making process.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The business case is being co-developed with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority and the Department. A preliminary market engagement notice was issued on 1 July 2025, which is available at the following link:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/036389-2025
Responses from companies who are interested in this opportunity are commercially sensitive and so cannot be shared.
The business case will set out the potential for a public private partnerships model and an assessment of value for money so that a final decision on the approach can be taken by the time of the 2025 Budget in the autumn. If a decision is taken to proceed then further market engagement will take place on the model and approach. The location of, and services provided through, Neighbourhood Health Centres will be decided at a local level by the National Health Service and other stakeholders, based on the local needs of patients.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the ratio between revenue raised by the Building Safety Levy, and building remediation expenditure, in rural areas.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The building safety levy has built in measures to minimise impact on housing while balancing the need to raise the revenue required to make homes safe. Measures to achieve this include:
The Building Safety Levy is an industry contribution towards building safety remediation. Revenue is raised from new, non-exempt, residential development which principally occurs in and around urban areas. Expenditure is directed at buildings over 11m in height which are principally located in urban areas.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) increase dental student training places (i) at Peninsula Dental School and (ii) in the South West and (b) ensure that dental workforce planning includes recruitment and retention in (A) rural and (B) coastal areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Peninsula Dental School would be considered for any possible future allocated dental training places, as would other dental schools in the same position, including in the South West.
For the allocation of additional training places to begin, a guidance letter confirming the maximum fundable limit for training places must be sent to the Office for Students. A guidance letter has not yet been sent for 2026/27.
Later this year, we will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. Our workforce plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural and coastal areas. Integrated care boards are recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when dental contracts will be uplifted in England; and what that uplift will be in percentage terms.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department accepted the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB) recommendation of a 4% increase in the pay element of the dental contract. The Department will be engaging with the British Dental Association on the implementation of this uplift in due course.
The Department published its response to 2025/26 pay recommendations earlier than it has for several years. This paves the way for staff getting their pay rises earlier, including general dental practitioners, via uplifts to NHS dental contracts.