Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help develop manufacturing capacity in the offshore renewables sector.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Last week, the Prime Minister announced an initial £300 million investment through Great British Energy to accelerate domestic offshore wind supply chains to boost domestic jobs, mobilise private investment, and secure manufacturing facilities for critical clean energy supply chains.
The Government’s Clean Industry Bonus rewards fixed and floating offshore wind developers who choose to invest in the UK’s poorest communities, or in cleaner manufacturing.
The Government will be publishing its Industrial Strategy in spring and will set out its approach to driving investment and growth in the highest potential sectors, including Clean Energy Industries, creating good jobs.
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 the rate of clawback on Universal Credit on people employed with (a) irregular and (b) low incomes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty across the UK. As announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget, a new Fair Repayment Rate has now been introduced from 30 April 2025, reducing the Universal Credit (UC) overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s UC standard allowance. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.
The Department has also committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty.
A key part of UC’s core design is that it supports customers with their finances. As part of our work to review UC, we are working with expert stakeholders to understand the impacts and causes as well as considering the ways in which we can better support customers who experience irregular or fluctuating household income.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the recruitment of the new Armed Forces Commissioner; and when he expects they will begin in post.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Recruitment for the Armed Forces Commissioner is progressing with the role expected to be advertised by June 2025. The recruitment process will be through fair and open competition and subject to a full public appointment process regulated and overseen by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. It is anticipated that the Armed Forces Commissioner will be in post in early 2026, following the pre-appointment scrutiny process.
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, when her Department plans to (a) report on the consultation entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18th March 2025, and (b) publish recommendations on changes to the Access to Work Scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Once the Pathways to Work Green Paper Consultation closes on 30 June 2025, a White Paper will follow later this year with final proposals ahead of future, further legislation required.
The consultation and subsequent White Paper will also inform the chosen future direction of Access to Work. Once this is established, we will consider implementation timelines and work closely with stakeholders to ensure an appropriate transition.
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, with reference to the Home Office's letter to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, dated 29 September 2023, what his Department's planned timetable is for the use of electronic signatures for Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs within (a) secondary care and (b) the health and justice system.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is unable to confirm a timetable at this stage. Amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 and Misuse of Drug Regulations 2001 would be required to enable electronic prescribing in named settings, such as secondary care and the health and justice system. Changes to this legislation would require public consultation and agreement with Parliament under the affirmative procedure.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of pre-pack administration procedures on the defence supply chain.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence recognises the importance of ensuring our supply chains are resilient to shocks and threats, and that we can have confidence in their ability to deliver and maintain the critical outputs we require. We work closely with our defence suppliers to ensure continuity of supply for our programmes, though it is not for Government to intervene in supply chains as a result of industry transactions.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on improving the time taken for new UK armed forces recruits to receive a formal job offer.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Government inherited a crisis in recruitment and we are focused on improving Armed Forces recruitment. Defence is committed to reducing the time taken for candidates to pass through Armed Forces recruitment processes and enter Service. Recent policies have included setting an ambition to make a conditional offer of employment to candidates within 10 days, and a provisional training start date within 30 days if they desire it.
The median time taken to pass through recruitment and enter Service has been significantly reduced from a peak of 475 days in 2022 down to 290 days in 2024, a reduction of 39 per cent, with the individual Services pursuing options to reduce further.
These activities and their impacts will inform the development of the Armed Forces Recruitment Service which is being implemented to further improve the speed with which highly motivated and capable people can join our Armed Forces.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which medical conditions his Department considers categorised under the term Gulf War Syndrome.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Gulf War Syndrome is an umbrella term which refers to a cluster of medically unexplained chronic symptoms reported by veterans of the 1991 Gulf War conflict. These symptoms vary widely between individuals and therefore there is no prescribed list of medical conditions/and or symptoms categorised under this umbrella term.
The following link provides the background which sets out the history and research into the matter: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gulf-veterans-illnesses
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support people whose home values have been affected by spray foam insulation installed under the 2020 Green Homes Grant Scheme.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All installations under government scheme, including the Green Homes Grant Scheme must be installed by Trustmark registered installers. If the installation has met the standards required, it is not expected removal will be required.
Where measures have not been installed correctly, homeowners can use the TrustMark dispute resolution process to seek remediation or redress. If the installer is no longer trading, they should contact the guarantee provider.
The Government has also consulted the insulation, lending and surveying communities and published an inspection protocol that surveyors can use to appropriately assess spray foam installations (https://www.property-care.org/resources/spray-foam-insulation-inspections). It is important a surveyor with appropriate knowledge of spray foam and the protocol is used to give an accurate assessment.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of new Sustainable Farming Incentive of agreements on the rural economy.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period. SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package - across England, 50,000 farm businesses and over half of farmed land are already in agri-environmental schemes.
The department publish regular statistics on Farm Business Income. Farming evidence packs have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance. These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK. On the 11th of March 2025 we published forecasts which suggest that average Farm Business Income has risen in 2024/25 across all farm types with the exception of cereal farms.