Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions his Department has had with Ofgem on enforcing the new capital adequacy requirements on energy suppliers following the end of the transition period in April 2025.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
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.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing support for smart thermostats as part of the Warm Homes Plan.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future. We will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation. By enabling consumers to utilise electricity when it is cheaper, deploying smart electric heating can help reduce consumer bills.
Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of disbanding the Border Force team for illegally imported cash at Heathrow Airport in August 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Border Force have redistributed the teams in question to join other Detection commands. This was done in order to share expertise and thereby increase capability to carry out this important area of work.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much cash was seized by Border Force at Heathrow Airport for the latest month for which data is available.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The requested information is not available from published statistics.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the government of Pakistan on the delivery of a potential international airport in Mirpur, Pakistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The delivery of a potential international airport in Mirpur is an internal matter for Pakistani government authorities. Whilst the UK supports the aim of economic development in the region, it is not for the UK to influence decisions around specific infrastructure projects. This issue has not been raised by the Foreign Secretary with Pakistani counterparts.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 41380 on Asylum: Hotels, how many hotels used for the housing of asylum seekers have closed between 21 January 2025 and 31 March 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer he received on the 31 March 2025 to UIN 41380.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 41380, how many asylum hotels have closed between 4 July 2024 and 31 March 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer he received on the 31 March 2025 to UIN 41380.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on reducing barriers to cross-border travel without physical checks for thoroughbred horses since 6 February 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There have been no changes to the rules for importing thoroughbred horses into Great Britain since 6 February 2025. Imports of thoroughbred horses from the European Union do not currently need to enter Great Britain via a Border Control Post and are not subject to physical checks at the border. Guidance on importing horses into Great Britain is available on gov.uk
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of driving tests in Windsor.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 18 December 2024, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
DVSA continues recruitment for DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve customers in the Windsor constituency and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns.
As part of this, DVSA has had four candidates successfully pass training, with a further four potential new DEs booked-on training programmes. There are also another four potential new DEs currently undergoing checks as part of the recruitment process.
DVSA has also been running a recruitment campaign in March and has fourteen vacancies for the area as part of this.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 encourage transparency from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities when allocating funds for the Horse Race Betting Levy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is not involved in the allocation of funds from the Horserace Betting Levy (HBL). The HBL is administered by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.