Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make it his policy to make £20 million available each year to fund research into alternatives for animal testing.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are considering funding into alternatives for animal testing as part of the Spending Review, and cannot commit funding amounts in advance of this process.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of offering the RSV vaccination to people over the age of 65.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The policy for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent expert advisory committee. That advice is provided to the Government to inform, develop, and make policy.
In 2023, RSV programmes for those aged over 65 years old and those aged over 75 years old were assessed by the JCVI for their potential impact and cost effectiveness. There was more certainty in the data available at the time to support a programme for those aged over 75 years old. Therefore, the JCVI advised a programme for older adults aged 75 years old and above. However, the JCVI did note that as more data accumulated, the impact and cost effectiveness for those aged over 65 years old could be kept under review.
The committee keeps all vaccine programmes under review and will continue to update its advice as new evidence emerges.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on what evidential basis he determined the level of funding through the Rural England Prosperity Fund in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra announced on 4 March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.
The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the department’s business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of creating national fire safety (a) standards and (b) regulations for battery energy storage sites to help support (i) fire and rescue services and (ii) local authorities to conduct risk assessments.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.
Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to (a) develop and (b) adopt UK-specific fire safety regulations for battery energy storage systems.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.
Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to develop UK-specific regulations for (a) fire suppression systems, (b) ventilation and (c) emergency response procedures for battery energy storage system facilities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.
Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he made an assessment of the adequacy of the Rural England Prosperity Fund before reducing the level of funding to be provided through that scheme in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.
The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the government spending review.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people claiming (a) disability and (b) incapacity benefits with a mental health condition are eligible for those benefits due solely to a mental health condition.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the level Universal Credit Standard Allowance should sit at per week in order to enable households to afford the essentials.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made at this point. The Government recognises the critical role Universal Credit has to play in tackling poverty and making work pay and has already taken steps to help those in need.
Benefit rates are reviewed each year, increasing by 6.7% in April 2024 and by a further 1.7% from April 2025, in line with inflation.
Around 5.7 million Universal Credit families are forecast to benefit from uprating in financial year 2025 to 2026, with an average annual gain for a family estimated to be £150.
The Fair Repayment Rate, to be introduced from April, will reduce the Universal Credit overall cap on deductions from 25% to 15%. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the upcoming review into Universal Credit will consult directly with groups of people who have lived experience of receiving Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has been regularly engaging with stakeholders since the election and is committed to continuing to do so, on Universal Credit and other issues. We recognise the important role of people with a lived experience of receiving Universal Credit in the review process.
We plan to engage with a multitude of groups and people and will continue to use existing forums as well as set up new sessions. In addition, we have also created a mailbox where any customer can express their views on how Universal Credit could be improved to support them, and we will be launching a survey covering customer’s circumstances, knowledge of Universal Credit and their labour market aspirations.