Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to introduce requirements for car parking companies to install solar canopies on large parking lots.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Outdoor car parks provide potential to deploy solar canopies providing clean electricity, potential for electric vehicle charging and shelter for cars. As such, the government published a Call for Evidence, which closed on the 18th June, to gather robust evidence from stakeholders across industry, local authorities and other relevant sectors to inform a carefully designed, evidence-based approach to increasing uptake. A Government Response will be published this year.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
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 improve access to NHS dentists in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is determined to improve access to NHS dentistry.
We are targeting areas most in need, including in rural areas, by delivering 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments and recruiting dentists under the Golden Hellos scheme.
We will reform the dental contract, with a consultation underway on measures to improve access. More fundamental reforms will follow before the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
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 the installation of solar energy projects on local government buildings.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero is working closely with Great British Energy (GBE), the Department for Health and Social Care, and the Department for Education to install rooftop solar panels on schools and hospitals.
In England £180 million in funding will support around 200 schools and 200 hospitals. This could lead to lifetime savings of up to £400 million over approximately thirty years.
Additionally, more than £1 billion is also being invested between now and 2028 through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Integrated Settlements with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Mayoral Combined Authorities, which supports the installation of solar on public sector buildings across England.
The government has also published Solar on the Government Estate: A senior Leader’s handbook. This sets out the guidance available to senior leaders in the public sector regarding solar on their estates.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve workplace health and safety protections for farm and agricultural workers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In line with its published Strategy 2022 to 2032, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) focuses on the most effective and efficient ways to improve the health and safety performance of all industries in Great Britain, including farming.
Between 2018 and 2024, in partnership with the industry, HSE ran a campaign to offer farmers free health and safety training which was then followed up by an inspection to a selection of those farms invited to take the training.
HSE will continue to visit farms where they have intelligence to suggest risk is not being managed adequately and investigate incidents in line with their published selection criteria.
As well as appropriate site visits, HSE continues to engage with farming through a variety of other methods including delivering industry talks; webinars and presentations; engaging with the media and publishing targeted articles for farmers; producing industry notifications which include safety messaging; and producing awareness raising campaigns. It also produces a range of freely available guidance to enable farmers to comply with health and safety law and keep themselves and others safe.
HSE’s commitment to working with the agricultural industry through stakeholders such as Britain’s Farm Safety Partnerships (FSPs) remains strong. The most recent activity includes supporting the FSPs with a campaign on safe use of quad bikes.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to improve employer compliance with statutory sick pay obligations.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government believes that enforcement of Statutory Sick Pay is vital in ensuring that employees receive the correct amount of Statutory Sick Pay they are due. Guidance to both employers and employees is provided on Gov.uk. HMRC also operates a dispute resolution process through its Statutory Payments Dispute Team for individuals who believe they have been wrongly denied Statutory Sick Pay.
However, the Government wants to go further in supporting employers and improving compliance with Statutory Sick Pay obligations. That is why it will be included in the Fair Work Agency which will bring together existing state enforcement functions into one place, so employment rights, including Statutory Sick Pay, are enforced more effectively and efficiently. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses to comply with the law and will also work closely with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) which already provides guidance for employers and workers.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
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 ensure that more same-sex couples can access NHS-funded IVF.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We expect integrated care boards to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to National Health Service-funded treatment are still appropriate.
In the light of broader pressures on the NHS and on-going changes within NHS England, we have been looking again at achievable ambitions to improve access to fertility services and fairness for all affected couples.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
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 grant funding for men’s mental health support charities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recently announced a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England and take a life-course approach. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and encouraging more men to come forward for healthcare, including mental health. The strategy will be informed by a call for evidence to understand what is working and what more needs to be done. We will consider all the levers at our disposal in drawing up plans for the strategy.
The 12-week call for evidence will gather vital insights from the public, health and social care professionals, academics and employers so the Government can properly consider how to prevent and tackle the biggest issues facing men from all backgrounds. We will be looking at where the learning can be used to inform future policy and funding bids.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving non-clinical service delivery decision-making from managers to (a) consultants and (b) specialist doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are the strategic commissioners of health and care services in England. NHS England has asked the ICBs to reduce the duplication of functions, to achieve efficiencies and reduce their running costs, with the aim to direct the cost savings towards front line National Health Service health and care services.
No assessment has been made in regard to moving any non-clinical services to clinical staff. We expect the ICBs to review their functions whilst acting as strategic commissioners, and this includes where multiple assurance and regulatory functions are being done by different organisations, wider performance management, and comms and engagement, which similarly exists in local authorities, providers, and regions, with a view of delegating these functions appropriately.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
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 has a (a) grassland policy group and (b) person responsible for grassland policy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no single group responsible for grassland policy, as policies affecting grasslands cut across several Defra policy areas. These include Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs), National Biodiversity, Protected Sites and Protected Landscapes. There are also a range of habitat and species specialists in Natural England, including for grasslands.
This Government is committed to delivering our legally binding biodiversity targets which includes our habitat target to restore or create 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected sites by 2042. We are delivering this target over a wide range of habitats, including wildlife-rich grasslands.
Protected Landscapes (National Landscapes, National Trails and National Parks) work together through the Big Chalk partnership, which seeks to protect and restore our nature-rich chalk grasslands.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support rural primary schools with declining pupil numbers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government recognises the challenges some schools are facing due to falling pupil rolls.
Local authorities hold the statutory place planning function, ensuring there are sufficient schools in their area to meet the needs of pupils. It is for local authorities, in collaboration with academy trusts and other local partners, to balance the supply and demand of school places, in line with changing demographics, as they have done for many years.
We expect local authorities and their partners to consider options for the utilisation of space, including repurposing space for early years, where primary schools can play a crucial role in the delivery of new places, and special educational needs and disabilities provision, as well as options for the reconfiguration or merging of provision where appropriate.
Local authorities may also set aside some of the ‘schools block’ funding of their Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) to support falling rolls. This is intended to support schools where planning data shows that the surplus places will be needed in future years. The department has allocated £176 million in Growth and Falling Rolls funding to local authorities in 2025/26 through the DSG. The responsibility for how Growth and Falling Rolls funding is allocated rests with the local authority.