Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with the International Criminal Court on the adequacy of its funding to investigate conduct in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is one of the major funders of the Court through its annual budget and works to ensure the Court has the resources it needs to operate effectively. Additionally, the UK provides practical support including witness protection; sentence enforcement; and secondments. This year we also provided additional funding to the Prosecutors Trust Fund for Advanced Technology and Specialized Capacity, the Trust Fund for Deployed Personnel and the Trust Fund for Victims. Funding earmarked for individual investigations is forbidden under the financial regulations of the Court.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Student Loan Company on the calculation formula used to determine overseas earnings thresholds for student loan repayments for English and Welsh students who live abroad or work for a foreign employer.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). The regulations set out the calculation formula to determine overseas repayment thresholds for student loan repayments. A change in the calculation formula would require a legislative amendment.
Ahead of each financial year, in line with the regulations, the department calculates the updated repayment thresholds to apply for English borrowers residing outside of the UK, including those resident in the USA, and provides these to the Student Loan Company (SLC), who administer the loan accounts.
Student loan repayments are income contingent. To take account of differences in living costs in different countries, overseas repayment thresholds are determined by each country’s price level index (PLI) data, as published by the World Bank and updated annually. PLI data provides a measure of the differences in the general price levels of countries and, therefore, represents a relative cost of living between countries, enabling a fair threshold to be set.
Based on PLI data, countries are placed into different “bands” reflecting their cost of living relative to other countries and to the UK. As the relative cost of living in different countries varies over time, individual countries may move between bands following an annual threshold update. Where PLI data for a country is not available, the department may determine the applicable PLI value for that country by reference to a comparable country.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Student Loan Company on the calculation formula used to determine overseas earnings thresholds for student loan repayments for English and Welsh students who live in the US or work for a US employer.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). The regulations set out the calculation formula to determine overseas repayment thresholds for student loan repayments. A change in the calculation formula would require a legislative amendment.
Ahead of each financial year, in line with the regulations, the department calculates the updated repayment thresholds to apply for English borrowers residing outside of the UK, including those resident in the USA, and provides these to the Student Loan Company (SLC), who administer the loan accounts.
Student loan repayments are income contingent. To take account of differences in living costs in different countries, overseas repayment thresholds are determined by each country’s price level index (PLI) data, as published by the World Bank and updated annually. PLI data provides a measure of the differences in the general price levels of countries and, therefore, represents a relative cost of living between countries, enabling a fair threshold to be set.
Based on PLI data, countries are placed into different “bands” reflecting their cost of living relative to other countries and to the UK. As the relative cost of living in different countries varies over time, individual countries may move between bands following an annual threshold update. Where PLI data for a country is not available, the department may determine the applicable PLI value for that country by reference to a comparable country.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the calculation formula used to determine overseas earnings thresholds for student loan repayments for English and Welsh students who live overseas or work for a foreign employer was last revised.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). The regulations set out the calculation formula to determine overseas repayment thresholds for student loan repayments. A change in the calculation formula would require a legislative amendment.
Ahead of each financial year, in line with the regulations, the department calculates the updated repayment thresholds to apply for English borrowers residing outside of the UK, including those resident in the USA, and provides these to the Student Loan Company (SLC), who administer the loan accounts.
Student loan repayments are income contingent. To take account of differences in living costs in different countries, overseas repayment thresholds are determined by each country’s price level index (PLI) data, as published by the World Bank and updated annually. PLI data provides a measure of the differences in the general price levels of countries and, therefore, represents a relative cost of living between countries, enabling a fair threshold to be set.
Based on PLI data, countries are placed into different “bands” reflecting their cost of living relative to other countries and to the UK. As the relative cost of living in different countries varies over time, individual countries may move between bands following an annual threshold update. Where PLI data for a country is not available, the department may determine the applicable PLI value for that country by reference to a comparable country.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to page 95 of the Autumn Statement 2023, whether she has had discussions with the Welsh Government on the Transmission Acceleration Action plan.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I met with the Welsh Government’s Minister for Climate Change, to discuss the Transmission Acceleration Action Plan in advance of publication. Speeding up the deployment of electricity networks across Great Britain is a key shared objective and the UK Government has worked with the Welsh Government to develop the Action Plan and will continue to do so as it is implemented.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to support vulnerable people of working age with their energy costs in winter 2023-24.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are aware of the challenges that vulnerable consumers are facing this winter.
This is why further to additional cost of living support of up to £900, we are delivering targeted energy support through the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel and Cold Weather payments.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make it her policy to (a) produce and (b) publish a strategy to reduce the cost of dentistry.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in England invests £3 billion on dentistry every year. We want to protect dental resources for dental care, ensuring that the full dental budget made available each year is spent on delivering dental care, and prioritise access for patients. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
We have also frozen dental patient charges between December 2020 and April 2023 and we continue to provide financial support to those who need it most by offering exemptions from charges. Support is also available through the NHS Low Income Scheme for those patients who are not eligible for exemption or full remission.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the cost of (a) public and (b) private dentistry on people's ability to access those services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our latest Dental Statistics Annual Report for England shows signs of improvements in people’s access to National Health Service dentistry. NHS dental activity, as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered, has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. Dental Statistics is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics
The Department has produced an Impact Assessment in respect of the uplift of National Health Service dental charges for patients in England from 24 April, which is available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/367/impacts/2023/41(opens in a new tab)
Alongside this, and in line with our Public Sector Equality duty, the Department has also considered the impact of the change on equality and on those from disadvantaged groups.
Dental patient charges remain an important contribution to the overall NHS budget. 47.3% of courses of treatment were delivered to non-paying adults and children in 2021/22
We continue to provide financial support to those who need it most by offering exemptions to NHS dental patient charges, and support through the low-income scheme for patients who meet the eligibility criteria. Further information is available at the following NHS website:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/dental-costs/get-help-with-dental-costs/
No assessment has been undertaken on the impact on families who opt to access care from a private dentist.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled Planning for new energy infrastructure: revisions to National Policy Statements, when she plans to publish the revised National Policy Statement EN-5.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government carried out a public consultation which closed on 23 June and is on track to present the updated National Policy Statements to Parliament and publish them alongside the response to the Electricity Networks Commissioner’s Report later this month.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will commission a working group to consider advances in cable ploughing technology before publishing a new EN-5 Electricity Networks National Policy Statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government sets the rules for a robust and independent planning process. The design and development of energy transmission infrastructure, including which technology would be used for construction of a project, is a matter for the developer, with the implications of that choice considered through the planning process. The Government carried out a full public consultation on its National Policy Statements - including EN-5 - earlier this year and will shortly be publishing them and laying them before Parliament ahead of designation.