Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department will publish the consultation on fluorinated gas regulation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The GB F-gas review is ongoing, and we are in the process of developing proposals for amending the F-gas legislation in Great Britain. We intend to go out to consultation on proposals for reform in due course. Defra officials have ongoing and valued engagement with sector stakeholders as part of the review process and have gathered incredibly useful input.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 meet with manufacturers from the (a) heating, (b) refrigeration and (c) air conditioning industries to discuss the inclusion of mandatory training for flammable refrigerants in the Government’s consultation on fluorinated gas regulation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The GB F-gas review is ongoing, and we are in the process of developing proposals for amending the F-gas legislation in Great Britain. We intend to go out to consultation on proposals for reform in due course. Defra officials have ongoing and valued engagement with sector stakeholders as part of the review process and have gathered incredibly useful input. Private office handles all meeting requests. Please contact them directly to request a meeting.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what was the most recent date on which Israeli officials entered the Department's buildings on Whitehall.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The last visit by Israeli officials to the Ministry of Defence Main Building took place on Wednesday 5 February 2025.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to reform the Carer’s Allowance system.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have announced the highest ever increase to the Carers Allowance earning limit, started considering the feasibility of a taper instead of the earnings threshold and launched an independent review of Carers Allowance overpayments.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 adequacy of Personal Independence Payments in covering additional costs associated with disability.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides a contribution to the extra costs that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition. PIP is a non-contributory, non-means-tested, additional cost benefit and can be worth over £9,500 a year, tax free. Individuals can choose how to use the benefit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences.
The benefit can also be paid in addition to any other financial or practical support someone may be entitled to such as Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, NHS services, free prescriptions, help with travel costs to appointments. It can also act as a passport to additional support such as premiums and additional amounts paid within certain benefits, Carer’s Allowance for an informal carer or the Blue Badge scheme. The benefits have been consistently uprated in line with inflation since they were introduced and were, like other benefits, increased by 6.7% from 8 April 2024.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people HMRC has identified as being liable for the Loan Charge who have not yet (a) paid and (b) settled to avoid it (i) in total and (ii) by Parliamentary constituency.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC has previously estimated that around 40,000 individuals and 5,000 employers were liable to the Loan Charge and were yet to settle with HMRC, including those who had settled some but not all of their liabilities. This information is not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Between Budget 2016 and 31 March 2024, HMRC agreed just over 25,000 settlements with employers and individuals of their disguised remuneration schemes, bringing into charge around £4.2 billion in revenue.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to open one of the new seven day Community Diagnostic Centres at St Mark's Hospital in Maidenhead.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
St Marks Hospital is currently hosting temporary activity for Slough Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) in Maidenhead whilst the permanent site at Upton Community Hospital in Slough is being completed. All diagnostic activity will move to Upton Hospital later in 2025 once the new CDC is constructed, where it is expected that Slough CDC will be open 12 hours per day, 7 days a week.
The Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025, sets out that we will extend the minimum standards for all community diagnostic centres, to open 12 hours per day, 7 days a week as well as delivering additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones.
CDCs intend to provide a broad range of elective diagnostics in the community and closer to home, reducing pressure on hospitals and giving patients quicker and more convenient access to tests. Therefore, where feasible, the National Health Service has and will endeavour to locate CDCs in the community rather than in acute settings. This supports one of the Government’s key strategic shifts, namely moving care from the hospital to the community.
Capital investment agreed at Spending Review 2025 and announced in the Autumn Statement will be allocated to local systems by NHS England, and details on this will be released as part of upcoming capital planning guidance. The investment will support a range of initiatives, including supporting systems to deliver against the Government's ambition to return to the 18-week constitutional standard.
NHS England will work with local systems to identify the most appropriate locations for investments, including new CDCs, and expansions of existing CDCs. A key factor they will consider is that new CDCs are positioned in a location which addresses local need and will address health inequalities.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle disinformation through AI-generated deepfakes.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We have recently announced that we are delivering on our manifesto commitment to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes through the Crime and Policing Bill.
Deepfakes more broadly are captured by the Online Safety Act where they are shared on social media platforms and are considered illegal content or content which is harmful to children.
For those who think that there are no repercussions for online activity, we saw convictions for illegal online activity following the summer riots, including under the new False Communications Offence.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to pay additional compensation to people impacted by the collapse of Equitable Life.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The Equitable Life Payment Scheme has been fully wound down and closed since 2016 and there are no plans to reopen any decisions relating to the Payment Scheme or review the £1.5 billion funding allocation previously made to it. Further guidance on the status of the Payment Scheme after closure is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equitable-life-payment-scheme#closure-of-the-scheme.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of zero emission domestic boilers on the transition to net zero.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Zero emission boilers, or heat batteries are a promising technology because they utilise time-of-use tariffs, do not require outside space, and can be cheaper to install than heat pumps in some circumstances. However, they are also less efficient than heat pumps and will therefore use more energy to meet the same heating demand.
The Department is exploring, through studies like the Homes for Net Zero Trial, the role heat batteries could play in the future. We will continue to review our position on heat batteries, and other alternative electric heating technologies, as the supporting evidence base develops.