Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 2 December 2024 from the Rt hon. Member for New Forest East on research into the accuracy of data produced by the Meteorological Office.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department attaches great importance to providing timely responses to Member’s correspondence. Regrettably a processing error has severely delayed our response in this instance, for which the Department sincerely apologises. We are taking steps to correct this system to prevent further errors of this nature. We will provide a full response urgently.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to prevent non-disclosure agreements from being used to conceal serious misconduct against former employees.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has been clear that non-disclosure agreements should not be misused by employers to conceal misconduct in the workplace. There are already legal limitations as to what NDAs can be used for, meaning the relevant clause would be unenforceable if it attempted to prevent a worker from whistleblowing, require a worker to cover up iniquity, or prevent a worker from doing anything that they may be required to do by law. We continue to look at how to make improvements to ensuring the misuse of NDAs is not used to conceal misconduct in the workplace.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on the (a) removal and (b) retention of police widows pensions when those in receipt of such pensions (i) cohabit and (ii) remarry.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2015 police pension scheme is the scheme currently open to serving police officers. This scheme provides life-long survivor benefits for spouses, civil partners and unmarried partners, including those who remarry or cohabit after losing a spouse. The introduction of the 2006 police pension scheme meant that all eligible police officers were able to join a pension scheme with such survivor benefits.
Prior to 2006, the 1987 police pension scheme provides a pension for the widow, widower or civil partner of a police officer who dies. In common with most other public service pension schemes of that time, these benefits cease to be payable where the widow, widower or civil partner remarries or cohabits with another partner. From 1 April 2015, the 1987 Police Pension Scheme was amended to allow widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers who have died as a result of an injury on duty to receive their survivor benefits for life regardless of remarriage, civil partnership or cohabitation.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans respond to Question 50047 tabled on 6 May 2025 for answer on 12 May 2025.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
With apologies to the Hon. member, a response has now been issued.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will establish a Green and Decent Homes Programme to bring (a) social and (b) council housing up to acceptable standards.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government intend to amend building regulations later this year as part of the introduction of future standards that will set more ambitious energy efficiency and carbon emissions requirements for new homes.
We will also consult this year on a new Decent Homes Standard for social and private rented sectors and consult on a new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard for social housing.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Prime Minister plans to respond to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament on its Iran Report, sent to him on 27 March 2025.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The government will respond to the ISC regarding publication of its report on Iran in due course.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he plans to take to investigate the security of UK (a) solar and (b) wind farms to ensure that there are no kill switches in Chinese-made inverter units installed in their structures.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department works continually with Ofgem and the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure that regulations continue to capture the most critical operators of energy generation systems. Distributed and smaller-scale generation are key components of a smart and resilient energy system.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason (a) housing associations and (b) local councils are not eligible to apply to the (i) Building Safety Fund and (ii) Cladding Safety Scheme set up to defray the costs of remediating faulty cladding; and if she will make it her policy to broaden the application criteria.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Social landlords can apply to the Building Safety Fund and the Cladding Safety Scheme for funding equivalent to (1) the amount which the social landlord would otherwise be entitled to pass on to leaseholders; or (2) the full cost of remedial works where paying those costs would render the social landlord financially unviable.
As at end March 2025, government had committed £595m to support remediation of social housing through government schemes, including funding to remove Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding.
Social landlords face barriers to accelerating remediation, including access to upfront capital. The Government has increased targeted support for social landlords applying for government remediation funding, and we will this year announce a long-term strategy for accelerating social housing remediation.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to facilitate the circulation of material to General Practitioners advising how to (a) recognise and (b) treat with (i) antibiotics and (ii) anti-inflammatory medications the conditions of (A) Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and (B) Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS).
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent, expert body that develops evidence-based guidelines for the National Health Service on best practice. While the NICE currently has no plans to issue guidance on paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS), should the evidence base develop further, we would look to the NICE to update clinical policy.
In the meantime, integrated care systems are responsible for planning care for their populations’ conditions, and clinicians will want to take account of any new research and developments in guidance, such as those being overseen by the PANS PANDAS Steering Group, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to their patients.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish a list of the countries from which the coking coal required for the Scunthorpe blast furnaces will be purchased; and if he will publish the estimate of the carbon footprint which will be created by transporting the required total from each source country.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
British Steel closed its coke ovens in 2023, so is now reliant on imports of coke, a processed coal product. Since the passage of the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act, British Steel has received coking coal from the United States of America, Colombia, and Australia. The company will keep its supply chains under review.
The Department for Business & Trade has not produced an assessment of the carbon footprint from the transportation of the coking coal required for the blast furnaces. However, the carbon footprint associated with transporting the coking coal to the UK can be calculated using publicly available data [such as the CarbonCare CO2 emissions calculator].