Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment networks in filtering out microplastics.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Government recently funded an external rapid evidence assessment to better understand the costs, benefits, and efficiencies of installing filters in washing machines. The filters aim to trap textile microplastic fibres during the laundry cycle and before discharge to sewer networks and wastewater treatment works. The assessment concluded further evidence was needed to determine how to avert additional costs incurred by consumers of new washing machines with filters, and the consumer’s sustainable disposal of used filters.
A water industry investigation of the levels and types of microplastics entering a range of UK wastewater treatment works reported that conventional treatment can remove 99% of microplastics by number and 99.5% by mass.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 of the potential merits of including a grant scheme for saltmarshes in the Nature for Climate Fund.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK recognises the important role that saltmarsh can play in climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience. Saltmarsh habitats are also richly biodiverse, benefit fish stocks and provide a crucial buffer from coastal flooding.
Building on this recognition, the UK Government is supporting blue carbon restoration efforts through various initiatives, for example by providing £640,000 funding for domestic blue carbon habitat restoration.
This includes funds to support the development of a Saltmarsh Code to help drive investment flows from the private sector towards nature. This funding has also increased the capacity of the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef initiative (ReMeMaRe), helping to create a pipeline of restoration projects in saltmarsh and other key estuarine and coastal habitats.
Defra has set up the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership in partnership with the Devolved Administrations to address evidence gaps that currently prevent the inclusion of saltmarsh habitats in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI). Inclusion of saltmarsh in the GHGI and the development of a Saltmarsh Code will allow blue carbon to be marketed and traded as a carbon offset, leveraging private investment into these vital natural carbon stores.
In addition, funding has been made available for saltmarsh restoration through the Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship Environmental Land Management schemes. In the ELMS Countryside Stewardship scheme approximately 5,000 hectares of saltmarsh is being maintained or restored to a good condition.
The £750m of Nature for Climate funding is due to end in March 2025 and the Programme will be delivering against its agreed Business Case in that time. The Fund’s impact is being evaluated and any future funding for Trees, Peat and Saltmarshes will be a matter for the next Spending Review. We are continuing to explore further means of supporting saltmarsh restoration.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she plans to take to ensure that companies bidding for support under the Contracts for Difference Scheme are not solely reliant on China’s solar photovoltaic supply chain.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Renewable supply chain development is a key Government priority. The Government asks that all large renewable projects seeking support through Contracts for Difference submit a Supply Chain Plan to the Government, setting out among other things their commitments to investment in the resilience of their supply chains, including diversification and tackling modern slavery.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that people with neurodivergent conditions receive appropriate and accessible support when using public services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The government are implementing a National Autism Strategy and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan.
Additionally, the Department of Health and Social Care are rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training where part one has been completed by over 1.4 million people.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on publishing national supported housing standards under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is determined to improve standards in supported housing, which is why – thanks to my Hon Friend the Member for Harrow East - the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 provides for National Supported Housing Standards, which will be enforced through a licensing regime across all local authorities in England. In developing these standards, my department is engaging extensively including with residents of supported housing and people with lived experience. The Government will be consulting formally on the proposed National Supported Housing Standards in due course.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to section 1 of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, what progress his Department has made on establishing the Supported Housing Advisory Panel.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Secretary of State is establishing The Supported Housing Advisory Panel in accordance with the duty set out in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The primary focus of the Panel will be delivering better outcomes for people, and a fairer, more just approach to supported housing for the most vulnerable, as the measures in the Act are developed and implemented.
We will be recruiting the members through open competition and the advert will be open shortly.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Evidence Needs Statement published by the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership in June 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK established the cross-Administration UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership (UKBCEP) to progress the evidence base on blue carbon habitats in UK waters. Through this partnership, Defra, DESNZ and the Devolved Administrations share information, data and knowledge on blue carbon evidence across UK administrations.
The UKBCEP’s Evidence Needs Statement, published last year (2023), will support our ambition to fill critical evidence gaps relating to blue carbon habitats, increasing our understanding and thereby our ability to protect and restore these important habitats. These evidence gaps currently prevent the inclusion of coastal wetlands in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI)that would allow for saltmarsh habitats to contribute to the UK’s Net Zero target in accounting terms.
The UKBCEP’s Evidence Needs Statement will help to address this, and together with our £640,000 funding commitment, will enable the development of a UK Saltmarsh Code, which will allow saltmarsh carbon to be marketed and traded as a carbon offset, prompting further investment in these crucial habitats; and support the creation of a restoration project pipeline for blue carbon habitats in the UK.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 adequacy of waiting times for GP surgeries in Bristol East constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the last 12 months to December 2023, 41% of the 407,000 appointments in Bristol East were delivered on the same day they were booked, and 84.1% were delivered within two weeks of booking. NHS England publishes monthly data on General Practice Appointments, including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, but this is not a proxy for waiting times. There are a number of factors which can influence the timing of appointments, and it is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery, and an appointment.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the National Infrastructure Commission's report entitled The Second National Infrastructure Assessment, published on 1 October 2023, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendation to provide subsidies to help property owners connect to a heat network.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK Government is investing over half a billion pounds in funds and programmes to develop new heat networks and improve existing ones. The Green Heat Network Fund is the primary funding mechanism to develop new and existing low carbon heat networks across England. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme can also fund connections to heat networks. With the introduction of heat network zoning, we will assess how the Green Heat Network Fund should evolve in the future. The recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission will be taken into account in this exercise.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the number of individual houses that could be connected to heat networks.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government’s analysis shows that heat networks could provide about 20% of total heat by 2050 up from the 3% currently. They will provide a greater proportion in the urban areas that will be covered by the heat network zoning legislation in England which will designate areas where heat networks are expected to provide the lowest cost, low carbon heating.
As part of Heat Network Zoning the Government will provide local communities with the tools to accelerate the development of heat networks and ensure that more homes and businesses can have access to greener, cheaper heat. This will include tools that will enable them to identify the number of buildings that are likely to be connected to district heating in these zones.