Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether air quality is a contributing factor to autism.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Clinical Knowledge Summary on autism states that the precise cause of autism is unknown, but that genetic factors play a substantial role in the aetiology, and a number of environmental factors are also thought to play a part in development. Further information is available at the following link:

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/autism-in-adults/background-information/causes-risk-factors/

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to reinstate dredging to increase river capacity.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Where watercourse maintenance is the responsibility of the Environment Agency (EA), it focuses its efforts on those activities which will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding. This includes dredging, which the EA will undertake an assessment of, working in close consultation with local communities.

For many locations, there are more effective ways to protect land and communities from floods as part of a catchment-based approach.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate (a) provision and (b) accessibility of driving test centres in Spelthorne.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to providing its customers with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient. It currently has no plans for any additional driving test centres (DTCs) in Spelthorne.

Isleworth, Chertsey, Slough and Tolworth DTCs are all accessible test centres for customers in the Spelthorne area. More information for customers booking a practical test who have a disability, health condition, or learning difficulty, can be found on GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to take legislative steps to instruct councils to overturn decisions on use class properties.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government has no plans to legislate to require planning decisions, including those related to change of use, to be overturned.

Local planning authorities have the power to revoke or modify planning permission under section 97 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

However, such action can only be taken before a planning permission has been implemented and the local authority may be liable to pay compensation to the developer.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help protect small businesses from regulatory burden.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government is developing an ambitious regulatory reform agenda to ensure that future regulation, or reforms to regulation, work for businesses and supports the Government’s growth mission. It is essential that we continue to identify areas where the costs of regulations may be unnecessarily high and burdensome for businesses. As part of this, we are working across government to identify regulatory reforms that will support the Industrial Strategy and Small Business Strategy. Our plans for the government’s overall regulatory vision will be set out in due course.

Found: Lincoln Jopp: Have a go at them as much as you want. Chair: That is why we are here.

Found: Slough) (Chair) Mr Calvin Bailey (Labour; Leyton and Wanstead) Alex Baker (Labour; Aldershot) Lincoln Jopp