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 conduct a review into local authorities’ pre-application processes.

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

The National Planning Policy Framework stresses the importance of good quality pre-application discussions between local planning authorities and applicants, and the role that these can play in improving outcomes. The Government strongly encourages local planning authorities to utilise best practice guidance for pre-application engagement and planning performance agreements published by the Planning Advisory Service.

The King’s Speech announced that the Government would introduce a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery. This will include measures to modernise planning committees in order to improve decision making. Further details will be announced in due course.

I look forward to working with colleagues during the passage of the Bill and would be happy to receive representations on our proposals from my hon Friend and honourable members.

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 meet the hon. Member for York Outer to discuss reforms to speed up the planning process.

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

The National Planning Policy Framework stresses the importance of good quality pre-application discussions between local planning authorities and applicants, and the role that these can play in improving outcomes. The Government strongly encourages local planning authorities to utilise best practice guidance for pre-application engagement and planning performance agreements published by the Planning Advisory Service.

The King’s Speech announced that the Government would introduce a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery. This will include measures to modernise planning committees in order to improve decision making. Further details will be announced in due course.

I look forward to working with colleagues during the passage of the Bill and would be happy to receive representations on our proposals from my hon Friend and honourable members.

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 merits of battery energy storage systems.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) have a key role in cost-effectively decarbonising the power sector by 2030. They help to balance the electricity system at lower cost by maximising the output from intermittent low carbon generation (such as solar and wind) and minimising both network upgrades and the need for new infrastructure.

The Department’s analysis indicates that short-duration flexibility offered by technologies including battery storage, could support up to 24,000 jobs (1) and reduce energy system costs by up to £10bn per year by 2050 (2) through minimising the need for new peaking generation and network assets.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dc589f8e5274a4f497bc49f/energy-innovation-needs-assessment-smart-systems.pdf

[2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60f57aade90e0764cd98a0a3/smart-systems-appendix-i-electricity-system-flexibility-modelling.pdf

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her department is taking to improve the protection for people who have experienced (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) disability discrimination at work.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Equality Act 2010 provides strong protection by prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination by an employer against a disabled employee because of disability. The Act also prohibits harassment of an employee by their employer for reasons related to their disability.

The 2010 Act additionally places a reasonable adjustment duty on employers that could be relevant, for example, to how duties are allocated or to how a promotion exercise is conducted. For example, ensuring internal job application forms are accessible to visually impaired employees and job interviews are accessible to the deaf or hard of hearing.

Although bullying is not expressly prohibited in legislation, this unacceptable behaviour can manifest as unlawful harassment. Additionally, employees are protected from constructive dismissal in the employment rights legislation, where bullying can feature in the lead up to dismissal.

Where disabled employees, as defined under the 2010 Act, feel that they have been unfairly treated, they may discuss their concerns with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), which provides authoritative and impartial advice free to employees or employers in relation to employment discrimination issues via their website (http://www.acas.org.uk) and telephone helpline 0300 123 1100 or text relay service 18001 0300 123 1100. Acas also provides employees and employers with Early Conciliation to help them resolve/settle their workplace dispute without going to court.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) the dementia diagnosis rate and (b) the provision of specialist care services for those living with dementia in York Outer constituency.

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

The Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (HNY ICB) is in the process of setting up a pilot with the York West Outer Primary Care Network, as one of the lowest recorded diagnosis rates, to trial a primary care diagnosis pathway to improve dementia diagnosis rates.

This would mean that a general practitioner with special interest in dementia, together with already commissioned Dementia Coordinators and with support from nurses in the memory assessment service in the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, can work through a caseload of individuals on the current waiting list for assessment, and provide a more timely diagnosis without the need for specialist secondary care intervention. The intention is that this will help reduce the current waiting times for assessment in the core specialist service, and increase the diagnosis rates in those practices.

In addition to this, the HNY ICB is working with City of York Council and a number of local voluntary, community and social enterprise partners to offer a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to pre and post diagnostic support for people living with dementia and their carers, through a Dementia Community Support Model.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential economic merits of improving internet connectivity on the rail network.

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

I have asked my officials to explore the feasibility of a range of technology options to improve passenger connectivity on the rail network. This will include assessing the economic benefits of improving internet connectivity.

The Department is also measuring the strength of mobile signals along the rail network to fully understand where interventions are needed.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Future Home Standard on National Grid capacity.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is committed to expanding the electricity network to support the Clean Energy Superpower mission and is working closely with Ofgem and industry to mobilise the required investment at the scale and pace required.

Price controls set by Ofgem ensure network companies are investing in infrastructure build, as well as smart management of network assets, to ensure the network has sufficient capacity . This includes accommodating increasing numbers of households adopting electric heating, solar generation and EV charging, both through future standards for new build properties and retrofit of the existing housing stock.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of demand for nursery spaces in York Outer constituency.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department published management information data on the expansion to early childcare entitlements on 17 October 2024. This includes the number of eligibility codes issued to parents of children aged nine months to two years old for the autumn term 2024, as of 13 October. Data shows that at a local authority level, there were 1,348 new codes issued in York. This data is not available at constituency level.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) protect and (b) support vulnerable people in relation to online gambling addictions.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is acutely aware of the impact harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families. We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all stakeholders in order to support the industry and ensure there are robust protections in place to protect those at risk. We will provide further updates to the House soon.

The Gambling Commission is responsible for the implementation of a number of the regulatory reforms set out in the white paper, such as introducing new regulations to make online games safer, and financial vulnerability checks aimed at reducing cases of unaffordable losses. It has consulted on and implemented the majority of these reforms.